Is Disney making a mistake by selling alcohol at Disneyland?
Next summer, after 64 years, prohibition finally comes to an end at Disneyland.
By Robert Niles
September 3, 2018
Last week Disneyland rocked the theme park world by confirming what some fans had hoped and other feared – that the Cantina in its new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land will serve alcohol when it opens next year, ending a tradition of Disneyland as a dry park that began with its opening in 1955.
Which side are you on? Are you with those fans who are looking forward to the opportunity to step into Oga’s Cantina and enjoy an adult beverage, just like Han Solo? Or do you stand with those who insist that Disney ought to run the original Disneyland park under Walt’s rules?
Like many big companies, Disney is trying to appeal to as broad a market as possible with its new products, including its Star Wars land. So Disney is taking a couple of steps to help appease critics who don’t want Walt’s original park to sell alcohol to the public.
First, Disney is not just building a Star Wars-themed bar. You won’t be able to order a favorite drink in Oga’s Cantina. The drink menu will be fixed, with selections created by Disney’s creative and food and beverage teams to make visitors think like they’re drinking in a galaxy far, far away. Then you will have to stay in that galaxy when enjoying a drink, too. All beverages ordered will have to be consumed inside Oga’s Cantina.
I think that Disney has made a smart move with its first accommodation. Sticking to a set drink menu should allow Disneyland’s first bartenders to serve guests more quickly than if they had to mix drinks to order. With thousands of fans wanting to get into the cantina daily, Disney will need to be able to serve a very high capacity to prevent wait times from becoming unbearable … even by theme park standards.
But it’s to that point where I think Disney went too far with its second accommodation. Requiring guests to finish before leaving is going to slow the turnover inside Oga’s Cantina, making the wait to get in even longer. Sure, I think most fans would want the full experience of drinking inside the Star Wars bar, but even if a few were willing to take their drinks to go, it would help ease the wait times a bit.
“What about drunken fans stumbling around the park?,” I can hear the “Walt’s rules” crowd asking. Unless Disney borrows from another science fiction franchise and starts serving Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, one drink isn’t going to get anyone crocked. Disney California Adventure has been serving alcohol since it opened in 2001 and I don’t see the crowd there being any less well behaved than the one across the plaza in Disneyland.
Walt Disney nixed the sale of alcohol at Disneyland for marketing purposes. It’s not like he held some personal objection to alcohol, being a drinker himself and approving the sale of alcohol inside the private Club 33 within Disneyland. But not selling beer and mixed drinks to the public allowed Disneyland to promote itself as a more family-friendly destination than the seedy carnivals that the people first saw as Disneyland’s competition.
Now, six decades later, Disney defines family entertainment in this country. It sells alcohol at every other theme park it runs in the United States, and attendance continues to grow. So long as Disney continues to develop and offer world-class themed attractions, its parks will keep charming parents and thrilling children – no matter what it offers on a drink menu.
And I think that is the most important “Walt’s rule” of all.