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We visited Buena Vista Street on its reopening day to give you a closer look at what to expect during this holiday season!
Disneyland fans were thrilled that one of the theme parks finally reopened—at least in part. Buena Vista Street, the first land in Disney California Adventure welcomed Downtown Disney guests to shop and dine. The holiday season was in the air as green garland decorated the streets with red bells and bows. Jazzy Christmas music played throughout the park, bringing back the 1920s era from when Walt Disney roamed similar streets.
Guests needed to line up early to be one of the first in the land on opening day. Some told us they got to the resort as early as 4am! Though all guests needed to wait outside of the gates until around 9:30am, anyone who came after 8am waited a few hours after joining a virtual queue. It seemed that once inside Buena Vista Street, no one wanted to leave for a couple of hours!
Parking can be a bit tricky as Disney doesn’t open its Simba Parking lot until around 9:45am. Checkin for Buena Vista Street is near the entrance of Disney California Adventure and the ticket booths. Disney is also now charging $10 per car for parking. So if you’re planning to visit, you may want to check out surrounding parking by downloading the app, SpotHero. We were able to park at a nearby hotel for under $10 and walk about 15 minutes to Disneyland’s entrance.
Shopping and Dining on Buena Vista Street
There’s plenty to see and do once inside the land. Shopping at Elias & Co had a short wait that curled around the storefront. Inside were plenty of holiday gifts and apparel to purchase. Many were repeats of what was available in the World of Disney and the Backlot Store.
Overall, Disney didn’t overcrowd Buena Vista Street. There was plenty of room to spread out and maintain proper physical distancing. Guest face mask compliance was super high and Cast Members did a great job of reminding people to wear their masks properly. Anyone eating or drinking must do so away from others either on one of the many tables or benches places around the park. Though noticeably missing was the Christmas tree across from Carthay Circle, we were happy that it didn’t have guests crowding around to snap photos with it.
Carthay Circle Lounge Alfresco 
Smokejumpers Grill 
Award Wieners
The three main dining spots of Buena Vista Street include Carthay Circle Lounge’s Alfresco Dining, Award Wieners, and Smokejumpers Grill. This was great because it meant that guests could wander down parts of Hollywood Land and Grizzly Peak. There was even seating in front of Soarin’ the ride! All food was served to-go in paper bags or boxes that you can enjoy around the park.
Carthay Circle Lounge only took walk-up reservations. Slots also filled pretty quickly, but guests could check back to see when spots opened again. Mobile ordering is also available at Smokejumpers and Award Weiners. However, it’s important to note that placing a mobile order won’t grant you access to Buena Vista Street.
Though Carthay Circle Lounge has an extensive menu of bites, the other two spots are fairly limited. Smokejumpers had burgers and chicken strips. Award Wieners had corn dogs. We tried the seasonal Apple Pie Funnel Cake Fries at Award Weiners and they did not disappoint! The delicious pieces of funnel cake were covered in sweet apple pie filling and topped with whipped cream, cinnamon, sugar, and pie crumbles!
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One of the biggest surprises was the snack cart on the other side of Carthay Circle. Here guests could enjoy classic Disneyland snacks like Mickey ice cream bars, jumbo turkey legs, ice cream sandwiches and Coke products.
However, we did notice the spicy Angry Dog typically exclusive to Pixar Pier! Most of the snacking locations also serve beer and wine beverages. However, Carthay Circle has plenty of cocktail options.
Also to our surprise was how much space guests could roam. We could go all the way down to the entrance of Avengers Campus and peek at the construction. The buildings looked great as they poked over the top of a Stark Industries fence. We can’t wait to finally experience the new land as its scheduled to open now in 2021.
We expect that Buena Vista Street is going to be especially popular over the next few weeks. As Orange County now has restrictions, including a 10pm-5am curfew until mid-December, limited hours could come into effect. For this reason we highly recommend visiting Tuesday through Thursday if possible to avoid the demand by other guests.
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