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There are a lot of restaurants at the Walt Disney World Resort I love. Hollywood Studios especially has great restaurants; we discuss them in our Hollywood Studios dining guide. But the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant in Hollywood Studios has got to be one of my very favorites.
It is way more than a restaurant. It is a really fun experience. I think of it as an attraction in its own right.
So, today I’m going to tell you about visiting the restaurants and the positives and negatives of the restaurant (including, of course, the food). We will also give you some money-saving Disney World tips at the end.
But first, here are the positives and negatives.
Positives
- Incredible theming (as in Disney at its finest)
- Most creative tables you’ll find at Disney World
- Immersive experience
- Fun old school sci-fi movie trailers playing during your meal
- Good food & drinks
Negatives
- Hard to really have a conversation with your family given the way the tables are formatted
- The restaurant is very dark
- Hard to get a reservation
Restaurant Atmosphere & Set-Up
The whole atmosphere of this restaurant is incredible. I really like restaurants where you feel like you can escape into a different world. And you know that right away when you visit this restaurant. I mean, even before you step inside the restaurant.
Because the outside of the restaurant is great. It adds to the whole atmosphere of the restaurant.
When we last visited, the waitress told us right away that we were about to step back in time to the 1950s to a drive-in movie theater in Beverly Hills, California. I love the set-up (and it is so perfect for Hollywood Studios!).
The lobby is great, too, at setting up the mood. I love the movie posters of movies from the era that you will see during your meal, like this one from the Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.
Or for Missile to the Moon, a remake of another movie seen at the Sci Fi Theater Restaurant, Cat-Women of the Moon.
When you step into the restaurant, you can’t help but be impressed by the set-up. They do a wonderful job of creating an atmosphere of nighttime at a drive-in movie theater, complete with a snack bar at the back of the restaurant. Even the servers are dressed like servers at an old school drive-in movie theater.
Tables
A really unique part of the set-up is the tables. There are no other tables like this at any restaurant at Disney World (or any restaurant anywhere I have gone, for that matter).
They are set up like they are cars so you will really feel as though you are sitting in a car at the drive through movie.
The whole restaurant is dark so it feels like night.
Now, this can be a good or bad thing. It depends on your perspective. If you are hoping for your dinner to be a chance for you and your family to have a good conversation, you are out of luck. You will all be facing the movie screen.
Of course, on the other hand, maybe not having a conversation during your meal would be a good thing for you. Again, depends on your perspective.
Now, there are a few regular tables at the back of the restaurant.
You could request one, but this is a very popular restaurant and you may not get it. Plus, it might delay your meal a lot waiting for this table open up. But you could ask for it if you wanted to talk to your family during your meal.
My family sat at one of these tables once and had a good time. Though the one negative with this table was that your neck does feel strained after awhile from trying to watch the movie screen!
Also, the dark lighting helps the mood of the theme, but it makes a bit hard to see your food. I was scared once eating there that I was going to knock the pasta on my plate onto my lap.
Movie Screen
So the unique thing about this restaurant is the movie screen.
They play lots of sci-fi movie trailers and commercials. If you are there long enough, it will start over at some point. The trailers are more campy than scary and most likely would not scare kids. A lot of them are actually quite funny.
The whole experience really makes you feel like you are getting the trailers at the beginning of a sci-fi movie (without the payoff of seeing a movie, of course).
This, to me, is the most unique part of your experience and why eating here is so much fun. There is just no restaurant like it at Disney World – or really anywhere else.
Reservations
Which is why it doesn’t surprise me that it’s hard to get a reservation for this restaurant. An experience as unique as this is always going to be a favorite for visitors.
So if you really want to visit here, make sure you get an advanced dining reservation. We talk about getting advanced dining reservations here.
Food & Drinks
Also adding to the popularity of the restaurant are the food and drinks. They are very good.
But if you get a favorite dish, be warned: this menu is constantly changing. Every time I get a favorite meal here, it seems they take it off the menu.
But one thing I would recommend are the best burgers.
They make good burgers here (which seems fitting somehow, don’t you think?).
They also have a wonderful selection of drinks, especially of the alcholic kind. But even if you have someone in your family who is too young to drink alcohol, they have a really neat drink feature. And that is The Meteor.
It is Coke or Sprite in a special souvenir mug. It doesn’t cost that much extra than a regular soft drink at Disney World, too. And then you can take it home to enjoy later!
Saving Money at Disney World
Now, the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant is certainly not the most expensive restaurant at Disney World. But it’s not exactly cheap, either.
But you can afford it easier if you save money on other aspects of your Disney trip. We tell you how to save money on Disney World tickets here.
We also give you tips on how to save hundreds of dollars on a Disney hotel here.
And you can start saving money before you even visit Disney World with these ways to save money before your trip.