Downtown Disney has reopened! Guide to what’s open and what’s vegan

On July 9, 2020, Downtown Disney started its partial reopening! I went to check it out to see what the current state of things is.

Note that Downtown Disney is the only part of the Disneyland Resort that is open! Disneyland Park, California Adventure, and the hotels are all still closed. There was originally a proposed reopening date for Disneyland, DCA, and the hotels, but those dates were indefinitely postponed. As of July 9, 2020, there is no proposed reopening date for Disneyland, DCA, or the hotels.

The general hours for Downtown Disney are currently 10am to 8pm, with some individual locations setting their own hours.

For information about parking, temperature checks, mask requirements, all that stuff, please read Disneyland’s Know Before You Go page in its entirety!

Also, at the bottom of the Know Before You Go page that I just linked above, they have an official list of what is currently open:

The following shopping and dining locations are open at the Downtown Disney District. Additional locations may reopen, but are not currently listed. Please contact the shop or restaurant you’d like to visit for more information—including hours of operation.

• • Asian Street Eats™ by Chef Hung Huynh 
  • Black Tap Craft Burgers & Shakes
  • California Churro
  • Curl Surf
  • Disney Home
  • Disney’s Pin Traders
  • Earl of Sandwich®
  • Jamba®
  • Kayla’s Cakes
  • Marceline’s Confectionery
  • Naples Ristorante e Bar
  • PANDORA® Jewelry
  • Rinse Bath & Body Co.
  • Salt & Straw
  • Sephora
  • Starbucks®
  • Starbucks® West
  • Sugarboo & Co.
  • Sunglass Icon®
  • The Disney Dress Shop
  • The LEGO® Store
  • UVA Bar & Cafe
  • Wetzel’s Pretzels®
  • WonderGround Gallery
  • World of Disney®

Anything that you don’t see on that list is not currently open, but may open at any point, so always double check before you go if you would like to know what to expect! But this list does reflect what I saw today on July 9.

I’ll walk you through my experience today so that you can hopefully get an idea of what to expect!

I entered through the east side, the East Shuttle Area where the Toy Story bus would normally drop you off. I come in this way because there is a bike rack there and I live on the east side of Disneyland. That means that I didn’t do the whole parking thing, so unfortunately I can’t share anything with you about what the parking is like. I did hear that they closed the parking lot some time during the afternoon today because it hit capacity. So if you want to make sure you get in that day, I would suggest getting there as early as you can. Perhaps after a few days or weeks it won’t matter so much, though.

Here is what it looked like as I approached the temperature screening and bag check. Note the blue striped lines, which were found all around Downtown Disney to encourage physical distancing:

Luckily I didn’t have to wait at all here, there was no line, so I walked straight up to the cast members who took my temperature (with a forehead reading thermometer that they hold a few inches away from your forehead) and checked my bag.

Then I made it onto the Esplanade and cried. The music is playing, the same soundtrack we heard before the park closed. You can get relatively close to the turnstiles – you can see the rope behind me – and hang out here as long as you like.

This mask was made by We’ve Got Ears, by the way! The fabric is like Mickey’s outfit in the new Magic Happens parade. The parade that we only had for about 2 weeks before the park closed!

It was quite comfortable to wear the mask. We’ve Got Ears makes a great design that is secure and breathable! I actually wore it while riding my bike as well, more because it was more convenient to have it on my face than to put it in my bag and have to dig it out again, but I didn’t feel at any point like the mask was too hot or uncomfortable.

Below are the blue striped distancing markers between World of Disney and leading up to Starbucks on the east side:

It looks like these 2 Starbucks locations have now added the Mobile Order option, which they didn’t have before! Many Starbucks locations, regular ones not on Disney property, had had mobile order for a while, but for some reason the ones here didn’t yet.

This is the patio of Naples. As per the most recent state of California orders, restaurants are allowed to have take-out and outdoor dining, but not indoor dining. That means that restaurants that have patios, like Naples, can still do table service if they choose.

There was a line leading up to the host station at Naples, so I imagine that it would take a while to get on that patio! So pack your patience if you come.

The quick-service side of Naples, Napolini, is not open:

It was announced recently that the Sanuk sandal store is being replaced by California Sole, so you can see that construction taking place:

As noted in the list above, many of the retail shops are open, as you can see here with Curl Surf, Pandora, and Sephora. Some of the more popular ones started to form lines.

Here is another look at Naples and the retail shops on the east side:

Jamba Juice is open and appears to have its full menu!

And that brings us to Salt & Straw! The most exciting part of Downtown Disney at the moment in my opinion.

Near the entrance, they have instructions on how to mobile order, i.e. place an order on the Salt & Straw website. You have the option to do mobile order, which is encouraged, but they can also have you pay with a credit card inside as usual. They are not accepting cash at all though.

You just have to point your camera at the QR code on that sign, and it will take you to Salt & Straw’s website to order. After you have ordered, just let the cast member know, and they will tell you to go inside where you confirm with the cast member at the counter, and then you can wait out front, and they will bring your order outside to you.

They have a somewhat limited menu right now. They have both scoops and pints available. As seen on the new sign below, the vegan flavors currently available are Strawberry & Coconut Water Sherbert and Freckled Mint TCHO-cholate Chip, along with the Meyer Lemon and Blueberries, which isn’t listed here because it’s a Limited Edition monthly flavor. But if you go on the website, you’ll see the lemon listed there, and I got some today, so it’s definitely there!

I got some pints of Freckled Mint TCHO-colate Chip, Strawberry Coconut Sherbert, and Meyer Lemon and Blueberries, and I got a scoop of the Strawberry Coconut Sherbert as well!

So refreshing and delicious on a hot day!

Black Tap has a limited menu. The major thing to note is that the only vegan entree option is the Nashville Hot Sandwich now, and the Vegan Burger and Quinoa Bowl with the burger are not currently offered.

The shake menu is limited as well, and it looks like the vegan shakes are not being offered right now.

Black Tap has a small patio area, and it looks like they have combined their patio area with Spiltsville’s, so there is a bit more seating there. Splitsville is closed. Black Tap had quite a line, I imagine it would be quite a while to get in there, so pack your patience!

Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen is completely closed:

Tortilla Joe’s is also completely closed:

I saw two of these hand-washing stations (one near Salt & Straw, and one near the Lego Store). There may have been more, but I saw two. And of course, all of the regular bathrooms were open for you to wash your hands as well.

Asian Street Eats was open, which was very exciting for me because that is where I wanted to eat! It looked like they had their full menu available as well!

It is the same ordering procedure as before – you order at the little stand there in the front, and then they give you a receipt and pager. You show your receipt to the cast member at the window on the left side there, where you then pay (they are accepting both card and cash), and then you wait for your pager to go off. When it does, you bring it back to the window, and they give you your food.

I was able to use my Passholder discount. As far as I know, every location that normally offers a Passholder discount is also doing so now.

I got the Scallion Pancake Wrap with Tofu! To veganize this, just order it without the aioli. Please see my Complete Guide to Vegan Options in Downtown Disney for more info on what is vegan here!

This Scallion Pancake Wrap was actually the last thing that I ate before the parks closed, and it was somewhat of a coincidence that it was also the first thing I ate today! I am going to have quite the sentimental attachment to this wrap now!

Here is what the west side Starbucks looks like – you can do mobile order, but I also saw a few people queuing inside:

I also saw that Earl of Sandwich is open and appears to have its regular menu. Please see my Complete Guide to Vegan Options in Downtown Disney for info on how to veganize some of the sandwiches there!

Uva bar is open with a limited menu, and they have their house-made “veggie burger” on the menu, but it changes so frequently with whether it has eggs in it, so I would recommend avoiding it for now to be safe.

Finally, a note about World of Disney (the largest store in Downtown Disney, the “Emporium” of Downtown Disney, so to speak): there is a queue with blue distancing markers in front of the store, but you should also be aware that they’re using something of a “virtual queue” to get into World of Disney, so you need to check in with a cast member to get a return time. As of now, you don’t just get into the queue; you need to first have a return time. You can get your return time over here at the tram loading  area near World of Disney:

That’s going to do it for this update! I’ll be back whenever I get new information for you. Please make sure you’re following me on Instagram, @happiestveganonearth, for the latest updates about vegan food all around the Disneyland Resort. Until next time, I’ll see ya real soon!