The Disneyland Resort has revealed some details about that special food and merchandise event it will open at Disney California Adventure next month.
A Touch of Disney will run Thursdays through Mondays from noon to 8 pm, starting March 18. Tickets will be $75 per person and go on sale March 4. The tickets will include parking at the Mickey & Friends garage, unlimited PhotoPass downloads from the event, as well as a $25 dining card. (Dining cards may not be used for alcohol, in keeping with state law.)
At the event, visitors will find food items from menus at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure for sale, including snack-sized versions available at booths along Paradise Park. Disneyland's Monte Cristo and Dole Whips will be among the items offered and multiple California Adventure restaurants will be open, including Lamplight Lounge and Carthay Circle Lounge – Alfresco Dining. Reservations for those two table-service restaurants will be available starting March 11. A full event menu will be forthcoming, but I can say that Lobster Nachos are back!
Stores also will be open during the event, and Disney characters will appear in several locations for physically distanced photo ops. However, all attractions will remain closed to conform with state rules prohibiting theme parks from opening until their counties reach the state's least-restrictive Covid-19 tier.
To accommodate the A Touch of Disney event, Buena Vista Street will cease being included as part of the Downtown Disney district on March 15. The rest of Downtown Disney will remain open to guests seven days a week. And the event will help bring 1,000 Disneyland Resort cast members back to work, Disney said.
Tickets to A Touch of Disney will be available through the Disneyland.com website and must be purchased in advance. Tickets will be available for dates through April 5 on March 4, then subsequent dates will go on sale at later dates. Disney's health and safety rules will apply, including mandatory mask use, temperature checks, physical distancing, and capacity limits.
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If the event is only Thursday to Monday, shouldn't they open Buena Vista Street on the off days? Or maybe that would cause confusion for people thinking that the 'Touch' is open, but it seems like they would lose some merchandise and food sales like in the present setup.
Interesting that they call it 'Touch' rather than 'Taste' like Knott's. I guess 'Touch' is more appropriate, since not all of the price goes towards food, and it really is only a touch of the Disney theme park experience.
It also is unclear whether the event ends in April, it sounds like they're leaving the option open to add dates. My first priority remains the cheaper Knott's Taste of Boysenberry, I like Knott's food, although the chance to have a Dole Whip or Monte Cristo sounds good, I will probably wait on Touch unless the lockdown continues into the summer.
@russell Totally agreed, though Disney could charge $50 to tour the bathrooms at Disneyland and the heads would be lining up.
"Touch" of Disney seems odd in the these COVID times. Sanitized Touch of Disney doesn't have the same ring, though.
Given that regular admission during normal operation was in the low $100s, $75 for what is just a fraction of the park's regular offerings is quite steep. While that does include a $25 credit, based on prices in the past that will likely cover roughly three food items. By comparison, Knott's charges $45 for a five item package, which while pricier than tasting cards when the park is fully open, is what I'd consider on the upper end of fair for a food festival. I'm sure Disney's event will have its fans, but it's curious that they're only selling tickets for a few weeks at a time as if they aren't sure of demand.
The biggest plus here is that perhaps it will convince California to finally let theme parks reopen properly. I believe we're the only state with any decent-sized parks that hasn't at least given a tentative approval date for reopening, and there really is very little difference between what they're doing at these events and what they'd be doing during normal operation under COVID protocols. Hopefully the California government will send observers to Disney and Knott's next month and modify guidelines for a red tier opening, which is far more in line with how California is treating similar businesses. If not, I've got a feeling the parks have a pretty compelling legal case, and with most of them making commitments to reopening next quarter, spring could be very interesting if Newsom remains stubborn.
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That's a steep price, even if it does include a $25 food credit (something tells me menu prices won't be nice, even numbers to allow guests to get exactly $25 worth of food either), parking, and PhotoPass.
I know there's a lot of pent up demand to visit the California parks, and I wouldn't be surprised if the dates quickly sell out, but we're talking about paying about $35 just for the privilege of walking around DCA and a few character photos. This would be like a movie theater opening and allowing guests to walk around the lobby and take photos of the posters and standing displays along with a tub of popcorn and bucket of soda for $30.
I know this will be a little controversial with a certain regular here, but without rides, attractions, and shows, this event turns DCA into nothing more than a highly themed mall (and no longer a theme park), like Disney Springs. Instead of photos with Santa or the Easter Bunny, guests get photos with Disney characters, and are $75 lighter in the wallet for that.