Credit: Inside the MagicA mystery illness is roaring through Disneyland Resort‘s second theme park, Disney California Adventure Park, and guests aren’t sure what’s causing it. Some believe it’s nothing but a reaction to a highly caffeinated menu item, but others warn that it could be a potentially deadly foodborne illness.
Disney California Adventure Park is currently celebrating Lunar New Year with limited-time food and beverages and themed entertainment offerings. Thousands of guests rush to the Disney park annually to experience this Disneyland Resort-exclusive celebration. (Walt Disney World Resort doesn’t offer a similar Lunar New Year event.)
Unfortunately, countless Disney Park guests have reportedly fallen ill after consuming some Lunar New Year menu items. u/teamrocket recently sparked a conversation on Reddit after sharing their group’s unfortunate experience with the limited-time food offerings.
“4 of us purchased the lunar new year tasting cards and we all ended up feeling unwell and experienced vomiting/diarrhea after consuming some of the same items (birria eggroll, pork over rice dish and taro coffee),” the Disney Park guest wrote. “I would also like to note 4 others in our group DID NOT purchase the tasting card nor eat the same foods we did and they were completely fine.”
The guest said no one who fell ill ate anything before visiting Disneyland Resort, so they all attributed their sickness to something served at Disney California Adventure Park.
“I paid $35 for parking, $48 for the tasting card I didn’t even get to fully use because I felt so unwell and left the park early,” they continued.
“This visit used 1 of my 3 socal resident pass tickets…Basically I spent a lot of money to be miserable at the park, have a ROUGH hour drive home and be sick all night and into Sunday. I’m [pretty] upset with this experience but also willing to cut my losses because Disney just doesn’t seem like the company to offer refunds.”
Although the group attributed their symptoms to food poisoning, which can be deadly, some Disney Parks fans speculated that ingredients in the Taro Vietnamese-Style Iced Coffee may have been behind their sickness.
“A lot of people have posted they the taro coffee upsets their stomach,” u/gregorydudeson commented.
“One person said they had to go home. I told my brother and his gf about it, and they actually chose to buy it to see what was up…His girlfriend drinks Vietnamese coffee pretty much every day and has a very high caffeine tolerance. In her opinion, it is just extremely high caffeine content with condensed milk + people are drinking it really fast without thinking. My brother had a very low caffeine tolerance and he took a couple sips + said his stomach was already bubbling.”
“[It] seemed to rough up some people,” u/lisamariesa33 agreed.
Many Disney Parks fans said Disneyland Resort should warn guests about the Taro Vietnamese-Style Iced Coffee or stop serving it altogether.
“The Taro Coffee has been a plague for many guests for this year and last,” u/Red-Fire19 wrote. “I don’t know why DCA still brings this drink knowing well that it upsets many guests’ stomachs. Not saying Taro Coffee is bad, just what Disney is offering is.”
“The taro coffee should come with a warning label on it,” said u/North-Drink-7250.”Caution high caffeine content…”
Have you ever gotten sick at Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park? Share your memories with Inside the Magic in the comments.
Please note that the story outlined in this article is based on a personal Disney Parks guest experience. No two guest experiences are alike, and this article does not necessarily align with Inside the Magic’s personal views on Disney Park operations.