We just went to a VERY special event in Disneyland — it’s a NEW after-hours event that’s only happening TWICE this year!

We’re celebrating 70 years in Disneyland!

We checked out Disneyland After Dark: 70 Years of Favorites, a special new after-hours event that we’ve been looking forward to for weeks. There’s SO much to experience at this event, like meet and greets with ultra rare characters, check out special merchandise, and, of course, snack on some exclusive offerings. Is the food really worth spending time on, though, when the event is already so rare? Don’t worry, we tried out a few of the options, so you know what to expect!

First up, we headed over to Jolly Holiday to try out the Maple Bacon Cinnamon Roll for $10.99! This is a cinnamon roll topped with maple cream cheese, glazed bacon and pecans, and drizzled with white chocolate.

Maple Bacon Cinnamon Roll

We really wanted to love this, but it just wasn’t anything special. The cinnamon roll was dry, which made the whole thing pretty “meh.” The frosting and toppings were the best part. There were hints of chocolate, vanilla, cream cheese, and maple in the frosting — basically a bunch of sweet flavors that mixed together well. The bacon added a savory and salty flavor that complemented the sweet and chocolatey frosting, but overall, we don’t think we’d get this again.

Maple Bacon Cinnamon Roll

Over at Refreshment Corner, you can snag the Birria Mac and Cheese in a Bread Bowl for $12.99. This is mac and cheese topped with beef birria, salsa verde, cilantro, and onion in a sourdough bread boule, served with consomé.

Birria Mac and Cheese in a Bread Bowl

This salsa verde was no joke! Definitely one of the hottest things we’ve tried here. The salsa is just dumped right on top of the bowl, and our first bite had so many pepper flakes! After we mixed it in, the spice was fine, but the first bite had our reporter’s eyes a little watery.

Everything was great except the bread bowl itself, which was kind of stale. The birria was tender with sweet and savory beefy flavors. After mixing it in, the salsa added more of a fresh or cool flavor, followed by a light spice. With all of the other flavors, we couldn’t make out the mac and cheese unless that was the only thing in the bite. There wasn’t anything special about the mac itself, but overall, this was a savory, spicy, and cheesy meal! We’d definitely get this again.

Cheeeeeese

Then we headed over to Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree for the Gumbo Fries. You can get these for $14.99, and they’re Cajun-seasoned beer-battered fries, smothered with chicken gumbo, mozzarella, and green onion.

Gumbo Fries

These were the perfect mix of warm and hearty flavors! It was basically a gumbo poutine. The most prominent flavors were a light spice and chicken flavor from the gumbo. We got a nice melty cheese pull on the first bite, but other than that, the cheese could’ve been melted more. A warm, rich, and meaty snack — we enjoyed it but wouldn’t pay $14.99 for it again. The price was a little steep for what we got!

Saucy!

Finally, we headed over to Red Rose Taverne for Gaston’s Brew for $7.79. This was a butterscotch beverage with dulce de leche foam on top.

Gaston’s Brew

Our reporter wasn’t originally into this based on the description, but ended up really enjoying it! The butterscotch drink was lightly carbonated with a sweet caramel taste that was pretty light — not too sweet or artificial tasting. At first, it’s just a soda water flavor, and the butterscotch hits as an aftertaste. The dulce de leche topper added a rich and creamy caramel flavor. Best for caramel lovers! We’d get it again if it were always available.

This one surprised us!

We had SO much fun checking everything out at this event. See more news and updates from Disneyland below!

Be sure to stay tuned to DFB for all the news from this exclusive event tonight, and beyond!

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What would you try at this event? Tell us in the comments!