There is no shortage of things competing for your attention during the holidays at Disneyland Resort. Between seasonal attractions, nighttime entertainment, Disney Festival of Holidays, more than 150 food and beverage offerings and enough merchandise to test even the most carefully planned budget, figuring out where to start can become its own challenge.
That is where the people who know the resort best can help.
As Holidays at the Disneyland Resort returns from November 13, 2026 through January 6, 2027, Disneyland Resort spokespeople Kim Chips, Megan Murauckas, Kory Alvarado, Philander Butler and Stephanie Baker shared some of their favorite traditions, foods, merchandise and experiences from this year’s celebration.
Their recommendations cover nearly every part of the season, from the returning attractions families have built traditions around to new food worth making room for and one holiday collectible that somehow combines a snow globe, lanyard and bubble machine into the same piece.
Philander Butler Says the Classics Still Matter
New entertainment always gets attention, but Disneyland Resort VIP tour guide Philander Butler believes the returning traditions are just as important.
Butler has worked at Disneyland Resort for 15 years, giving him a front row seat to the way families return to the same experiences year after year. During the holidays, that includes “A Christmas Fantasy” Parade, “Believe…In Holiday Magic” fireworks and “World of Color – Season of Light.”
For Butler, their longevity is part of the appeal.
“Kids have grown up on that parade. It’s important for us to bring these things back because you have multigenerational families that are coming to enjoy this stuff together.”
That idea can be seen throughout Disneyland Park. Haunted Mansion Holiday once again transforms the attraction with Jack Skellington and The Nightmare Before Christmas, while “it’s a small world” Holiday fills the classic ride with seasonal music and decorations before its exterior becomes one of the resort’s biggest nighttime displays.
The traditions continue after dark with the return of “Believe…In Holiday Magic,” complete with holiday music, projections and snowfall in select locations around Disneyland Park.
Butler sees the season as a mixture of exactly those kinds of familiar experiences and whatever Disney decides to introduce next.
This year, Marvel fans get one of those new additions.
Deadpool Is Joining Star Lord for the Holidays
A holiday version of the Guardians of the Galaxy dance off is coming to Disney California Adventure, with Deadpool joining Star Lord for the first time.
Anyone who has followed Deadpool’s Disneyland appearances already knows subtlety is probably not part of the plan.
Butler described the pairing as an opportunity for the unpredictable comedy that comes naturally when Deadpool enters the picture, especially alongside Star Lord and the Guardians.
That gives Marvel fans another reason to add the area around Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! to their holiday plans, while the rest of Disney California Adventure continues its larger seasonal celebration through Festival of Holidays, live performances and World of Color.
For Butler, the combination of new experiences and long standing traditions is what makes this period different from the rest of the year.
“While new stuff is always amazing, the fan favorite classic stuff that you’ve had for most of your life comes back every time of the year.”
Kory Alvarado Has a Plan for Tackling More Than 150 Holiday Foods
If your Disneyland priorities begin with food, Kory Alvarado has both good news and a warning.
There are more than 150 holiday food and beverage offerings around Disneyland Resort this year, including approximately 25 new items.
Trying everything is not happening in one day.
Alvarado’s advice is simple: share.
Instead of ordering full dishes individually, split items with friends and family, move through more of the menu and return for anything good enough to deserve a second round.
“There’s so much that you want to have. I always tell people, restraint. Share your items.”
It is practical advice considering how quickly the menu expands once both parks, Disney Festival of Holidays, the hotels and Downtown Disney are included.
One of Alvarado’s top recommendations this year is the new Holiday Leftover Burrito at Studio Catering Co. The dish takes turkey, stuffing, sweet potato bites and cranberry sauce, wraps everything into a burrito and serves it with gravy for dipping.
It is essentially the day after Thanksgiving turned into theme park food.
Another item high on his list is the French Dip Grilled Cheese from Pym Test Kitchen, combining prime rib, mozzarella, caramelized onions and onion mayo with beef jus.
That one takes the familiar grilled cheese and tomato soup combination and sends it through the oversized food logic already associated with Pym Test Kitchen.
Coffee and Matcha Get Their Holiday Moment Too
The seasonal drinks are getting just as much attention as the food.
Alvarado pointed toward the continuing popularity of cold foam, matcha and iced coffee across the resort. One of the new options is the Snowy Matcha Foam Iced Coffee at Cozy Cone Motel, combining iced Vietnamese coffee with matcha sweet cream foam and holiday sprinkles.
It is the kind of drink that makes sense around the middle of a long park day, especially for anyone attempting to go from morning attractions through nighttime entertainment without slowing down.
There are plenty of sweeter choices as well, but Alvarado’s larger recommendation remains the same regardless of what is being ordered. Split things whenever possible. With this much food available, sharing one item only creates room to try another.
Stephanie Baker Says the Food Tells California’s Story
The menus at Disney Festival of Holidays are not designed around one definition of what holiday food should be.
For Disneyland Resort spokesperson Stephanie Baker, that variety is exactly the point.
Festival of Holidays brings different traditions together through dishes inspired by the cultures and communities that make up California. Some are familiar recipes, others combine ideas that normally would not appear on the same plate.
The returning Turkey Tamale is one of Baker’s favorites.
Tamales are already a holiday staple for many Southern California families, but Disney pairs the turkey tamale with gravy, roasted mirepoix and cranberry relish, creating something that sits between two different holiday traditions.
“It’s combining all those cultures. It’s combining all those flavors.”
Baker explained that Disneyland’s culinary teams frequently draw from their own childhood memories, family recipes and cultural traditions when developing Festival menus.
That approach also helps explain returning favorites such as the Braised Pork Belly Adobo and Chorizo Queso Fundido, alongside newer dishes including the Reimagined Beef Wellington.
For Baker, the variety reflects how families actually celebrate. People bring old traditions into new families, recipes change and different cultures eventually begin sharing space around the same table.
Festival of Holidays turns that idea into a menu.
The Sip and Savor Pass Requires a Little Strategy
Baker also offered one of the more useful practical tips for anyone planning to eat through Disney Festival of Holidays.
The Sip and Savor Pass includes six digital coupons redeemable for eligible food and nonalcoholic beverage items. If two people each have one, that creates 12 opportunities to sample different dishes.
Then split everything.
Suddenly the Reimagined Beef Wellington, Turkey Tamale, Shrimp and Grits, Pork Belly Adobo and several desserts start looking far more manageable.
It also leaves room for the sweets, which would be unfortunate to discover only after eating several full meals.
Baker highlighted the Red Velvet Cake Flan, a new combination of two familiar desserts, while Alvarado recommended the Gingerbread Cake available at Plaza Inn.
There are enough cakes, macarons, cookies, cold drinks and seasonal desserts throughout the resort that saving room should probably be considered part of the itinerary.
Megan Murauckas Picks a Very Disney Holiday Souvenir
Holiday shopping also gets a major expansion during the season, with several collections offering very different approaches to Christmas style.
Disneyland Resort spokesperson Megan Murauckas highlighted the Disney Vintage Holiday Collection, which uses pastel pinks and nostalgic artwork rather than sticking exclusively to traditional red and green.
The collection includes apparel, accessories, bags and headwear, while other merchandise throughout the resort leans into plaid, classic Mickey and Friends designs and more familiar holiday colors.
Murauckas also pointed out Spirit Jerseys, Loungefly bags, jackets, youth apparel and several holiday headwear options.
But when asked to choose her favorite item, she went for something considerably less conventional.
The snow globe lanyard lights up, moves the snow inside and blows bubbles.
It can be worn through the park or placed at home as holiday décor, which makes it an almost perfectly excessive Disney souvenir.
“You can wear it in the park. You can leave it at home. It can be part of your home decor.”
Other collectibles include the Holiday Train Bucket, which lights up, moves and holds popcorn, along with the Stitch Christmas Tree Sipper.
Star Wars fans also have something arriving during the season. New Batuu Adventure Buddies featuring Grogu and a Huttlet launch on November 17 for Life Day, joining the previously released Ewok. The interactive figures feature lights and movement and can respond to one another.
Kim Chips Highlights Disney’s Long History With Toys for Tots
The holidays at Disneyland Resort also extend beyond attractions and shopping.
Kim Chips, Senior Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility at Disneyland Resort, spoke about Disney’s longstanding relationship with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program, a connection that stretches back to the organization’s earliest years in the 1940s.
Walt Disney and his artists helped create the familiar Toys for Tots train logo that the organization still uses today, and Disneyland Resort has continued supporting toy drives in the decades since.
The 2026 drive runs November 16 through December 10, with collection boxes available at participating Downtown Disney locations for guests donating new, unwrapped toys.
On December 4, Marines will be at the Downtown Disney LIVE! Stage for a special event featuring a Marine band, entertainment and additional surprises.
For Chips, the effort connects directly to one of the simplest experiences associated with the holiday season: the excitement of a child opening a present on Christmas morning.
Her own favorite childhood memory involved finally receiving the Barbie McDonald’s playset she had wanted for years.
It is a small story, but one that makes the larger purpose of the drive easy to understand.
One Disneyland Easter Egg You Probably Walked Past
Butler also offered one bonus recommendation that has nothing to do with holiday food or entertainment.
The next time you visit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, look closely at the attraction’s certificate of compliance.
Near the bottom is the name Willard Bounds, identified as a retired U.S. Marshal.
The detail is a nod to Walt Disney’s family history. Lillian Disney’s maiden name was Bounds, and her father, Willard, served as a U.S. Marshal.
It is the kind of tiny Disneyland detail most guests will walk past hundreds of times without noticing, which is exactly why Butler enjoys pointing it out.
His advice effectively adds another activity to the holiday itinerary: finish the seasonal food, catch the parade, and then go stare at a safety sign.
Disneyland fans will understand.
There Is No Single Way to Do the Holidays at Disneyland
The biggest takeaway from speaking with the people behind the season is that there is no universal Disneyland holiday checklist.
Butler gravitates toward the traditions families return to year after year while still making room for Deadpool to crash the party. Murauckas is watching the merchandise. Alvarado wants guests to try the Holiday Leftover Burrito and share enough food to keep eating. Baker sees Festival of Holidays as a way to experience California’s cultures through the dishes people bring to the table. Chips points toward the giving side of the season through Toys for Tots.
Together, those recommendations explain why Holidays at the Disneyland Resort works as more than a collection of decorations and seasonal overlays. The experience is built around familiar traditions, but it continues to evolve around the families and communities celebrating them.
The smartest plan may simply be to choose a few priorities and accept that something else will inevitably catch your attention once you arrive.
Just remember Alvarado’s advice when you reach the food.
Share.
Or ignore him completely and keep the gingerbread cake for yourself. The holidays are about making your own traditions.
Holidays at the Disneyland Resort runs through January 6, 2027 at Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney and the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort.
HOLIDAYS AT THE DISNEYLAND RESORT 2026 INTERVIEWS
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I’m a dedicated aficionado of all things movies, pop culture, and entertainment. With a passion for storytelling and a love for the silver screen, I’m constantly immersed in the world of cinema, exploring new releases, classics, and hidden gems alike. As a fervent advocate for the power of film to inspire, entertain, and provoke thought, I enjoy sharing my insights, reviews, and recommendations with fellow enthusiasts.