"Family parks"

Image: Disney 

In 1955, Walt decreed that alcohol shouldn't be served at Disneyland. Magic Kingdom maintained the tradition (at least, until recently). But beginning with Epcot, it was decided that what Walt really meant was that alcohol shouldn't be in any "castle" park (an arbitrary revision) since those are "family parks" (as if Epcot or Disney California Adventure isn't).

1982: Epcot. Served alcohol as part of its backbone.

1989: Disney-MGM Studios. Yep.

1992: Disneyland Paris. No… but within a year, yes.

1998: Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Yeah.

2001: Disney’s California Adventure and Tokyo DisneySea. Uh-huh.

2002: Walt Disney Studios Paris. Of course.

It's not beer, it's LeFou's Brew. Image: Disney

So year after year, park after park, alcohol was successfully integrated into Disney’s theme parks, despite Walt’s decree from the ‘50s. And though its presence might've offended the sensibilities of some fans, surely its application didn't. From its most refined use at Magic Kingdom (beer and wine only, served just at full service restaurants) to its least restrained (Epcot, where liquor is plentiful), the truth is that alcohol really hasn't changed the average family's day at Disney Parks.

Despite fears, it doesn't seem that mom or dad is posting up at a bar and drinking their Disney day away. So that leaves the arguments FOR and AGAINST alcohol at Disney Parks chiefly in two camps.

FOR: Money

Image: Disney

Statistically, Americans’ attitudes about alcohol have gradually shifted toward the negative since the 1950s. And no one (including Disney executives) would ever want mom or dad to post up at a pub in Fantasyland for the day. If anything, the presence of beer and wine at Walt Disney World's three latter gates only prove that that's not the way alcohol is consumed at Disney Parks.

At the end of the day, the arguments against Disneyland’s alcohol ban – the arguments that eventually toppled the six-decade tradition – are pretty clear: money.

Since attitudes about alcohol are on the downswing, alcohol sales at Disneyland are likely motivated not by social sway, but by revenue. When guests sit to have a $60 prix fixe dinner at the Blue Bayou, a $3 Diet Coke sits where, for most, a $12 glass of wine might’ve otherwise. For the Walt Disney Company, the amount of money they’ve left on the table in sixty years by declining to offer alcohol at Disneyland is substantial… and for some executives, probably regrettable. Luckily for them, it's also reversible.

AGAINST: Tradition

Image: Disney

Meanwhile, the arguments for keeping the no-alcohol policy revolve around one word: tradition. For many fans, it seems that the reason for keeping alcohol out of Walt’s esteemed “castle” parks is simply that it’s never been there before, and ought to stay that way.

Of course, as we've seen, that’s not entirely true… “Castle” parks in Anaheim, Tokyo, and Shanghai all serve alcohol in their respective Club 33s, while Orlando and Paris’ have long-since done away with the ban altogether. Technically, the only “castle” park left with a dry campus is Hong Kong Disneyland. 

And though Disney did an altogether good job of keeping Walt’s alcohol-free tradition for most of the lifetime of most “castle” parks, perhaps you might consider it a scapegoat tradition, held to staunchly while so many other traditions of equal importance to Walt were done away with. (For example, Walt’s decree that coffee should always be available for 10 cents… Hmm…)

Image: Disney

And that’s why – though some feign a guess – it’s very much impossible to know what Walt would’ve thought about alcohol being served in his parks today. Once Disneyland had established itself as something different from the amusement parks of the day, might he have allowed alcoholic beverages in full service restaurants? Once alcohol was successfully integrated into EPCOT Center, would that have changed his moratorium at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom? If Walt himself had known of a Parisian Disneyland, would he truly expect it to be dry? Isn’t Disney’s Animal Kingdom or Disneyland Paris still a “family park” despite the inclusion of alcohol?

At the end of the day, maybe “tradition” isn’t such a bad reason to keep doing something. Maybe Disney Parks fans considered it a point of pride that the international media conglomerate Walt Disney Company was willing to respect its founder, even in his seemingly trivial, archaic, and arbitrary pronouncement from sixty years ago. In reverence to that man, the “no alcohol” policy seemed respected and admired by most Disney Parks guests – even those who would’ve preferred to have a glass of wine with dinner.

While we may never know, we’ll be able to see if the sale of alcohol at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge truly does crumble the empire… and if it doesn’t, there’s no doubt we’ll be watching to see where else alchol shows up.