The Nine Best Themed Restaurants at Walt Disney World
Nobody does theming as well as Disney. We all know this, and it’s the reason why we keep returning to the parks.
Imagineers have grown so skilled at theming that even the eateries feature immersive elements. Some of them will genuinely blow your mind.
Here are the nine restaurants with the best theming at Walt Disney World.
50s Prime Time Café
One quick note: the lone caveat here is that these restaurants must be open at the time of publication. So, that ruled out a personal favorite, 1900 Park Fare.
50s Prime Time Café makes the list for beating WandaVision to the punch. That Marvel series transports guests back in time to the days of black and white sitcoms.
Well, 50s Prime Time Café has done that for years! At this eatery, your server pretends like they’re part of your family.
They’ll harass you to mind your manners and clean your plate. It’ll remind you of home…and possibly also why you left home at the first opportunity.
Plus, the televisions playing in the background show classic scenes from sitcoms.
The meal will remind you of the halcyon days of yore when everyone watched network TV as a family.
You don’t have to have lived through that era to enjoy it.
Be Our Guest
Beast’s Castle isn’t as large as you think it is due to a clever bit of forced perspective.
Still, the moment you enter the restaurant, you’ll totally buy into the illusion that you’re dining at a royal castle.
Disney has segmented the restaurant into several sections, like the West Wing and the Rose Gallery.
Each place comes with its own distinctive décor and vibe. Personally, I prefer the main dining hall due to the idyllic mountain backdrop.
The theming here makes you believe that Beast’s Castle hangs precipitously from the side of a cliff, and the mountains even include snowfall!
Also, Beast, your host, sometimes wanders the dining rooms and waves at his guests. He’s far too busy to stop and chat, though.
Casey’s Corner
My two heroes in life are Hank Aaron and Dale Murphy, which means I’ve never felt disappointed in my entire life.
I accidentally glommed onto two of the finest role models in society. For this reason, baseball has remained a passion of mine throughout my life.
Why, I was even wearing my Atlanta Braves World Series championship hoodie today! The Atlanta Braves World Series championship blanket hasn’t arrived yet, though.
Anyway, the point is that I adore Casey’s Corner for what it represents.
This place doubles as a mecca for baseball fans and serves wonderful hot dogs for those who don’t care about sports.
Sometimes, you’ll even find a pianist outside the restaurant who performs Take Me Out to the Ballgame and other classic tunes.
You’ll feel like you’re at the stadium while you scarf down a hot dog and admire all the old baseball photos. They’re stylishly retro, even if you’re not a fan.
Coral Reef
At Disney, some enterprising individual once thought, “We need an aquarium with a restaurant attached to it!”
Then, everyone worked together to make it happen. Now, we all reap the rewards.
At Coral Reef, we get to sit at a table that faces the massive fish tank anchoring The Seas with Nemo & Friends.
During the meal, sharks and fish that are generally shark food happily swim around the tank together.
The manta rays that live here love nothing better than plop down beside the tables and befriend the humans.
I think we have taken more pictures of the fish here than we have of our own families.
The theming’s so good at Coral Reef that I sometimes forget I’m at Disney. Instead, I feel like I live at sea.
Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen
Folks, if you like the Jungle Cruise spiel, this is the place for you!
At Skipper Canteen, well-meaning but clueless servers treat you like a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (SEA).
You’re dining at one of their meeting rooms. Well, that’s partially correct. Technically, the restaurant features three different sections, one of which is the SEA meeting room.
The theming inside this room will make you feel like you’ve spent the body of your life learning, writing, and exploring.
You’re an adventurer feasting on hearty international cuisine, the kind you’ve come across during your global travels!
Olivia’s Cafe
Olivia Farnsworth wasn’t a chef per se. Instead, she was merely a friendly neighbor who wanted to take care of her community.
So, Olivia started serving her secret recipe, fried chicken, for anyone who passed near her place. She always fed them, whether she knew them or not.
Over time, word spread of Olivia’s delicacies to the point that she ran out of tables and chairs. After that, guests started bringing their own.
That’s why every table at Olivia’s Café looks different. In fact, attentive guests may notice that the utensils don’t match, either!
Since Olivia Farnsworth lives by the ocean, you’ll find a heapin’ helpin’ of seafood dishes as well. People go nuts for the Conch Fritters in particular.
You’ll find Olivia’s Café at Disney’s Old Key West Resort & Spa. It’s totally worth the trip if you’ve never gone.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
I talk about this place too much, and I know it. Still, I couldn’t very well publish a list of the best themed restaurants at Walt Disney World and exclude it.
When you enter Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, you are, in the words of Metallica, exiting light and entering night.
This eatery keeps the lights down low all the time because you’re visiting a classic drive-in theater!
They’d eject anyone who left the headlights on during the movie, right?
That’s just a small part of the theming, though. The real stuff begins when your server seats you.
Presuming you’re lucky, you’ll dine inside a hollowed-out convertible, creating the illusion that you’re sitting in your car at the drive-in.
You’ll face a giant old-school projector screen that shows some of the most heinous movies ever filmed.
Don’t worry. You won’t have to sit through the whole thing. Most clips only last a minute or two, long enough for you to get the hint about how they are.
That’s thematically fitting as well. Most 1950s and 1960s drive-in sci-fi movies were brutally awful…I mean gouge-your-own-eyes-out bad.
I love this place so much, and I’m eating there again next month! Feel my joy, friends!
Space 220
The newest themed restaurant at Walt Disney World probably takes the cake for immersion.
At Space 220, you board a Stellarvator, aka a space elevator, and travel 220 miles into outer space.
Seriously, you’ll watch a video as you take flight, and the ground will shake to reinforce the belief that you’re escaping gravity.
Once you reach the top floor, you’ll walk past a spinning room that theoretically contains the food you’re about to eat.
When you sit down, digital displays on the walls will show astronauts doing spacewalks and space stations orbiting around you.
View this post on Instagram
Space 220 is almost too comprehensive with its theming. If I’d ranked this list instead of presenting it alphabetically, this restaurant would win. Easily.
T-Rex
Everybody jokes about the comets/asteroids that killed the dinosaurs. Only one place at Disney shows the events as they happen, though.
Okay, fine, technically, there are two places, as DINOSAUR does this as well.
However, you never need to enter a park to experience the end of the dinosaurs.
At T-REX, these events unfold every 20 minutes on the ceiling. The walls will shake, the lighting will dim, and dinosaurs will scream in panic.
Out of everything on this list, T-REX provides the best themed entertainment for kids because it’s so shiny…and loud.
I think you forgot San Angel! One of the most magical!