Admin: ParksWiki backfill wave 1 (swarm)

2026-11-14T15:11:49Z

ParksWiki backfill wave 1 (swarm)

New page

'''Plaza Inn''' is a counter-service restaurant on [[Main Street, U.S.A. (Disneyland)|Main Street, U.S.A.]] at [[Disneyland Park]] in Anaheim, California. Occupying a prominent corner where Main Street meets the park's central hub, it serves American comfort food in an ornate Victorian setting and is best known for its fried chicken. In the mornings it hosts Minnie & Friends – Breakfast in the Park, a character breakfast at which Minnie Mouse and other Disney characters visit guests at their tables.

== History ==
The building began as the Red Wagon Inn, an opening-day restaurant that debuted with Disneyland on 17 July 1955. Sponsored and operated by Swift & Company, the meatpacking firm, the Red Wagon Inn was the park's leading restaurant of its first decade and was reputedly Walt Disney's own favourite place to eat in the park. It offered full-course table-service dinners at a time when most Disneyland dining was far simpler, and it also contained a cast member dining room nicknamed the Inn Between, tucked between Main Street and Tomorrowland.<ref name="yesterland">{{cite web |title=Red Wagon Inn |publisher=Yesterland |url=https://www.yesterland.com/redwagoninn.html}}</ref>

Walt Disney's wife, Lillian Disney, took a close interest in the restaurant's interior, which drew on fittings salvaged from a historic Los Angeles mansion, including stained glass and an elaborate entrance foyer. When Swift's lease expired, Disney closed the restaurant in October 1964 and rebuilt it at a reported cost of $1.7 million, converting it from table service to an elegant buffet-style, or "buffeteria", format with a wholly new kitchen.

The rebuilt restaurant opened as the Plaza Inn on 18 July 1965, exactly ten years after Disneyland first opened to the public, as part of the park's Tencennial celebration. Walt Disney, Lillian Disney and Disneyland's first ambassador, Julie Reihm, marked the occasion at a press party at the new restaurant.<ref name="wdffm">{{cite web |title="We're Just Getting Started": Disneyland's Tencennial Anniversary in 1965 |publisher=The Walt Disney Family Museum |url=https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/disney-anniversary}}</ref> The Plaza Inn has remained in operation ever since, with periodic refurbishments — including a five-month renovation that ended with a reopening in June 1999 — that have preserved its 1965 character.

== Setting ==
The Plaza Inn was designed as the most elegant restaurant in Disneyland, and its appearance still reflects that ambition. The Victorian dining rooms use red brocade, crystal chandeliers, mirrors and stained glass, including a stained-glass canopy over the foyer, to evoke a prosperous turn-of-the-century American inn. Despite the formal decoration, the service is informal: guests collect food from buffet counters, carry it on trays, and seat themselves.

Seating extends beyond the main rooms to enclosed porches and umbrella-shaded outdoor terraces overlooking the hub, giving diners views towards Sleeping Beauty Castle and, in the evening, a vantage point for fireworks. A small red wagon corn dog cart near the patio preserves a nod to the site's first restaurant, the Red Wagon Inn, whose rooster weathervane still sits on the building's roof.

== Cuisine ==
The Plaza Inn's signature dish is its fried chicken, prepared by a pressure-cooking method often described as "broasted": three pieces of chicken seasoned with herbs and spices, served with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and a buttermilk biscuit. The chicken has anchored the menu for decades, although the preparation has evolved from the baked and rotisserie chicken served in the restaurant's earlier years.

Beyond the chicken, the lunch and dinner menu offers other comfort dishes that have typically included pot roast, pasta such as chicken pesto Alfredo penne, a Cobb salad and a selection of cakes and desserts. In the morning the restaurant operates only as a character dining location, serving a breakfast buffet — with items such as Mickey-shaped waffles, omelettes made to order, French toast and breakfast potatoes — while Minnie Mouse hosts and characters including Chip 'n' Dale, Tigger and Winnie the Pooh circulate among the tables. It is the only character meal offered inside [[Disneyland Park]].

== See also ==
* [[Main Street, U.S.A. (Disneyland)]]
* [[Disneyland Park]]
* [[Carnation Cafe]]
* [[Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Restaurants]]
[[Category:Disneyland Park]]
[[Category:1965 establishments in California]]

Plaza Inn - Revision history

Admin: ParksWiki backfill wave 1 (swarm)