Disney World not for children? This is the new installation in the amusement park

by time news

Disney World (Wikipedia photo)

Walt Disney created the modern theme park, but his vision actually touched on a very ancient value system. The creator of the Disney brand not only wanted entertainment that the whole family could enjoy together, he believed that everyone could enjoy it in the same way.

This may have been true when Disneyland opened in 1955. Perhaps in the 1960s and 1970s, entertainment was so limited that adults found Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Mad Tea Party, and other Disneyland opening day attractions as enjoyable as children.

Disney certainly believed so, as it had a strict policy when it came to something that had now become a staple—even a central feature—of theme parks.

“No liquor, no beer, nothing. Because it brings a boisterous element. It brings people we don’t want and I feel they don’t need it,” Disney told the Saturday Evening Post. Those comments may not have sounded so conservative in 1955, but Disney’s no-alcohol policy remained in place at Disneyland and Disney World’s Magic Kingdom for decades.

Disneyland still remains largely true to Walt’s vision. Disneyland maintained a strict no-alcohol policy from 1955 to 2018. That’s 63 years of adults having to sit through the rides, parades, shows and other children’s attractions at the theme park, without a beer to pass the time.

The policy changed in 2018 when the company opened Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which serves alcohol at Oga’s canteen pub.

More in-

Disney World began adding beer and wine to certain Magic Kingdom restaurants in 2012. Not doing so seems a little silly with Epcot—a park built around booze (and food)—right next door. Still, the Magic Kingdom doesn’t offer any quick-serve alcohol. Drinks are only served in certain restaurants and spirits were not introduced until last September.

It seems impossibly old-fashioned, but Disney has long defended Walt’s vision of the Magic Kingdom. That’s why the park still features the “Carousel of Progress,” a ride where historical progress ends around 1984.

Now, the company has done something its founder would probably hate. It added alcohol to two restaurants built around some of the company’s most iconic figures.

“Even more restaurants have received specialty cocktails at Magic Kingdom. Guests can now enjoy whiskey, gin, and vodka specialty cocktails at the Cinderella Royal Table in Cinderella Castle and Be Our Guest Restaurant in Fantasyland,” the Mickey Blog reported.

It’s not Mickey Mouse peddling beer from a cart or Goofy taking tequila shots, but it is a notable loosening of longstanding policy.

Walt won’t like it, but even at a theme park that didn’t have issues with the Jungle Cruise theme or Splash Mountain’s dubious Jungle Cruise connections until recently, change is inevitable.

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