Posted by Buena Vista Street in California Adventure has reopened recently, and it’s considered an extension of Downtown Disney because it only offers dining and shopping, no attractions. So I’m including Buena Vista Street in this guide since they are considered one area for the moment. Use the jump links below to go to the dining location that interests you.
There is no charge to get into Buena Vista Street – getting into DCA without a ticket is something we thought we’d never see! If you want to park, the only lot available is the Simba lot, which is $10.
Note that menus and offerings at Downtown Disney + Buena Vista Street have been changing rapidly, so this information here will go out of date at some point! But whenever I get new info, I’ll update this post, and make a new post when we’re at a more stable point. Please check the main page of this blog (https://happiestveganonearth.com/) if you are reading this more than a couple of months in the future, and use the most current version of the blog post so that you have the most accurate info for your visit to the park 🙂
Please tag me on Instagram whenever you have photos of vegan food in Downtown Disney or notice anything new/different that I can update! 🙂
Table of Contents (Jump to a section!)
Buena Vista Street:
Carthay Circle Lounge
Smokejumper’s Grill
Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café(Starbucks)
Award Wieners
Outdoor Vending Carts
Downtown Disney:
Asian Street Eats
Black Tap Burgers and Shakes
Ballast Point
Salt and Straw
Wetzel’s Pretzels
Earl of Sandwich
Tortilla Jo’s
Splitsville
La Brea Bakery
Starbucks
Naples / Napolini
Sprinkles Cupcakes
Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen
Uva Bar and Café
Catal Restaurant (Currently closed)
Jamba Juice
Marceline’s Confectionary
Rinse Soap
Sephora
Curl Surf
Buena Vista Street:
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Carthay Circle Lounge
You can now make reservations for Carthay Circle on the Disneyland app or website, so I’d highly recommend doing that if you plan on going! It is table service and limited capacity.
Many thanks to @juliannaevs for her photos and review of the vegan dish below! It is a modified version of the Strozzapreti pasta dish. The chef told Julianna that the pasta itself is fine, no egg, and the sauce is already vegan as well. The chef said that modifications needed are to omit the cheese and basil leaves that are fried in butter.
Here is Julianna’s review: “It was pretty good and the sauce had a lot of flavor! It was also a small portion for the price tag of $20, but I found it to be enough food to satisfy me without feeling too full.”
They can also do a modified version of their spring rolls, which may remind you of a dish they had here before the closure.
Many thanks to @ducksgalinsd on Instagram for sharing her photo below!
You’ll want to ask for the vegan version of the Carthay Spring Roll, ask to swap avocado for the shrimp:
She was also able to get a veganized version of the pear salad.
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Smokejumper’s Grill
The new, more streamlined menu is quite different from what they offered before the closure. Now they have an Impossible burger. The burger is labeled “Plant-Based” on the menu, which is defined as “contains no animal meat, dairy, eggs, or honey.”
It is a pretty basic burger, with the Impossible patty, lettuce, tomato, on a toasted bun, and served with waffle fries.
Thanks so much to @foreverlandfairytales for the photo below!
The fries are made in a shared fryer with everything else that is deep fried, but you can request fries from a gluten-free/allergy separate fryer if you prefer.
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Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café (Starbucks)
This appears to have its normal Starbucks menu.
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Outdoor Vending Carts
Because I haven’t been myself yet, I can’t tell you all the details about the carts, but I’ll be there as soon as I can to check it out. There is definitely popcorn though! The regular “buttered” popcorn is vegan (it is actually canola / coconut oil).
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Award Wieners
Award Wieners has a very different menu from before the closure, and unfortunately the Plant-Based Philly Dog is not there. None of the old hot dogs are there; it is now basically swapped with the Corn Dog Castle menu. So there are corn dogs and cheese sticks, really nothing of interest. There are of course beers and other beverages though.
Downtown Disney:
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Asian Street Eats by Chef Hung Huynh
Asian Street Eats still has its normal, full menu from before the closure. This Scallion Pancake Wrap with tofu was the last thing I ate before Disneyland closed, and it was the first thing I ate on reopening day of Downtown Disney, so you can probably tell that I’m a big fan of it!
Note that is made on a shared grill, though they clean it frequently. The chef assured me that the pancake wrap’s ingredients do not contain any dairy, eggs, meat, or honey. Just make sure to order it with tofu and omit the sriracha aioli (contains egg).
Then we have the Mixed Bowl with tofu:
The bowl comes with purple rice or mixed greens, a bunch of veggies, tofu, and a side of sauce. Here is a rundown of the sauce ingredients:
- Teriyaki: vegan
- Spicy teriyaki: vegan
- Sesame Citrus Soy: vegan
- Spicy Avocado: contains honey
- Miso honey: contains honey
- Sriracha aioli: contains egg
Then we have the vegetable potstickers. They are mostly mushrooms! The dough and everything else about them is vegan, as well was the ginger soy sauce they come with, so there are no modifications necessary:
Here is the menu board for your reference:
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Black Tap Craft Burgers and Shakes
They currently have a limited version of the menu. Note that they don’t currently offer the Vegan Black ‘N White Cakeshake, the Vegan Burger, or the Vegan Burger and Quinoa Bowl.
The vegan entree that they do have currently is the Vegan Nashville Hot Sandwich. It is a breaded portobello, Nashville hot sauce, coleslaw with a vegan dill dressing, pickles, tomato, and lettuce on a vegan potato bun. It requires no modifications:
It comes with fries (in a shared fryer), but if preferred, you can get the house salad as a side instead.
I can tolerate a lot of spice, but this one actually took me close to my limit! My face was pretty much burning off, but in the best way possible.
You can also get a modified version of the Burger Salad (swipe to 2nd photo). Use the Nashville hot patty in place of the burger, and omit the cheese/bacon/special sauce, and ask for their vegan oil & vinegar dressing instead. This is a great option if you’re in the mood for a salad instead of a sandwich!
While they can’t currently make the Vegan Black ‘N White Cakeshake, they sometimes have the vegan version of their Classic Shakes on the menu. I have asked on different days and sometimes they tell me they have them, and sometimes they tell me they don’t.
You can order a shake from inside the restaurant as usual, or you can go up to their walk-up shake window outside the restaurant for a quick shake to take with you.
The vegan version of the shake is a soymilk based vegan ice cream. To order a vegan shake, ask for the vegan ice cream base on the Classic Shake, and then choose any flavor except for nutella (which has dairy). The vegan flavors are: coffee, vanilla, chocolate, black cherry, strawberry, caramel, peanut butter, and oreo cookies and cream.
Here is the Black Cherry flavor:
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Ballast Point Brewery
They currently have a limited version of their menu. Below is what is currently available.
Soyrizo and Roasted Cauliflower Tacos, which are vegan with no modifications:
The Impossible Lettuce Cups appetizer is vegan with no modifications:
I asked again about their Impossible Burger, and they still don’t have a vegan bun, so it has to be a lettuce wrap, and omit the sauce/cheese. I ordered it once just to see how it is, and it’s alright, but I’m not really into lettuce wraps, so I would recommend the tacos over this until they get a vegan bun:
The Bavarian Pretzel itself is vegan, so if you order it without the cheese dip, it is vegan. The mustard is vegan. You can substitute the chipotle tofu aioli (which normally comes on the tacos) instead of the cheese.
There used to be a burrito that could be modified (Cali Steak Burrito) by substituting Impossible meat for the carne asada, but that burrito didn’t make it onto the limited menu, so that substitution can’t happen right now unfortunately.
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Salt and Straw
Salt and Straw is a Portland based ice cream company with lots of vegan flavors! They are all marked clearly on the menu with a (V).
The three vegan flavors on the permanent menu are:
1. Strawberry & Coconut Water Sherbet
2. Dandelion Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies and Cream (currently unavailable)
3. Freckled Mint Tcho-colate Chip (new name: Mint Chip with Theo Chocolate)
The current Limited Edition series for December has the vegan flavor called The Great Cookie Swap. I haven’t got it yet so I don’t have a photo, but here is the menu description:
“Just like rifling through the cookie tin at grandma’s house, but better. Our most ambitious vegan flavor yet, stuffed full with quintessential holiday cookies, from jammy strawberry thumbprints and the crack of crisp gingersnaps, to deep chocolate almond bark and sugar cookies with iconic holiday sprinkles all smothered in a coconut cream base that honors a nutty macaroon – even Santa can’t keep his hands off.”
See Salt & Straw’s website for more info on this flavor.
Below is a scoop of the Freckled Mint Tcho-colate Chip, which has a new name: Mint Chip with Theo Chocolate. I haven’t tried it since they changed it slightly. It seems like they just changed the brand of chocolate they used, so it might be pretty much indistinguishable from the old version, but I’ll let you know when I try it again!
Below is the Strawberry & Coconut Water Sherbet:
Below is a scoop of the Dandelion Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies and Cream, which is our favorite, but not on the menu currently. Every day, I check to see if it has reappeared! Hopefully soon!
The sugar cones, which are pictured in all of these photos, are vegan. They are also sometimes called kid’s cones. The waffle cones (the larger ones) are not vegan; they contain egg.
You can also get scoops in a cup, as seen above.
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Wetzel’s Pretzels
Wetzel’s menu appears to be the same from before the closure.
The original pretzels are vegan as far as the dough goes, but they typically brush them with butter when they come out of the oven. Not to worry though — they make new batches frequently, so all you have to do is request to have one without butter, and they’ve give you one from the next batch if you can wait for a minute or two.
The Pretzel Bitz without the butter are also vegan:
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Earl of Sandwich
Earl of Sandwich’s menu appears to be the same as before the closure.
Two of their sandwiches are easy to veganize:
1. Caprese: Omit the cheese, and add avocado if desired. Say “avocado instead of cheese” and they shouldn’t charge you extra.
2. Veggie sandwich: Omit the cheese and dressing and it’s vegan!
The white (default) bread is vegan, but the wheat bread contains honey.
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Tortilla Jo’s
Tortilla Jo’s has a limited version of their menu currently.
Note that the Tableside Guacamole is not currently available.
They still have the Vegetarian Burrito on the menu, which is still vegan by default. It has house made quinoa meatballs, black beans, roasted tomatoes, poblano peppers, and red onion, topped with salsa ranchera and served with cilantro rice.
They can also make an off-menu vegan version of their fajitas with their grilled veggies (onions, peppers, zucchini, etc.), black beans, cilantro rice, etc. They used to have a portobello mushroom version of the fajitas, but those are not on the the menu anymore.
And they can make an off-menu vegan version of their enchiladas that are filled with those same veggies. I had the server verify with the chef that the green enchilada sauce is indeed vegan, doesn’t contain chicken stock or any other lurking animal products:
Just for reference if you want to get any sides or modify any menu items, the server told me that the red rice is made in chicken stock, and the refried beans contain lard. So the vegan alternatives to those are the cilantro lime rice and the black beans.
Every time I have walked by the Taqueria, the quick service side of Tortilla Jo’s, it has appeared to be closed. It seems that only the table service side of Tortilla Jo’s is currently open.
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Splitsville
Splitsville has recently reopened! I haven’t had a chance to go back myself yet, but their menu appears to be largely the same as before.
They still have the Veggie Roll on the menu, which is Cucumber, Avocado, Carrots, Asparagus, Spring Mix, Pickled Radish, Grape Tomatoes, and Yellow Peppers rolled in harvest blend Rice and drizzled with Ponzu Sauce and Sesame Seeds. Before the closure, it was vegan with no modifications, but make sure to verify with your server that that is still the case.
They also still have their Impossible Burger, here is their menu description: “Plant-based, all-natural Patty topped with melted American Cheese, Awesome Sauce, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, and Pickle served with Fries. Request no Cheese and no Sauce to make it vegan!”
The Spicy Veggie Bowl is also still on the menu. It is Broccoli, Kale and crisp Mixed Vegetables stir-fried in spicy Tataki Sauce and topped with Avocado and Green Onions served over Sushi Rice. Before the closure, it was veganizable in this way: Switch the sauce for the regular tataki (the kimchi has fish in it). Add tofu if desired. Make sure to verify with your serve that that is still the case.
The Poke Bowl is still on the menu. It is made with your choice of Salmon, Ahi Tuna or Tofu with Pickled Radish and Avocado over Bamboo Rice Blend topped with spicy Mayo, Sesame Seeds and Scallions. Before the closure, the modifications to veganize were to choose tofu; omit the mayo and pickled radish (which contains kimchi/fish), and ask for the vegan tataki sauce instead of mayo if desired.
Also, there is still the Edamame Appetizer. It is optional to add chili sauce; I’m not sure whether it is vegan now, but before the closure it contained dairy.
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La Brea Bakery
La Brea Bakery is currently serving a limited menu. The menu is much smaller than before, and every item is being served all day.
There is a vegan version of their La Brea Bakery Burger by substituting either their vegan veggie patty (bean and quinoa based), which is the same one they had before, and also now they are serving it with Impossible patty as well.
The brioche bun that they normally serve it on is not vegan, so ask to substitute the telera bread instead. They used to have a vegan wheat bun here, but they don’t have that currently, or at least not today. The telera bread is a simple white bread, similar to French bread. It is listed as coming with cheese, so specify to omit the cheese as well.
It comes with butter lettuce, tomatoes, and caramelized onions. I added avocado in the photo below. It doesn’t come with any sauces by default, But of course they can bring you ketchup or mustard if you like.
You can choose a side of fries, yam chips, fruit, house salad, etc. The fries are made in a shared fryer, so I would suggest going for the fruit if you prefer to avoid that.
You can order either with the QR code on the menu board out front, or you can go inside and order at the counter. They have their smaller patio on the right open, where you sit down after you order and they bring your food out to you. And then they have the larger patio on the left open for overflow.
If you order online, just make sure to put the patty and bread substitutions in the notes section and specify that you want it to be all vegan.
They also have Nancy’s Fancy Gelato on the menu in two vegan flavors: Chocolate Fondente and Coconut Stracciatella.
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Starbucks (two locations)
Both the East (larger) and West (smaller) locations of Starbucks are currently open in Downtown Disney, and they have mobile order kiosks in the front. So you can order your drink on the Starbucks app and then pick it up out front.
Most drinks can be veganized by choosing soy, almond, coconut, and most recently, oat milk.
My current favorite is the Nitro Cold Brew with Cinnamon Oatmilk Foam:
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Naples / Napolini
Naples has reopened with a limited menu. I haven’t been back yet, but I have a photo of the menu board here, followed by info about those items before the closure. Since I haven’t been back yet, you can tell it’s pretty far down on my list of the good vegan food in Downtown Disney.
The current menu board:
The minestrone soup, bruschetta, panini alla verdure, and vegetable sides appear to not be on the limited menu.
You can still veganize the pizza by asking for no cheese, extra sauce, and toppings of your choice. The photo below is a pizza with eggplant, artichokes, black olives, and arugula:
They still have the Della Casa Salad, which is pictured here with added chickpeas:
If they bring out bread before your meal, make sure to double check that it’s vegan, but last time I was there, they had two vegan breads – the ciabatta bread on left, pizza dough bread on right:
Napolini is the quick service side of this restaurant, and here they can make you a pizza with no cheese and your choice of toppings.
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Sprinkles Cupcakes
Sprinkles has reopened and they still have their Vegan Red Velvet cupcake! Such a beautiful and delicious cupcake, definitely recommend.
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Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen
Their limited menu still has their Impossible Burger, which was added relatively recently. Here is the current menu board (it is the same for lunch and dinner):
Before the closure, they were using different buns entirely, so I had to switch out the bun on the previous version. But I asked again this time and had the server verify with the chef that the bun contains no egg, dairy, or honey, and the default bun is actually vegan now, so there is no need to switch the bun.
You do have to omit the aioli, which contains egg. So that is the only modification to make, just ask for the Impossible Burger with no aioli.
The fries are in a shared fryer, so switch them out for another side if you prefer (salad, veggies, etc).
They have a full bar, so they can make lots of cocktails and things. I got a virgin mint julep there for the first time and it was very refreshing! Quite different from the ones in Disneyland – less sweet and more fizzy. No cherry, though.
The Express side of the Jazz Kitchen just has a couple of items, nothing remotely veganizable unfortunately. They have a few drinks though, e.g. the virgin mint julep. Maybe one day they will have vegan beignets like they do at the Port Orleans Resort at Walt Disney World!
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Uva Bar and Café
Uva, along with Naples, is the last restaurant I haven’t been back to since the reopening, so you can tell that they are also pretty far down on my list. Here is the current menu board:
This menu seems to change often. Right now they have the “Veggie Burger,” which was actually called the “Vegan Burger” for a while, but then changed back to the Veggie Burger.
Below is the current version of their Veggie Burger. It has had many iterations over the years, and the current version can be made vegan by switching the bun (contains eggs and dairy) for a lettuce wrap, and omitting the special sauce. At some point this patty had egg in it, but it does not now. Make sure to verify all of this with your server again though, since this place changes so often!
It is a veggie patty that is made mostly of quinoa and beans and it’s quite tasty! It also comes with tomato and caramelized onions.
By default it comes with sweet potato fries, and you could also get garlic fries or a salad as a side. The fries are in a dedicated fryer.
They also still have the trio of Mediterranean dips on the menu. It comes with pita bread that isn’t vegan, but you can easily substitute more cucumbers for dipping. This is the same as before the reopening.
Also, two of their salads can be easily modified to be vegan. The watermelon salad and the manchego salad, omit the cheese.
Watermelon Salad, omit the feta cheese:
Sweet potato fries with ketchup:
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Catal Restaurant
Catal is currently closed. At the moment, only outdoor/patio dining is allowed, and Catal is all indoors.
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Jamba Juice
Jamba Juice has reopened with what appears to be their full menu.
They have many smoothies that are vegan by default, i.e. the following smoothies in the “Plant-Based” section of their menu:
Blackberry Smoothie
Apples ‘n Greens
Mega Mango
Smooth Talkin’ Mango
Strawberry Whirl
Greens ‘n Ginger
Pomegranate Paradise
Peach Perfection
Amazing Greens
Vanilla Blue Sky
Protein Berry Workout
They also have smoothie bowls, which are smoothies with toppings such as granola, berries, chia seeds, and nuts. The following bowls are vegan without modifications:
Vanilla Blue Sky Bowl
Peachy Green Goodness Bowl
Nutty Almond Butter Bowl
Many of the other smoothies can be veganized with a substitution or two as well! For example, omit the Greek yogurt and swap it for oat milk.
Here is the Vanilla Blue Sky, which is unsweetened almond milk, vanilla coconut milk, bananas, pineapples, and blue spirulina:
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Marceline’s Confectionary (Candy Shop)
I checked in Marceline’s again for the Enjoy Life “Snacks with Character,” and it appears that they currently have several vegan varieties, as long as they stay in stock:
- Dark Chocolate Bar
- Ricemilk Choco Bar
- Chocolate Chip Mini Cookies
They also still have these Mickey packaged chocolates. The only variety that is currently available and vegan is the Cocoa Dusted Dark Chocolate Almonds:
There used to be another variety that was vegan, the Dark Chocolate Non-Pareils, but those have been missing for quite some time now.
They still have these lollipops:
They still had some Goofy’s candy, some of which are vegan:
And I saw some Chip and Dale snacks as well:
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Rinse Soap
Rinse is currently open; they have a cart near Earl of Sandwich that is much more accessible than the normal location which is outside of security and a bit hard to get to.
Most of their products are vegan — notable exceptions are the sunscreen, chapstick, and skin sticks, which contain beeswax, and a couple of soaps that have honey.
The soaps all say “vegan friendly” on the label, except for the ones that mention honey:
They have essential oils, hand sanitizers (versions that are alcohol based, as well as witch hazel based), bath bombs, shower bombs, body spreads/lotions, etc.
Bath Bombs: All of these are vegan except for the one that mentions honey in the name:
More essential oils:
Tub Truffles: Kind of like the bath bombs, but with a lot of cocoa butter, so they melt slowly instead of fizzing, and have more of a moisturizing effect:
Beard products:
Products for dogs — a shampoo/wash and a spray:
Facial masks: Some of these have yogurt, just read the labels for each one. The Dead Sea one is vegan, it’s just the mud:
Body Bliss Oils: I’m currently using a Gardenia scented one of these, I’m in love with it. It’s similar to a regular essential oil, but a little bit more diluted, so you can rub it on larger areas of your skin, for example after a shower.
Body Spreads: These are all vegan. They’re a bit thicker than a standard lotion. I’m currently working through a Gardenia one, I love them, especially for my hands.
Refreshing sprays:
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Sephora
There is quite a bit of vegan and cruelty-free makeup and skincare here. Last time I was in there, they told me I wasn’t allowed to take photos, so unfortunately I can’t give you a very detailed update on what is currently available. But Sephora’s website will tell you whether any given product is vegan.
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Curl Surf
I looked into Curl Surf quickly and saw that they do still stock the vegan sunscreen Sun Bum. Most of Sun Bum’s products are vegan, just look for the word vegan on the label.
That’s going to do it for Buena Vista Street Downtown Disney at the moment! Hopefully Disneyland, DCA, and the hotels will reopen soon, and then I can update all of those comprehensive guides as well. In the meantime, here are the most recent guides from before the closure for your reference:
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 at the Disneyland Resort Hotels! (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
Your Guide to Vegan Options at Disneyland! 