Kosher Restaurant Review: Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant

One of the more popular table service dining options at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant, both for it’s simple yet tasty food options (which obviously one cannot partake in if they are kosher) as well as the show provided during the meal. You should make sure to make a reservation in advance because slots fill up early.

When you first arrive you will be given a vibrating disk that will tell you when your table is ready.  So, make sure you aware you might have to wait a bit even if you arrive on time for your reservation (this can be especially tricky if you are arriving for a late lunch).  When you are directed to your table you

will notice that the entire restaurant is set up like a giant drive in movie, even the tables are set up like cars!  Having pre-ordered the kosher meal you can then sit back and enjoy the show.

There are a number of restaurants that provide a meal and a “show”.  Most of these experiences consist of a character dining or an interactive show like the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue or Biergarten, however the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant in Disney’s Hollywood Studios is in a class by itself with a cheesy ~45 min movie.  The film is clearly set-up to be reminiscent of old drive-ins with “scary” movie trailers about monsters and aliens, and possible gadgets of the “future”.

While we generally have had good experiences with our pre-ordering of food that was not the case this time.  Apparently the kosher request had been lost, so they had to get the meals and start the reheating the process right then (as opposed to

in advance). Despite making a mistake, which resulted in a long wait, the service staff lived up to the Disney name and not only provided a full 3 course meal (when the request was only for a main) but also gave the meal for free, despite trying to insist on paying multiple times!  To show our gratitude we made sure to not only mention to the manager what a great experience it was but also go to the guest services and mention all the servers and managers by name in gratitude.

Overall it was a fun experience for the adults who understood the film and experience provided but a lot of it could be lost on little kids so maybe wait till they are a little older (9 and up).  The meal itself was solid, I was surprised how good the parve cherry cheesecake was even if it was a little frozen.