We’re Disney Food Blog, which means we talk about ALL things Disney food.
Crispy Chicken Dumplings
And we don’t only mean the good either, although that’s our favorite. We’re also here to show you the tougher side of Disney World dining and how to overcome it, or which snacks you may not want to spend your hard-earned money on. Disney’s Hollywood Studios may be popular for its thrill rides and epic atmosphere, but we’ve gotta be honest — eating in this park isn’t all that great.
Hollywood Studios is a park known for its thrill rides and amazingly-themed lands, like Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land. And while there are some snacks here that we adore, when it comes to eating full meals, things can get difficult, and here’s why.
Not Many Amazing Sit-Down Meals
While the park certainly has some great quick service locations like Woody’s Lunch Box and Ronto Roasters, great-quality table service meals are in short supply.
Ronto Wrap!
While quick service locations have some amazing eats, sometimes you just want to splurge on a sit-down meal and rest your feet for a while. Hollywood Studios is NOT the park for that. Sure, you’ve got Roundup Rodeo BBQ and Hollywood Brown Derby, but one isn’t for everyone, and the other one is pretty pricey (even for Disney World standards).
Hollywood Brown Derby
Not to mention that since both of these restaurants require advance dining reservations, it may be difficult to get into one of them on the day of your trip. So yeah, Hollywood Studios, could use a few more delicious table service spots!
SO MUCH SUN and Not Enough Indoor Seating
Hollywood Studios is also a HOT park. Compared to other parks, there’s not as much shade, and many quick service locations have seating out in the sun, so even though you’re sitting down, you’re baking in no time.
Woody’s Lunch Box seating
Not to mention that lots of the park is dark pavement, so the sun soaks into it and radiates that heat back up at you. When the heat index is over 100 degrees outside, you want to be sitting inside with the AC, not outside where you’re being fried alive.
Baseline Taphouse Outdoor Seating
So how do you solve these issues? If you’ve got a park hopper ticket, maybe plan to park hop and experience a table service meal at another park, like Disney’s Animal Kingdom or EPCOT. If it’s a choice between having food you’re not going to be excited about/impressed with just so you can stay in the park, or traveling outside to have a meal you’ll remember, the latter is likely to be a better experience.
Hollywood Studios
As for outdoor seating, if you’re grabbing something from a quick service location, there are other areas of the park where you can take your food to eat in the AC. We suggest heading over to Walt Disney Presents and sitting on the benches inside (as long as it’s not a super messy snack), or our top spot is at the end of Vacation Fun where the theater lets out.
Vacation Fun
While Hollywood Studios may not be the best park to have a sit-down meal in, we do have plenty of items that we love there — be sure to check them out below, and stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Disney news!
These are the BEST snacks in Disney’s Hollywood Studios for 2023!
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What’s your favorite spot in Hollywood Studios? Tell us in the comments!
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I completely disagree! Our two favorite restaurants are in this park! The sci fi drive in and the prime time cafe! Easily two of the best eat in restaurants on disney property 😊🤤
Unless you are a Star Wars fan, or attempting to make it in to view Fantasmic, Hollywood Studios really hasn’t much to offer. You can really spend less than a couple hours there and be done with it. No shade whatsoever on a hot day. Restaurants completely over crowded and probably due to the heat and Or from sheer boredom.
Surprised you didn’t like prime time cafe as I e even eaten at the bar and it was good, staff and bartenders are lovely and I’ve never had a bad meal there. Interesting 🤔
I do agree, Hollywood Studios is not the best, especially when it comes to variety of food choices. But for quick service meals with sit down in air conditioning, I recommend Rizzo’s Pizzeria and the ABC Commissary. The problem is for quick service, if you are anywhere else in the park looking for food and air conditioning with no reservations and no wait, you are pretty much screwed.
Love the 50’s Prime time Cafe. Tried everything over the years and my favorite is The Pot Roast dinner, delicious!
As for eating outside and you see a table with two empty seats, kindly ask the guests if you may share the table with them. I did this in all the parks for many years and no one ever refused.
Indeed Sci Fi and 50’s Prime Time
We plan to hop from HS to Epcot via skyliner, can we make a dinner reservation at Epcot 60 days out?
Hi Carolyn! Yes, you will be able to make your dinner reservations 60 days out. Do it early though! We recommend being ready at 5:45am EST.
Lots of comments about leaving out Prime Time and Sci-Fi, but what about Mama Melrose? I agree the park does not have a lot of sit downs, but it has more than the 2 mentioned.
Also, lets face it. Dining in Disney is expensive, and there are plenty of good counter service places to help offset that a little.
What about the SciFi Diner, 50’s Prime Time Cafe, Hollywood & Vine, and Mama Melrose’s? Those are all sit down restaurants.
The Brown Derby is absolutely one of the top restaurants in all of WDW property. That alone puts HS dining above Magic Kingdom (which has zero fine dining spots). Only Tiffins, TekumiTai and Paul’s over in Epcot can compare.