Dining Review: World of Color Dining Package

As we were planning on June 2015 Disneyland vacation, my cousin and I knew we wanted to see World of Color, the AMAZING nighttime show at California Adventure. (Don't worry, I'll dedicate a whole post to that incredible-ness later.) In reading about the show, I knew how popular it was, and since we had three little ones with us, we wanted to avoid waiting in a line or jockeying for space in what I knew would be tight quarters.

I'd read about the World of Color dining package, and that seemed to be the best bet for us. After consulting the menus and dining options, we chose lunch at Wine Country Trattoria, located near the entrance to Cars Land in California Adventure. (You could also chose to eat dinner.)

We arrived on time for our reservation, and we seated shortly. The format for the meal is prix fixe - for about $40.00 per adult and $20.00 per child, you get your choice of soup or salad, an entree and then a desert sampler. There is also a kids menu with many standard choices - pizza, sandwiches, pasta, etc.

There were many delicious choices and we all tried to pick something different, so we could sample each other's meals.

I chose the salad and it did not disappoint. It was delicious and fresh, and the perfect meal starter. My cousin and her husband both chose soup; one getting the tomato and another the Italian wedding soup. I like the wedding soup the best - the little meatballs were delicious and it was all well-seasoned.

For the main meal, I chose the Potato Gnocchi. Oh MY this was so good - cooked perfectly and a large portion, as well. My cousin's husband chose the salad with sautéed shrimp, and once word got out how good those shrimp where, I think he only had one or two for himself!

My cousin Kim chose a special that wasn't listed on the menu; a pasta with broccoli, which she liked. In tasting the entrees, however, we agreed that my Gnocchi was perhaps the best of what we'd gotten. In the picture below, the items are: Gnocchi at top left, salad at top right, shrimp salad at bottom left and broccoli pasta at bottom right.

I didn't take pictures of the kid's meals but they enjoyed them; they each had a mini pizza and a side of vegetables.

Finally came the grand finale - the desserts! In looking at the menu, we thought we each had to choose something but they bring you a sampler platter with one of EACH of those amazing offerings listed on the menu - DROOL. We had a tiramisu, macaroons, panna cotta and a lemon creme puff. They give a full platter to each two adults, so we ended up with two platters of desserts which was more than enough. All of us, kids included, sampled a little bit of everything. As I gravitate towards fruity things, my personal favorite was the Lemon Cream Puff.

At the conclusion of the meal, our server came to our table with 6 FastPasses for the World of Color show. He told us where to go and the return time for the FastPasses.

However, here's a tip - go EARLIER than they say. On the tickets was printed a time of 8:45 PM, as the show starts at 9PM. However, lines start to form about 7:45ish and they start letting people into the WoC viewing area around 8PM. Ask the cast members where the line is forming for the dining packages, and they'll tell you where to go. This means that you'll be at the viewing area about an hour before the show starts, BUT you'll also have a better chance of standing right near the front. The WoC dining FastPasses are the very front of the viewing area and it's first come standing area only but the view cannot be beat. You will get a bit damp (as they project the images onto water) but it's so worth it.

I would do this again in a heartbeat; in fact, when I go back in November I plan on doing it again and trying another of the restaurants offered.

Have you done this dining package before? What did you think?

Have a magical day!