January 24, 2017

A Moment in Disney Time

Overpriced, mediocre food, and really hard to obtain a reservation for a table! Yes, that's the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, one of my very favorite places to eat at Disney's Hollywood Studios if not all of Walt Disney World.

Back in 1999, which was our last all family trip to Florida, I was able to secure for a last minute reservation. What a great time we had! When it was still Disney-MGM Studios, the park seemed to still have a cohesive focus even if it was still lacking, very small and rather underdeveloped. What were the big hits? With three teens, the clear winner was, expectedly, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Rock N Rollercoaster.

A bit of a gripe: It didn't matter my kids were not familiar with the Tower's source material. All they knew it to be was a great original attraction with a terrifically creepy story. An instant classic alongside the Magic Kingdom's Pirates of the Caribbean and Epcot's Journey into Imagination. That ought to be enough for the suits to leave Florida's Tower alone. They've already screwed it up in California!

(Photograph copyright Mark Taft.)

3 comments:

Prescott Rymon said...

Sci-Fi Dine In is my favorite WDW eatery, I just love it. Since I am a southern California transplant to the east coast I love all the little touches at WDW that make me feel like I am back home in California and the Dine In, well it's just incredible. Sunset & Hollywood Blvds. are pretty nice simulations too! I didnt get to WDW/"DHS"(always makes me think of "Desert Hot Springs") until 2015. So I got to see Streets of America briefly...but growing up in the 80's and with frequent access to Disneyland I was always jealous of all the stuff they seemed to be building in Florida...I'd watch those TV specials and think "Well I'll never get over there"...and the Sci-Fi Drive In was one I'd always wanted to see.

juneaubiscuits said...

I actually thought the food had improved during our Christmas 2015 visit. I remember being really unimpressed with the burger and shakes back in 2004.

Mark said...

I hope they leave the place alone in all this re-Imagineering!