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Feeding Our Family at Disneyland and California Adventure Park - Lunches and Dinners

The Disneyland theme parks cover a lot of acreage and have an array of dining options spread throughout. Instead of racing from one end to another, we tried to select restaurants based on which part of the parks we were in each day. 
Look at those muscles!
You can preview menus and make advanced reservations using the Disneyland website and mobile app.

Lunches and Dinners at the Disneyland Theme Parks

DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE PARK

The Disney California Adventure Park has a large variety of restaurants and walk-up food stands. Our family chose Flo's V8 Cafe for lunch on our first day in the parks after a morning of fun rides in CarsLand and BugLand. CarsLand is like stepping onto the set of the Cars movie complete with life-size characters driving the streets. Henry loved the Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters rides. Flo's V8 Cafe looks like part of the movie and offers a classic American menu. Order at the counter, and then take your food to an indoor or outdoor seating area.

Henry chose macaroni and cheese ($6.99) from the children's menu. It came with fruit and vegetables on the side. We also shared a chocolate milkshake topped with Oreo cookie crumbs ($4.69).
First across the finish line!
Henry loved Flo's V8 cafe so much that he requested we eat there for our last lunch at the parks. On our second visit, he and I shared a Rotisserie Quarter Chicken ($12.49) with sides of broccoli and coleslaw. And we couldn't resist a vanilla milkshake with Oreo "gravel."

DISNEYLAND

We tried two different dining options in the Disneyland Theme Park. The first was Bengal Barbecue. This is a walk-up food stand with grilled skewers of meat and vegetables. The line was very long to order and there were only a handful of picnic tables in this crowded corner of Adventureland. After a lengthy wait, we found that the food quality was mediocre with tough Bengal Beef Skewers ($4.49) and underdone asparagus on the Safari Skewer ($4.19). The Outback Vegetable Skewer ($3.99) did have a nice assortment of summer squash, mushrooms and potato. Henry happily devoured a Chieftain Chicken Skewer with an overly sweet Polynesian sauce ($4.19). We paired it with a Dole Whip Float ($5.49) and found a shady bench near the exit from the Jungle Cruise to relax for our lunch.
Taking the Jungle Cruise after lunch from Bengal Barbecue
Our second Disneyland meal was dinner at Cafe Orleans. Luckily, we made advanced reservations as there was a long line of hopeful diners waiting when we arrived. We were quickly seated in the outdoor patio.

Cafe Orleans (and its sister restaurant Blue Bayou) are famous for an incredibly decadent Monte Cristo Sandwich. Fair warning that the portion size is huge and it is definitely shareable for two. The sandwich was worth the hype and had we known how large it was, Henry and I would have just split this menu item. Instead, Henry opted for the Sustainable Fish kid's meal ($10) which included a small piece of grilled salmon, spaghetti, steamed vegetables and fresh fruit. He was a big fan of this meal and said it was one of his favorites.

 After dinner, the ride lines were much shorter. We found it was a great time to head for the very popular Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain. Henry's favorite ride of the evening was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We ended our evening on Main Street with the dazzling lights of the Main Street Electrical Parade.
Henry says Splash Mountain is too much of a crazy ride!

This is the third post in a series about our family's recent vacation to Disneyland. Henry's breakfast recommendations are here and our lunches and dinners in the Downtown Disney District are here. Henry's recommendations for Disney desserts and preschool rides are here.
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