A Magic Kingdom 50th anniversary drink concoction has us rethinking our affinity for ‘The Little Mermaid’ AND for drinking
Last week, just ahead of the kick-off to the 50th anniversary celebration of the opening day of Walt Disney World, Disney Parks Blog released the Disney World 50th Anniversary Celebration Foodie Guide, and our eyes immediately glazed over!
Disney’s chefs and drink mixologists always do it up right, even without a huge anniversary celebration on the horizon, so we knew the offerings in this Foodie Guide were going to be over the top, amazing, out of this world…(you get the idea).
There are so many offerings in the Foodie Guide, as well as so many delightful and vibrantly colored photos to go with them, that our eyes were on overload, getting us ready for our palates to be taken away on a celebratory journey as well. And there’s one little drink concoction that we just might have overlooked.
We wonder if you did too because once we took a closer look, we weren’t sure how we felt about it.
The drink is called the Squid’s Revenge. It stands out in the Guide, now that we take a closer look, as it isn’t shimmery or made with vibrant colors or even completely and totally altogether appealing–especially now that we realize that’s an actual charred octopus tentacle billowing up from the drink itself and resting gently on the salted rim of the drink.
The Squid’s Revenge drink is a michelada served with a salted rim (we love the blue salt). It’s a little like a Bloody Mary, but instead of vodka, it’s mixed with beer. The drink is also garnished with cucumber and–you guessed it–charred octopus–the tentacle, in fact! Toss in a toothpick of green olives, and you’ve got a drink that reminds us an awful lot of the Sea Witch Ursula from Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
But we’ve learned that the drink is actually a nod to Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the attraction inspired by the film. The attraction featured exact replicas of the Nautilus from the film that had clear bottoms through which Guests could look around the lagoon during the ride. The 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction was once located where we now see Ariel’s Grotto and the Journey of the Little Mermaid attraction.
It closed in 1994, and mixologists wanted to make sure no one forgot it, especially during the 50th anniversary celebration!
We’ll give them that; they certainly gave us something we won’t forget! You can find the Squid’s Revenge at Fantasyland’s Be Our Guest Restaurant at Magic Kingdom.
Maybe we should have paid more attention to the Guide; the drink did come with a warning from Disney’s culinary pros: “Watch out, the giant squid is back!”
Yeah, you can say that again! It’s right here in my glass!
