REVIEW: Is Blue Bayou BETTER With BOOZE in Disneyland?

Disneyland reopened in late April, but not EVERY restaurant opened with the parks. Now, Blue Bayou Restaurant has REOPENED inside Disneyland’s New Orleans Square!

Blue Bayou!

If you’re a frequent diner at Blue Bayou: one, lucky you! Two, the reopened restaurant looks a little different. There are additional health and safety measures as well as a major menu update: ALCOHOL! This has NEVER been allowed here before, so we were pretty excited to see what having a drink on the bayou would be like. Let’s check it out!

We stopped by Blue Bayou on its reopening date to check out how the experience has changed and, of course, to try some new drinks!

Atmosphere

Blue Bayou is a truly unique spot at Disneyland. This indoor table service restaurant sits on the bayou! But this bayou is SPECIAL. It’s the beginning scene of Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean! Yep, you can see boats from Pirates of the Caribbean floating down the attraction’s opening scene!

Yep, that’s Pirates of the Caribbean!

Like San Angel Inn at EPCOT’s Mexico Pavilion in Walt Disney World, this restaurant is indoors but looks like it’s outdoors during twilight, creating a romantic and enchanting atmosphere!

Blue Bayou atmosphere

For the best views in this restaurant, ask for a table along the water! Watching the boats go by is SO relaxing! The Disney World Pirates ride lives in Adventureland and follows pirates sacking the Spanish Main. The DisneyLAND version resides in New Orleans Square and has an equally southern theme. It’s based loosely on the real pirates that resided in New Orleans, like Jean Lafitte.

What a Gorgeous View

Aside from being significantly longer than the Disney World version, the ride features a sleepy float through a bayou where you pass what appears to be a bustling outdoor dinner party in the backyard of a southern plantation home — that would be Blue Bayou Restaurant.

Of course, since Disneyland reopened in April, there have been some extra health and safety precautions. The tables at this restaurant feature tiny lamps so you can read the menu. But like other restaurants at the resort, the lamps are illuminating a QR code for the menu right now.

Blue Bayou QR menu

There is limited seating right now. A Cast Member told us they were only seating 11 tables, and our head count confirmed this number!

Available tables at Blue Bayou

Six tables are along the water, and five tables are in the row behind them. Most of the tables in the restaurant are pushed up toward the lobby. Those tables are marked as unavailable.

Unavailable table

A big thing to note here that should come as no surprise: IT’S DARK. Like, it’s REAL dark in here. So dark you’ll be squinting to see your food! The dim lighting is really quite transporting and adds to the theming, if that’s your thing. You can listen to the distant banjo strumming down the bayou and watch fireflies dance in the reeds on the water. If you’d prefer to see your food a bit more, request to be seated away from the water a bit.

So, this restaurant certainly looks cool, but can the beverages and food match the experience of eating inside Pirates of the Caribbean?!

Eats

The BIG news of Blue Bayou’s reopening is that this sit-down restaurant will be serving alcohol for the first time! It’s still rare to find alcohol inside Disneyland Park. Unless you’re a Club 33 member, you could only find booze at Oga’s Cantina inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge until this addition. Blue Bayou is now selling wine…

©Disney

…beer, including Abita, a popular New Orleans brew, and a Hurricane Cocktail as well as a selection of non-alcoholic beverages like a variety of Mint Juleps.

©Disney

For Appetizers, you can select from soup (gumbo), a salad, or grilled asparagus. The Entrees aren’t too “in your face” Cajun or Creole here, like the setting would suggest. You’ll find a Jambalaya, but otherwise there’s a fish, chicken, surf and turf, and veggie, and sandwich option (yep, the beloved Monte Cristo is back, friends! We tried it at Cafe Orleans recently, but you can get a full-sized serving here!)

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Kids’ Meals here are create-your-own style. Anyone else intrigued by the incredibly descriptive “Beef Specialty” option?! 😆

©Disney

For Dessert, you have a few simple options — an 8-Layer Cake or Crème Brûlée. You can also opt for a pricey dessert for two — both alcoholic and non-alcoholic — featuring a duo of Crème Brûlée with Madelines, two glasses of cider or sparkling wine, and a box of Macarons to go.

©Disney

First up, we HAD to try a boozy drink! When in Rome…err..New Orleans we opted for the Hurricane Cocktail, which is $15.

Hurricane Cocktail

This beverage is a classic Hurricane and is made with Bacardi Reserva Ocho Rum, Myers’s Original Dark Rum, Orange Juice, Passion Fruit Purée, Grenadine, and Lime Juice. It’s garnished with a Luxardo Maraschino Cherry and Orange!

You Can Get Alcohol Here Now

We think this drink will be a real crowd pleaser! It’s not too sweet, which can always be a concern with Disney cocktails.

Look at that garnish!

Despite having two kinds of rum in it, the booze wasn’t overwhelming in this Hurricane. This might be good if you’re not looking for an in-your-face boozy punch like many hurricanes tend to be. The distinctive pink hue is mostly from grenadine, but we mostly tasted orange and passion fruit!

We kicked our meal off with the Signature Gumbo which comes with Chicken, Andouille Sausage, Tomatoes, Okra, Jasmine Rice, and Green Onions (our green onions were more…chives here 😂. Still tasted good!).

Signature Gumbo

This was an appetizer-sized portion, but if we could, we would TOTALLY eat a large bowl of this dish! It was hearty and a touch salty, though we honestly didn’t mind the extra salt. It may have just been our batch, but if you’re sensitive to saltiness, you may want the heads up.

Close up!

This jam-packed gumbo is $7, which we found to be a good value! This is an approachable gumbo for those that may shy away due to seafood or other more colorful ingredients. This is a straightforward and hearty gumbo.

Look at that gumbo go!

After that, we kept the good times rollin’ with Jambalaya!

Jambalaya

This entree comes with lots of New Orleans classics like Jumbo Shrimp, Andouille Sausage, Chicken, Tasso Ham, Creole Rice, all in a Spiced Tomato Jus. Buckle in, fans of this classic Creole dish, cause “ya mama n’ dem’s” jambalaya this ain’t. But it’s still actually really tasty!

Look at all those meats!

First up, it’s not all cooked together (deep, calming breaths, New Orleanians!). Real jambalaya is very similar to paella in that the proteins are cooked down with veggies, liquid added, and the rice then added to cook and soak up all that flavor. This is seasoned rice topped with separately cooked meat with a thin sauce poured over top. It tasted pretty nice actually, but this is far from authentic jambalaya.

There’s a LOT of meat in this dish, but the standout to us was actually the chicken. If you’re a seafood person, you’ll find that the shrimp is cooked perfectly. No rubbery shrimpies here! The sausage was a touch spicy, but it was mostly flavorful and the spice was not overwhelming. You get two substantial pieces of sausage with the dish. All in all, that’s a LOT of meat!

Look at that SHRIMP!

The rice didn’t have much spice to it overall, so if you’re heat-averse, you’d still likely enjoy this. At $36, this entree felt a little steep, but that’s something you’ll notice about Blue Bayou — it’s pricey! The entrees range from $29 to $52 (with the “cheapest” ithem being a hunk of cauliflower or a sandwich), so this falls right in the middle of that.

See the chicken?!

If you’re looking for an entree on the lower end, you can try that Monte Cristo Sandwich, which is $29.

Monte Cristo Sandwich from Blue Bayou

The Monte Cristo comes with Turkey, Ham, and Swiss and is deep-fried and served with Crème Anglaise, and Seasonal Preserves.

Monte Cristo

The online menu says this comes with Seasonal Fruit, but our Monte Cristo actually came with a Side Salad!

Yep, that’s a salad!

This Monte Cristo is cut into three wedges, which are all deep-fried whole, so you get a LOT of crispiness here. Unlike its other home at Cafe Orleans, this version comes with TWO dipping sauces — a “seasonal” preserve (blackberry for us) and Créme Anglaise (basically a thick sweet vanilla cream sauce). The sammie is dusted in powdered sugar too. This is a classic Disneyland favorite but, if you’re not familiar with the sandwich, you might be confused by the sweet-savory of it all. Trust the Monte Cristo. Dip, dip. Repeat. It’s all worth it.

Crispy!

The side salad isn’t much to write home about — it was lightly dressed Arugula and Onion salad and super small, so note that you’re really just paying for the sandwich. The interesting schmear of white under the salad caught our eye — it tasted like a mild cream cheese type spread. Hiding on top of it was actually fruit! It tasted like pieces of nectarine or peach to us. (So…technically…I guess there was seasonal fruit there. Kinda.) The best thing about this salad is that it was crisp and light, which is a good counterbalance to the heavy, deep-fried, meat-and-cheese-filled, dunked-in-dessert sandwich. 🙂

That’s a LOT of sammie!

Now, how does this compare to that OTHER famous Monte Cristo in Disneyland Park’s New Orleans Square over at Cafe Orleans? This one isn’t necessarily any better than that one, and Cafe Orleans’ sandwich is $8 cheaper at $21 and served with a side of fries now. So if that’s more what you’re specifically looking for, we suggest heading to Cafe Orleans.

We’re celebrating the reopening of Blue Bayou, so of course we got a little dessert: the Sparkling Wine Celebration Finale!

Sparkling Wine Celebration Finale!

This dessert for two goes BIG with a Crème Brûlée Duo of Vanilla Bourbon and Café Au Lait with Chocolate-dipped Madeleines. And, as the name implies, it comes with TWO glasses of Le Grand Courtâge Grand Cuvée Blanc de Blancs Brut sparkling wine. Remember, you can also opt for the non-alcoholic cider version, if you like.

Creme brulee <3

Now, that all comes with a big price tag at $65, but this dessert and wine combo also comes with a little sweet souvenir: a package of six macarons with NOLA-inspired flavors: Bananas Foster, Signature Hurricane, and Pecan Praline.

Exclusive Blue Bayou Macarons

That’s a LOT, so let’s start with the crème brûlée. The Café Au Lait crème brûlée has a MAJOR coffee flavor! If you like your java and you like it strong, this is a good option, but if you don’t like coffee, the flavor could be a bit off-putting.

Café Au Lait Crème Brûlée

We preferred the Vanilla Bourbon crème brûlée, it was super yummy and creamy and topped with macerated berries!

Vanilla Bourbon Crème Brûlée

The crème brûlées came with three little chocolate madeleines, which were … fine. There’s nothing really noteworthy about them.

Madeleines

The sparkling wine was also great and perfect for a date night situation, which is really what this whole dessert feels like! It’s pricey (and ended up being about half our bill!), so save this for those big occasions. But guys, look at the swaaaank looking glass it’s served in! Small touch, but it made it feel nice and upscale!

Le Grand Courtâge Grand Cuvée Blanc de Blancs Brut

Now, what about those to-go macarons? First off, look how pretty they are in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle!

Macarons!!

Much like the madelines, these were all…ya know…fine. The Bananas Foster was our personal favorite! It tasted like sweet caramel-y banana. The pecan praline was very sweet, much like a real praline. It tasted the least artificially flavored to us. That hurricane mac was very fruity — it tasted like an orange macaron shell with a passion fruit filling. It was very orange heavy!

Bananas Foster, Signature Hurricane, and Pecan Praline Macarons

And after eating as much as we did, it’s great to have these packaged up and ready for another time!

Nosh or Not

Go on down to Blue Bayou if…

You’re a BIG Pirates of the Caribbean fan. Eating right next to the attraction is a cool, unique experience.
You want a quiet break from the hustle and bustle of Disneyland.
You’re celebrating something special or looking for a romantic meal in Disneyland. The Celebration Finale dessert is fit for anniversaries, birthdays, and other big days!

Eat elsewhere in Disneyland if…

You’re watching your wallet! Besides Club 33, this is the most expensive meal at Disneyland Park.
You don’t like Cajun or Creole food. The menu here isn’t the most authentic, but it definitely has lots of nods to the cuisine. of menu items.
You want to get in and get out. This is a table service restaurant, so you’ll be here for a while.

Overall

Blue Bayou is a unique experience at Disneyland and is a bucket list restaurant for a lot of Disney theme park fans. A lot of the allure of this restaurant — and let’s be honest, a lot of what you are paying for — is the atmosphere. You’re eating RIGHT NEXT TO Pirates of the Caribbean! The twilight, cricket noises, lanterns, and boats going down the water — it’s all so calming and enchanting.

So, the vibes are phenomenal. But, the food is expensive and not life-changing levels of deliciousness or out-of-this-world creative. It’s good, don’t get us wrong, but there are tons of places to eat at Disneyland Park that have delicious food at a fraction of the cost of Blue Bayou. For a lot of folks, this is a one-and-done type restaurant, so if you haven’t been, it’s worth experiencing to say you ate there, but there’s not a lot that makes you want to come back again and again and again.

The addition of alcohol was nice, but definitely not necessary. We’ve honestly gotten so used to having beer and wine in Magic Kingdom in Disney World the past 10 years so sipping a drink only at a sit-down restaurant in Disneyland didn’t feel TOO strange. All that said, we enjoyed our meal here. It’s dark and romantic, the food is pretty good, and you can’t beat the view.