A lot of people see Walt Disney World as a place for kids and families with kids but there are so many fun things to do as an adult. And who doesn’t love a great bar?! Good drinks, great atmosphere, amazing bartenders and some Disney Magic make for some really fun spots to grab a drink in Disney World. Although the ones I am going to talk about today may not be considered the “best” by everyone, they are my favorites and I am going to tell you why this week! Hopefully on your next trip to Disney World you can see for yourself why I keep going to back to these places over and over.
Trader Sams Grog Grotto
I had thought about breaking this list down by park, but we all know Magic Kingdom doesn’t have bars. There are restaurants where you can get a drink with your meal but no bars. BUT, just a short Monorail ride away is one of the coolest bars you will ever go to! Trader Sam’s is located at the Polynesian Village Resort just down the hall from Captain Cooks quick service restaurant. This is a tiki themed bar with sweet tiki drinks and small bites.
The fun thing about this bar is that, depending on the drink you order, something happens or comes to life within the bar. If you order the Nautilus you will hear Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea start talking and your drink will “float” to you in a big boat. If you order the Uh-Oa, the whole place starts chanting and a vengeful tiki goddess comes to life on the wall and curses the place. There is an octopus, 2 shots of rum, snorkels and spray bottles and so many more crazy things that can happen just by ordering a drink!
This is also a very eclectic bar, there is memorabilia everywhere and you may even spot some things related to the Adventurers Club that we miss so much! Usually the guests in the bar join in on all the shenanigans and the Cast Members working in there are typically so much fun and really get into it. If you don’t like sweet tiki drinks that’s ok, they can make you pretty much whatever you want. Of course there are plenty of souvenir tiki cups you can buy with your drinks as well and occasionally there is a special edition one available! My favorite drink here is probably the Uh-Oa and we love the lettuce cups and the dumplings.
Enchanted Rose
You can hope back on the Monorail and take it over to the Grand Floridian where you will find the Enchanted Rose bar and lounge. This is a Beauty and the Beast themed bar and it is beautiful! It is so classy and a little upscale, duh, Grand Floridian! You can sit at the bar or in the chic furniture in the lounge areas. You can see little props and nods to the movie and even the rose itself. They have a fantastic drink menu and appetizers starting at 5pm each day. There are no shenanigans here like at Trader Sam’s but it is still a great experience and you feel so fancy! My favorite drinks here are the Floral Bitter Beauty and the French Rose, food would be the truffle fries and the hummus!
Nomad Lounge
Over in Animal Kingdom by the entrance to Pandora you will find the Nomad Lounge tucked to the side of Tiffins restaurant. If you get a seat outside on the patio you will have a fabulous view of the water and the little boat parades that go by. This is a very chill bar with Society of Explorers and Adventurers vibes. If you need to decompress and get away from the hustle and bustle for a minute, this is your jam! The drinks are great and they serve small bites, including the bread service from Tiffins! Chef’s Kiss! The churros are also to die for here and nothing like the dry ones you get in the parks. There are all kinds of artifacts on the shelves and walls here from actual travels of some of the imagineers that helped create Animal Kingdom, usually with some sort of info telling you who did what, where to bring this piece back. It really is a fascinating and beautiful place. My favorite drink here is the Jenn’s Tattoo!
Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar
This gem is an Indiana Jones themed bar in Disney Springs based off the pilot character in the movie the has about 5 minutes of screen time! Hahaha! And that makes me love it even more! It literally looks like it’s in a giant airplane hangar and has a boat hanging on the side that has seating and tables. There are all kinds of props and artifacts related to the Indiana Jones movies and even some nods to the Adventurers Club and some of the original props from the club. You can get souvenir cups here with your drinks and they do have small bites too. Honestly the food has never hit here for me, I just go for the drinks but they do have tacos and flatbreads and a cool loaded pretzel charcuterie. My favorite drinks here are the Scottish Professor and the Cool Headed Monkey (it comes in a monkey head cup, but don’t worry there are no chilled monkey brains!).
EPCOT & Hollywood Studios
Honestly, these two parks could just be a giant bar. Both of these parks have so many places to get good drinks without even having to go into a bar or lounge. In Hollywood Studios there are carts with basic drinks throughout the park and then you can always hop into one of the restaurant bars or try to get into Oga’s Cantina for your Star Wars drink fix. There are also drinks available at all the quick service restaurants. The drink cart by Rockin Roller Coaster introduced me to putting a shot of gin in my Schofferhofer beer and it was life changingly good!
EPCOT has carts too and drinks at quick service restaurants but I personally love getting the drinks from the festival booths. They are not always great but most of the time the are photo worthy and tasty! Flower and Garden Festival is obviously my favorite and I love all the bright, floral drinks offered at the booths. I think my favorite so far this year has actually been the Italian Margarita from the Italy booth, but the Sake in the souvenir wooden cup is pretty good too!
Conclusion
So there you have it! See, Disney World is not just for kids. But do know that all these places have non-alcoholic drinks as well and kids are welcome in all of them except for after after 8pm at Trader Sam’s, you must be 21 at that time. From Monorail crawls, Skyliner crawls or drinking around the world in EPCOT there are lots of fun ways to visit all these bars in Disney World. This is obviously not an exhaustive list of all the different bars and lounges in Disney World, just some of my favorites. There are also bars and lounges we haven’t been to yet so this list is ever changing for sure!
I hope you add these places to your list for your next Disney World trip, you won’t regret it if you do. Thank you all for reading along this week, I’m ready to go make a drink now! Hahaha! I hope you all have the most magical day, see you next week!