Yesterday, Disney held a preview for Cast Members and their invited guests at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While we’ll have more thoughts on our experience in a little while, we wanted to discuss our experience at Oga’s Cantina in the meantime.
When Disney’s Hollywood Studios opens tomorrow, Oga’s Cantina will be open and operating at a greatly reduced capacity and with strict social distancing protocols in place.
Reservations Required
As stated on the Walt Disney World website, advance reservations are “highly recommended”. While that verbiage hasn’t been updated since the park closures, with social distancing protocols put in place, this will operate as “required” in practice. The capacity of the venue will be greatly reduced and we’re told walk-up availability might not be available for quite some time. Reservations for Oga’s Cantina opened up earlier this month, and are hard to secure.
A Seating Arrangement Far, Far Away
In order to operate within guidelines from the state of Florida, Oga’s Cantina must have a capacity of less than 50%.
As you can see below, the listed capacity of the venue is 246 people. This includes Cast Members and guests. Per the mandate, Oga’s Cantina could open with 123 guests. However, Disney has taken great care in ensuring that parties wouldn’t be within 6′ of each other. Given that the standing tables and booths are permanently installed, we spoke with a manager who said that Disney has decided to operate well below the 50% limit set by the state.
We counted 8 other parties in the venue at the same time as us, which is pretty close to the maximum amount of parties that Disney is allowing in the venue. In total, we expect there to be around 30-40 guests seated at a time, depending on variable party sizes.
Whereas Disney used to pack Oga’s Cantina to the brim prior to shutting down the theme parks, there is no standing at the bar anymore.
Oga’s Rules
Before you enter Oga’s Cantina, Cast Members tell guests to keep their masks on at all times expect when eating or drinking. Cast Members specifically told us to keep our masks on while walking to our table, while ordering our drinks and food, and while leaving.
As you can see, health and safety reminders are posted outside of the front door, and multiple hand sanitizers are available for guests.
The Experience
In line with other dining locations around the theme parks, guests are given a QR code to gain access to a digital menu.
DJ Rex was still spinning the latest intergalactic tunes and interactive elements still play within the bar.
The whole experience functions more as a table service now, with the packed bar-like feel instead being replaced with a more quiet atmosphere. As far as the atmosphere is concerned, it felt a little dead, but the experience was far and away better than the often claustrophobic and unpleasantly packed way that the location used to operate. We wish that Disney would have provided this experience to the average guest when Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened, and not as a result of a pandemic.
Here’s a look back at the elbow-to-elbow experience before the parks closed.
For our full review of Oga’s Cantina when it first opened, click here.
