White Water Snacks

This is a basic, but very lovely, little snack bar. The food is always well prepared and tasty. You order at the cash register and then they bring it to your table (so it’s the Disney answer to Corner Bakery).
I’ve mostly eaten breakfast here – the burritos and the basket of Mickey waffles are fabulous.
They also have a little area with pantry type foods, which is a great idea for families wanting to bring a few things into the parks.

Pricey snacks, but a lot cheaper than other Disney restaurants!
Carnitas nachos
Small portion, but good amount of toppings! Not a lot of nachos usually come with guacamole, but these one did and with big chunks of avocado! Wish it came with more chips though.

This place is great if you’re looking for a quick breakfast before hitting the parks. Its attached to one of the hotels at Disney’s California Adventure. Note: If you’re not a guest at the hotel you can’t use the entrance into the parks until 11am. My fiancé and I learned that the hard way this weekend.
We tried the California breakfast burrito and Mickey waffles. Both great for a quick meal!

Nachos. FTW.
You can also ask for them with carnitas. Seriously these nachos are all you need

I enjoy coming here in the mornings for Mickey waffles! It’s a cute little shop, but very hidden at the back of the Grand Californian Hotel.
If you come in the morning right when they open, you can get the freshest waffles ever! I’m seriously in love with them. They’re also kind of different from other waffles sold around the park because you can see specks of vanilla bean in them. They also might be whole wheat ones? Not too sure, but these are just really special magical ones!
Other than the waffles, nothing seems to be toooooo great. They’re all very generic snacks and meals. I wouldn’t come here considering there are other places to eat, if it weren’t for the waffles!

Noelle’s Unilocal Notebook 2016
January 6, 2016
White Water Snacks is located on the same property as Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. In 2015 we became Premium Annual pass holders stayed at the GCH several times. In October 2015 my husband, our toddler son and myself stopped at the White Water Snacks one evening.
After swimming at the pool, my husband and son needed a snack. Since it was a little late and we didn’t feel like driving far we decided to give White Water Café a try. The entire café is very large and spacious. They have desserts, salads, chips, candies, sandwich bread, peanut butter, jelly, pizza, fries, burgers etc.
We ordered cheese pizza and fries for my husband and son to share. Service was fast and friendly. We paid and brought our food back to our hotel room. I personally didn’t like the pizza but it was decent enough for my husband and son — they enjoyed their late night snack after swimming. If you’re a Disney Premium Annual Passport holder you get a discount at White Water Snacks. Great place for a snack when staying at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel :)
Noelle’s Notes
Decent food
Snacks
Pizza
Candies
Use your Disney AP discount!

Was introduced to this little gem by my friends. Two words– Carnitas Nachos. YUM!!! It’s not listed on the menu board but you can request it and they will make it for you. They also accept AP discounts. This is seriously the one place you will find around the park that has fresh fast food. It’s inside the Grand California Hotel next to the pool and you don’t need to be a guest to dine in. It’s also next to the secret DCA entrance so you don’t have to go through DD or in front of the hotel to get into this restaurant. There are also microwaves available for use so if you decide on saving money at the park by bringing microwaveable food from home, you can use their microwaves here. They also have the self-​serve drink machine along with large cups. I also like to come here especially on hotter days to get a big cup of water to quench my thirst.

Good food and ambiance for what it is — my BF and I ate here three times during our stay at the Grand Californian and each meal was tasty! I’ve also eaten here during past stays at the Grand Californian… waaaay before I joined Unilocal though!
Here’s what we had on our first visit: the secret menu carnitas nachos for me, he had the carnitas angus cheeseburger — the nachos were so good! Especially with the carnitas! I had a bite of his burger, which had waaaay too much meat for my taste. I even wondered if they would be able to make a sandwich with just the carnitas and leave out the burger!
Second visit: we had late night dinner reservations at Napa Rose, so we shared the the char broiled chicken sandwich in the afternoon to tide us over until dinner. The sandwich was alright, kind of dry — but it did the job.
Third visit: we had breakfast here before checking out and I of course, had to have the Mickey waffles! My BF got the American breakfast. Mickey waffles are always delicious and the bacon from the American breakfast was nice and crispy!
You should definitely stop by if it’s in your vicinity! The cast members we encountered were very friendly and always acknowledged us when we walked by.

Best kept secret off of their secret menu: CARNITAS NACHOS!!!
Get it fully loaded!!!

Indeed the best nachos ever! It’s super basic but really good. The price is pretty expensive $ 11 but not very filling if you share. I would recommend as a snack but not a meal.
Like that the area is not crowded!

Finally found this hidden gem. After hearing so much about «the best nachos», I made it my personal mission to shove yellow goo and fried tortillas in my face. After a wet ride at Grizzly River Run, a little bird told us that we can find the best nachos not too far from where we stood dripping. Asking a cast member at our little short cut through the park lead us to White Water Snacks.
The floor to ceiling wood décor, low lit lighting, and large open windows lettingt in natural light gave it that Ski Resort vibe. First thing you’ll notice is the Freestyle Coke Machine, coffee, salads, and tea stand at the front. Above the registers where you order is a huge hanging menu. Items ranging from sandwiches, pulled pork burgers, chicken nuggets, breakfast burritos, pizza, and chili hot dogs… this place has it all. You’ll be paying around 8 – 11 dollars per item, but that’s not too bad in terms of Disneyland pricing. If you have a season pass, you can get a little discount.
The beef nachos we ordered came out to be $ 10.49 and $ 3.29 for a REGULAR soda. We were craving orange soda so we didn’t hesitate taking the plunge. The nachos took about 5 minutes to come out and the cashiers bring your order out to your table. Sprinkled with pico de gallo and jalapeño, a nice scoop of avocado and sour cream, and decent amount of beef, these looked like normal nachos. If you view my photo, you might think there was a lack of nacho cheese. After getting halfway through, we noticed 75% of the cheese was resting at the bottom. At the end of our snack, the bottom was our basket had a pool of nacho cheese (Side note, processed vibrant yellow nacho cheese is the best cheese to eat with nachos, none of that baked easy to get hard cheese). It tasted just like you expect nachos to taste. What elevates this was the beef. I could have done with the cheese being where its supposed to be and a little more beef but scooping around if half the fun. Hopefully next time I drop by they’ll have carnitas as an option for the Nachos.
So the question is, are these the «best nachos» that everyone is raving about? No, but it’s pretty close. I still think the Carne Asada Nachos you can order at Angel’s Stadium sitting at the Club Level is hands down the best nachos around. It has everything White Water Snack has but the Carne Asada was better seasoned and they gave more of it.
White Water Snacks is a great place to kick back after waiting hours in line. With all kinds of food items to order for yourself and your kids, there is more variation here compared to any other restaurant and stand in the park. What makes this better? Any one can eat here as you don’t need a Disneyland pass to get here. Only question is… can you find it?

Best Nachos! It’s really big, so definitely share it with someone. Chips topped with a bunch of flavorful shredded carnitas that’s seasoned well. They’re complimented with sour cream, cheese, quacamole (!) and jalapenos. It sounds like your typical nachos but that does not do it justice.
The place is near the pool inside the hotel and is a bit of a walk after you get through the front doors. Definitely ask for directions to expedite your trip.
They have corona, bud, and bud light in a can. If you want hard drinks, there’s a cocktail window right outside the door that’s intended to serve the pool area.
Best place to drink at Disneyland if you don’t have access to Disney California.

I am admittedly a Disney enthusiast (NOT freak. Ha ha!) and belong to an Annual Passholders page on Facebook. This page offers lots of useful information, which is how I found out about this little gem tucked away in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel.
This cozy little cafeteria offers a Coca-​Cola Freestyle machine (with a BAJILLION options for a custom drink), nachos, burgers pizzas and other snacks. Pssst… rumor is they have a secret menu, but I ain’t one to gossip, so you didn’t hear it from me ;)
My husband and I opted to split a personal pepperoni pizza and shredded beef nachos. The pizza came with either salad or fries. Naturally we went fries to make sure we completed the Holy Trinity of junk food. Ha ha!
The pizza was served right out of the oven and piping hot. The crust was delicious.
The nachos were bomb! Nacho cheese sauce, shredded beef, jalapeños, pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole. Sooo good!
The French fries were tasty as well and served piping hot. Fries are always better fresh out the fryer. :)
White Water Snacks offers great food in a cozy and AIR CONDITIONED area away from the crowds of the Parks.
I HIGHLY recommend!

Perfect place to grab a quick meal when you are at the resort. Food is pretty cheap here. I believe this is also only the place isn’t a sit down restaurant that serves Mickey waffles. The French toast sticks are pretty good too. They taste like churros.

On the menu item to order: CARNITAS BURGER!
Off menu item to order: CARNITAS NACHOS!
White Water Snacks is tucked away in the Grand Californian Hotel area on your left when you leave DCA through its Grand Californian Hotel exit/​entrance. A great spot for a snack or meal. Good amout of seating space to quietly enjoy your meal before returning to the hustle and bustle of the parks. Seeing it was my first time there and I didn’t know what I exactly wanted, I asked the cashier for her recommendations. «It’s not on the menu, but the carnitas nachos are pretty popular.» My internal thoughts and what came out of my mouth: «OMG, yes, get me an order of that!» Opted for some water as my beverage, but I did notice that they have the Coke Freestyle machine here… option for future low-​key visits, an order of the carnitas nachos and/​or burger and leisurely trying out all the flavors from this glorious Freestyle machine.
Friendly Disney cast members — expected no less. AP discounts here too.
Random observation: they have toasters here, so bring over your slices of bread to enjoy as toast!

Love! Love! Love!
Definitely a hidden gem located next to the Grand Californian pool and Napa Rose. Decent size since most people haven’t discovered here yet.
They have breakfast and lunch menu including nachos, beer, soda fountain, sandwiches, bread, cereal, milk, oj, etcetc. The list goes on, it’s so wonderful.
Mainly for hotel guests but everyone can enter and try their infamous carnitas nachoes. Yummy! Free refills for soft drinks in the same setting. One of the few places that serve Corona (only cans for this location).

White Water Snacks, located at the Grand Californian Hotel, had a good selection of food and drinks during our recent stay at the hotel. The service was friendly and the food was good.
We stopped by here a couple of times during our recent visit here. While we came here for dinner during our first night here, we also came by here the following day for a relaxing lunch after leaving Disney California Adventure Park. We had the pizza, and we’re really impressed by how good it was here!
White Water Snacks is a really convenient spot for a quick bite to eat. While Storytellers Café usually closes from 2:00 — 5:00pm, White Water Snacks remains open. We had a nice, late lunch and noticed that a lot of families came by here for a quick lunch after spending the morning at the resort’s pool.
White Water Snacks provides a good selection of fast food items at reasonable prices. The food and service were very good here!

I seem to be on a «Reviewing places at Disneyland» kick right now. I actually wasn’t planning on doing this because I could have sworn I had already reviewed it. As in I have a clear memory of sitting down and typing up a review for this place. LSD takes you to weird places it seems.
Anyway, this is a gem. I have been going to Disneyland since before I was able to make conscious memories, and food has always been a bit of an issue. Well, actually when I was young it was more like a «Which place do you want to get a burger at this time?» kind of issue, and it wasn’t until later that food became a real conundrum.
So let me break down why this place has become so revered, and why I am so afraid of talking about it because I don’t want to give away the secret.
First off, location. This isn’t technically located in either Disneyland or California Adventure. It’s within the confines of the Grand Californian hotel, and even then it’s tucked back in a corner out of sight from normal foot traffic. Which, for Disneyland, is a Godsend. No one knows about this place, or they feel it’s too inconvenient having to leave the park just to get food (unless you’re a hotel guest you can’t reenter from the nearest exit and instead have to trudge back around through Downtown Disney). I have never come here and had any problem with crowds or lines or anything. So point there.
Second, it’s not just a restaurant. It’s also part hotel convenience store. Not always useful, but knowing there’s a place you can run in and get more than just a few menu items is helpful (I would never buy a frozen pizza at Disneyland myself, but I guess some people might want that).
Third, super chill, nice staff. Since there is never a long wait, it’s a lot easier to just talk to the people working the register about their day and the park and it makes the whole experience so much better. Also one time the guy ringing us up accidentally went to the last step before entering our passholder discount, so he comped the entire meal. I won’t say to expect that to happen again, but it was a nice surprise (we should have ordered more food).
Fourth (yes, I’m already up to fourth), the prices are at worst the same as the rest of the park and at best better than the rest of the park.
Fifth, the food is actually good. This feels like a weird thing to say, considering you would expect there to be a very uniform standard for the food throughout Disneyland, but I feel like White Water steps it up more so than other places. A few notes on the favorites:
–Burger: It is legitimately better than other burgers throughout Disneyland. Unless I’m missing something, they seem to put a little bit of extra something on them. I don’t know if it’s just a little extra for the toppings or the special sauce, but it works and it’s the best you’ll likely find without really leaving the park area.
–Hot dog: They call it a hot dog, but the standard order comes with chili and cheese. It turns out to be a sizeable enough portion for an okay price.
Sixth (this is getting ridiculous now), remember when I talked about it being part convenience store? Well that means there are two stations for plenty of condiments, utensils, PLATES (yes, thank you), and I believe a few appliances as well (never personally used them, but I’m almost 100% sure there was a toaster).
Seventh, self-​serve soda machine. The new kind with the touch screen and a bunch of different options. This includes Pibb. All hail Pibb.
Again, I don’t want to flood this place and ruin our best option in the park… but seriously, except for the inconvenience factor if I’m at the back of Disneyland I don’t see why we’d eat anywhere else.

This place is located in the Grand Californian Hotel in Downtown Disney. Thanks to Unilocal I got the heads up on this place for the carnitas nachos! I only been here once and it wasn’t for food/​drinks it was for the pennies to collect. The carnitas nachos are not on the menu but they do make it. It comes with homemade chips, guacamole, sour cream, shredded carnitas, jalapeños and liquid gold… I mean cheese. I wished the chips were in smaller pieces so it’s easier to eat because it can definitely get messy! You can see the grease from the chips collide with the liquid cheese. But overall tasty and a great snack to share! I really like the homemade chips which were nice & crunchy. If you have an annual pass use it! It does help lower the cost a bit.

Located near Mandara Spa next to the Grand Californian Hotel.
Tasty burger for $ 10. Expected price range considering you’re eating at Disneyland.
We ordered carnitas nachos which aren’t on their menu, but they were good. I like how they use thick cut up corn tortillas as their chips. They hold up much better than run of the mill store bought chips.
Pizza was small but tasted good. I was actually surprised at the quality of the food since it seemed to be better than what you can get in the park. We thoroughly enjoyed our food and it was nice to sit outside, with a view of the pool, away from the chaos you can find in the amusement park.