McDonald’s to Launch Burger Invasion at Disney Park

McDonald’s Corp. confirmed Monday that it will open a restaurant at Disney’s California Adventure. The fast-food chain said the food served inside the new park, opening Feb. 8, will cost less than Disney hamburgers but more than at McDonald’s restaurants outside the park.

McDonald’s, a major promotional partner of Walt Disney Co., said the restaurant, Burger Invasion, will be the eighth of its food outlets at Disney amusement parks in Anaheim, Florida and France. This latest one will have the broadest menu.

A Big Mac, French fries and drink at McDonald’s across Harbor Boulevard from Disneyland costs $4.50. At Burger Invasion, a Big Mac and fries without a drink will cost $4.79. And a soda is $2.19.

Still, McDonald’s food “is a value inside the park,” McDonald’s spokeswoman Nancy Izquierdo said. For example, a double cheeseburger and fries cost $4.59 at Burger Invasion, compared with $5.79 for a cheeseburger and fries at Don the Beachcomber, a Disney restaurant at California Adventure.

Disney chairman Michael D. Eisner said Burger Invasion embodies the “growing relationship between our two companies,” which have undertaken more than 1,500 joint programs worldwide.

Shaped like a hamburger, Burger Invasion looks more distinctive than a regular McDonald’s, but the food is identical--a fact that drew protests when the company started selling fries from a covered wagon in Disneyland’s Frontierland area. Some Disney enthusiasts say McDonald’s is too ordinary to be included at Disney parks.