The ticket page for Alice in Wonderland at the Presidio Theatre is a list of 23 performances running from November 28 to December 27, 2026. In early November, the first seven performances printed in gray all fall on a weekend. Opening weekend's 1 p.m. shows on November 28 and 29 are sold out. So are the Friday and Saturday evenings of December 4 and 5, the 1 p.m. matinee on December 6, and the 1 p.m. shows on December 12 and 13.
The weeknights are still open. Thursday, December 3 at 6 p.m. has seats, and so do December 10, 11, 17 and 18. This year the rest of the Main Post fits around those evenings better than ever, mostly because of a food hall that opened at Tunnel Tops in August.
Where the first weekends went
Panto in the Presidio has built its audience over several years. The theatre says Alice in Wonderland brings back the creative team and many of the cast members behind its sold-out original productions, including Sleeping Beauty and last year's Peter Pan. Executive producer Peggy Haas and director Liam Vincent return. In this year's story, a forgotten birthday drops Alice into "a topsy-turvy San Francisco Wonderland." The show uses the panto formula the theatre describes: fairytales mashed together, pop songs with rewritten lyrics, and flying candy.
As of early November, the remaining dates break down like this:
- Weeknight evenings, 6 p.m.: Thursday, December 3; Thursday, December 10; Friday, December 11; Thursday, December 17; Friday, December 18; Wednesday, December 23
- Weekend evenings, 6 p.m.: Saturday, December 12; Saturday, December 19; Saturday, December 26
- Afternoons, 1 p.m.: December 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26 and 27
Every weekend matinee before December 19 is gone. Families who want a 1 p.m. show now have the week of Christmas, and the 6 p.m. weekday performances are the main way in before that. The theatre asks buyers to purchase panto tickets only through its own website and box office, and names StubHub and Vivid Seats as resellers to avoid.
A 6 p.m. curtain and a kitchen three blocks away
Until this year, a weeknight panto at the Main Post meant eating somewhere else first. The Mess Hall at the Presidio opened at 201 Halleck Street on August 15. It's a food hall, bar and market beside Tunnel Tops. The Presidio Theatre describes itself as three blocks from Tunnel Tops, across from the bowling alley, and the Presidio counts both the theatre and Tunnel Tops as part of the Main Post.
The theatre's lobby opens an hour before showtime, and the auditorium opens 30 minutes before. For a 6 p.m. performance, that means dinner at the Mess Hall between about 4:30 and 5:15, then a short walk while the lobby is filling. The theatre sells snacks, soft drinks, beer and wine. Drinks can go into the auditorium, but food has to stay in the lobby.
The Mess Hall's homepage says two of its three counters are serving from 11 a.m.: Breadwinner and Dayboat Seafood. Boda, the Korean and Asian-inflected counter, is listed on its own page as coming soon. According to Eater SF's opening report, James Beard Award winner Peter Serpico consults on the menus. Serpico told Eater that Breadwinner is "our East Coast deli, kind of a New York bodega." Its menu includes a porchetta sandwich with slow-fried pork belly and broccoli raab, and a Baltimore-style pit beef sandwich with charred rare steak and horseradish mayonnaise. Dayboat handles the raw bar and Dungeness crab sandwiches.
Founding partner Nate Leonard described the place to Eater SF in a way that suits panto night: "Mom and dad can get drinks from the bar, and the kids can order food from the kids' menu." The posted hours for the food counters and the bar are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The coffee counter, which uses Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters beans, and the market both open at 7 a.m. The market sells picnic food such as Rize Up bread and cheese. Breadwinner's menu lists breakfast sandwiches from 7 to 10 a.m. The hours shown differ a little from one section of the site to another, so check the day you plan to go.
What closes before the curtain comes down
Most of the Main Post's daytime attractions close before a 6 p.m. show lets out. Several free ones close by late afternoon.
| Main Post stop | Posted hours |
|---|---|
| Field Station at Tunnel Tops | Wed–Fri 11 a.m.–4 p.m.; Sat–Sun 10 a.m.–5 p.m. |
| Presidio Officers' Club History Gallery | Fri–Sun 11 a.m.–4 p.m. |
| Park Ranger Campfire Talks near the Visitor Center | Daily at 3 p.m. |
| PresidiGo Downtown shuttle | Weekdays 6 a.m.–7 p.m.; weekends 9 a.m.–6 p.m. |
| Mess Hall food counters and bar | Sun–Thu 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; Fri–Sat 11 a.m.–9 p.m. |
The shuttle line is the one to plan around. PresidiGo is free and runs seven days a week, but the Downtown route stops at 7 p.m. on weekdays. The panto's running time isn't published, so a 6 p.m. audience should plan a different way home. The theatre lists Muni routes 1, 29, 30 and 45 as serving the Presidio or stopping nearby. Parking at the Main Post is mixed: some zones are free, and others are paid seven days a week. The Presidio's general rates are $2 to $3 an hour and $10 to $15 a day, with hours posted on signs at each lot.
For dinner after the show, the Mess Hall's 8 p.m. weeknight close is probably too early. Kaiyo Handroll Bar opened at 1838 Union Street on September 11, and Eater listed its hours as 4 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Thursday and until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
The Disney museum warms up on the same nights
The Walt Disney Family Museum, which the Presidio lists among the Main Post's family highlights, already has a weeknight-heavy calendar for the next three weeks, and part of it ties back to the panto. The panto team behind this year's show also made the Presidio Theatre's original Sleeping Beauty, and the museum is screening Disney's Sleeping Beauty repeatedly before the panto opens:
- Thursday, November 12, 5–7 p.m.: Sip and Sketch: Eyvind Earle-Inspired Scratchboards
- Friday, November 13: Sleeping Beauty screenings, including a sensory-friendly showing, plus Perfect Pairing: Brews and Views with Coco
- Saturday, November 14: Animate a Frog Studio Series workshops for adults and youth
- Friday, November 20: Sleeping Beauty, regular and sensory-friendly
- Saturday, November 21: HUZ: Drawn to Life screening and talk
- November 27, 28 and 29: Sleeping Beauty, regular and sensory-friendly
The November 28 and 29 screenings fall on the panto's sold-out opening weekend. For a family that missed those tickets, the museum offers a Disney version of the same story on the same post. In December, the museum holds Member Appreciation Weekend on the 12th and 13th, and runs Animate a Puppy Yawn workshops on Saturday, December 19.
Thursday, December 10, in order
- 3 p.m.: A free, all-ages Park Ranger Campfire Talk near the Presidio Visitor Center. December 10 has its own dated listing.
- Before 4 p.m.: The Field Station at Tunnel Tops is open until 4 on Thursdays.
- Around 4:30 p.m.: An early dinner at Breadwinner or Dayboat Seafood. The Mess Hall bar stays open until 8.
- 5 p.m.: Here the evening splits. The Presidio Theatre lobby opens for the 6 p.m. Alice in Wonderland, which still had seats in early November. At the same hour, the Walt Disney Family Museum starts Sip and Sketch: Mid-Century Greeting Cards, which runs until 7.
For more on how the blocks just outside the Presidio wall behave, our Presidio Heights field notes follow Sacramento Street, and our San Francisco neighborhood pages cover the rest of the northern edge of the city.
At Wynne + Morgensen, we follow the small schedules that shape a season near the Presidio, from theatre box offices to shuttle timetables. If you're thinking about what life a few blocks from the Main Post looks like, or how it affects a home you already own nearby, we'd welcome the chance to talk it through. Request a Private Consultation.