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A recent change to the Disney Dining Plan saw the introduction of alcoholic and speciality drinks, which can now be purchased at most counter service and table service restaurants, as part of your meal.
Disney list these as: Artisanal milkshakes, fresh smoothies, mocktails, sodas, beer, cider, most wines, sangria and speciality cocktails. However, we found these varied quite significantly between different dining locations, with the majority offering standard sodas, wines and beers, and some adding more exotic concoctions in the form of cocktails and mocktails.
Here we'll share some of our favourite beverages from our most recent Disney World trip, including where to find them.
Magic Kingdom
Be Our Guest
Until the changes, the only Magic Kingdom restaurant serving alcoholic beverages was Be Our Guest, and this was limited to dinner sittings only. Although you still can't purchase alcohol from any of the counter service restaurants, all locations where you sit down to be served now have a number of alcoholic beverages to choose from - including Be Our Guest during breakfast and lunch sittings. When dining here for lunch on our last trip, we were offered a selection of beers and wines to accompany our meal. There were no speciality non-alcoholic beverages available, so you're limited to sodas, water and milk.
Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd Skipper Canteen
However, we did discover some more exciting non-alcoholic beverages over at Skipper Canteen, with the Schweitzer Slush - complete with Green Apple Boba Balls - providing a refreshing frozen drink.
Alcoholic options include beers and wines, which come in the form of House-made Sangria or a Shandy if you so wish.
Of the other Magic Kingdom Table Service Restaurants serving alcoholic and speciality drinks, these are mostly limited to beers and wines, with the odd mimosa and sangria also available at certain locations.
Therefore, if you're looking to make the most of your alcohol and speciality drinks allowance on the Disney Dining Plan, Magic Kingdom might not be the best park to do this. In our opinion, there are more interesting options and a bigger variety available in other areas of Walt Disney World.
Epcot
Garden Grill Restaurant
When dining in Epcot's revolving restaurant, again, beers, wines and and sangria are all available, alongside a rather tasty frozen cocktail known as Citrus Freeze.
As our server deemed the kids a little old for the speciality character drink in a souvenir cup, he kindly produced a couple of non-alcoholic beverages not featured on the menu - both strawberry flavoured, one frozen, the other standard - which were gratefully received.
Unlike Magic Kingdom, most of Epcot's counter service restaurants also serve alcohol, providing the perfect opportunity to sample beverages from all over the world, including: Frozen Margaritas from La Cantina de San Angel in Mexico, Sake from Katsura Grill in Japan, or a Pink Grapefruit Beer from the Sommerfest counter in Germany.
Hollywood Studios
For our one meal in Hollywood Studios, we chose Mama Melrose, opting for a glass of red to accompany our entrees. The non-alcoholic options were mainly limited to fountain drinks and hot beverages, with better choices available at some of the other restaurants, especially 50's Prime Time and Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant, where you can order one of their infamous milkshakes.
There are also a number of cocktails on the Mama Melrose, 50's Prime Time, and Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant menus, as well as some in the newly opened Galaxy's Edge restaurants. We can't confirm whether these are all included on the Disney Dining Plan, but if cocktails would be your choice, you'd have more chance of getting one from one of these locations.
Animal Kingdom
Our award for most extensive and interesting drink choices would definitely be given to Animal Kingdom.
Yak & Yeti Restaurant
When ordering both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks at Yak & Yeti Restaurant, we found ourselves spoilt for choice. Their speciality frozen beverages are available in a variety of flavours, alongside a number of mocktails, cocktails, beers and wines.
We adults opted for the Frozen Mango Daiquiri and the Emperor Margarita - deliciously refreshing on a hot day.
Satu'li Canteen
If you prefer something a little different, and even more visually exciting, head over to Satu'li Canteen - Pandora's counter service restaurant.
As well as delicious and healthy food, you can also order a green Hawkes' Grog Ale, or a blue Dreamwalker Sangria, plus a number of other beers and wines.
There's also a refreshing, tropical tasting Pandoran Sunrise available as a non-alcoholic option, along with self serve fountain beverages.
When eating outside the parks, we adults enjoyed a glass of wine whilst dining at Wolfgang Puck Express in Disney Springs, were offered any glass of wine we wanted from the extensive list at Yachtsman Steakhouse, and could even order a Mimosa or Bloody Mary to accompany our Cape May Cafe Buffet Breakfast - although it was a little early for us to start on the alcoholic drinks at that time, the option is there.
Overall, we certainly embraced this added benefit of the Disney Dining Plan, discovering the variety of drinks on offer differed quite considerably between each establishment. We deemed the non-alcoholic options available for the children were more limited than we expected. Therefore, if you wish to make the most of your Disney Dining Plan alcoholic and speciality drinks allocation, we would suggest checking individual menus before you book your reservations.
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