Space 220 Restaurant
Well – what’s all the fuss about Space 220 Restaurant. The rise of the space tourist has been fuelled by millionaires who want to claim bragging rights. However, they assure us, it will just be a matter of time before popping into space is as common as catching the Number 9 to Bethnal Green. In the meantime, we mere mortals have to put up with a CGI space adventure, but when you learn more about Space 220, EPCOT’s latest eatery, suddenly outer space doesn’t seem out of reach after all!
Blast Off to the Space Station
To eat at Space 220 Restaurant, diners must first take a trip in the spaceship, aka the lift. This new food outlet is a premium adventure that makes it one of the most expensive restaurants in the theme parks. You are paying for the staging and experience as much as the space-themed food. That said, it is well worth the money to see the magic involved in this new venture. It comes highly recommended by all who have boldly gone before you. The menu is vast and features many space-themed dishes. There is a stunning collection of drinks, including an expansive wine list. It is a true Disney Imagineering success story!
Starting Your Journey
The launchpad for your space exploration can be found beside the Mission: Space attraction in Disney’s EPCOT park. You can opt to blast off for lunch or dinner and the buzz is that breakfast will be on the cards once this restaurant has established itself. You will possibly even be able to do the breakfast meet and greet with the best Disney space-themed characters in attendance.
Due to the soaring popularity of this attraction, restaurant, booking is essential. Dinner will set you back a pocket wincing $55 per adult and $29 per child for a two-course lunch. It’s $79 per adult and $29 per child for the three-course dinner option. This is a Prix Fixe Menu. You pay for the meal and can then make your choices from the vast lists of dishes. A child’s ticket only entitles you to a kids menu meal, so older teens may need to pay adult prices if they are feeling extra hungry!
Boarding the Shuttle
In true Disney style, the illusion starts building as soon as you enter the venue. First, you are fed into the arrivals hall, where you should expect to queue. From here, you are taken through the building and out to a courtyard where you are asked to disembark any pushchairs and other left luggage. You then enter the shuttle boarding lounge, where you will be checked in and allocated a place on one of two shuttles that depart for every meal.
To the real world, these are large elevators that move up the building but to you, as a space tourist, will only see the CGI trickery. Known as the Stellarvator, you blast off once everyone is safely on the shuttle. A giant glass panel in the bottom shows the ground below you getting further away. As you look up through the ‘window’ at the top, space gets ever closer. The digital projections also consider the time of day. If it’s dark when you board the ground below will show the nighttime projections. And it will be daylight during the lighter hours. This is Disney at its best, without a doubt.
Arriving at the Space Station
The restaurant certainly lives up to its Space name on all accounts. Firstly the building is enormous. It can accommodate over 350 diners in one sitting! When your Stellavator docks, you feed into the main dining hall down the corridors of the space station where no detail has been overlooked. You will see the vast fridges of ingredients known as the Spinning Wall of Produce stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables. Continue walking, and you will find many bottles of wine in a state of the art wine cellar built into the walls and so much more.
As you walk into the main viewing deck, the gasps of those visiting for the first time are audible. Outside the massive glass display windows, you can see that you have been transported to outer space. An impressive 250-foot digital screen shows the earth below. Keep your eyes peeled for a passing astronaut out on a spacewalk maintaining the space station! Stay vigilant as there are other slightly wacky things floating past, but that’s all the spoilers you get!
Enjoying Your Meal
You have a choice of dining table, lounge chair or seat at the bar, and this is a static venue, so the views you see can only change if you get up and move around the venue. Guests are allowed on the space station without partaking in the Prix Fixe menu if they plan to sit at the bar and order a drink or two. There is also a Flight Bites menu specifically for these guests that can be ordered ad-hoc. But if you opt for that, you can’t sit in the main dining hall and will be further away from the view below. If you need to partake of the facilities, you will find that attention to detail is vital, and the bathrooms are very space station-sequence.
The Menu There is plenty on offer for hungry and space weary travellers regarding food choices, and the menu is cute. Cosmic Chicken, Galactic Salmon, and Cosmic Cupcakes are some of the younger diners’ options. At the same time, adults can feast on Starry Calamari, Blue Moon Cauliflower, Terra-Bolognese and more. The standard of food is impressive, and the whole adventure is undoubtedly worth the money you will spend. Of course, the drinks menu is there to tempt and delight, but your overall spending will go up, so make sure you plan for this particular meal out. Our final tip is to head to the space station during daylight and plan to return after the sun has set. That way you get to see all of the fantastic views that have been carefully imagineered for you.
