food IS a theme park
Earlier this month, a stay-at-home order was issued for Southern California, including Orange County and Anaheim.
Carthay Circle at California Adventure
The order went into effect when ICU capacity in the region dipped below 15%, which triggered the order via a mandate by the state of California.
We love sharing Disney recipes that you can make at home and Disney just posted a holiday recipe so you don’t have to visit the parks to get a Disney holiday sugar spike this season!
Holidays at Magic Kingdom
So, gather the family in the kitchen and whip up a batch of Peppermint Marshmallow Wands from Marceline’s Confectionery located at Downtown Disney with this limited ingredient, easy-to-make recipe!
Downtown Disney has undergone a handful of changes since a stay-at-home order was mandated for Southern California. We decided to stop by to see if there have been any updates since our last visit!
Disneyland Entrance
We noticed a handful of changes and PLENTY of new merch — here are all the updates!
In November, Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure Park reopened as an extension of Downtown Disney and we were reunited with some of our favorite park snacks!
Storytellers Statue
Just a few days ago, however, Southern California was placed under a regional stay-at-home order, causing many of the restaurants in Downtown Disney to close or only be open for take-out. And now, we’ve spotted another update for Disneyland Resort — Downtown Disney will NOT be open at all on Christmas Day.
Disneyland is closed but Downtown Disney is still offering shopping at select locations and they are still offering special shopping events where guests can nab some exclusive merchandise.
Legacy Hilts
We were wondering if these would still be offered since the stay at home orders were announced. But by the looks of it, they are. The newest shopping event will feature two high-demand Legacy Lightsaber Hilts!
Just a few days ago, we were munching on holiday cupcakes and more all around Disneyland Resort and the newly reopened Buena Vista Street.
Holiday Cupcake
But, things have quickly changed in California. Last week, Governor Newsom announced that stay-at-home orders would be imposed for regions based on ICU availability. This weekend, Southern California (the region that Disneyland Resort is located in) reached the set ICU capacity level, triggering the stay-at-home order for that region. Under this new order, restaurants can only be open for takeout or delivery. Disneyland confirmed that some of the restaurants at the resort would remain open for takeout under this order, while others would entirely close. Here’s a full list of what restaurants are and are not open at Disneyland Resort based on our trip today.
We’re only a few weeks away from getting to see the latest Pixar film!
Soul Photo-Op
Soul debuts on Disney+ on December 25th and we’re pretty excited to see how Pixar is going to being this music-based story to life! In the meantime, we’ve had a blast spotting Soul merch online and today it popped up in the Disney parks!
Although most of Disneyland Resort remains closed, there are some parts of the resort that have reopened.
Downtown Disney
Downtown Disney reopened this past summer, and Buena Vista Street in Disney California Adventure recently reopened with limited shopping and dining.
Disneyland might not be open yet (and we miss it dearly), but Downtown Disney has still been one of our favorite date night or family getaway spots recently. As restaurants have continued to open in the shopping and dining district, table-service locations have been modifying their experiences with limited capacity, seating, and menus. BUT, they’re just as great as we remember them to be!
Downtown Disney District
Downtown Disney dining has been exclusively offering outdoor seating for guests to relax and enjoy their meals in the nice California weather. For a while, select restaurants started to reintroduce indoor dining again (with limited capacity) once California law permitted it, but they’ve since been pushed back to only outdoor dining, as the county Disneyland resides in has moved to the strictest tier of the state’s Coronavirus protocols. [Read more…]
We’ve been checking out all the holiday decorations and merchandise over at Downtown Disney.
Downtown Disney decorations
We’ve spotted lots of festive drinkware that adds a little Christmas spirit to a simple drink. Cute options like the Jingle Bell Sipper and the Mickey Snow Globe Sipper add some holly-jolly to every sip! Today, we noticed a new, holiday-themed tumbler that puts us in a merry mood.
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