Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill Is Closing, Ending Nearly Three Decades of Puck at Walt Disney World

By entgrove · September 1, 2026

Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at Disney Springs is closing permanently, reportedly serving its final guests on September 13, 2026. It is the last of three Wolfgang Puck restaurants at Walt Disney World, leaving the resort without a Puck location for the first time since 1997. No replacement has been announced for the 250-seat Town Center anchor.

For the first time since 1997, Walt Disney World is about to be without a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at Disney Springs is closing permanently, with reporting pointing to a final service on September 13, 2026. It is the third and last of the celebrity chef's locations at the resort, and its departure leaves a 250-seat anchor space empty in the busiest part of Town Center.

A Confusing Closing Date

The one thing worth flagging up front is that Disney's own systems have not caught up. Walt Disney World's website still lists operating hours for Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill through November 29, 2026, and Advance Dining Reservations remain bookable as far out as the calendar allows.

That is not unusual. The official calendar is routinely the last thing updated when a third-party restaurant closes, and it should not be taken as a contradiction of the September date. The permanent closure itself is not in doubt; the exact final day is what remains to be confirmed by Disney.

Three Restaurants, Twenty-Nine Years

Wolfgang Puck was the pioneer of the celebrity-chef restaurant at Walt Disney World, arriving in the late 1990s when Disney Springs was still Downtown Disney. Three locations have carried his name here:

• Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe (1997–2017), the original flagship, a sprawling 22,000-square-foot, two-story restaurant on Downtown Disney's West Side with four separate areas, a mix of casual and upscale dining, and B's Lounge & Sushi Bar. It closed on August 1, 2017 when its lease ended and was not renewed. Jaleo, Chef José Andrés' flagship Spanish restaurant, opened in the space in March 2019.
• Wolfgang Puck Express (1999–2020), the quick-service location in the Marketplace, and for years the single most popular use of a counter-service credit on the Disney Dining Plan. It closed during the phased post-COVID reopening. eet by Maneet Chauhan took the space in late 2023.
• Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill (2018–2026), the Town Center location closing now.

One persistent misconception is worth correcting: the flagship did not simply move and change names. The Grand Cafe had been acquired by another operator and declined badly under that management. The Bar & Grill was a fresh venture, owned and operated by the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group with the chef himself involved, intended to carry the sensibility of his Spago flagship.

Announced in a Boom, Closing in a Cooldown

Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill was announced in May 2017 as one of five new dining concepts coming to Disney Springs, alongside Jaleo, Wine Bar George, The Edison and Terralina Crafted Italian. It soft opened on November 19, 2018, at the tail end of the massive redevelopment that turned Downtown Disney into Disney Springs.

By then, the celebrity-chef concept was no longer novel. Disney Springs alone had restaurants from Masaharu Morimoto at Morimoto Asia, Rick Bayless at Frontera Cocina, Art Smith at Homecomin' and George Miliotes at Wine Bar George. The names that thrived tend to be the ones with a visible personal presence in Orlando, something Walt Disney World regulars notice and talk about.

The restaurant itself served California coastal cuisine with Mediterranean influences and handcrafted cocktails, in an interior Disney described as elevated farmhouse: light, laid-back, Californian. It occupied prime real estate in Town Center, arguably an anchor tenant for that section of Disney Springs.

What Might Replace It, and Why It Will Take a While

Walt Disney World has not announced a replacement, and an immediate announcement would be surprising. An anchor location like this carries very high rent, and Disney will want the right tenant rather than a fast one. At the same time, a vacant unit in the highest-traffic stretch of Town Center is not something Disney will tolerate for long.

A few dynamics are worth watching. Disney's parks division has been building relationships with restaurateurs through the ongoing overhaul of Downtown Disney at Disneyland, which widens the pool of candidates. And Disney Springs has demonstrated with Gideon's Bakehouse that a homegrown Orlando concept can become one of the most sought-after addresses on the property, a reminder that the obvious national chain is not always the strongest pick.

Expect More Turnover at Disney Springs

The concrete thing to take from this closure is timing, and not just September 13. The first wave of leases signed during the Disney Springs overhaul roughly a decade ago is now coming up for renewal. Combine that with higher labour and ingredient costs, guests trimming discretionary food spending in favour of Lightning Lane purchases, and a district that depends heavily on locals, off-site guests and conventioneers, and Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill is unlikely to be the last name to come off a Disney Springs facade in the next couple of years.

If you want one last meal there, the restaurant is currently participating in 2026 Magical Dining Month. So, notably, is Jaleo, the restaurant that took over the original Wolfgang Puck flagship space nine years ago.