Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant

A group of people sitting in mock cars facing slightly to the left of the viewer all inside a room with a black ceiling and walls painted to look like a landscape

The interior of the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
Restaurant information
Current owner(s) Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Food type Traditional cuisine of the United States
Dress code Casual[1]
City Bay Lake
County Orange County
State Florida
Country United States
Seating capacity 260
Reservations Recommended
Website disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/hollywood-studios/sci-fi-dine-in-theater/

The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant is a theme restaurant at Disney's Hollywood Studios, one of the four main theme parks at Walt Disney World. The restaurant is modeled after a 1950s drive-in theater. Walt Disney Imagineering designed the booths to resemble period convertibles, and some servers act as carhops while wearing roller skates. While eating, guests watch a large projection screen displaying film clips from such 1950s and 1960s films as Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, Plan 9 from Outer Space, and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

The restaurant serves traditional cuisine of the United States. Popcorn functions as a complimentary hors d'oeuvre. For a period of time, the menu listed items with themed names, such as "Tossed in Space" (garden salad), "The Cheesecake that Ate New York", and "Attack of the Killer Club Sandwich", but these playful names were later altered so that they are now more recognizable. The menu once offered a popcorn bisque, but poor reception resulted in this dish being removed.

In 1991, the Sci-Fi Dine-In opened along with nineteen other new Walt Disney World attractions marking the complex's twentieth anniversary. By the following year, the Sci-Fi Dine-In was serving upwards of 2,200 people daily during peak periods, making it the park's most popular restaurant. Thai movie theater operator EGV Entertainment opened the EGV Drive-in Cafe in Bangkok in 2003, explicitly emulating the Sci-Fi Dine-In.

In USA Today's list of the sixteen best restaurants in American amusement parks, the Sci-Fi Dine-In ranks fifteenth. Multiple reviewers have called the Sci-Fi Dine-In more notable for being an attraction than a food destination. Cathy Wood of the Daily Mail and Ed Bumgardner of the Winston-Salem Journal share the opinion that the food is more expensive than it is worth, with Wood specifically singling out the restaurant's smoked standing rib roast as a ripoff and Bumgardner doing the same with the roast beef sandwich, despite calling it delicious. In their book Vegetarian Walt Disney World and Greater Orlando, Susan Shumaker and Than Saffel call the Sci-Fi Dine-In "the wackiest dining experience in any Disney park".

Atmosphere

A photograph of three women sitting at a round, glittery, blue table while looking up at the viewer and smiling, with a silver pole protruding from the middle of the table
There are six picnic tables near the back of the dining room that are used when the restaurant is full and there are guests who are willing to forego the experience of sitting in the cars

The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant is a theme restaurant at Disney's Hollywood Studios,[2] one of the four main theme parks at Walt Disney World, a complex that also includes two water parks and many areas dedicated to other activities.[3] Only Disney's Hollywood Studios park guests are allowed entrance to the Sci-Fi Dine-In.[1] There are four restaurants in the park that offer table service: the Hollywood Brown Derby, Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano, the 50's Prime Time Café, and the Sci-Fi Dine-In.[4] The restaurant recommends that guests make advance reservations,[1] and is one of only five restaurants in park that make this recommendation or requirement, the others being the three other table service restaurants plus Hollywood & Vine.[2] The Sci-Fi Dine-In is located on Commissary Lane[5] across from Star Tours[6] and next to the ABC Commissary, a restaurant that is easy to get into without reservations but is not themed.[7] Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! is performed nearby.[7]

The Sci-Fi Dine-In is modeled after a 1950s drive-in theater.[2] The entrance is made to look like a box office, and guests can walk from there along a tall fence to the dining room,[8] where guests eat off formica countertops[9] in booths made to look like convertibles[10] from the 1940s and 1950s.[11] These booths were designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and are made of fiberglass with much chrome plating. The cars have whitewall tires, and speakers are mounted on poles next to each car.[12] The licence plates are dated 1955, and each convertible seats four people,[6] although these mock vehicles were initially six-seaters when the restaurant first opened.[8] There are six picnic tables near the back of the room that are used as overflow seating. These tables are only used when the rest of the restaurant is full and there are guests who are willing to forego the experience of sitting in the cars; all guests who make reservations are seated in the cars, although this was not the case the year the restaurant first opened.[12] The restaurant has a total seating capacity of 260.[11]

A photograph of a projection screen depicting a man with short, grey hair wearing a necktie while standing next to a grey, physically anthropomorphic robot
While eating at the Sci-Fi Dine-In, guests watch film clips on a large projection screen.

Some of the servers at the Sci-Fi Dine-In wear roller skates,[1] acting as carhops,[11] while others improvise characters such as a police officer ostensibly in search of people who have snuck into the theater without paying.[8] The dining room is dark and air-conditioned,[2] and measures 8,400 square feet (780 m2).[12] The ceiling simulates a night sky replete with twinkling stars made from optical fibers.[7] There is the facade of a snack counter at the back of the room,[8] behind which is the kitchen. The upper walls of the dining room display a cyclorama of Southern California as seen over a fence.[12]

While eating at the Sci-Fi Dine-In, guests watch film clips[1] from 1950s and 1960s science fiction films, B horror films,[7] monster movies,[13] pseudo-documentaries,[9] bizarre newsreels, and animated cartoons,[7] all on a loop[14] that lasts 47 minutes.[12] The film clips are taken from such films as The Blob, Robot Monster,[1] Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster,[7] Teenagers from Outer Space,[15] The Giant Gila Monster, The Amazing Colossal Man,[11] Plan 9 from Outer Space,[16] Invasion of the Saucer Men,[17] Cat-Women of the Moon, The Horror of Party Beach, and Devil Girl from Mars. The original Attack of the 50 Foot Woman trailer is also included.[6] The clips are shown on a large projection screen.[10] During Star Wars Weekends, a special breakfast is offered called the Star Wars Dine-In Galactic Breakfast, during which guests can interact with Star Wars characters and watch clips from the Star Wars films.[18]

Food

At the Sci-Fi Dine-In, lunch guests stay for an average of fifty minutes and dinner guests for an average of just longer than an hour, with lunch and dinner guests being served their food on average five and ten minutes after ordering respectively.[11] The restaurant participates in the Disney Dining Plan. Meals are served starting at 10:30 AM on Sundays and Wednesdays, and starting at 11 AM every other day of the week. The restaurant closes each day at the same time that the park does. The menu is the same all day, without a distinction between lunch and dinner. A full bar service is available, and there is also a limited wine selection.[1]

A photograph of a triangular sandwich with tomato, lettuce, ham, and cheese beside a pile of potato chips on a white plate all in front of a girl with her hair in a bun
Items in the restaurant's menu used to have themed names, such as "Attack of the Killer Club Sandwich", but these have since been replaced with more recognizable titles.

Food selection at the restaurant comes from the traditional cuisine of the United States. Popcorn is served as a free[7] hors d'oeuvre.[10] Other food items include milkshakes, hot-fudge sundaes,[1] onion rings, cheeseburgers,[19] seafood salad, turkey sloppy joes,[20] fried pickles,[21] St. Louis-style barbecue ribs, beef-and-blue-cheese salads, sautéed shrimp with farfalle, French fries, cucumber salads,[15] Buffalo wings,[22] Boca Burgers, Tofutti,[4] and steaks. Drinks include souvenir phosphorescent ice cubes.[7] The desserts are served in larger portions than are customary elsewhere.[23] There are vegetarian options, but not as many as at other restaurants in the park. The chefs at the Sci-Fi Dine-In are willing to make a wide range of dishes not on the menu if they are given 24-hour advance notice.[4] The cookbook Delicious Disney Just for Kids contains a recipe for the BLT soup served at the Sci-Fi Dine-In.[24]

Items in the restaurant's menu used to have themed names,[7] such as the "Red Planet" (pasta with meatless tomato sauce), "The Galactic Grill" (triple-decker grilled cheese sandwich),[25] "Beast from 1,000 Islands" (Reuben sandwich), "Creature's Choice" (hamburger),[11] "Tossed in Space" (garden salad), "The Cheesecake that Ate New York",[8] "Attack of the Killer Club Sandwich", "Return of the Killer Club Sandwich", "Revenge of the Killer Club Sandwich", "Beach Party Panic" (fish fillet), "Saucer Sightings" (rib eye steak),[6] "Terror of the Tides" (broiled fish),[26] and "Journey to the Center of the Pasta" (vegetable lasagne),[20] but these playful names have since been replaced with more recognizable titles.[7] A popcorn bisque was once on the menu, but it was removed due to poor reception.[11]

History

A photograph of a white building with a pink, green, and yellow television-shaped sign in front of it reading "50's PRIME TIME Cafe" in stylized letters
Disney emphasized theme when designing the Sci-Fi Dine-In because of the success of the 50's Prime Time Café, a pre-existing theme restaurant in Disney's Hollywood Studios.

The Sci-Fi Dine-In opened in May 1991 as one of the twenty new attractions opened at Walt Disney World to mark the complex's twentieth anniversary. The restaurant was created with a strong emphasis on a theme, in emulation of the 50's Prime Time Café, which had opened two years prior;[8] Disney hoped that the focus on theme would bring the Sci-Fi Dine-In the level of success that had been garnered by the 50's Prime Time Café. The Sci-Fi Dine-In initially received little interest, but, within five weeks of opening, it was serving between 1,500 and 2,000 meals on a daily basis, just as the 50's Prime Time Café was doing.[12] By 1992, the Sci-Fi Dine-In had become the most popular restaurant in the park, serving more than 2,200 people per day at peak periods. Starting from its earliest days, the restaurant equipped its servers with point of sale mobile devices that relayed orders to a printer in the kitchen,[11] which was considered at the time to be in keeping with the science fiction theme because the technology was so new.[20]

In 2003, there were twenty character meals offered at Walt Disney World, during which actors portraying various Disney characters would interact with guests while they ate at the parks' restaurants, and Disney was in the process of increasing the presence of costumed characters in the parks at the time. Nonetheless, Minnie Mouse character meals held at Hollywood & Vine were discontinued that year, and Robert Johnson of the Orlando Sentinel partially attributed this cancellation to competition from the Sci-Fi Dine-In, which he said "almost always has a line of customers waiting."[27][lower-alpha 1]

A high-angle photograph of the interior of a restaurant seating many people at booths and tables who are eating and talking under hanging light fixtures
Disney's Sci-Fi Dine-In has inspired two other companies to found similar restaurants: the EGV Drive-in Cafe in Thailand, and Universal Orlando's Bayliner Diner (pictured).

Also in 2003, EGV Entertainment, a movie theater operator in Thailand, opened the EGV Drive-in Cafe in Bangkok, explicitly modeling the restaurant after the Sci-Fi Dine-In. Wichai Poolwaraluk, the company's executive president and chief executive officer, visited the Sci-Fi Dine-In in 2000, and was inspired to open a similar restaurant. He said that, while he was eating at the Sci-Fi Dine-In, the other guests seemed more interested in their food than in the film clips on the screen, and he therefore considered the Sci-Fi Dine-In more of a restaurant than a theater, with the film reel simply being a gimmick. Appealing to EGV's identity as a movie theater operator, Poolwaraluk said that the EGV Drive-in Cafe "can probably do a better job blending the cinema and the food together and also concentrate on both of them".[29] Like the Sci-Fi Dine-In, the EGV Drive-in Cafe features classic cars for seating, but, instead of showing film clips on a loop, the EGV Drive-in Cafe shows entire short films.[29]

In 2012, Kenneth Creuzer, a 48-year-old HIV-positive man working as a server at the Sci-Fi Dine-In, was suspended from working there after he was arrested on charges relating to his having allegedly raped a man at Parliament House, a gay resort.[30] In 2014, NBCUniversal opened a new Universal Orlando hotel called Cabana Bay Beach Resort, which houses the Bayliner Diner, a restaurant that borrows its premise from the Sci-Fi Dine-In. Both restaurants play old film footage on a loop.[14]

Reception

A photograph of seven people, including a girl, five women, and one man, all sitting in two booths designed to look like convertibles, one orange and one silver
Multiple reviewers have called the Sci-Fi Dine-In more notable for being an attraction than a food destination.

Jack Hayes of Nation's Restaurant News calls the Sci-Fi Dine-In "wacky" and "on the cutting edge of sheer dining fun".[31] In USA Today's list of the sixteen best restaurants in American amusement parks, the Sci-Fi Dine-In ranks fifteenth.[21] Lizzy Dening of the Daily Mail writes, "For pure fun, and to escape the midday heat, you can't beat lunch at the Sci-fi Dine-in Theater Restaurant."[19] She is especially approving of the restaurant's Oreo-based cocktail, and writes that she considers the restaurant to be a good compromise between the cheap prices of the park's fast food restaurants and the ready availability of vegetables at the more expensive restaurants.[19] Paul Schultz of the Daily News writes, "Anyone who is a fan of trashy sci-fi movies of the 1950s should check [the Sci-Fi Dine-In] out."[22] He writes that the food is simple and that some of the beers are decent.[22]

Multiple reviewers have called the Sci-Fi Dine-In more notable for being an attraction than a food destination.[2][5] One reviewer from The Guardian compares the Sci-Fi Dine-In to Epcot's Coral Reef Restaurant, writing that both restaurants "are great settings" where "eating is awful."[32] Pete DiPrimio of the Evansville Courier & Press writes that the Sci-Fi Dine-In ranks among the most unusual of the restaurants at Disney's Hollywood Studios.[16] In The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2015, Bob Sehlinger and Len Testa call the Sci-Fi Dine-In the most entertaining restaurant in Walt Disney World,[2] writing that "everyone gets a kick out of this unusual dining room."[1] Nonetheless, Sehlinger and Testa consider the prices too high and the food too simple, although they praise the Reuben sandwich and the ribs.[1] The book DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Walt Disney World Resort & Orlando also states that the food is more expensive than it is worth.[33] Cathy Wood of the Daily Mail and Ed Bumgardner of the Winston-Salem Journal shared this opinion as well, with Wood specifically singling out the restaurant's smoked standing rib roast as a ripoff and Bumgardner doing the same with the roast beef sandwich, despite calling it delicious.[34][35] Peggy Katalinich of the Tampa Bay Times writes that, although the food is only okay, "Who cares? Food is besides the point."[9] She goes on to argue that the prices are low, particularly for sandwiches.[9]

A rear view photograph of a woman and a boy sitting in a booth, the boy watching a film on a cinema screen in the distance and the woman looking down
Reviewers Susan Shumaker and Than Saffel write that the Sci-Fi Dine-In is particularly suitable for families with young children.

Laura Lea Miller writes in Frommer's Walt Disney World and Orlando 2012 that eating at the Sci-Fi Dine-In is "an out-of-this-world experience".[10] She expresses disappointment that the menu no longer contains the playful item titles it once did. She writes positively of the atmosphere and considers the food mediocre.[7] In the book Walt Disney World Resort: Also Includes Seaworld and Central Florida, Corey Sandler writes that the Sci-Fi Dine-In is "a must-see eatery... for adults and adventurous kids"[36] and that "the food is appropriate for a drive-in theater—very ordinary, but that's not really the reason you came."[6] Rona Gindin and Jennifer Greenhill-Taylor write highly of the restaurant's hot-fudge sundaes in Fodor's 2012 Walt Disney World.[15] In Plan Your Walt Disney World Vacation in No Time, Douglas Ingersoll writes very positively of the milkshakes, and argues that the sandwiches and burgers are better than at the fast food restaurants in the park.[37] A reviewer for the United Kingdom's The Sentinel writes similarly approvingly of the Sci-Fi Dine-In's milkshakes, and writes that, "if you chose to treat yourself to a good lunch in one of the Disney parks, then this is the one."[38]

Susan Shumaker and Than Saffel write in Vegetarian Walt Disney World and Greater Orlando that the restaurant is a reasonable compromise when vegetarians and non-vegetarians are looking to eat together, and that it is also suitable for both large and small families with young children.[4] Samuel Muston of The Independent writes that the Sci-Fi Dine-In is "memorable in the best way".[39] The restaurant tends to be popular with children,[40] and it is common for people who lived through the 1950s to enjoy the restaurant for its nostalgia value.[33] Shumaker and Saffel call the Sci-Fi Dine-In "the wackiest dining experience in any Disney park".[41] In his book Sci-Fi Movie Freak, Robert Ring calls the Sci-Fi Dine-In film clips "hokey",[42] while David Steele of The Rotarian calls them "classically awful",[43] and Rick Ramseyer of Restaurant Business Magazine calls them "campy".[23]

Notes

  1. ↑ Hollywood & Vine had resumed its Minnie Mouse character meals by 2005.[28]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Sehlinger & Testa (2014), p. 491.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Sehlinger & Testa (2014), p. 443.
  3. ↑ Sehlinger & Testa (2014), p. 14.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Shumaker & Saffel (2003), p. 77.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Shumaker & Saffel (2003), p. 76.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Sandler (2007), p. 257.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 7.10 Miller (2011), p. 122.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Nicholas, Erin (December 18, 1991). "Sci-Fi Dine-In among WDW's 20th Birthday Attractions". Restaurants & Institutions. p. 37.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Katalinich, Peggy (August 15, 1993). "Get with the Theme for Civilized Dining". Tampa Bay Times. p. 8E.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Miller (2011), p. 12.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 Carlino, Bill (November 23, 1992). "Directing Food Operations at MGM Theme Park". Nation's Restaurant News. p. 74.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 O'Brien, Tim (October 21, 1991). "Disney-MGM Studios Eateries Create Fun Environment, Boost Bottom Line". Amusement Business. p. 20.
  13. ↑ Gindin & Greenhill-Taylor (2012), p. 67.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Daly, Sean (April 6, 2014). "Retro Vibe, Value". Tampa Bay Times. p. 1D.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Gindin & Greenhill-Taylor (2012), p. 149.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 DiPrimio, Pete (May 15, 1994). "Magic Kingdom Leaves Everyone Smiling, Even Walt". Evansville Courier & Press. p. 6C.
  17. ↑ Bly, Laura (September 29, 1991). "Disney: Florida Site Does More than Duplicate Ours". Orange County Register. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  18. ↑ Bevil, Dewayne (May 15, 2014). "Star Wars Weekends Kicks off at Disney". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Dening, Lizzy (October 8, 2013). "Delicious Disney! Eating Steak and Sushi on a Foodie Tour of Mickey's Florida Resort". Daily Mail. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Jenkins, Robert N. (July 7, 1991). "Doing Disney: A User's Guide". Tampa Bay Times. p. 1F.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Long, Rani (July 8, 2013). "America's Best Amusement-Park Restaurants". USA Today. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Schultz, Paul (June 1, 2014). "Florida Tech: Disney World Adds Big Attractions and Helpful Microchip Wristbands". Daily News. p. 25.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Ramseyer, Rick (July 15, 2003). "Not the Last Resort". Restaurant Business Magazine 102 (2). p. 54. ISSN 0097-8043.
  24. ↑ Miller (2011), p. 24.
  25. ↑ Shumaker & Saffel (2003), p. 80.
  26. ↑ Morris, Jerry (June 23, 1991). "Rides that are a Real Scream". The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  27. ↑ Johnson, Robert (April 21, 2003). "Disney Cuts Character Meals at Orlando, Fla., MGM Theme Park". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  28. ↑ Wiley (2005), p. 263.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Sriangura, Vanniya (January 24, 2003). "More than Cinema". Bangkok Post. p. 1.
  30. ↑ Jacobson, Susan (August 6, 2012). "Police: HIV-Positive Man Raped Stranger at Parliament House". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  31. ↑ Hayes, Jack (November 23, 1992). "Larry Slocum: Disney's Foodservice King". Nation's Restaurant News. p. 90.
  32. ↑ "Travel: Top Tips". The Guardian. September 19, 1996. p. 19.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Steinberg et. al. (2012), p. 148.
  34. ↑ Wood, Cathy (March 23, 2002). "The Mouse that Soared". Daily Mail. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
  35. ↑ Bumgardner, Ed (May 16, 1999). "Zippity-Do-Dah-Days: Of Mice and Money". Winston-Salem Journal. p. 12.
  36. ↑ Sandler (2007), p. 239.
  37. ↑ Ingersoll (2005), p. 76.
  38. ↑ "Fairy Stories and Adrenalin Go Hand-in-Hand at Disney". The Sentinel. April 1, 2006. p. 20.
  39. ↑ Muston, Samuel (October 19, 2013). "Of Mice and Menus: The Wonderful World of Walt Disney, Waffles, and Growing Waistlines". The Independent. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  40. ↑ Steinberg et. al. (2012), p. 63.
  41. ↑ Shumaker & Saffel (2003), p. 70.
  42. ↑ Ring (2011), p. 103.
  43. ↑ Steele, David (March 1992). "'Doing' Disney World". The Rotarian: 35.

Bibliography