ANAHEIM, Calif. — For Disneyland chef Michael Stanford, the holidays are about family.
The gatherings are large. The activities are fun, and meals — always family-sized — much bigger, he said.
So, this year, some of the new food offerings at Disneyland Resort reflect that.
"The holiday season, a lot of families get together, sit at the table, sharing and passing food around; it just makes you feel warm," said Stanford, a chef at Disneyland Resort, to Spectrum News. "That's what we were going for."
The Disneyland Resort kicked off its annual holiday celebration earlier this month.
Mickey and Minnie will don new holiday attire for Disney ¡Viva Navidad this year at Disney California Adventure Park and a separate jolly outfit at Disneyland.
At Disneyland, Jack, Sally, and the rest of the residents from Halloween town in "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas" are back to take over the Haunted Mansion. The "It's a Small World" attraction light up the night. And Sleeping Beauty's Castle has transformed into a glowing white Winter Castle, with a bit of "snow" that falls at certain times every night. Twice a day, "A Christmas Fantasy Parade" will run through its parade route and the "Believe in Holiday Magic" nighttime spectacular caps off the day.
At Disney California Adventure, the Three Caballeros — Donald Duck, Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles — is back to headline the Disney Viva Navidad celebration at Paradise Gardens Park, its tenth season.
Of course, Santa will make an appearance through Dec. 24 at Critter Country in Disneyland and the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in Disney California Adventure.
This holiday season, Disneyland Resort has placed a lot of emphasis on offering a variety of diverse foods — of all shapes and sizes.
At Disney California Adventure, the Festival of Holidays offers a row of food stalls that celebrate the different cultural winter holiday celebrations.
"The Festival of Holidays celebrates Christmas, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Navidad and others," said Disney Chef Elena Aranda. "We have a lot of different offerings to make sure that we showcase everybody, and it's very inclusive."
Some of this year's dishes visitors can find at Disney California Adventure include a Barbacoa Tamal de Res; the Esquites carnitas mac and cheese is topped with salsa macha, rice, corn and cilantro; and there are also beef brisket sliders and the Togarashi Karaage chicken slider on the menu.
There's a pumpkin-layered cheesecake for dessert and fusion drink items like the guava melon lassi, which Aranda created.
The Disneyland food and beverage team prepares several months in advance to showcase the holiday offerings.
"We think of a theme and blend everything," she said. "We also like to incorporate a bit of us, what I like to celebrate and what my teammate celebrates and how we could fuse those together."
Aranda, originally from Mexico, said guavas and melon are common in her country, but to give it a little twist, she decided to fuse it with lassi, a yogurt-based drink in India.
"It lets visitors see my passion and what I'm all about," she said. "And gives visitors a chance to try something different."
For Chef Stanford, the bigger, the better when it comes to the various food and drink options.
Also, for Viva Navidad, Disney has rolled out a massive Shareable Loaded Torta, about the size of a football. The torta is filled with chicken milanesa, carnitas, sliced ham, chorizo beans, panela cheese, onions, avocado spread and tomatoes on telera bread. It is served with chips, chorizo beans and a wedge of street-style watermelon. It serves two to four people.
The street-style watermelon with lime juice, chile-lime seasoning, and chamo is also shareable, Stanford said. His favorite is the Albondigas soup with Impossible plant-based meatballs and vegetables.
"Many of our items can be shared and passed around," said Stanford. "It's what makes it fun."
As Aranda said, the goal when visitors come and celebrate the holidays at the park is "to make it feel like home."