Enchanted Rose Lounge Info: Beauty and the Beast Bar at Disney World
Walt Disney World’s new Beauty and the Beast-inspired lounge is coming this fall to Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. Today, WDW announced that the bar will be named Enchanted Rose, and shared some restaurant menu details. In this post, we’ll take a look at what you can expect from Enchanted Rose.
First, as quick refresher in case you missed the news earlier this year, Enchanted Rose will be located on the second floor of Grand Floridian’s lobby, with 3 themed rooms consuming space previously home to Mizner’s Lounge and Commander Porter’s.
The re-imagined Enchanted Rose lounge will feature four unique spaces inspired by the live action Beauty and the Beast film and the romance between Belle and the Beast. The signature bar will feature a gold chandelier reminiscent of Belle’s flowing ball gown, with subtle nods to the Beast’s magical rose. Other rooms are similarly evocative, rather than being expressly themed to environments from Beauty and the Beast…
The formal library showcases classical baroque designs and French furnishings inspired by Belle, with hints of the Beast’s friends. The garden room will be a whimsical space drawing its inspiration from the enchanted forest surrounding Beast’s castle. Finally, an outdoor patio will remind guests of Beast’s garden terrace.
All of this is per Walt Disney World’s descriptions of the rooms. All we’ve seen thus far is the lone piece of concept art pictured below.
As for the menu, Enchanted Rose will feature a variety of shareable bites, including an artisanal cheese selection with pine nut bread, white sturgeon caviar served with egg timbale, crème fraiche, and chives, or Mini Smoked Short Rib Sliders with glacier blue cheese and onion marmalade on brioche buns.
If you’d prefer seafood, there’s the Espelette Pepper-Spiced Shrimp, Octopus a la Plancha, or Crab and Gnocchetti Gratin, which comes with jumbo lump crab, gnocchetti sardi, robiola bosina mornay, and citrus breadcrumbs. Other options include truffle fries as well as a house-made flatbread pizza.
On the beverage menu, there’s a variety of options including cocktails, martinis beer, cider, and non-alcoholic drinks. Featured cocktails include the Island Rose (grapefruit and rose vodka, lime, orgeat, pineapple, bitters, and rose water), Lavender Fog (dry gin, crème de violette, English breakfast tea, vanilla, and cream) or the Garden Daisy (tequila, midori, lime, egg white, and cucumber).
Non-alcoholic options include the Garden Cocktail (non-alcoholic spirit, lime juice, agave nectar, and soda), the B&B (fresh-brewed iced tea, lemon, blueberry, and basil), and the Rosemary Cooler (Odwalla lemonade, vanilla, and rosemary).
With certain recent projects, it’s felt like Imagineering pitched a design with one location in mind, and management said, “great idea, but let’s put it somewhere that makes no sense!” I got that impression with the Princess and the Frog restaurant slated for Reflections — A Disney Lakeside Lodge, which would be perfectly suited to Port Orleans French Quarter, and I get that same impression here.
Walt Disney World’s next big resort is one named after the Riviera. While Disney has been intentionally vague on which Riviera, it’s safe to assume based on some of the flourishes and names that it’s a blend of both the Italian and French Rivieras. This resort has already received its fair share of criticism that it’s design is boring and thematically insipid.
The Côte d’Azur is not the setting for Beauty and the Beast, but there are a number of small provincial French towns in the area, and both are France. If Walt Disney World “needs” a Beauty and the Beast bar so badly, why not put Enchanted Rose lounge in the new resort that has a French connection and needs something interesting and unique to give it some personality?! Two birds with one stone and all that.
How this is playing out is just all so weird. Grand Floridian is Walt Disney World’s flagship resort, one that has a light and airy color scheme and Victorian theme. This is the lounge that’s essentially attached to and associated with Victoria & Albert’s and Citricos, two fine dining establishments catering.
Despite both of those realities, this is where Enchanted Rose is going. It’s a lounge ostensibly inspired by Beauty and the Beast. If concept art is any indication, it’ll have a darker color scheme, clean and modern aesthetic, and French flourishes. None of that in any way meshes with the Grand Floridian.
Perhaps consequently, Enchanted Rose is not going all-in on theme, nor will it have a distinct visual identity (the concept art reminds me of Ale & Compass, but with a big light fixture). This means there’s a decent chance it’s not going to do enough to draw Beauty and the Beast fans.
It’s still early, but everything about Enchanted Rose feels like it’s going to be a half-measure that is bad enough thematically to annoy people on one end of the spectrum, and insufficient to attract people on the other end.
So why bother? Why put this ‘evocative’ Beauty and the Beast lounge at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa? Why not place it at Disney’s Riviera Resort, where Imagineering could’ve purpose-built something, and leaned into the theme more heavily, creating a truly French design that did more than just evoke Beauty and the Beast?
At the end of the day, I suspect the food and drinks here will be delicious and inventive. That’s been the recent trend. I’d also anticipate skeptics, myself included, finding that the spaces work better than expected (in isolation). That’s also been something of a trend.
Nevertheless, Enchanted Rose does not fit Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa thematically, and there’s nothing that can change that. Moreover, the alternative location for it makes infinitely more sense and is so obvious it’s hard to believe Disney would shoehorn the bar in here.
Placing Enchanted Rose at Disney’s Riviera Resort would’ve given that new DVC property a compelling selling point and unique draw, and wouldn’t have raised issues of thematic integrity. Regardless of the end result with Enchanted Rose at the Grand Floridian, it could’ve been more ambitious and less troubling at Disney’s Riviera Resort.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of Enchanted Rose lounge? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Are you excited for this, or do you wish Disney left well enough alone with Mizner’s? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I like your approach to reviewing modifications and additions to WDW. Mizner’s was a spot that we liked to visit before dinner and while it may have needed updating and expanding I do not see how a Beauty and the Beast themed bar fits into the decor of the GF. Another piece of nostalgia for me that has been ruined is the Outer Rim bar at the Contemporary. It was once a quiet little bar and a fun place to watch the electrical water pageant go by. Now you can barely tell that it is there and seems to be merely a backdrop for the parking lot of strollers outside of Chef Mickey’s. Modernization and expansion are often necessary, but keeping in theme at the various resorts was always a nice touch that was unique at WDW. Thanks again for all of the previews and updates.
Management needs to think of the resorts and parks as livable movie sets. If they were shooting a movie that took place at seaside hotel in the early 1900’s would a scene in a bar like this make sense? They would think the set designer lost their mind, right?
Beautiful scene, wrong movie.
I do get your thoughts on theming. But I have to say that the lobby of the Grand Floridian needed something. Before this summer, I had only toured the GF during Christmas, and I so enjoyed the giant, themed Christmas tree and the oh so fun gingerbread house. However, in August, I visited the GF for the first time outside of the holiday season and was struck by its emptiness and lack of color or interest. I mean, seriously, the centerpiece of the room is a gigantic, EMPTY birdcage which is the same color as the room (blinding white). I adore the Grand Floridian’s lovely grounds, the restaurants, the pools, the cabanas, the awesome cast members — but the main building needs some animation. So I am excited about the Beauty and the Beast Bar which may add some much-needed, elegant energy to the lobby!
Whoops, my DD pointed out that the birdcage is NOT white but yellow (I can’t figure out how to edit my original post).
How much more Beauty and the Beast can we stand? There’s Be Our Guest, Gaston’s Tavern, and Enchanted Tales with Belle, the Beauty and the Beast show at HS, Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along at Epcot … and the shops are filled to the brim with all things Belle.
Can some of the other Disney Princesses get some visibility? Poor Rapunzel … she gets a bathroom and a photo op.
Doesn’t Cinderella (famed Floridian/Victorian?) already dance in the GF? I think Mizner himself (who didn’t start designing in Florida until we’ll after the “Victorian” period) would have loved Enchanted Rose – his whole approach was “antiquing” new properties with “Old world elegance” (even made plans to build a “centuries-old” castle for himself!) Personally, I can’t wait to check it out on our next trip!
Well I’m just tired of Beauty and the Beast additions to the parks. I get that it’s a very popular movie, but it would be nice to see inspired additions from other Disney films, like Emperor’s New Groove, Big Hero 6, etc. Of course, not in the GF. (:
I wouldn’t venture to the bar for the atmosphere, but the cocktails do sound really tasty! I’ve honestly only been to the Grand Flo once (to look at the gingerbread) so I won’t mind any changes, but the design itself isn’t enough to get me to hop off the monorail again. But I might consider it for the drinks.
The “off-theme IP” complaint is so easy to throw out there, and guaranteed catnip to the legions of Disney fans who love to question Imagineers and are sure they “know better” what should be done concerning all things Walt Disney World.
A Beauty & the Beast themed lounge seems like a fine fit for the Grand Floridian. Especially when the previous lounge was so woefully small, and frankly had a bit of “dark & dungeon” type feel to it. I consider Beauty and the Beast to be a rather “high-end” Disney movie, and a brighter, lighter lounge themed around it will go much better with the feel of the GF lobby than Mizner’s ever did.
I appreciate different viewpoints, but the whole “I know better what’s best for WDW than the Imagineers” attitude is absurd.
As is judging projects negatively before they open because they don’t fit with your old-school version of how Disney used to/should be.
And this is coming from a seriously old-old-old-old school Disney fan.
Disney has to look forward to the generations of visitors who will be coming, to WDW, while balancing the needs of us who’ve been coming for decades.
I think they’ve done a pretty tremendous job at that.
“I know better what’s best for WDW than the Imagineers”
What what it’s worth, this isn’t that. This isn’t questioning the creative/artistic decisions of Imagineers, it’s questioning management’s placement of the concept.
WDI has the ability to develop a ‘menu’ of concepts from which management can order. Imagineering can also make suggestions and shape how projects are developed, but they do not have ultimate say over what goes where, or even unilateral control over said projects once they commence. It’s a bit reductionist, but they’re essentially an exclusive general contractor for Parks & Resorts, with third party subcontractors working under them.
Aside from Pixar Pier, I don’t think I’ve really criticized the creative choices of WDI on a project anytime recently. Even things like Frozen Ever After and Mission Breakout I’ve acknowledged are WDI making lemonade out of lemons. For the most part, they do a really good job of playing the cards they’re dealt.
Now, whether I might have an absurd attitude of “knowing better” than management is a different story.
Well at least it appears to be loosely themed. A highly themed lounge like Trader Sam’s would be REALLY out of place at the Grand. Plus there probably would have been a lot of little princesses and princes in there too!
I couldn’t agree more! We loved Mizners. An expansion might have been nice, but I would have loved it to have been lighter and in keeping with the overall design of the Grand Floridian.
I also agree, the Enchanted Rose bar would be just the draw I’m looking for to entice me to go to the Riviera Resort.
One of the reasons I love Walt Disney World so much is to be transported to another place/time by the theming, which includes the hotels. Most of the latest “enhancements” are either not themed enough, or just don’t work in the place selected. VERY DISAPPOINTING!
I have the same issue with Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs. Why does it make sense to drop a hotel themed to Spain in a resort themed to Mexico? I guess the fact that they are both Spanish speaking countries was enough to bring those two together? Mystified.
Belle is my favorite princess… but I was not excited about this lounge when it was announced. It does fit in The Grand Floridian, and the store they closed to make room for it was one of my husband’s favorite. But I have to admit, the menu looks intriguing. I’m sure we will check it out. Now is too much to ask that one of the four unique spaces be for adults only in the evening?
Another thoughtful piece of commentary. While the ship on this one has long sailed, I do hope folks at Disney are reading your blog. You’ve said it time and time again – characters do not equal theme. It seems as though they are doing a wonderful job, unfortunately on a misplaced project, so that’s a disappointment.
Mizner’s really did need to be expanded. It was most always difficult to find a table. And hopefully the alcoholic beverages also include wine!
My gut reaction to the concept art was, “Eeeew.” Was anyone complaining about Mizner’s needing an update? Every WDW fan I know adores Mizner’s, as-is. Grumble, grumble. Sigh.
I do think Mizner’s was showing its age a bit, and could’ve used a slight cosmetic refresh. It did not, however, need this. It didn’t need any gimmicks. Classy and refined was a good look for GF’s main lounge.
Mizner’s was also always about the live nightly music right out front. The music, the lounge, and Commander Porter’s were pretty seamlessly integrated on that side of the resort. A change like this disrupts that flow to say the least. I guess the band can play the B&B soundtrack twice nightly now.
Your arguments are civil and cogent, Tom. Also, I like your rambling critiques/discussions on the design integrity of the parks. They scratch an itch for those of us who believe there is artistic merit in these places.