Ready for a refreshment break?

Look for the three storefronts between the Carnation Ice Parlor and the Penny Arcade. They look like three separate stores from the outside, but they’re all the Sunkist Citrus House on the inside.

Photo by Ron Fleischer, 1964

Sunkist Citrus House by day

How about a paper cup of delicious, fresh-squeezed orange juice? The machine that juices the locally-grown Sunkist Valencia oranges is behind the counter. The store is filled with a fresh orange aroma. You don’t get that from bottled orange juice.

This is real 100% orange juice—much better than the orange soda at Nesbitt’s Orange Drink Center at the stockade on Tom Sawyer Island.

Or maybe you’re thirsty for a tall lemonade? The lemonade at the Sunkist Citrus House is cold and refreshing, with a perfect balance of lemon juice, sugar, and water—because the lemonade is made from frozen concentrate.

If it’s a hot day, you might prefer a Sunkist frozen juice bar. You can also order coffee, rolls, lemon tarts, or cheesecake.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 1974

Sunkist Citrus House at night

If you’re in Adventureland, head to “Sunkist, I Presume,” a delightful outdoor facility wedged between the Aunt Jemima Pancake House and the Big Game Safari Shooting Galley. The eatery’s odd name is a reference to when explorer Henry Morton Stanley greeted explorer David Livingstone in central Africa with the famous words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” (or so Stanley claimed) on November 10, 1871. In addition to a beverage menu similar to that of Sunkist Citrus House, you can order a Jungle Julep, a blend of juices, but with no bourbon despite the name. Hungry? Have a donut or a hot dog.

The Sunkist Citrus House operated on the west side of Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. from July 31, 1960 to January 3, 1989—a run of almost three full decades.

After Yesterland published the first version of this Yesterland entry in 1997, a reader sent an email:

In your description of the Sunkist Citrus House, you left out the juice machine that automatically processes a basket of oranges at a time. The machine automatically cut them in half and squeezed the juice with six reamers on one side and six on the other. As a small child, I watched the reamers slowly rotate around, pick up an orange half, squeeze it, and dump the peel in a circular motion with a continuous stream of juice trickling out. This machine made a more lasting impression on me than a lot of other things in the park!

— Bob Morris, July 31, 1997

Before it was Sunkist, the space behind the right and center storefronts was Sunny-View Farms Jams & Jellies; the space behind the right storefront was the Puffin Bakery.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 1996

Blue Ribbon Bakery after Sunkist Citrus House

When Sunkist closed, the entire space became the first location of Blue Ribbon Bakery.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2017

Gibson Girl Ice Cream behind the same three storefronts as Sunkist Citrus House

After the Blue Ribbon Bakery moved into the Carnation Ice Parlor space next door in 1997, the next “tenant” was Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor, a take-out ice cream location serving eight flavors of scooped ice cream and six flavors of soft serve frozen yogurt. And it’s still Gibson Girl today.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2009

Bengal Barbecue after “Sunkist, I Presume”

“Sunkist, I Presume” also had three-decade run. It had replaced Tropical Cantina. When Sunkist moved out, Bengal Barbecue, serving various skewered meats and vegetables, moved in. It’s still there. In 2017, Bengal Barbecue introduced its own Jungle Julep—still with no bourbon.

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Updated May 29, 2020.