Walt Disney World has released Advance Dining Reservation booking dates for the Beak & Barrel, the new Pirates of the Caribbean tavern coming to Adventureland in Magic Kingdom. This post shares when off-site and on-site guests will be able to score ADRs for time slots during the 2025 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.
According to Disney, the Beak and Barrel will extend the story of Pirates of the Caribbean. Construction on the new bar is currently underway at Walt Disney World and the tavern is expected to open later in 2025. Now for some more new updates on the Pirates of the Caribbean Tavern.
Established by the legendary pirate rumrunner, Captain Meridian “Merry” Goldwyn, and her talkative first mate, Rummy (more on them below), this lively pirate pub will soon welcome swashbucklers, scoundrels, bandits and buccaneers of all ages from every corner of the seven seas.
Here’s the latest from Walt Disney World’s official website on the opening date and Advance Dining Reservation booking dates for the Beak and Barrel:
The Beak and Barrel is scheduled to open in late 2025. Advance reservations are strongly recommended. Check back later for details about making reservations.
Starting June 12, 2025, Guests staying at a Disney Resort hotel can book their reservation to dine at this restaurant during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party—offered on select nights August 15 to October 31, 2025. All other Guests will be able to book reservations starting June 16, 2025.
It’s kind of wild to get an Advance Dining Reservation booking date–or rather, dates, plural–before an opening date, but that’s precisely what Walt Disney World has done with the Beak and Barrel.
While it’s not completely clear, our reading of this is that reservations open for time slots only during Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party on June 12, 2025 for on-site guests, and June 16 for off-site guests–again during MNSSHP only for both of those ADR drop dates. The June 16 date is not when all reservations open for the Beak and Barrel, just when MNSSHP ADRs for off-site guests go live.
Also unclear is when, exactly, during Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that the Beak and Barrel will be open to book. The above seems to imply that the Beak and Barrel will be open for MNSSHP starting August 15, 2025–but the verbiage is actually just stating that MNSSHP occurs during select nights across that date range.
The Beak and Barrel could, in theory, be open for a subset of those dates. It could debut during Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party on October 19 and the blurb on Disneyworld.com would still be factually correct.
Nevertheless, it would stand to reason that the Beak and Barrel will officially open before August 15, 2025 and will be open for the entirety of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party season. But it is odd that booking dates would be announced first, and tied specifically to MNSSHP. There are a couple of possibilities for this.
The first is that it’s a simple mistake. That the Beak and Barrel was supposed to get an official opening date already–perhaps it was preempted by the last-minute scheduling of the Disneyland Abu Dhabi announcement last week, which pushed off other Walt Disney World news.
Similarly, it’s possible that the team responsible for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party details has launched that without double-checking that all pertinent details about the Beak and Barrel have already been released. And that the Pirates of the Caribbean tavern will soon have an opening date announced in late July, early August, or whenever.
It’s also possible that the Beak and Barrel will have an exclusive soft opening or early access during Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. That it actually is not opening in late summer, but rather, still officially coming in “late 2025.” That would explain why this is being announced as MNSSHP news instead of its own thing.
That makes sense, but we’re skeptical. Walt Disney World does not need to incentivize MNSSHP ticket sales with the PotC tavern as a party-exclusive preview. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is almost certainly going to sell out all 2025 dates, regardless. Making the Beak and Barrel a party-exclusive doesn’t make much sense from that perspective.
To the contrary, limiting the Pirates of the Caribbean tavern to only ~5 hours of operation on select evenings in August and beyond would be counterproductive for the company because it would also (and more importantly) limit revenue. As we’ve mentioned on countless occasions, the Beak and Barrel is a license to print money for Walt Disney World. That’s precisely why we’ve predicted it’ll open ASAP– whenever it’s ready–as opposed to having a strategically-timed opening date.
The only exception I could see to this is if Walt Disney World wants/needs to ramp up operations at the Beak and Barrel, either due to staffing or logistical impediments. In which case, it might make sense to soft open it during MNSSHP and then do the grand opening in October. If that were the case, though, it seems unlikely they’d know about this ‘need’ in mid-May. It’d be more last minute, so that explanation also doesn’t really pass the smell test.
Either way, we should probably know soon–likely in the coming hours or days! (I’ve been half-worried that Walt Disney World would announce the official opening date for the Beak and Barrel bar while I wrote this all up!) It’s also entirely possible that we won’t know anything else for another month, until ADRs open to MNSSHP guests staying on-site and we see when time slots are (and are not) available. Stranger things have happened–Walt Disney World likes to keep us all on our toes!
In the meantime, here’s what else we know about the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean tavern in Magic Kingdom…
The Beak & Barrel Rules
Eat, drink and be entertained at The Beak and Barrel, a welcoming haven for all pirate-kind—from seasoned swashbucklers to budding buccaneers. While you sip and snack, you’ll be immersed in the Tortuga world through swashbuckling sing-alongs, storytelling and enchanting surprises.
Grab a quick bite and quench your thirst. The menu features tasty options for pirates of all ages—as well as refreshing cocktails for Guests ages 21 and up. Check back later for menu details.
Advance Dining Reservations are strongly recommended. Because space is extremely limited, the Beak and Barrel is limited to 45 minutes per party. Check back later for details about making reservations.
It was widely expected that the Pirates of the Caribbean bar would serve alcohol, but this officially confirms it. Honestly, I’m not sure which would be more controversial here: a pirates bar with the rum actually being always gone, or more alcohol in Magic Kingdom? As it turns out, Disney chose to do Jack Sparrow proud.
As you’re likely aware, Walt Disney World long ago crossed the rubicon with alcohol in Magic Kingdom. It had only been in table service restaurants, and limited to a two drink maximum, until now. This is a lounge, so not quite the same, but we’d expect the drink limit to persist-in addition to the 45 minute stay limit. Rules on top of rules! And unlike the Pirate Code, these rules are more what you’d call rules than guidelines.
All of this positions the Beak and Barrel as a Magic Kingdom and pirates-themed counterpart to Oga’s Cantina at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. That Star Wars bar has a similar time constraint due to space, and for many guests, it’s a one and done due to the rushed nature of the experience. (As much as we view Oga’s Cantina as an exemplar of themed design and atmosphere, we spend far more time at the less-ambitious BaseLine Tap House.)
When Will The Beak and Barrel Open?
Walt Disney World has stated both that “The Beak and Barrel opens later this year in Adventureland at Magic Kingdom” and that the new Pirates of the Caribbean-themed tavern is “set to open in late 2025 in Adventureland at Magic Kingdom.” In Disneyspeak, “late 2025” and “later this year” mean two different things. Any day after today is “later,” whereas “late” generally means October through December.
My guess is that Walt Disney World is not yet confident in when Beak & Barrel will be able to open, and that’s why we do not yet have a season, much less an official date. That this project will be a race against the clock, and will basically open when it’s able to open.
There’s no reason to believe Disney is dragging its feet on this project. The Pirates of the Caribbean tavern is a license to print money. This will be the first bar in Magic Kingdom, and will be hugely popular with fans. It will be hugely profitable for the company, so there’s no reason to not have it open ASAP.
If it’s ready on July 23, it’ll open on that date. If it’s ready August 15, it’ll debut then. Walt Disney World will not purposefully slow-roll this project or hold it back for the sake of hitting a specific opening date. If anything, Walt Disney World might be inclined to throw more resources at this project if that means having the money-printer online earlier.
Nevertheless, if we’re predicting opening dates for the Beak and Barrel, the obvious candidate is October 1, 2025. If it ends up being that date, Walt Disney World will claim it’s in honor of the Magic Kingdom’s anniversary. Technically true, but the real reason is that it’s the start of a new fiscal year, and a new bar will help juice revenue numbers for the coming year, making management look better in the process.
While it now sounds like the Beak and Barrel will debut sometime around August 15 for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, there’s no guarantee it’ll be ready at the start of that season–or that the grand opening will occur then. Assuming it’s not able to have a wide opening then, the logical target date that checks the most boxes is October 1, 2025.
If the Beak & Barrel can’t make that opening date, we’re really just looking at any date from October through December. Pick a dart and throw it at the calendar. It would be optimal to get it open before any big holidays: Columbus Day/Fall Break, Jersey Week/Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Week.
Timing-wise, Walt Disney World might want to coordinate the opening with Test Track 3.0 (if that gets delayed), Zootopia: Better Zoogether, or kickoff of Christmas to roll them into some marketing package. That seems like overthinking it. Again, Beak & Barrel is not like a new attraction. This thing is going to be booked solid whenever it does debut, and generate lots of revenue. It’ll open as soon as it possibly can.
Ultimately, the Pirates of the Caribbean lounge has a lot of standalone potential and could also bring new life to neglected areas of Caribbean Plaza. This whole area used to be a purpose-built Pirates of the Caribbean mini-land, but has been diluted and lost to time over the years, with a variety of spaces converted to storage, abandoned fountains, and more. I don’t want to let myself get too carried away, but I could see this leading to a bonafide buccaneeraissance.
Is it really too much to ask for live pirate performers and a steel drum band, retail revival, as well as a full transformation of Tortuga Tavern and the addition of this Pirates of the Caribbean lounge? Okay, perhaps so. But this is a good step in the right direction, especially given everything on the horizon for this side of Magic Kingdom.
This sleepy corner of Adventureland could soon become much busier. Investing in Caribbean Plaza to improve its capacity and utilization would be a savvy forward-thinking, but still relatively low-cost move for the company. It’s also something guests and diehard Walt Disney World fans would love, so also there’s that!
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Your Thoughts
When do you think the new Pirates of the Caribbean tavern will open? Will you take time out of MNSSHP to pop into the new bar? Are you excited to experience the Beak & Barrel? What do you think about Magic Kingdom getting a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed lounge? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!
