Interesting news coming out of the Magic Kingdom today about Be Our Guest Restaurant!
Sadly, I’m on vacation (yay!) and couldn’t be at the Be Our Guest Restaurant Media Event happening right now (boo!); but thanks to social media we’re getting great info to share with you!
Magic Kingdom Park No Longer “Dry”
According to several of our friends at the event, the big news is that Disney’s Magic Kingdom will now be serving alcohol for the first time ever.
Located in a *formerly* “dry” park where no alcohol was served (based on Walt’s wishes for Disneyland Park, where alcohol is only served at the private Club 33), Be Our Guest Restaurant will be serving alcoholic beer and wine for their guests.
According to Stuart McGuire, Beverage Director, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, “As part of the overall theming, we wanted to offer wine that enhances the guest experience and complements the French-inspired cuisine.”
Be Our Guest Restaurant Wine Menu
“The wines focus primarily on France’s famous wine-growing regions, including Champagne, Alsace, Loire, Rhone, Burgundy and Bordeaux,” says McGuire. Check out the full Be Our Guest Restaurant Wine and Beer Menu.
Be Our Guest Restaurant Wine Menu -- click for larger image
Be Our Guest Restaurant Beer Menu
According to McGuire, “We’ll also offer the leading French beer, Kronenbourg 1664. And, staying in the general region, we’ll also offer Belgian beers.” We love that they’ll have some Chimay there!
Be Our Guest Restaurant Beer Menu -- click for larger image
Again, here’s the full Be Our Guest Restaurant Wine and Beer Menu.
However, beer and wine will only be available inside the restaurant and at the table-service dinner only (not at counter-service lunch). Guests will not be able to get “to-go” cups of the stuff. 😉
More Be Our Guest Restaurant Menus and Information
Want more info about the brand new Be Our Guest Restaurant? Be sure to check out our Be Our Guest Restaurant page for full menus, photos from the restaurant, information, and more!
How do you feel about the Magic Kingdom serving alcohol? Is this going against Walt’s wishes, or is it time for a change? Let us know in the comments below!
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And I thought the election was contentious. There are many great “for and against ” arguements in the comments section. I grew up in the fifties and revere Uncle Walt and what he gave us and always will. What would Walt think now – no one really knows. Here is what I know; In his speech at the opening of Disneyland he said ” To all who come to this happy place, welcome. Disneyland is your land”. I think this includes both sides of the arguement.
I really don’t have an issue with the decision to serve beer and wine at dinner. As far as the “slippery slope” argument, if it truly does lead to greater availability of beer and wine in the Magic Kingdom, I still don’t see that as a problem. The other parks have alcoholic beverages widely available, and I’m not aware of any problems it’s caused. As for “What would Walt do?” he was the one who said that the parks should continue to grow and change over time:
“Disneyland is something that will never be finished. It’s something that I can keep developing. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need change. A picture is a thing, once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor, you’re through. Snow White is a dead issue with me. But I can change the park, because it’s alive.” As quoted in “The Rides of Passage” in Via magazine (July 2005)
I understand that he had reasons for not serving alcohol in Disneyland (outside of Club 33) and that was carried over to the Magic Kingdom, but who’s to say that he never would have reconsidered or changed his mind, had he lived long enough?
I would be ok if they left the MK dry or allowed alcohol as I can see the merits of both and I am not worried that it will suddenly look like Mardi Gras but I do have one request……
Can we please stop talking about increasing profits like that is a bad thing? It is what makes our economy go round….it is would could delay a year or two a $100 gate price….it is where the money comes from to build your E-Ticket rides. Profit is good.
Very Bad Decision Disney! And definitely a slippery slope. It’s all about money and not the French theme of the restaurant. What’s next, Italian beer & wine at Tony’s Town Square, rum at Tortuga Tavern, Mai Tai at Aloha Isle, how about rotgut whiskey at Pecos Bill’s?
And yes, I do drink beer/wine with my meals at the other Parks, but it just doesn’t belong at the Magic Kingdom.
What was the reason Mr. Disney did not want alcohol served in the Magic Kingdom? Wasn’t it because he wanted families/people to enjoy the experience of Disneyland alcohol free? He insisted on this. Things have changed over the years, huh? You want people to HAVE A TRUE FRENCH CULINARY EXPERIENCE BY RELAXING WITH A BOTTLE OF BEER WITH DINNER AND DESSERT. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Then how about having everone deposit their phones at the entrance? Maybe no phones would offset the desire of the park’s creator that liquor never be served. The only place in the entire park, liquor will be served and it has 500 seats. An attached fast food service cafe with the name TAVERN will not serve liquor? Who are they trying to kid? The liquor will be flowing like water shortly.
Parents will be slurping beer, wine, mixed drinks with one hand while checking email, phonecalls, facebook, and surfing the net with the other hand. 2 thoughts: Can’t take a drink on a ride, better guzzle it down and get another when you get off. In the heat. (better have more paramedics on hand) or, No, i can’t go on the ride with you, I don’t want to throw out the drink and I’ve got to m /take this call.
We all know where this is headed or at least we all SHOULD UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS IS POINTING TO. JUST ADMIT IT, Disney, you are easing it in through the more expensive venue down to the casheterias.
You probably would never guess I love WDW. I think it is fabulous. But I stongly believe in traditions and the idea of tradition. I believe in respect, and the importance of respect. The idea of no liquor was not a whim or glancing thought of Mr. Disney, it was what he insisted upon; it was a directive.
I think people can go without liquor while visiting Magic Kingdom. Would I like a glass of Chianti with my dinner at Tony’s? Yes. While I have my soft drink or iced tea instead, I think about Walt Disney and we recall and talk about the day’s happenings…I don’t miss the alcohol at all.
Wow!
I think people are overreacting to this decision.
I never realized this would cause such a divide…and I almost feel bad because I just don’t care one way or the other. I feel like I should care more since I am such a fan, but honestly, it’s such small potatoes.
This INFURIATES me!! The Magic Kingdom is the place where we can play with our kids and has a sense of innocence to it. But now Disney is trying to put an edge to the Magic Kingdom! They try and say that people can only drink it in the restaurant and there will be no “to go” cups. Sure! I bet there will also not be some obnoxious moron filling their souvenir mug either huh? There’s nothing sacred anymore in this country. If you want to act like some “sophisticated” adult the Magic Kingdom is probably not for you anyway. I hope there can be enough of an outrage among the TRUE Disney fans and TRUE Walt lovers to outweigh the crybaby “adults” who wanna just kick one back and then go get on the Tea Cups! What a joke and if you think it’s alright for the Magic Kingdom to serve alcohol you are drunk!
Totally against alcohol being served at Disney World. This is supposed to be a
family place where parents can bring their children – one of the few places left – and
not be subjected to people who can’t have “just a small glass of wine”. With alcohol
being served in one restaurant, it will be a short time before it is sold all over the
parks. The people making these decisions are thinking of lining their pockets and
not about people coming for family enjoyment and memories made for a lifetime.
I believe this is where Walt would draw the line and say a definite NO.
Folks, they’re adding classy wine and beer to the menu to add to the atmosphere. I don’t know much about wine, but I do know beer very well-this is not Bud or Coors. Chimay is a well-known and well-respected Belgian beer, and the others are quite nice as well. Had the beer menu included the standard American cheapies, that many imbibe simply to get drunk, then I’d be disappointed. But this is solely to add to the atmosphere of what is meant to be a fine French restaurant.
Think of it this way- alcohol is available in Hollywood Studios, only in the sit-down restaurants. No counter-service. Have you seen drunks running amok? No? Then relax, and realize that Disney trying to add that extra something to their newest restaurant does not mean the end of the world, or the end of innocence and family values.
I am a true disney fan and not a drunk but i could care less if they serve alcohol all through the magic kingdom. The do it in the studios and animal kingdom and guess what….they are still great family fun. I would care if they left it dry or served but this outrage and ridiculous exageration is starting to bother me.
@Kate — Not true. Alcohol (beer, wine & booze) is available just about everywhere in the Studios (and Epcot & Animal Kingdom) – sit-down, counter-service and walk-up (like the Tune-In Lounge and elsewhere).
I think it’s hilarious that the same people who are complaining about “lining pockets” and “increasing the bottom line” have no problem with a DVC resort being thrown up left, right and center. I guess only alcohol causes moral outrage and indignation.
Dr. Nigel-apparently I was wrong. But I still don’t see drunks walking around those parks (Epcot being the exception during the Food and Wine Festival). They’re just as family-friendly.
@Kate – but that’s not the point. Walt wanted the Magic Kingdoms booze-free. That’s the bottom line. Yes, I know, things change, but still…
If you are agreeable to the serving of wine and beer in the Magic Kingdom, and possibly feel that some of us are over-reacting, this means you believe Walt Disney’s directive should be neither respected nor followed. Why? I will speak for myself, but I think others may share my feelings, alcohol, in and of itself is not the issue, it is the serving of it anywhere in the Magic Kingdom. Sadly, it IS the loss of innocence, and not just that of my children and grandchildren, but of yours. They will never know either of the Magic Kingdoms as we did, nor will they fully understand the value of respect and tradition; but then, I fear, after reading many of the other comments, the value of such things may already be waning as is integrity.
It’s just the begining. Soon there will be bars. They are out to make money like any other business and alcohol sells!
Bad decision! Walt didn’t want it and I believe his wishes should be honored. It’s bad enough that the twenty and thirty years old walk around California Adventure drinking and getting drunk…..Leave the Magic Kingdom “dry”!
This is a bad decision, not keeping with the spirit of disney in my opinion. I have had my Epcot visits marred with people who had to try a drink at every location during the food festival. We don’t go there then. I have noticed many more younger people who definitely appear to have had one two many in the other parks and was glad never to see this in the Magic Kingdom. Things change, but not for the better always. I will probably keep coming back, but this is a money decision and nothing else. Good food does not need alcohol to make it better.
I think this is on of the most inappropiate things that Disney World could do. My family just returned from Disney World and could not believe they had alcohol at the resort. Disney World has lost thier focus on this is a “KIDS ENTERTAINMENT PLACE ” not adult entertainment park. Look im not against anyone having a drink at dinner at one of the resturants, but there is just some places that it is just not apporpriate. We also went to Epcot to the food festival, but left early because it was turning into an October Fest no control and no limits. I hope Disney World really rethinks this, because this is not Disney’s style.
OK. I LOVE Disney and my wife surprised me for my 40th birthday by takikng our family there. We were there over the October 20 weekend. As much as I love Disney World, I was so heartbroken over what happened to us at EPCOT during the wine and food fesitval.
First of all, it was hugely crowded by people wanting to drink the day away. As the day went on, people got more and more drunk. At one point my family watched a group taking a photo and one husband (I assume) got down on his knees and kissed his wife’s (I assume wife) lower private area on top of her pants. At the same time the lady next to her acting like she was kissing this woman’s breast. We heard the “F” word being yelled several times. We witenssed a woman fall flat on her face because she was so drunk and another having people help her to her car. People wore shirts that said things like, “If I pass out return me to the All-Star Resorts.”
My children range in age from 3 to 15. I was heart sick over what Walt Disney World had become. It certainly didn’t feel like the family entertianment location Walt Disney had envisioned. My kids were mad, we were mad and we left very disappointed. We still loved being at Disney World and enjoyed the other parks, but this was so sad.
I e-mailed a reaquest that Disney consider not serving alcohol at their parks anymore. I’m not against people drinking alcohol, I just feel like if adults want to drink it, they can go to Downtown Disney and party the night away there. But please keep the parks alcohol free!
I really wish they wouldn’t do this. I don’t profess to know what Walt would think, I can only know what he said. He didn’t want alcohol in Magic Kingdom. I don’t have a problem with Disney making a profit. That is the point of being in business, but there has to be another way to do it. If the idea is for the atmosphere of a French restaraunt then why not use non-alcoholic wines and beers.
I will like to keep Magic Kingdom the way it is, NON-ALCOHOL PARK, it is a park for our children and generation to come , WHERE MEMORIES ARE MADE OF , is it what is all about?
This is a TERRIBLE idea. To be clear, this is great for me personally as I love beer and will definitely be taking advantage of this as Chimay is one of my all time faves and knowing I can’t drink at Magic Kingdom has always made me want a beer that much more. However, I understood and dealt with it for several reasons. One, many children unfortunately live with he trauma of alcoholic parents and I suspect this was their one respite from that. Two, we must all admit that drinking makes people do stupid things and become obnoxious or at he very least uninhibited. “Magic” Kingdom should be just that…Magic. It is a world unto itself and the one place I don’t mind not being able to have a cocktail with my meal. The corporation that runs the show now is slowly chipping away at Walt’s brilliant creation and this is another huge chunk lost…
So because this restaurant serves alcohol that takes away the choice that you actually don’t have to order it? Are they pouring it down your throat?
So in the other parks where they serve it then all the parents are raging alcoholics?
Get real folks, just don’t order it.
I don’t see anything wrong with this were talking only a hand full of places were alcohol is being served not the who dang park an it’s at sit down places where the meals are very exspenisve by disney standards. No self respecting person is a. Going to go to a resturant like this soley to get drunk and b were talking SIT DOWN resturant not grab and go. People I should hope would have more class than to be as gauche than to fill up a souvenir cup with booze. Also do you not think resturant employees wouldn’t see this happening? Come on people we don’t live in the 1950s any more. There are far worse things than to think about then, there serving beer and wine at MK. Oh and to the gentleman who took his kids to MK during beer and wine feast, here’s a clue.. Don’t want to deal with a more adult crowd and unbecoming behavior, don’t plan a trip to disney during an adult oriented event. That’s like going to Vegas during an adult entertainment convention if you’re opposed to it.