Complete Guide to Vegan Options at the Disneyland Resort Hotels! (January 2020 Update)

Welcome to the Disneyland Resort Hotels! Let’s eat some vegan food!

These are all of the options that I know of as of January 2020. Because they change regularly, please double check with the cast members and chefs, in case something is out of date! And please contact me if you see any items that were previously vegan that are no longer, or if you know of any options that I missed 🙂 The quickest way to contact me is to message me on Instagram (@happiestveganonearth).

Table of Contents (Jump to a section!)

• Grand Californian Hotel
  Storyteller’s Café
  Napa Rose
  Craftsman’s Bar and Grill
  White Water Snacks
  Hearthstone Lounge
• Disneyland Hotel
  Goofy’s Kitchen
  Trader Sam’s / Tangaroa Terrace
  Disneyland Hotel Coffee Shop
  Steakhouse 55
• Paradise Pier Hotel
  Donald’s Seaside Breakfast – Character Buffet at PCH Grill
  Surfside Lounge
  Sand Bar
• Gift shops in all the hotels
  Dark Chocolates and “Snacks with Character” throughout the parks

 

• Storyteller’s Café (Grand Californian Hotel)

For breakfast, this place is a character buffet, so you get Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Chip and Dale in their Tales of Adventure outfits!

Tell your server that you’re vegan and they will have the chef come out to tell you about their options. The vegan things on the buffet already are:

• Lots of fruit
• Oatmeal made with water, you can add brown sugar or maple syrup
• Bagels (we checked with the chef that they were vegan)
• Strawberry compote to top waffles, oatmeal, etc.
• Coffee with almond milk on request, orange juice, cocktails, etc.
• Minnie’s cantaloupe raspberry limeade (I asked about Minnie’s horchata, it does contain cow’s milk, not just rice milk)

And then the chef will make some special vegan things for you that are not on the buffet!

• Vegan Mickey Waffles (also gluten-free)
• Vegan pancakes (also gluten-free)
• Vegan omelette: potatoes and a bunch of veggies inside, topped with avocado

Lunch and dinner are a buffet, so the dishes change frequently. Ask for a chef to walk you around the buffet and tell you about the ingredients in each dish and which ones are vegan.

Here is my plate:

Garlic and pea noodles, Thai quinoa salad, and mixed green salad with chickpeas, tomatoes, olives, baby corn, etc.

The chef told me that the following items are vegan:

Salad and toppings, I’m sure they change daily but it’s pretty clear which ones are vegan. They had 4 dressings that day, but they all had dairy or honey. But there was so much oil on everything else that I got, the salad didn’t really need a dressing.

Garlic steamed rice and stir fried veggies:

Garlic and pea noodles:

The Thai quinoa salad is vegan. Be careful of the kale salad next to it, it has cheese:

The chef asked if we wanted anything made special for us, so I asked what they usually make for vegans, and she said she could do some roasted potatoes for us, so here they are:

And they have a vegan raspberry sorbet for dessert:

Also, they have espresso and various coffee drinks. The server said that they have soy, almond, and rice milk. So I got a soy latte. Check out the ridiculously cute Mickey shaped sugar cubes!

They also have lots of fun cocktails on the menu. Below is the Spicy Watermelon Margarita.

And the Blood Orange Margarita:

 

• Napa Rose (Grand Californian Hotel)

This is the fanciest restaurant on property, so it’s quite expensive, but great for special occasions! First we will cover the Princess Breakfast, which is a character dining experience, and below that you will find information about the regular menu.

First, a few details about this Princess breakfast:

1. Because of the hefty price tag (see below), I have not had a chance to experience this myself yet, but some friends have been so generous as to share their photos and descriptions of their experiences, which you will see below.
2. Reservations are a must. Make them on the Disneyland app on your phone, or here on the Disneyland website.
3. Although it is in the hotel, you do not need to be a hotel guest to do this breakfast. All of the restaurants throughout the Disneyland Resort Hotels are open to the public.
4. Hours: Thursday through Monday between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM.
5. Pricing:
   • Adults: $125 (tax and gratuity not included)
   • Children (ages 3 to 9): $125 (tax and gratuity not included)
   • Credit card guarantee is required for all reservations
   • Cancellations received within 24 hours of event start will be charged $25 per person, including no shows
   • Includes 5 hours of complimentary valet parking with validation at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa

Below is the most recent report I have, from Jeffrey, who experienced the Princess Breakfast in December 2019.

The buffet table is more relevant for the non-vegan guests, but for vegan guests, they have a repertoire of vegan dishes that they bring out special for you, so the buffet part isn’t very relevant for vegans. Jeffrey said that they just kept bringing out plates of food especially for vegans, so he never had to get up to go to the buffet line. Jeffrey said that the service was the absolute best that he’s ever had.

The appetizers were a vegan creme brûlée with banana, cucumber avocado sandwiches, rolls with corn salad instead of the lobster roll, and a coconut chia pudding with fruit:

Jeffrey said that the appetizers were all delicious and that the presentation was outstanding.

The vegan entree was Impossible patties served with scrambled tofu, green beans, and squash. The server also brought out French fries from a dedicated fryer.

About the scrambled tofu, Jeffrey said that he personally liked it. It was a bit on the light side, and he added salt and pepper for flavor. This is also in the other report I have below — this is not how vegans make scrambled tofu, I would say! It needs lots of spices, maybe some veggies, and nooch, in my opinion! But hopefully the chefs at Napa Rose are learning and getting better at it.

They also brought out the vegan and gluten-free Mickey waffles:

Then they brought out five desserts. Jeffrey said that his favorite was the macaron. It’s a bit hard to find a vegan macaron, so that is quite special!

I also have a report from Michael and Mary, who experienced the Princess Breakfast in August 2019, so just a bit less current than the report above, but I wanted to continue to include it as well, since it is quite thorough:

“Well, this was quite the experience! I can tell you about the princesses we met (Belle, Aurora, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Rapunzel), or about the zillions of incredibly friendly cast members there if you like. But I’ll stick to the food for now!

We had a nonvegan at the table with us, so we got to see how their food was for comparison. Things started with a few sweet breads and lemon curd for her; my family got puff pastry with almonds and a really, really impressive mixed berry jam. I think that stuck out the most as an example of what the kitchen can do – it wasn’t all that unique on the surface, but was so amazingly made that it was very special.

We were then served a tower of appetizers. They were likely the same as the ones you mentioned previously. Corn salad in bread to mimic the nonvegan’s mini lobster roll, an open-faced cucumber sandwich (not sure what they spread on it, but I’m not typically a big cucumber fan and I loved it), brûléed bananas with blackberry jam (nonvegan got the same but with Nutella and wrapped in a crepe. Ours was good but I’m sure we missed something in the translation), and coconut chia pudding with fruit (nonvegan got the identical pudding. It was stellar). It all got served on a “tower” that felt very fancy. The nonvegan did get served a beignet that we got no equivalent of.

The main course for nonvegans is a buffet. Which is honestly kind of ridiculous for $125 per person. The buffet had fruit (all ripe and reasonably good quality, with things like blackberries and cherries that usually don’t make it to buffets) and roasted asparagus with cherry tomatoes for vegans. The roasted veggies were definitely tasty. Lots of nonvegan options that didn’t matter to me!

The chef showed up at our table with a team of waiters to “sweep” the table with vegan food for the main course, which was quite special and much nicer than a buffet! We got the standard vegan gluten free Mickey waffles that I’ve had at other DL breakfasts, though they were probably the best-browned ones I’ve had. I typically hate them (I just don’t like gluten free most of the time), but they were tolerable for me; people who usually like them will likely love them at Napa Rose. We got tofu scramble that honestly tasted more like tofu than anything else. It was likely seasoned with salt and pepper and not much else, and was cooked (maybe boiled and strained?) but not pan-fried or browned. I actually liked it; my kids didn’t! It seemed to at least have been prepared by someone who knows how to salt food, and tasted like decent tofu to me. Again, the kids stuck to Mickey waffles! Finally, we were given patties of Impossible burger shaped and cooked like breakfast sausage patties. They tasted like burgers, not sausage, but that’s not a bad thing and we loved them. They were served with pickled miniature peppers that were interesting and a good counterpoint to the Impossible meat.

Dessert was a vegan chocolate cake pop (really fudgy and tasty), a vegan macaron, a shot glass of sorbet (again not that imaginative but so well made that we all loved it), and a shot glass of coconut tapioca pudding. All were quite good.

In addition, there was a cocktail menu with nonalcoholic options. Mocktails were $7 or $7.50 a piece; cocktails were in the $15 range. We enjoyed our mocktails (mixes of juices and sodas; one on the menu was sweetened with honey but could be made with another sweetener. All the rest of the mocktails were vegan. Didn’t look into cocktails because we don’t drink!). None was overly-sweet or one-dimensional. That said, there wasn’t an option that wasn’t fruity and basically sweet.

Basically, the food was sometimes inspired and sometimes uncreative, but it was always made well and everything was good (maybe except the bread for the corn salad roll, which was dry). The kids got a bunch of little gifts (necklaces for girls, swords and shields for boys; little drawstring backpacks; trading pins; autograph books with pens that cost $9 apiece in other stores at Downtown Disney). The experience overall was nice; fancy-ish but still kid friendly and I didn’t feel out of place in a tee shirt and shorts. I can’t say definitively if it’s worth the incredibly high price, but if I put the cost out of my mind I have nothing bad to say about the experience.”

Puff pastry with jam and (happy coincidence) most of the cocktail menu:

Mocktails:

Appetizer tower:

Vegan mains:

Desserts:

That’s all I have for the Princess Breakfast! Now let’s move on to the lunch/dinner at Napa Rose. It is not a character buffet, but a normal menu. It is still very much recommended to get reservations though.

The menu changes seasonally, and this is one of the most expensive restaurants anywhere on Disneyland property, so it’s quite impossible for me to review the vegan dish every time they change the menu. But their general strategy is to have one vegan as-is entree on the menu at all times, and at least one appetizer that is vegan or veganizable.

Many thanks to Allison on Instagram for sharing the photos below of the current menu!

Below is the Crispy Red Lentil Crêpe from the Appetizers portion of the menu. It is filled with Curried Cabbage and spicy Eggplant Vietnamese Herb Salad and Edamame Velvet:

They can also offer an off-menu vegan pasta:

The vegan entree current menu is the Harvest Market “Paella”: Golden Chanterelle Mushroom, Golden Cauliflower, and Chickpea Fritter in a Saffron Tomato Broth. I haven’t been able to return to get it yet, but if you go, please let me know how you liked it!

Here is some info from last time I was able to go (Summer 2018):

They bring out bread before the meal, and our server checked and said that all of the normal breads have dairy and/or honey, but they have this gluten-free/vegan “allergy” bread that is very tasty! It’s reminiscent of pizza, with lots of garlic!

The wine list is about 20 pages long, so I didn’t take photos of the whole thing, but the wines by the glass were only the first 3 pages, and then the rest were half-bottles and bottles. One of the bottles was $18,000! But there are quite a few wines you can get for $6-10 per glass as well. The wine list is in a leather binder, so be prepared for that. It’s always hard for me if I touch something and realize it’s leather without being mentally prepared first.

I put a bunch of them into Barnivore to check if they use isinglass/gelatin, and many of them are too obscure to be in there yet. I did find the Stolpman Vineyards Syrah listed as vegan on Barnivore though, so I had a glass of that and it was delicious.

Our server described the desserts to us — 3 types of sorbet: lemon cucumber, raspberry hibiscus, and peach vanilla. And then he said that they also had a vegan chocolate coconut cake with a house-made vegan whipped cream, so of course we went for that! He overheard that it was my birthday, so they brought out a candle and gave us the dessert for free 🙂

• Craftsman Bar and Grill (Grand Californian Hotel)

This is the newly remodeled area next to the pool in the Grand Californian Hotel. It is directly adjacent to the pool, but it is open to the public; you don’t need to be a hotel guest to eat here.

The menu is very similar to White Water Snacks next door (outlined below), but for some reason the Poke Bowl is still listed on the menu at White Water Snacks, but not at the Craftsman Bar and Grill.

The two options that can be veganized at the Craftsman Bar and Grill are the Forest Mushroom Pizza without the cheese and the Avocado Toast.

The Forest Mushroom Pizza (omit cheese) comes with “vegetarian sausage,” which is actually Impossible meat. This pizza has a lot of mushrooms on it, and it is super tasty even without the cheese! They use quite fancy mushrooms. It is quite large, enough to share between 2 people.

With the Avocado Toast, ask to omit the burrata cheese, and switch out the bread — the ciabatta bread that it normally comes on ins’t vegan, but they can substitute sourdough instead.

There appear to be some newly imagined cocktails on the menu! Here is the list of the vegan ones:

• Pineapple Ginger Margarita
• Tamarind Margarita
• Kombucha Cocktail
• Paradisi Punch
• Coco de Agua
• Vanilla Mango Mule
• Yuzu Daiquiri
• Grand Mai Tai
• Passion Fruit Mojito
• Citrus Grape Spritzer (non-alcoholic)
• Coconut Fruit Punch (non-alcoholic)
• Green Tea Fruit Splash (non-alcoholic)

There is an extensive beer and wine list, and a couple of cocktails that contain wine or champagne, and you can plug those into Barnivore if you like.

Here are the menu photos for your reference:

 

• White Water Snacks (Grand Californian Hotel)

This is right next to the Craftsman Bar and Grill, the indoor portion behind it.

During breakfast time (until 11am), they can make you the vegan/gluten-free Mickey waffles upon request, the same as in Storyteller’s Café!

They also have this Coconut Chia Parfait in the refrigerators, where you can grab it and take it to the register. I cannot describe how delicious it was! Definitely recommend!

I love how it says “Vegan Friendly” right on the label!

Also in the grab-and-go section is some fruit (oranges/apples on that particular day), Clif bars (the one flavor they had that day was vegan), an instant oatmeal, etc:

This curried cauliflower salad in a box is vegan and clearly labeled too! I haven’t tried it yet, but let me know if you get it and how you like it.

For the menu that you order to be made from the kitchen, here’s a summary of how to veganize:

1. Tofu Poke Bowl: choose tofu and either rice or shredded lettuce. Remove aioli (contains egg) and furikake (contains fish)
2. The Forest mushroom pizza is with Impossible meat (to which the “Vegetarian sausage” refers). Omit the cheese and it’s vegan! It is quite a large pizza, I would say for at least 2 people.
3. They also have the Impossible burger as a secret menu item to replace the Cali Burger. They don’t have a vegan bun, but they have sourdough bread, so get it on that, and then with no cheese/hollandaise/aioli.
4. The Avocado toast is on sourdough bread, which is vegan. So just omit the burrata (cheese).

Tofu poke bowl (no aioli, no furikake):

• Hearthstone Lounge (Grand Californian Hotel)

This is the bar area adjacent to the lobby of the Grand Californian Hotel. They have a relatively small menu. Here they have the same Avocado Toast that is offered at White Water Snacks as well; just order it without egg on the breakfast version, and without cheese on the lunch/dinner version).

They were also able to make me a mixed green salad with an Italian vinaigrette dressing. The salads on the menu are listed with ranch dressing (contains dairy) and garlic vinaigrette dressing (contains honey), but the chef offered an of-menu Italian vinaigrette that is vegan. They have a seasonal soup that is sometimes vegan.

The menu looks very similar to the old Storyteller’s Café menu from before that restaurant converted into a buffet. So you can also get a cheeseless pizza, just like before at Stoyrteller’s. There are also many vegan cocktails on the menu, and since it’s a full bar, htey can make you basically anything you like.

 

• Goofy’s Kitchen (Disneyland Hotel)

This is a character dining buffet with lots of vegan options. It goes all day, so the buffet options change from breakfast to brunch to lunch/dinner as the day progresses.

Let’s talk about breakfast/brunch hours first. Tell them that you’re vegan when you arrive, and the chef will come out to talk to you. They can make you vegan Mickey waffles and pancakes:

And can bring you out vegan sorbet for dessert on request as well — I got a peach one, it was delicious!

They can also bring you some almond milk to put in your coffee:

There are quite a few vegan options on the buffet! Lots of fruit:

Roasted potatoes:

Roasted cauliflower salad:

Thai Mango salad:

Watermelon kale salad:

Rice Pilaf:

Seasonal vegetables:

Veggie soup:

Oatmeal made with water:

I’m sure these could change from day to day, so make sure to have the chef walk you around the buffet to let you know what’s vegan.

For the lunch/dinner buffet at Goofy’s Kitchen, use the same strategy: ask your server about vegan options, and the chef will come out to tell you what is vegan on the buffet, and offer you some special dishes as well.

Ben on Instagram shared a recent dish that Chef Edgar made for him! It’s a stir fry with tofu and the veggies they have available. The dish can change based on what’s in stock.

They can also make a pasta and vegan versions of some of the dishes on the buffet.

 

• Trader Sam’s / Tangaroa Terrace (Disneyland Hotel)

Tangaroa Terrace serves breakfast until 11:00am. Then it switches to lunch, and Trader Sam’s opens at 11:30am to start serving lunch as well.

Here is the Tangaroa Terrace breakfast menu:

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The veganizable option for breakfast is the Açai Chia Breakfast Bowl: “Açai Purée blended with Bananas, Strawberry, and Coconut Milk, layered with Chia Seed Pudding. Topped with Granola [see note below], Berries, and Cacao Nibs”:

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I asked the chef to check the ingredients list on the cacao nibs, and they are just the one ingredient, the cacao nibs, so those are vegan! No dairy or any other funny business on those. ⁣
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I also asked the chef to check on the granola, and it does contain honey. So the only modification needed for this dish is to omit the granola.⁣
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If you’ve had the Coconut Chia Parfait at White Water Snacks in the Grand Californian Hotel, the chia pudding part of this Açai bowl is similar to that. ⁣
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I absolutely loved this bowl, it has so many different textures and flavors. The açai smoothie on bottom, then the chia pudding on top, and then the berries, such a great combo. And the cocoa nibs give it a nice crunch!! And of course the edible flowers make it extra fancy!

I did ask about whether their Avocado Toast could be made vegan, but their bread (Hawaiian bread) contains egg, and they don’t have any other breads, so that one isn’t veganizable.

Here is the lunch/dinner menu for both Tangaroa Terrace and Trader Sam’s:

For the Poke Bowl, choose the tofu, and then omit the aioli, fish roe, and crab salad:

They indicate on the menu that they have a “plant-based patty available” for the Hawaiian cheeseburger, and that is an Impossible patty. Omit the bacon, cheese, and spicy sauce, and specify that you want the vegan bun. It’s an onion-type bun. They can give you a teriyaki sauce, which is vegan, in place of the other sauce. The teriyaki sauce goes great with the pineapple on this burger.

Right now, they say they are only in the “testing” phase of this bun (previously we only had a lettuce wrap — this is great progress!!), so the bun might sell out periodically, but that is of course our goal to make it sell out and show them that there is demand for a vegan bun! I hope that it does well and that they continue to stock it.

The sweet potato fries are in a shared fryer, but if preferred, they can give you pineapple spears as a side instead.

They also brought back the Rongo Salad from an older menu. This one is vegan with no modifications! It has edamame, green papaya, iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, gooseberries, crispy shallots, sesame seeds, marinated tofu, and fermented miso vinaigrette.

Below is an older photo of this salad, from the previous menu, so the ingredients have changed slightly, but both versions are 100% vegan. I’ll go back as soon as I can to get this again to get an updated photo:

They also serve Dole Whips here! You can get a regular pineapple Dole Whip, a Dole Float, or a Dole Float with a splash of rum (choose from either Myer’s dark spiced rum, or Parrot Bay coconut rum):

They also do espresso drinks! They have both soy milk and almond milk that they can use to make a latte, cappuccino, etc. They also usually have a canister of soy milk sitting out on the counter that you can use to put into your regular coffee.

I asked about the Hot Chocolate listed above, and they can indeed make a vegan version of it with either soy or almond milk! This is the chocolate mix they use, see the ingredients below. It has a factory cross-contamination warning “may contain milk,” but there is no dairy in the actual ingredients list.

Inside Tangaroa Terrace, they have some new vegan snacks. These Seattle Chocolate bars are also vegan, as it says on the back of the package:

They also have whole fruits, and on the bottom right of the photo below, you’ll see two chocolate bars from a company called chuao. Below you’ll see the ingredients lists, there is no dairy in them! Watch out for those Maui chips pictured below, they do actually contain milk.

Chuao mango chocolate bar:

Chuao Firecracker chocolate bar:

Also these Blue Sky sodas:

Juices and a tropical fruit plate:

Non-dairy Haagen-Dazs:

All of the cocktails at Trader Sam’s/Tangaroa Terrace are vegan! I checked on the coconut cream and various things like Angostura Bitters, Falernum, etc.

There are two new cocktails: the Tangaroa Cooler and the Sea Monster’s Embrace. They both come optionally in a souvenir mug. Below is the Tangaroa Cooler. It is Hendrick’s Gin, Orgeat (Almond) Syrup, Falernum, Angostura Bitters, and juices of Grapefruit and Lemon:

I didn’t get the Sea Monster’s Embrace yet, but it consists of: The Real McCoy and Plantation Dark Rums, New Amsterdam Gin, Christian Brothers Brandy, Passion Fruit, Falernum, and Juices of Lime, Orange, and Pineapple. Recommended for two or more guests.

 

• The Coffee House (Disneyland Hotel)

At the coffee shop in the Disneyland Hotel, they can make espresso drinks with almond milk. They also have oatmeal, cereals, and fruit.

In the fridge, they have these fruit plates and garden salads as well:

They also have various coffee drinks here – espresso, lattes, etc. They can make them with soy or almond milk.

 

• Steakhouse 55 (Disneyland Hotel)

Steakhouse 55 is a fine dining restaurant that doesn’t have anything explicitly vegan on the menu at the moment, but if you ask your server, they have a few dishes on the secret menu, which might change based on availability. I’ve never done the regular dinner before (I have done the afternoon tea; see below), but Brittyn on Instagram was so generous as to share her recent experience and photo with us! Here is her description of the experience in late October, 2019:

“The waiter said they could do a cauliflower cacciatore, risotto, or pasta primavera. I ordered the primavera, but then the chef came out to apologize and said they only had egg noodles. He made me a vegetable risotto instead with tofu, broccoli, mushrooms, tomatoes, and some greens (not sure exactly what). There was a vinegar sauce too. It was good, but $29! Wow. Fancy experience, however, with very nice staff. They said they didn’t have any dessert options besides fruit.”

Here is her photo of the vegetable risotto:

 

Here is a report about the breakfast at Steakhouse 55 from Zabrina in March 2020:

“I recently ate breakfast at Steakhouse 55 and got the vegan option (upon request, not on the menu). It was a sautéed veggie plate (spinach, onion, bell peppers, tomato, and mushrooms) with breakfast potatoes! I added tofu as well. It was priced as a regular omelette plate, at about $20 ($19.99).”

And here is a photo of it:

 

I am always so grateful when my friends on Instagram share their dining experiences and photos with me, especially for these fine dining restaurants, since I can’t afford to do them very often myself! It is already quite pricy for me to maintain this blog, and I try to go back to each dining location as often as I can to keep everything up to date, but going to Steakhouse 55, Napa Rose, etc. once every couple of months is a bit hard. So whenever you happen to go to these restaurants and can report back on vegan options, I am very grateful!

In addition to the normal restaurant menu, they also do an afternoon tea here (reservations required). They were able to modify and come up with a few things for us, but they didn’t have any vegan baked goods to replace the non-vegan versions (scones, muffins, etc), so they gave us fruit and sorbet. This is quite expensive, so unless they step up their game, I wouldn’t necessarily suggest it. The teas are amazing though — if you’re a real tea lover, you might find it worth it. They were seriously delicious. There are so many different teas on the menu and our server described them all wonderfully.

Normally they bring out honey and lemon, but we asked for agave and they were able to bring us some! I think it’s because agave is used in cocktails, so that’s why they had it on hand:

The tea sandwiches they brought out for us were:

– cucumber, watercress, hummus
– tomato, pesto, microgreens
– avocado, chives, tomato
– Mickey shaped peanut butter and jelly

As far as the regular menu goes, our server told us that while the breakfast and dinner menus don’t have anything explicitly vegan on the menu, the chef is prepared to make something special for you. I haven’t had the chance to go to either of those yet, but I will soon! Please let me know if you go and what they make for you!

• Donald’s Seaside Breakfast – Character Buffet at PCH Grill (Paradise Pier Hotel)

There are a few things on the buffet that are vegan (fruit, veggies, roasted potatoes), but the real thing to do here is to tell your server that you’re vegan and then the chef will come out to talk to you. We were lucky enough to get Chef Arturo (who also works at the Surfside Lounge, see below), and he made us a bunch of special dishes!

Fruit on the buffet:

On request, they can bring you soy and almond milk for your coffee:

Chef Arturo made us the vegan/gluten-free Mickey Waffles (the ones on the buffet are not vegan), and these roasted potatoes were vegan as-is on the buffet:

The tofu in the photo above is from the omelette station — the Chef said that we should ask the omelette chef to make us a tofu scramble, and so the omelette chef pulled out some tofu and made a quick scramble — it’s actually more of a stir fry with tofu, but it’s the same idea. But then Chef Arturo walked by and saw, and he said he would make us some more in the back (I think he knew that he could make it better than the omelette chef). So then he brought out this:

We saw some non-vegan chilaquiles on the buffet, so we asked Chef Arturo if he could make us vegan chilaquiles. So this is what he came up with! He used the Impossible burger meat (they offer the Impossible burger at Surfside Lounge, which shares a kitchen — see below for more info on that).

The characters you can meet here are Donald, Daisy, Minnie, and Stitch:

They also have a dinner buffet here with the theme of “Calitalian,” so I suppose a Californian / Italian fusion, but I haven’t had the chance to check that out yet. Please let me know if you go and I’ll be able to update this!

 

• Surfside Lounge (Paradise Pier Hotel)

They recently added the Impossible Burger to their menu! It’s called the Totally Awesome Burger and it’s described on the menu as a “Vegetarian Patty with Cheese, Grilled Onions, and Burger Sauce, served with French Fries.” It’s called the “Awesome” burger because they use a sauce called “Awesome Sauce” by the vegan company JUST.

So this is burger, just make sure to omit the cheese:

He told me that the bun doesn’t have eggs, dairy, or honey in the ingredients list, but the package has a “made in a shared facility with eggs” disclaimer on it.

The burger comes with fries (from a shared fryer), fruit, or steamed veggies.

Another easily veganized menu item is the Poke Bowl. You can see on the menu, just choose tofu for your protein and avoid the mayo and fish eggs.

I didn’t have time to ask about it, but I think this Kale and Quinoa salad is already vegan or easily modifiable — will have to ask about the dressing.

• Sand Bar (Paradise Pier Hotel)

Located next to the pool on the third floor of the Paradise Pier Hotel, you’ll find the Sand Bar. It is outside of the gated pool area, so you don’t need to be a hotel guest to eat here.

Here they have Peanut Butter and Jelly Sliders with Impossible Meat. I spoke with a chef who said that the buns are vegan and do not contain any dairy, eggs, or honey. It doesn’t mention cheese on the menu, but they do normally come with cheese, so make sure to order them with no cheese.

They were actually surprisingly good! I was skeptical of the idea of peanut butter and jelly with an impossible burger, but it was actually super delicious! Definitely recommend!

 

• Dark Chocolates and “Snacks with Character” throughout the parks

You can find these bagged dark chocolates throughout the parks, and in the various gift shops in the hotels. The two vegan options are the Dark Chocolate Non-pareils and the Dark Chocolate Cocoa Dusted Almonds. The non-pareils seem to have disappeared lately though, I’m not sure if they’re coming back.

At these locations with the chocolates, you can find various “Snacks with Character,” which are repackaged Enjoy Life products that are made for people with allergies. You can see on those rice milk bars that they are clearly labelled “vegan.” There are also a few cookies, chips, trail mixes, and other snacks that are clearly labeled vegan.

Those are all of the options in the hotels that I know about at the moment! Please let me know if you find any that I should add! Messaging me on Instagram (@happiestveganonearth) is the quickest way to contact me.

Also check out my other recently updated comprehensive guides to eating vegan throughout the Disneyland Resort:

Complete Guide to Vegan Options at Disneyland! (January 2020 Update)

Complete Guide to Vegan Options in California Adventure! (January 2020 Update)

Complete Guide to Vegan Options in Downtown Disney! (January 2020 Update)

Find me on Instagram for daily updates, and on Youtube for video versions of these guides.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happiestveganonearth/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjFU0LZX4OtGgqIXLrt60Uw

Also, tag me on Instagram in your vegan food photos! I love to see all the deliciousness that people find in the parks!