Disneyland to expand once-banned alcohol sales in park. Not everyone’s a fan

Newly announced plans to expand alcohol sales to three more Disneyland restaurants have some fans of the iconic park seeing red.

“Walt Disney is rolling in his grave,” read one post on Twitter, now called X, about the change.

Alcohol sales had long been banned at the park, opened in 1955, outside the exclusive Club 33 restaurant, KTLA reported, although they were available at Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney in the Anaheim, California, resort.

Walt Disney once said he feared serving alcohol would bring an unwanted “rowdy element” to his park, Theme Park Insider reported.

In 2019, Ooga’s Cantina in the new Star Wars-themed Galaxy’s Edge opened with alcoholic drinks on the menu. In 2021, the Blue Bayou restaurant in New Orleans Square followed suit, Disney Food Blog reported.

On Wednesday, July 26, the park announced upcoming menu changes, including beer, wine and cocktails, at three more restaurants: Café Orleans, River Belle Terrace and Carnation Café, Inside the Magic reported.

The new menus won’t be available until Sept. 12, according to the blog.

McClatchy News reached out to Disney for a statement on July 27 and is awaiting a response.

Some fans greeted the news with excitement.

“LETS GOOOOO. I’m not even a drinker but this is great news,” read one Twitter post.

Another supporter of the change suggested that Walt Disney’s concerns about alcohol sales have long since been disproven.

“At this point Disneyland has long proven that it’s lived up to that expectation, so introducing alcohol won’t hurt it’s reputation at all,” the Twitter post continued.

But others weren’t so sure.

“This will further diminish the family focus that ⁦Disney⁩ used to have,” one critic wrote on Twitter.

“Walt didn’t want alcohol in Disneyland,” read a Twitter post. “It is not his park anymore. I guess we can only honor him to a point because money in today’s world is much more important.”

“Um, no. Walt would be apoplectic,” wrote another fan on Twitter.

This story was originally published July 27, 2023 at 8:52 AM with the headline "Disneyland to expand once-banned alcohol sales in park. Not everyone’s a fan."