Disneyland to finally offer alcoholic drinks

Disneyland visitors who explore the new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge expansion that opens next year will be invited to belly up to a dimly lit Star Wars-inspired cantina where — for the first time in the park — they can order alcoholic drinks.

New artist renderings released on the Disneyland blog Thursday show a dark tavern where Stormtroopers, bounty hunters, smugglers and other alien travelers crowd around a bar that serves various concoctions. The post says the tavern, dubbed Oga’s Cantina, will serve “libations for adults.”

Walt Disney Co. representatives confirmed that the libations will include pre-mixed alcoholic drinks, a significant development at the attraction because Disneyland has never sold booze to park visitors, except to members of the private Club 33, an exclusive dinner club at Disneyland’s New Orleans Square.

Parkgoers who order drinks in the cantina won’t be allowed to take them out into the park.

Walt Disney himself opposed the sale of alcohol in his parks, saying he felt the introduction of booze would ruin the family atmosphere.

The company founder was quoted in 1956 in the Saturday Evening Post as saying: “No liquor, no beer, nothing. Because that brings in a rowdy element. That brings people that we don’t want and I feel they don’t need it.”

But the decision to introduce alcoholic drinks at the park shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“Just as our theme parks have evolved since Disneyland opened, so have our guests’ desires,” Disneyland spokeswoman Liz Jaeger said. “Providing a memorable guest experience that exceeds our guests’ expectation is very much the essence of what Walt Disney set out to achieve, and we feel that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will offer that kind of experience.”