Be Our (Drunk) Guest

Oh Disney, thank you for once again drifting even further away from Walt Disney’s original ideas, ideals, dreams, and aspirations. It is enough to look the other direction as opposed to face the issues and limitations the Walt Disney World has been getting over recent years—from Epcot’s lack of a changed World Showcase to the unfortunate new land Animal Kingdom is getting. I am not the boss of Disney nor am I a shareholder so I unfortunately have no voice and no power to attempt to stop the recent quality slide of Disney. But we aren’t here to discuss the current direction of Disney; we are here to discuss the breaking of a legendary rule and staple of the Disney brand.


To break one of the biggest rules Walt Disney had when he was alive because of ONE restaurant, because of ONE place for dining is atrocious, pointless, disappointing, dismal, and flat-out wrong. The Magic Kingdom has been without beer ever since opening and thanks to the lack of alcohol this park has remained one of the friendliest, cleanest, and nicest parks in the entire planet. Putting beer in a park that receives 17 million guests a year, an average of 46,000 guests A DAY is bad news, and is not worth all the negativity that could and will definitely follow.


Let’s be serious, alcohol definitely does drive sales, does indeed sometimes compliment cuisine. But it is the principle of the thing. Did you really HAVE to put beer and wine in this place? Did you honestly believe that sales were going to suffer over the lack of alcohol? In a restaurant based off of a Rated-G 1991 movie? There are more than 100 places around Disney to consume alcohol, there was no need to make it 101 while looking away from one of Disney’s legendary wishes.


You can attempt to justify this decision all you want, but there is no excuse, no reason good enough to convince me to eliminate the sobriety of the last and final alcohol-free spot in the Lake Buena Vista radius. And what makes it worse if the beer and wine sales become ridiculously good---you bet your ass that carts will begin selling the stuff too. I can guarantee it. And unfortunately in this alcohol-fueled society we live in, these thoughts and opinions are going to come off as dated, old-school, and uneconomic. The times are changing, and sadly so is Disney World—in all the wrong places.


So once again Disney, thanks for forgetting the Walt in front of your brand name.







[Anticipates arguments about Walt Disney's OTHER strict rules back in the day]