‘Happiest Place On Earth’: Disneyland Opposes Walt’s Wishes By Adding Booze to These Restaurant’s Menus

Three Disneyland restaurants are set to offer featured cocktails at their restaurants this fall. (Photo: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Starting Sept. 12, there will be three more restaurants for visitors who want to grab drinks at Disneyland. The “happiest place on earth” is about to get even happier as multiple restaurants are set to serve beer, wine and cocktails in Frontierland, New Orleans Square and Main Street USA according to an article in SF Gate that ran on Thursday.

The restaurants featuring these booze-filled beverages are Cafe Orleans, River Belle Terrace and the Carnation Cafe, according to theme park officials.

These choices go in direct opposition to Walt Disney’s desire for implementing an alcohol-free zone in Disneyland. Disney apparently worried alcohol would attract the wrong crowd to the amusement park, according to an article in The Orange County Register.

“No liquor, no beer, nothing,” Walt Disney said to the Saturday Evening Post about Disneyland in 1956. “Because that brings in a rowdy element. That brings people we don’t want.”

Whether things will start to get rowdy at the theme park remains to be seen, however, as Disneyland ended its booze ban in 2019 with Oga’s Cantina.

The wildly popular Oga’s Cantina debuted in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and is known for exorbitantly long lines, according to Insider. The Blue Bayou was another restaurant to shirk its dry status and added liquor to its menu after re-opening in 2021 post-pandemic.

Club 33, an exclusive, members-only venue has always served wine, beer and spirits in the park to guests who could get into the swanky speakeasy.

As for the park’s newest liquid offerings, a variety of curated cocktails are set to launch in early September. One of them is a “Wildberry Mule,” set to be served at River Belle Terrace. Cafe Orleans is expected to debut a “Pimm’s Hurricane,” and Carnation Cafe will offer its own riff on a Bloody Mary.

If a trip to the Magic Kingdom is in the cards for you, a comprehensive list of the best places to grab drinks at Disneyland by Whiskey Raiders is available here.

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