The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge has reopened its outdoor patio at Disney’s Hollywood Studios with a permanent overhang covering the entire seating area, ending more than two months of construction that began at the end of June. The patio reopened on September 4 and is operating daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge has reopened with a new overhang, offering a more weather-resistant dining experience
— Blog Mickey (@Blog_Mickey) September 6, 2026
🔗 https://blogmickey.com/2026/09/hollywood-brown-derby-lounge-reopens-with-fully-covered-outdoor-seating/
The new structure carries a red awning that matches the entrance canopy on the front of The Hollywood Brown Derby, with ceiling fans mounted underneath and wrought-iron-style lantern fixtures running along the edge. The planters and barriers that walled off the patio during the work are gone, and guests are already dining under the finished roof.
What The Covered Patio Looks Like Now
Before the project, the lounge patio sat under umbrellas, exposed to the sun and the afternoon storms that roll through Central Florida for most of the year. The reopened space is fully shaded, with round tables dressed in white tablecloths filling the area over new pavement. Red leather chairs with wrought iron frames, their upholstery refreshed during the work, sit toward the center, while black metal chairs line the outer edge along the walkway, which puts lounge guests right next to the Hollywood Boulevard foot traffic.
The scrollwork on the new lantern fixtures echoes the ironwork found elsewhere on the building, so the addition reads as part of the original 1930s-style facade rather than a bolt-on. For anyone who still prefers the open air, a single table remains outside the cover.
How The Project Unfolded
Construction started at the end of June, when the lounge moved to a smaller side patio around the corner and the first word of a new overhang surfaced. By July 17, new support columns had gone in along the patio with concrete footings that pointed to a covered structure, which is when we first reported a shade structure was on the way. On September 1 the awning, fans and lanterns were installed but the patio was still walled off. The reopening came three days later.
The Hollywood Brown Derby’s main dining room stayed open throughout the work, and the lounge continued to operate from its temporary side location.
What The Lounge Serves
The lounge is the no-reservation way into the Brown Derby’s kitchen. Disney’s posted menu for the lounge lists the restaurant’s signature Cobb Salad at $30, with chicken for $37 or shrimp for $40, and the Grapefruit Cake, a Brown Derby original, at $14. Small plates on the list include escargot at $21, prosciutto croquettes at $15 and char-grilled octopus at $20, with the wine list running from by-the-glass pours up to a $480 bottle of Jarvis Finch Hollow Chardonnay.
The Hollywood Brown Derby is a recreation of the original Los Angeles restaurant where the Cobb Salad was invented, and the lounge has long been one of the easier places in the park to get a table without a reservation, especially at off-peak hours. With the patio now covered, the biggest reason to skip it on a hot or rainy afternoon is gone.
Disney has not announced any further changes to the lounge beyond the new structure. The Hollywood Brown Derby and its lounge are located on Hollywood Boulevard near the entrance to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
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