The
Fife & Drum

Closed WDW Snack Bar

Location:
Liberty Square,
Magic Kingdom

Opened: 1972
Closed: c. 1987

Contributing
Disney Personnel:
Gordon Hayes, Rudy Lord, Chuck Myall

Remnants:
Building still exists

All images copyright
The Walt Disney Company.
Picture of fife & drum corps courtesy Louis Wertz.
 Text 2009 by Mike Lee

Thanks to Brian Martsolf for getting the page update jump-started
 

Last Update to this page: April 19, 2009

The first incarnation of Liberty Square rendered the quiet space behind Old World Antiques, Mlle. Lafayette's Parfumerie and the Silversmith (all now gone and replaced by the Liberty Square Christmas Shop) a more wooded location than what it would become in the year after the park's opening. Initially, the only pedestrian pathway through this area ran close to those shops and was bound by an undulating brick wall to the south, which held back the patch of forest area between Colonial civilization and the canal that passes through the hub.

In 1972 the company made extended use of this agreeable little hideaway by carving out a series of patios that foraged beyond the brick wall toward Adventureland. Because visitation to the park had been so high since the previous October's opening (and since the crowds liked to eat and drink), tables and chairs were added, as was the plaza's very own seasonal snack bar: The Fife and Drum.

The small building, as pictured above and still visible in the park today, looks like a miniature version of Aunt Polly's Landing on Tom Sawyer Island.  Technically speaking, however, Aunt Polly's is just a larger version of The Fife and Drum because the latter came first.  It was built onto an existing structure called the "can wash building."  The revised layout consisted simply of a back room with an ice machine, sink and refrigerator and a front counter area with a drink machine and refrigerated sandwich dispenser.  The menu selection wasn't diverse, as the equipment description no doubt implies.  But on hot summer days it offered sufficient relief in the form of drinks, cold sandwiches and desserts.

After many years of useful service, The Fife and Drum marched its way into Magic Kingdom history right around 1987.  Outwardly it continued to appear the same, save for two signs on its roof, for several more years. And the adjacent plaza was still a peaceful retreat from the park's main thoroughfares until 1995, when the area was redressed for a Pocahontas cross-promotion and given a name, the "Enchanted Glen."

In 2000, a new bridge was erected across the hub canal directly into this area. As part of this change, the Fife and Drum plaza was opened up as a direct traffic route between other points of interest in the park.  So the days of sneaking some solitary relaxation in this shady corner are now all but relegated to the past.