12 Best Bars in Walt Disney World Orlando, Florida

This popular, high-energy dance club plays music from the ’80s onward and has a huge screen showing videos requested by the crowd. The parquet dance floor is set off by furnishings of deep blue, maroon, and gold, and the ceiling glows with stars and twinkling lights. Signature cocktails are in demand, and you can sip a cognac or choose from a selection of popular beers. During the fall and spring, the dance club may only be open on the weekends, so check times before you travel.

The restaurant serves up live blues performances and rib-sticking Mississippi Delta cooking all week long, and there's often a jam session on the front porch. The attached concert hall has showcased name performers and has found a faithful audience tuned into indie acts. Come hungry for the à la carte weekend brunch and unlimited Sunday Gospel Brunch buffet, where there's always a show and all-you-can-eat Southern food.

This intimate bar serves more than 200 tequilas along with Mexican beers, wines, top-shelf cocktails, and a colorful array of margaritas. Try a tequila flight while snacking on tapas, chips, guacamole, and queso. For a $180 per person fee, you can also have a certified "Tequila Ambassador" guide you through the selection of rare and unique agave spirits.

At this rollicking pub you can sing along with the piano or just listen to a jazzy version of last year's hits. Indulge in a whiskey flight or sing along with the pianist while raising a specially made pub blend. The atmosphere is adults-only, though children are allowed, and reservations are highly recommended. Note that the Pub and Dining Room are two different eateries and not connected physically. The English gardens across the walk are a perfect and perfectly quiet place to enjoy a pint and respite from the sometimes chaotic EPCOT crowd.

This cool, cozy, and delightfully Italian wine cellar is an ideal place to escape the crowds. You can order from among 200 varieties of wine; switch things up with a cold beer; and complement either with a small-plate selection of meats, cheeses, calamari, and desserts. Wine flights from around Italy are also offered (ask your server for their favorite). The adjoining Tutto Italia sit-down restaurant is the only one in Walt Disney World that doesn't take reservations, but if you're willing to wait 20 or 30 minutes, you can usually get a table. Entrées include gnocchi, lasagne alla Bolognese, and pan-seared salmon in herb sauce. Although smaller kids might not be thrilled with the adult ambience or food, there is a kids' menu with options like mozzarella sticks and spaghetti.

A must-see spectacular, this Hollywood Studios 25-minute special-effects blockbuster is held after dark in a packed 6,900-seat amphitheater (often with an additional 3,000 guests standing). Between music, lasers, and fireworks, Mickey Mouse emcees among an all-star cast of characters from new films and old to take on sinister villains in a fiery finish that dazzles audiences every night.

The longest-running show at Disney has hardly changed over the decades. The beloved Pioneer Hall Players—a group of Wild West singers, dancers, and comedians—perform romantic ballads, corny tunes, and slapstick. It's old-fashioned family fun you'll sing and clap along to while chowing down on barbecued ribs, fried chicken, corn on the cob, strawberry shortcake, and all the fixin's. Unlimited beverages include beer, wine, and sangria. Tickets are available up to 180 days in advance so plan as far ahead as possible.

A stylish, refined alcove named after Florida Renaissance architect Addison Mizner is tucked away at the far end of the Grand Floridian's second-floor lobby. It's a tasteful low-key getaway where you can unwind with a glass of champagne, a martini, or a Manhattan while listening to a live jazz band. The extensive drink menu includes multiple single-malt Scotch whiskies and after-dinner cognacs and ports.

Inside the high-end restaurant is a bar that serves ordinary beer in expensive yard glasses, along with some exclusive and tasty cocktails. The porch-side views of the Seven Seas Lagoon, the nightly Electrical Water Pageant, and the Magic Kingdom fireworks are worth the premium you pay.

This popular luau features an outdoor barbecue with colorful South Pacific–style entertainment. Fire jugglers and hula dancers capture the spirit of Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, and Hawaii while regional dishes like Polynesian ribs and roasted chicken and pineapple-coconut guava cake transport your taste buds to the islands.Reservations can be made 180 days in advance.

The frontier theme here honors the Corps of Discovery (look overhead for a Lewis and Clark Expedition trail map). Between drinks, check out the surveying equipment, daguerreotypes, parka mittens, maps, and what the lounge claims is a pair of Teddy Roosevelt's boots.

The exotic safari theme incorporates leather directors' chairs, native masks, and the gurgling of a stream that flows from the lobby and through the lounge to cascade over rockwork into a small pool at the Boma restaurant below. Before or after dinner, this is a great spot to watch a game, sip South African wines and beers, and enjoy a casual night out with friends and family.Arrive early and check out the zebras, giraffes, and other animals on the lodge's savanna.