Posted by Buena Vista Street in California Adventure is 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and offerings at Downtown Disney + Buena Vista Street have been changing rapidly, so this information here will go out of date at some point!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 (Table service; outdoor/patio dining currently available)
Smokejumper’s Grill (Quick service; mobile order also available)
Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café (Starbucks) (currently closed)
Award Wieners (Quick service; mobile order available)
Trolley Treats (Retail location)
Outdoor Vending Carts (Across from the bear waterfall)
Downtown Disney:
Asian Street Eats (Gone)
Black Tap Burgers and Shakes (Table service; outdoor/patio dining currently available)
Ballast Point (Table service; outdoor/patio dining currently available)
Salt and Straw (Quick service; mobile order also available)
Wetzel’s Pretzels (Quick service)
Earl of Sandwich (Quick service)
Tortilla Jo’s (Table service; outdoor/patio dining currently available)
Splitsville (Currently closed)
La Brea Bakery (Reopened as of 2/17/2021)
Starbucks (Reopened as of 2/15/2021)
Naples (Table service; outdoor/patio dining currently available)
Sprinkles Cupcakes (Currently closed)
Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen (Table service; outdoor/patio dining currently available)
Uva Bar and Café (Table service; outdoor/patio dining currently available)
Catal Restaurant (Currently closed)
Jamba Juice (Quick service)
Marceline’s Confectionary (Retail location; open)
Rinse Soap (Gone)
Sephora (Retail location; open)
Curl Surf (Retail location; open)
Buena Vista Street:
Carthay Circle
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.
The main vegan option is a modified version of the Strozzapreti pasta dish. To make it vegan, omit the cheese and the butter in which some of the veggies (basil, leeks) are cooked in. Just tell the chef/server that you need the vegan version, with no cheese or butter, and you’ll be good to go.
They can also do a modified version of their spring rolls, which may remind you of a dish they had here before the closure.
You’ll want to ask for the vegan version of the Carthay Spring Roll, ask to swap avocado for the shrimp:
I was also able to get a veganized version of the pear salad:
I also want to include a review from @juliannaevs, who also dined at Carthay Circle recently.
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.”
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.
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.
Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Café (Starbucks)
This is still closed as of February 17, 2021. Hopefully it will reopen soon!
Trolley Treats
There is a constant rotation of treats here, so it will be different each day/week. It is usually pretty slim pickings as far as vegan options, but I’ll show you what there was as of yesterday, February 5, 2020. Note that they generally stock the same items as Marceline’s Confectionary in Downtown Disney, though certain items may be sold out at one location or the other.
Some of the items in the photo below are vegan, see the ingredients lists that follow.
The Cinnamon Swirl Mini Rice Crisps, the pretzels, the Roasted Nut Mix, the Crunchy Spicy Mix, and the Fruit and Nut Mix are all vegan. See each ingredients list below:
Note that the Mountain Mix below is not vegan; it contains milk in the chocolate:
Also watch out for those Honey BBQ potato chips, which are not vegan – they do actually contain honey, I looked at the ingredients list on the back.
They also have the Goofy’s Candy line, and a few of those are vegan – just look on the back and watch out for gelatin, confectioner’s glaze (shellac), and beeswax in some of them.
Outdoor Vending Carts
We have fresh popcorn again! The regular “buttered” popcorn is vegan (it is actually canola / coconut oil). The popcorn cart at the entrance to Hollywood Blvd has started operating again. There is also popcorn at the vending carts in the little alcove on the left side just past Carthay Circle. There they also have pickles, popcorn buckets, seasonal sippers, etc.
They also have a group of vending carts across from the bear waterfall, just past the fountain on Buena Vista Street. Here you can find more popcorn, some vegan candies like Red Vines, and Mickey Pretzels!
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:
Asian Street Eats
Asian Street Eats is completely gone, unfortunately. I talked to a cast member today who used to work there and he said that there is no chance of it coming back.
Black Tap
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:
Ballast Point
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.
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 two vegan flavors on the permanent menu are:
1. Strawberry & Coconut Water Sherbet
2. Freckled Mint Tcho-colate Chip (new name: Mint Chip with Theo Chocolate)
The current Limited Edition series for February has the vegan flavor called Lemon Cheesecake Crumble. This is a returning favorite! I had it again today and it was just as delicious as I remember. I love the crumble part, it’s like the crust of a cheesecake and has a graham cracker vibe to it. The lemon flavor is distinct but not overpowering.
Here is Salt & Straw’s description of it on their website:
“Creamy cashews are carving out a niche in vegan cheese culture with a lush texture you won’t believe is dairy-free. We blend the loveliest cheeze around with coconut yogurt and lemon zest for a tart cheesecake swirl, then make an almond crumble reminiscent of graham cracker crust. The satin cheesecake gets layered into a salted vanilla coconut ice cream.”
Allergens: Tree Nuts (cashews, almonds, coconut). See Salt & Straw’s website for a full ingredient list.
Below is a scoop of the Freckled Mint Tcho-colate Chip from the permanent menu:
Below is the Strawberry & Coconut Water Sherbet from the permanent menu:
The Dandelion Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies and Cream, below, used to be on the permanent menu, and was included in the January Vegandulgence series. It has secretly been available on and off throughout the past couple of months, so go ahead and ask them when you’re there and you may get lucky!
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.
As of February 5, they still had some of the January Vegandulgence series left! So if you’re reading this not too long after, you might be able to score some of the Peanut Butter Strawberry Crumble, Coconut Rice Pudding, or Avocado Banana Sorbet:
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:
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.
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.
Splitsville
Splitsville had reopened briefly before this most recent stay-at-home order, and since this reopening on February 5, it has not been included in the reopening. Currently, Black Tap is using its patio space.
La Brea Bakery
La Brea Bakery has reopened as of 2/17/2021! Their menu is divided into brunch/lunch, but all of their items are available at all times of day. Below are menu photos for your reference, and you can also view the menu on La Brea Bakery’s website.
The vegan entree is a modified version of the La Brea Bakery Burger. Normally you can choose between their house made veggie patty and an Impossible patty, but this day they didn’t have the veggie patty available, just Impossible. Here are the modifications:
- Choose either Impossible patty or veggie patty (if available)
- Change bread – the normal bun isn’t vegan, so ask for the telera bread instead
- Remove cheese and mayo, and sub avocado. They were very nice to not charge me extra for the avocado! Not sure if they’ll do that every time, but you could try.
- Vegan side options are fries, yam chips (both of those in a shared fryer), mixed green salad with a balsamic vinaigrette, or fruit (which is what I went for today).
One tip – they asked me how I would like my burger cooked. I am not often asked that so I wasn’t entirely prepared! Also, I have had so many overdone Impossible burgers in my day, that I decided to ask for “medium rare” to try to compensate for that. It turns out that the chefs at La Brea Bakery are not playing around! They really did it medium rare, which is why it’s quite pink here! If you ask for medium, of course, it won’t be as pink as in this photo.
I was not expecting the double patty, that was very generous of them! Along with the generous portion of avocado. It was huge, I was glad I got the fruit instead of the fries as a side. Overall, very well executed Impossible burger! Much better than the Impossible burger that they have at Smokejumper’s Grill obviously!
A few more vegan items to note – they have Nancy’s Fancy Gelato, and two of the flavors (Coconut Stracciatella and Chocolate Fondente) are labeled as vegan:
They also have a brunch special currently, an Avocado Toast that could theoretically be veganized by removing egg, shrimp, etc, but it might not be worth the price ($19) after you remove the most expensive parts of it.
Also, they have almond milk available if you are getting a coffee.
Starbucks
The larger Starbucks (near World of Disney) has reopened as of 2/15/2021!
Naples
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.
Sprinkles Cupcakes
Sprinkles has not reopened after being closed during this most recent stay-at-home order unfortunately. Hopefully it will reopen soon!
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!
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:
Catal Restaurant
Catal is currently closed. At the moment, only outdoor/patio dining is allowed, and Catal is all indoors.
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:
Marceline’s Confectionary (Candy Shop)
I checked in Marceline’s again today (February 5) and they have a few vegan snacks. Below, the Cinnamon Swirl Mini Rice Crisps, the pretzels, the Roasted Nut Mix, the Crunchy Spicy Mix, and the Fruit and Nut Mix are all vegan. See each ingredients list below:
Note that the Mountain Mix below is not vegan; it contains milk in the chocolate:
Also watch out for those Honey BBQ potato chips, which are not vegan – they do actually contain honey, I looked at the ingredients list on the back.
They still have these lollipops in Marceline’s, which are vegan:
They still had some Goofy’s candy, some of which are vegan:
Rinse Soap
Rinse has unfortunately ended their time in Downtown Disney and it appears they are not going to return.
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.
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! 
You are the best. Thank you sooooo much!!!
I was also wondering about Trolley Treats, what is vegan there?
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Oh yes Trolley Treats! It is basically the same as Marceline’s at the moment. It tends to change a lot; things sell out and things appear on a daily/weekly basis, but in general it’s the same as Marceline’s. I’ll add a section for it here, thank you for reminding me!
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