Magic Kingdom No Longer to be Dry

[captainkidd]

I'm not sure how you can even remotely come to the conclusion that I was being either mean or nasty. Also, you might think I'm being sarcastic, but I am not.

To put it plainly, I fully support the decision of TDO to repeal the prohibition of alcohol in the magic kingdom and I do hope that they will expand this to other locations throughout the park. If people are going to take it upon themselves to call Guest Relations and speak out against this change, I feel it's important that I call them as well, to register my support for the change so that Guest Relations has *both* sides of the guest reaction.

And posting that you are going to do this in direct response to someone whose opinion differs from yours is going to help your cause how exactly?

 

[llrain]

Half of the people here swear that they have never encountered drunkenness at Food and wine.
I had brought this up earlier in the posting having visions of this happening at MK.

Yes, the average visitor will not know until alcohol is available in other areas of the park, which will happen one day, at that time we will see the F&W environments we are so used to, especially on weekends.

I think that there are some here who honestly feel that it should not be in the MK because Walt would not have wanted it there. But there are some that are against it also because they have been to EPCOT during the F&WF and have seen the idiots staggering around drunk from time to time. Heck, I have even seen two drunk fights on two separate trips. One in the France pavilion and one in Germany. However, with the stringent rules WDW is applying here with BoG it is far more likely that the average WDW visitor will never even know that alcohol is being served. The server is not going to allow someone to get sauced sitting at the table and that is the ONLY place in BoG that you will be able to get the alcohol. That's a pretty week argument if that is where people expect some to get drunk and then walk through MK. They would have an easier time by monorailing over to EPCOT, getting slammed, then coming back to MK.

 

[threeyoda]

Yes, the average visitor will not know until alcohol is available in other areas of the park, which will happen one day, at that time we will see the F&W environments we are so used to, especially on weekends.

F&W is a seasonal festival that sets up booths around Epcot dedicated to alcohol and food. This would never happen in Magic Kingdom. Sure, maybe a couple more places might begin serving alcohol, but it will not be F&W.

 

[llrain]

My apologies, I wasnt meaning to say it would be booths set up all over the place at MK, I meant that
when the acohol spreads further than that restaurant we will see crowd behavior similar to what epcot goes
through every weekend of food and wine.

F&W is a seasonal festival that sets up booths around Epcot dedicated to alcohol and food. This would never happen in Magic Kingdom. Sure, maybe a couple more places might begin serving alcohol, but it will not be F&W.

 

[Tinkerbell 8]

Let me start by saying that I do not have children, however I go to Disney atleast once a year and it is by far my favorite place to vacation. I have been to Disney during Spring Break, summer vacation, in the middle of winter, and I have only experienced seeing someone tipsy on a few occasions, but it was never to the point that it was causing a problem for other guests. I enjoyed my 21st birthday in WDW and I spent the entire day drinking, however I knew better than to get drunk in the parks and waited until I went to DTD and then back to my hotel before I was even close to being drunk. I think that most people have this much common sense and will not get completely wasted in front of a bunch of children.

I enjoy having a drink or two throughout the day, and I also enjoy having a drink with dinner, that does not make me an alcoholic and it does not mean that I cannot go a day without drinking. I have never had an issue with the MK being dry, however I have often gone to one of the resorts for dinner, not just because I wanted a drink, but also because the dinner options in MK are not as good as at one at the surrounding resorts. I think that opening BOG is going to be a great thing for MK because it seems that they are trying to have a more upscale dining experience which may keep more adults/families in the park for dinner. I can only enjoy Crystal Palace or Tony's so many times for dinner before I am tired of it, and after a long day I enjoy sitting down and relaxing with a nice meal and a drink.

As others have said, its not as though anyone can just walk up to BOG, grab a drink and walk over to TLM, the restaurant will only be serving drinks with dinner, and as we all know, making a ADR is hard enough for one of the regular restaurants in WDW at 180 days out, I can only imagine how difficult it will be to make one for BOG, so I highly doubt there will be many, if any times during the year that people can just walk up to BOG and get a ressie.

MK is my favorite park because to me it is a place where I can escape the world and focus on what's important, spending time with the person I love. Even if they were to allow alcohol to be served throughout MK, it would not take away from that experience for me. I would enjoy having a drink during the day at MK, sometimes its nice to just sit on a bench, relax and people watch, but its not something I need. And just because MK is a place where I escape the world, it doesn't mean that I want to escape everything, it just means that for one day I can get away from people back at home, or watching the murder count in Philly rise on the news, or getting stuck in traffic.

 

[flynnibus]

I think people are upset over the wrong reasons.

This is no different than the napkins, cups, LoW, Splash cuts, etc ... this is not a decision to enhance guest experience (even though it's sold however) ... it's simply a money making decision and you can file it with the rest of those things under "Things That Were Part of the Magic That Got Cut/Sold/Changed To Make TDO More Profits [i.e. Increase Management Bonus])

Ehh... naps, cups, show cuts don't improve the guest experience at all. Adding things to the menu that the guests WANT - does. How on earth do you call this 'no different'? One is an expansion of offerings, the others are all operational cuts with nothing to offer to the guest.

How does one make such a comparison??

 

[captainkidd]

Ehh... naps, cups, show cuts don't improve the guest experience at all. Adding things to the menu that the guests WANT - does. How on earth do you call this 'no different'? One is an expansion of offerings, the others are all operational cuts with nothing to offer to the guest.

How does one make such a comparison??

True, they're nothing alike. But this isn't something everybody is happy about. Adding a new E-ticket attraction - THAT would be something we'd all find common ground on.

 

[flynnibus]

Half of the people here swear that they have never encountered drunkenness at Food and wine.
I had brought this up earlier in the posting having visions of this happening at MK.

And how many times have you seen the same behavior at DHS? Or the Water Parks?

When will people start to recognize F&W is a special case and not representative of the parks as a whole? F&W is it's own problem that isn't applicable to all the other places where the parks serve.

 

[bubbles1812]

I am not a DVC member, not an AP passholder, and am really nothing special..Im an average Disney guest. But consider me inspired by this general issue as a whole to call Disney and say I support the move. Will it make one lick of difference either way? Nope. But hey, at least my voice will have been heard and they'll know they have positive feedback as well as negative. Is this me trying to "stick it" to people who disagree with me? Nope. You are entitled to your opinion just as I am mine. I respect your opinion as I even said I respected the opinion of the person Frank was replying to (though I did not respect the tone of his post). I just want to let Disney know that I support the move and would support it if serving alcohol was allowed at other restaurants too. Beer carts? No. I wouldn't want that. But there are several restaurants where I would have loved a glass of something with my meal.

 

[asianway]

I think people are upset over the wrong reasons.

This is no different than the napkins, cups, LoW, Splash cuts, etc ... this is not a decision to enhance guest experience (even though it's sold however) ... it's simply a money making decision and you can file it with the rest of those things under "Things That Were Part of the Magic That Got Cut/Sold/Changed To Make TDO More Profits [i.e. Increase Management Bonus])

I don't care, like I said earlier it's stupid to only have it one in one location (tradition is already broke) and sure it be cool to keep tradition BUT .... my only concern is will the added revenue be used? Is this simply a way for TDO to increase their bonuses or is this adding another revenue stream to help subsidize improvements?

I'd expect once they get a taste of the profits, they can slowly inch more and more outlets into the plan and increase their bonuses over the next two years at least.

Just like when they started selling land.

What else is left? Charge for the monorails? Meet n greets? Return to the ticket system? Prime vs regular vs value daily ticket pricing like a sports team?

I'm sure it's all coming.

Interesting what straw breaks some people's back, I find myself agreeing with people in this thread that normally are 180 degrees to my opinion...

 

[captainkidd]

Let me reiterate this again - I have NOTHING against people who drink alcohol. As I said, I like to drink myself. This all has to do with where the alcohol is being served.

 

[wdwfan100]

Wow. Four beers on the menu, and not a Bud or Coors among them. I'm actually impressed.

Have you ever tasted Kronenbourg 1664? It is, to put it delicately, disgusting. Any American beer is on the list ahead of that swill.

 

[wdwfan100]

Do you really think that this won't spread to other parts of the park?

I really hope it does. There have been many days in the park that a cold beer would be a refreshing option.

 

[bubbles1812]

That's why I choose to live dangerously and read the menu that is provided to me by the servers.

There is truth in that, but sometimes the drink menu in restaurants is kept separate from the main menu...also sometimes, people think they just missed reading something. But anyways, that wasn't really my point. My point was that there is an established policy that alcohol is available for consumption at the 3 other parks, not to mention the two water parks, as well as many of the restaurants at the hotels/DTD ... that is a lot of places where alcohol is served versus where it is not. So I think it's pretty easy to understand how someone could make the mistake of thinking alcohol is already served at the MK too.

 

[minninedaisy74]

This absolutely sickens me to no end. The Magic Kingdom is not a place for this kind of behavior. WALT.... WALT!!! Agrees with those of us who are against this! Why do you people not care about his vision? Why can you not have the self control to go a day without drinking? This is a FAMILY place. Walt's vision was for a place where kids and their parents could do EVERYTHING together! If you people wanna be "adults" then why don't you go over with the rest of the losers to Universal? Leave well enough alone! I did call Disney today and they said they are getting a lot of negative feedback concerning this so hopefully those of us who actually GET what the Magic Kingdom is about will prevail. I'm a DVC member of Bay Lake Tower and LOVE the Magic Kingdom and for this to happen totally kills the innocence of a beloved place. We've gotta fight this tooth and nail. Just a couple of weeks ago I was on my 3rd trip this year and heard a guy ask for alcohol at Tony's and I thought "WHAT A MORON! THIS IS THE MAGIC KINGDOM!" Oh well. I guess I'm the moron.

Walt is dead so really what his opinion on this issue is no longer relevant. Just because someone wants to have a glass of wine with their dinner does not mean they are lacking in self control or a raging alcoholic. It is attitudes like this that make me glad they are serving it. Calling someone a moron because they are not informed that the MK is dry is a really condescending and presumptuous thing to do. The average Disney guest is not aware of all the ins and outs of WDW nor do they have the menus for each restaurant memorized. You can go ahead and try and fight this tooth and nail if you wish but I am pretty sure in the end you will still be disappointed. In all my years of vacationing in WDW and even working there one summer on CP I have seen one instance of drunk behavior inline for Test Track and it really wasn't anything to be appalled or offended by.

 

[PirateFrank]

I am not a DVC member, not an AP passholder, and am really nothing special..Im an average Disney guest. But consider me inspired by this general issue as a whole to call Disney and say I support the move. Will it make one lick of difference either way? Nope. But hey, at least my voice will have been heard and they'll know they have positive feedback as well as negative. Is this me trying to "stick it" to people who disagree with me? Nope. You are entitled to your opinion just as I am mine. I respect your opinion as I even said I respected the opinion of the person Frank was replying to (though I did not respect the tone of his post). I just want to let Disney know that I support the move and would support it if serving alcohol was allowed at other restaurants too. Beer carts? No. I wouldn't want that. But there are several restaurants where I would have loved a glass of something with my meal.

This is *exactly* the spirit that I posted with in my post #478.

Listen, this is a lightning rod issue. Both sides will have strong feelings on this, but the fact of the matter is that the "glass ceiling" here has, thankfully, officially been broken. So those on the losing side are going to be far more emotional - therefore, my intentions to register my *equally* valid opinion with Guest Relations will only attract strong feelings as well.

Regardless, I can walk away from this discussion right now and enjoy a nice, ice-cold Chimay Blue on the evening of Jan 10, when I walk into BOG for the first time. I'll think of those foot-stamping here claiming a violation of 50-60 year old, tired rubric when I take my first sip!

 

[unkadug]

How is any of what he said nasty or mean?

It's not.

 

[threeyoda]

My apologies, I wasnt meaning to say it would be booths set up all over the place at MK, I meant that
when the acohol spreads further than that restaurant we will see crowd behavior similar to what epcot goes
through every weekend of food and wine.

Hundreds of parks around the world serve alcohol. There's never any major, constant problems. All Legolands, both Universals, all SeaWorlds, all Six Flags, both Busch Gardens, all Cedar Fair parks to name a few. Even Animal Kingdom, DHS, DCA, DisneySea, and both Paris parks serve alcohol. You are making this out to be way more than it is.

 

[nytimez]

Have you ever tasted Kronenbourg 1664? It is, to put it delicately, disgusting. Any American beer is on the list ahead of that swill.

I have, and while I don't think it's particularly good I don't think it's disgusting either. It's certainly nothing I'd order, but I'd still put it ahead of Bud/Coors/Miller.

Also, I presume it's there because it's French and it's a French-themed restaurant, so they get points for at least trying. The other beers on the list are actually pretty good selections. Both the Saison Dupont and the Chimay Blue are world-class beers, IMO.

 

[flynnibus]

I think he made it pretty clear that he didn't wish for alcohol to be served in a public restaurant in the MK. That's where I have issue with the serving of booze in the MK.

And the root problem is you are taking the conclusion.. and applying it as the principle. Walt didn't want alcohol because of what he perceived the IMPACT to be - not so much the alcohol itself. So what matters is... Is Walt's opinion of what alcohol would do to the parks still valid?

The quote from Walt during an interview for the Saturday Evening Post with Pete Martin in 1956, as researched by Steve DeGaetano

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. I feel when I go down to the park I don't need a drink. I work around that place all day and I don't have one. After I come out of a heavy day at the studio sometimes I want a drink to relax.

I bring your attention to the statement "Because that brings in a rowdy element. That brings people we don't want..."

Well.. two things
1) These people ARE ALREADY HERE - because they can get a drink everywhere else. The same population from the other parks overlaps with the MK. There is no threat of inviting a new population - they're already here.
2) He believed the alcohol would bring in a rowdy element. Another perception that has proven itself to be invalid in the modern parks and is rooted in the society he knew back then, not today's world

So when we look at Walt's own words.. do you believe he is correct in today's world? How does one explain away the discrepancies between Walt's belief in 1956 and what we know to be true in 2012 about the people who visit the parks that do serve alcohol?

Walt had a lot of ideas about how to keep the park how he wanted.. some were good, and some simply have proven to be wrong. The man wasn't infallible, and if anything he is known for his forward progress. Why do you believe his idea is timeless and should be followed for all of time, when he isn't here to give his modern interpretation?