News Space 220 Restaurant dining experience at Epcot's Future World

[Horizons '83]

There's a fair amount of availability currently in Epcot. I agree MK is in need of more dining capacity, but I'd also say Contemporary and Poly are quite close to MK. It sounds a little whiny to say that hopping on the monorail is too hard.

now, taking a boat from MK to WL though can eat up close to an hour, so IMO, losing an hour of park time could easily = more than $50 for a family. Mid-March, a 4-day base ticket costs almost $130/day. If a family plans to be in MK for 11 hours (9am-8pm), that's $11.72 per person per hour. For a family of 5, losing an hour of park time costs about $60. ($58.60)

Then again, if they are choosing a table service meal during park hours, they are losing over an hour, even if they eat in the park. Not only are they paying about $30 more per adult (over QS), but the meal also costs extra park time (over choosing to eat a QS meal, or just snacking).

but most people don't really think about park touring that way...

Next weeks availability at Epcot, particularly Friday, is scarce. No Dinner reservations to be had at the moment, and only one rose and crown reservation at 3:00 for lunch haha

 

[WDWTrojan]

Finally tried this for dinner. Found it to be nicely presented banquet food. Pretty sure a lot of it is already prepped and plated in the back. There is no way they made the salads in the time it took the waitress to take our order to when they were delivered.

 

[UNCgolf]

There's a fair amount of availability currently in Epcot. I agree MK is in need of more dining capacity, but I'd also say Contemporary and Poly are quite close to MK. It sounds a little whiny to say that hopping on the monorail is too hard.

now, taking a boat from MK to WL though can eat up close to an hour, so IMO, losing an hour of park time could easily = more than $50 for a family. Mid-March, a 4-day base ticket costs almost $130/day. If a family plans to be in MK for 11 hours (9am-8pm), that's $11.72 per person per hour. For a family of 5, losing an hour of park time costs about $60. ($58.60)

Then again, if they are choosing a table service meal during park hours, they are losing over an hour, even if they eat in the park. Not only are they paying about $30 more per adult (over QS), but the meal also costs extra park time (over choosing to eat a QS meal, or just snacking).

but most people don't really think about park touring that way...

EPCOT is the one park that has solid dining capacity, but it's still hard to get a reservation there, likely because a lot of people leave other parks and hop there to eat.

I agree that there are far more options if you're willing to go eat at a resort, but I think most visitors just don't even think about that as an option outside of the one they're actually staying at.

Disney Springs also has plenty of places to eat (which for the most part are significantly better than any restaurant inside the parks) and we tend to eat a lot of our meals there, but that runs into the same issue of having to leave the park and spend time in transit.

 

[pdude81]

Next weeks availability at Epcot, particularly Friday, is scarce. No Dinner reservations to be had at the moment, and only one rose and crown reservation at 3:00 for lunch haha

Next Friday? Good luck at 55 days out. There's better availability day of actually

 

[MisterPenguin]

Next weeks availability at Epcot, particularly Friday, is scarce. No Dinner reservations to be had at the moment, and only one rose and crown reservation at 3:00 for lunch haha

Not EPCOT, but adjacent...

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I'm a little perplexed by Disney's reservation system and actual capacity. When going to grab dinner with a friend, we checked the app with virtually no availability at Disney Springs. I then checked OpenTable, and there was significant availability at many of the restaurants showing no or little availability on the Disney app. Obviously, that's DS vs. a Park - but it struck me as odd to be controlling availability that way when it was obviously available on another app.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Next weeks availability at Epcot, particularly Friday, is scarce. No Dinner reservations to be had at the moment, and only one rose and crown reservation at 3:00 for lunch haha

Presidents’ Week has been the most difficult time of year for me to score ADRs. Harder than Christmas Week. We were down Presidents’ Week 2019 and couldn’t find dinner anywhere one night at Epcot. Ended up just returning to the resort because lines for rides were awful. Like, 80 min. for Imagination.

I won’t do Presidents’ Week again. It gets professional vacationers—people who come every year. So the parks are packed from rope drop to close. At least at Christmas, fewer guests are Disney pros so the early hours of the morning are quite nice.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I'm a little perplexed by Disney's reservation system and actual capacity. When going to grab dinner with a friend, we checked the app with virtually no availability at Disney Springs. I then checked OpenTable, and there was significant availability at many of the restaurants showing no or little availability on the Disney app. Obviously, that's DS vs. a Park - but it struck me as odd to be controlling availability that way when it was obviously available on another app.

The restaurants at DS split their reservations between the two services. Far more people use MDE to book and have no idea they are also on OpenTable (and without the $10 cancellation penalty!).

 

[FigmentFan82]

So we did this a few weeks back, had a bit of a later lunch. It's def a neat experience, but both my wife and I felt rather queasy inside. There's a constant droning sound to simulate you're in a space station, but something about that room made us feel not well. The food was very good but far too expensive. I don't think I'd ever go back.

 

[G00fyDad]

So we did this a few weeks back, had a bit of a later lunch. It's def a neat experience, but both my wife and I felt rather queasy inside. There's a constant droning sound to simulate you're in a space station, but something about that room made us feel not well. The food was very good but far too expensive. I don't think I'd ever go back.

Maybe the motion in the "windows"? Do you get the same feeling in Garden Grill?

 

[FigmentFan82]

Maybe the motion in the "windows"? Do you get the same feeling in Garden Grill?

Something about that room put our stomachs off. We both don't mind motion and love rollercoaster etc. Not sure if the low rumbling droning sound was also causing vibrations? Whatever it was we were fine when we got outside. My inlaws who were with us did not encounter any issues. Again, I think the concept is cool and a neat thing to have and it kinda basically is another attraction, but the cost is just way too high. This should in no way be a pre fixe menu

 

[WDWTrojan]

I'm a little perplexed by Disney's reservation system and actual capacity. When going to grab dinner with a friend, we checked the app with virtually no availability at Disney Springs. I then checked OpenTable, and there was significant availability at many of the restaurants showing no or little availability on the Disney app. Obviously, that's DS vs. a Park - but it struck me as odd to be controlling availability that way when it was obviously available on another app.

The restaurants only give a small percentage of their table allotment to MDE. The majority goes to OpenTable. This exists for two reasons, primarily 1) to advertise and draw in locals/those staying off property 2) to prioritize cash paying guests over DDP guests (which doesn't apply at the moment, but non-Disney restaurants much prefer the former).

 

[Epcot82Guy]

The restaurants only give a small percentage of their table allotment to MDE. The majority goes to OpenTable. This exists for two reasons, primarily 1) to advertise and draw in locals/those staying off property 2) to prioritize cash paying guests over DDP guests (which doesn't apply at the moment, but non-Disney restaurants much prefer the former).

Interesting. I follow your logic, but that seems like an odd approach while DDP is suspended. Those restaurants were far from full. And they are literally pushing everyone to Genie/MDE to plan. They should at least include an Open Table link. (And I don't mean to challenge your statement! I can totally see Disney doing just that.)

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Next weeks availability at Epcot, particularly Friday, is scarce. No Dinner reservations to be had at the moment, and only one rose and crown reservation at 3:00 for lunch haha

I meant more in a general sense; Epcot has dining capacity, not specifically for this upcoming week or any other dates.


I also would not assume limited ADR availability = running at pre-pandemic capacity.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

The restaurants at DS split their reservations between the two services. Far more people use MDE to book and have no idea they are also on OpenTable (and without the $10 cancellation penalty!).

City Works also has their own loyalty program. The one perhaps upside of MDE is that it automatically applies AP discounts to orders.

I'm not sure if it still exists, but Landry's (Rainforest Cafe) also used to have their own rewards program. (I'm not sure if you can reserve tables/order that way, or if it even still exists.)

 

[WDWTrojan]

Interesting. I follow your logic, but that seems like an odd approach while DDP is suspended. Those restaurants were far from full. And they are literally pushing everyone to Genie/MDE to plan. They should at least include an Open Table link. (And I don't mean to challenge your statement! I can totally see Disney doing just that.)

It's that these aren't Disney restaurants, they are all owned/operated by third parties. Also I don't think Boathouse, Morimoto or Homecomin' (which uses MDE more than the others) are hurting for any business. They want to draw in cash spending locals and conventioneers - they hate the DDP, so that is how they've prioritized their business via OpenTable.

For what its worth, pre-COVID, even Disney started putting some of their less popular resort restaurants on OpenTable to draw in the same crowd.

 

[Snow Queen 83]

This should have put this on the Starcruiser. It would have been better for the restaurant as a whole. Especially atmospherically.

 

[TikibirdLand]

This should have put this on the Starcruiser. It would have been better for the restaurant as a whole. Especially atmospherically.

So, you think it's a good idea to put this restaurant behind the Starcruiser paywall? Maybe I'm misunderstanding your statement...

 

[pdude81]

This should have put this on the Starcruiser. It would have been better for the restaurant as a whole. Especially atmospherically.

They do some of this in every room and in the atrium for views/"fireworks". The dining room only handles half the rooms at a time, so not a ton of people.

 

[ToTBellHop]

So, you think it's a good idea to put this restaurant behind the Starcruiser paywall? Maybe I'm misunderstanding your statement...

I’m happy Space 220 allows us poors who can only afford a stay in the slums at Yacht Club.