Buena Vista Street in Disney California Adventure officially reopened as an extension of the Downtown Disney District on Thursday, November 19th. Before going further, we must state this fact – the extension is not an opening of Disneyland or Disney California parks in full. The parks are still closed, but this extension gives visitors an opportunity to experience a little of the Disney magic while the parks are shut down. Guests can shop, dine, and frolic about on Buena Vista Street and into a few close by side areas which will be discussed below. We want to provide you with information, so that you can make an informed decision on when you will arrive and what you can expect upon arrival.
Important Reminders, Facts, and Details
- Entrance to Buena Vista Street is free (no park ticket or annual pass needed for entry)
- Parking at the Simba Lot in Downtown Disney now costs $10 per vehicle (no free parking for annual passholders; no time limit on day of entry)
- You can stay in Buena Vista Street as long as you want once you enter (until Downtown Disney closes)
- There is a virtual queue that is put in place once capacity has been reached in Buena Vista Street for those who wish to enter.
- Orange County is currently in the Purple Tier which means that capacity is limited to 25% and there is no indoor dining as of the day of this post (11/20/2020).
Arrival Time and Parking Options
As stated above, the only official parking for Downtown Disney is at the Simba Lot near the Paradise Pier Hotel. That, however, is not where I parked when I arrived in the morning. I knew that the Simba parking lot would not open early (they have typically opened between 9:30 and 9:45 daily, though that might change a bit in the coming months due to Buena Vista Street reopening), so I parked at the nearby Anaheim Garden Walk parking structure (first hour is free; $3.00 per hour after that; max of $30 per day). You can also check with the nearby hotels to see if they allow parking – one we know of is the Anaheim Hotel next to the Pizza Press on Harbor Blvd (they charge $25 per day). You can also have a ride drop off on the Harbor Boulevard side of the Disneyland Resort.
Arrival time depends on how early you want to get into Buena Vista Street. We arrived at approximately 5:00 a.m., but that is in no way indicative of when you’ll need to arrive (we promise!). We arrived that early to ensure that we would be among the first guests inside on reopening day. If being among the first inside on your selected day of visitation is important then we would recommend getting there by 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. to wait on the Harbor Boulevard side. A good alternative is to arrive to the Simba parking lot by 9:30 a.m. to park and enter on the west end of Downtown Disney. It can be hard to gauge how early you will need to arrive on a normal day because opening seemed to be compromised of quite a large percentage of vloggers, bloggers, and die-hard Disney fans who severely missed the Parks being open. Stay posted as this recommendation of when to arrive might change depending on how popular this extension affects crowd sizes and demand.
What To Do at Buena Vista Street
Dining
There are multiple places to grab a bite to eat as part of the Buena Vista Street extension of Downtown Disney:
- Carthay Circle Lounge – Alfresco Dining
- Award Wieners
- Smokejumpers Grill
- Fiddler, Fifer, & Practical Cafe
- Trolley Treats
- Food Carts
Carthay Circle Lounge – Alfresco Dining
Click here to access the current menu for Carthay Circle Lounge – Alfresco Dining. This will be the most difficult experience to have if you visit Buena Vista Street. If you desire to eat here we recommend coming here first when you enter Buena Vista Street to enter their virtual wait list. Guests line up and give their phone number to a Cast Member. You are then sent a confirmation text message letting you know that you are on the virtual wait list, and then you are sent a text message when you can return to the restaurant. The restaurant opens at 11:30 a.m., so even if you give them your number at 10 a.m. you still will have to wait until at least 11:30 a.m. to come back for dining. The lunch to early afternoon wait list filled by approximately 10:15 yesterday (pretty quick!). The Cast Members were then telling people to return later in the day to check for late afternoon and dining spots (which are also done via the same virtual queue system). We received our return text message at 11:45 a.m. We asked a hypothetical question to the Cast Member taking our phone number to enter the Carthay Lounge virtual waitlist – “What if we give you our number to enter the virtual waitlist, but exit Buena Vista Street to go shop in the regular Downtown Disney District? Are we able to skip the line for re-entry into Buena Vista Street when we get our return text? His answer was “Yes, just show your return text message to the appropriate Cast Members at the entry point for Buena Vista Street.” He then added “Don’t leave Downtown Disney altogether though.” At this time there are no advanced reservations for this dining experience.
Award Wieners
Click here to access the menu for the updated menu at Award Wieners. This experience is completely free of a time crunch! Guests can wait in a queue to the left of the Award Wieners restaurant front (when facing it like in this picture), or they can place a mobile order and skip the line. If you know what you want to order, we highly recommend utilizing the mobile ordering feature in the Disneyland App. If you are outside of Buena Vista Street DO NOT, we repeat DO NOT, place a mobile order expecting it to gain you a quicker entrance into Buena Vista Street. What will happen is that your food will come out and sit there (and presumably be discarded). Only place a mobile order once you are inside Buena Vista Street and are ready to get the order.
Smokejumpers Grill
Click here to access the current menu for Smokejumpers Grill. Similar to Award Wieners this is a stress free dining experience. Guests can wait in a queue to the left and then inside the restaurant to order in person, or they can place a mobile order and skip the line. If you know what you want to order, we highly recommend utilizing the mobile ordering feature in the Disneyland App. We didn’t order anything from Smokejumpers on this visit, but we will in future visits.
Fiddler, Fifer, & Practical Cafe
Click here to access the current menu for Fiddler, Fifer, and Practical Cafe. This experience was, perhaps, the most different from what we remember before the parks closed. There wasn’t a mobile ordering option as of 11/19/2020. So guests wait in line outside (Cast Members were there to help with queuing and physical distancing) before entering to order. There wasn’t a menu available, so if you are unsure of what you want to order click the link above for the menu or utilize the Disneyland App.
Trolley Treats
Trolley Treats has virtually the same treat options as Marcelines Confectionery in Downtown Disney. We’ll rip the band-aid off quickly for those of you wondering – there are no Mickey Gingerbread Cookies (though they do have another delicious gingerbread cookie for you to buy). We entered the queue twice during our visit. The first visit the queue took about 15 minutes, while the second visit the queue took about 40 minutes.
Food Cart Options
Willie’s Churros – You can grab a standard churro here for $4.75. We found out that the Fluffernutter Churro will be coming soon (as of 11/19/2020 that was the plan).
Popcorn Cart near Carthay – Here you can get standard popcorn for $5.00 – a Cast Member told me that they will have the Holiday season buckets available after Thanksgiving.
Snacks, Treats, and Drinks Cart (near Carthay on the side path to the right if you are directly facing Carthay) – Here you can get Turkey Legs, Hot Dogs, Coca-Cola drinks, Dasani Water, Hot Cider, assorted alcoholic beverages, Nestle Dibs, Cotton Candy, and Frozen Lemonades. You can also purchase a seasonal holiday bottle topper while supplies last.
Shopping
There are multiple places to shop as part of the Buena Vista Street extension of Downtown Disney:
- Elias & Co. – Clothing and accessories (typically higher end items)
- Los Feliz Five & Dime – Basic gifts and souvenirs that you can also typically find at World of Disney
- Julius Katz & Sons – Gifts, photo frames, and other collectibles
- Kingswell Camera Shop – They were selling pins and other collectibles on 11/19/2020
To enter Julius Katz & Sons and Kingswell Camera Shop you must enter through the Trolley Treats store. To enter Five & Dime and Elias & Co. you must enter a physically distanced queue near Elias & Co where you then move toward Five & Dime for entrance. They have made it so all stores have one entrance and one exit to accommodate for physical distancing and limiting the number of guests inside at a time.
Full Walkthrough Video of Buena Vista Street (11/19/2020)
Images from Buena Vista Street (11/19/2020)
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! You can email us at foodatdisneyland@gmail.com or direct message us on Instagram if you have further questions.