Photos & Video: Inside Space 220 Restaurant in EPCOT at Disney World
Space 220 Restaurant has launched at EPCOT! We’ve dined at Walt Disney World’s new themed dining experience for multiple meals, and offer impressions here on the outer space atmosphere. This features photos & video, Advance Dining Reservation info, seating request recommendations, 2024 Disney Dining Plan status, and commentary. (Updated June 8, 2023.)
If you’re more interested in the food, see our Space 220 Restaurant Lunch Review. That covers the two-course menu, which is available daily in the main dining room from 11:30 am until 3:55 pm. The lunch menu costs $55 per adult and $29 for kids. The lunch review also compares Space 220 to other Signature Restaurants at Walt Disney World, assessing whether it’s worth the money.
We also have a Space 220 Restaurant Dinner Review, which covers the 3-course dinner menu that costs $79 per adult, $29 per child, and is served from 4 pm until 9 pm. The dinner review discusses timing the daylight v. nighttime transition of Earth, how long eating at Space 220 takes, and more…
In addition to serving lunch and dinner with prix fixe 2 and 3-course meals, there’s also the Space 220 Lounge. This serves an a la carte menu. The Space 220 Lounge is available via Advance Dining Reservations or on a walk-up basis. While you won’t often find the restaurant itself with options via the Walk-Up Waitlist feature in the My Disney Experience app, you can often find availability for the lounge by actually walking up to the podium.
Space 220 is one of the most popular table service restaurant in all of Walt Disney World. Advance Dining Reservations can be incredibly tough to score even at the 60 day mark. The same is true of the Space 220 Lounge ADRs, as it’s a more economical option for many guests who don’t want to spend $55+ per adult or $29 per kid.
Accordingly, if you’d like to dine at Space 220 Restaurant or Lounge during your Walt Disney World vacation, we’d highly recommend booking it as early as possible. See our Guide to Advance Dining Reservations at Walt Disney World for tips & tricks to score elusive ADRs, info about the 60+10 rule, and more.
Due to its popularity, Space 220 is currently not on the Full List of Restaurants on the 2024 Disney Dining Plan. However, with the ‘new restaurant smell’ starting to wear off and ADRs becoming (slightly) easier, there’s still the possibility that Space 220 Restaurant will be a last-minute addition to the list before 2024 rolls around.
If that happens, our expectation is that Space 220 reworks its menu a little and ends up being 2 credits for dinner and 1 credit for lunch or at the lounge on the 2024 Disney Dining Plan. This would make it somewhat similar to Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom, which is a popular restaurant that also serves a prix fixe menu.
In case you’re unfamiliar with it, Space 220 restaurant is located between Test Track and Mission: Space, with its entrance being located off to the side of the latter. The show building is tucked away backstage, and not intended to be seen by guests aside from the brief walk from the check-in podium to the departure terminal.
After checking in near Mission: Space, you’ll head inside the Space 220 departures terminal, and wait briefly to board one of two “Space Elevators.” These transport you what seems like 220 miles above Earth to Centauri Space Station.
As the ascent begins, you can see Mission: Space and Test Track in the viewport at your feet.
So far, it’s a Google Earth-esque recreation of Future World.
As you get a few more miles up, a broader view of EPCOT is visible.
I had to chuckle at the strategically placed cloud blocking the EPCOT Dirt Pit.™️ Maybe Leslie Knope will hold a black tie gala at Space 220 and we can get the EPCOT Dirt Pit turned into the Pawnee Commons by 2028?
Continuing higher there’s a view of Florida as a whole.
Overhead, the Centauri Space Station came into view on a different screen. I missed it (well, my camera did–my eyes saw it).
Above is video that Sarah shot capturing the ascent experience.
While some look forward to a day when humans inhabit space, I’m just hopeful we reach a point when the Future World reimagining is finished. At this point, colonizing Mars is likely to happen sooner.
All in all, we thought the ascent experience was cool and fairly convincing.
It reminded us of the Hydrolators used at Seabase Alpha or the Terravators in Journey to the Center of the Earth, except heading the opposite direction.
With anything like this, suspension of disbelief will vary from person to person.
I have no qualms with utilizing screens when appropriate, but I can’t think of any scenario where I’ve forgotten I’m looking at a screen. Same thing applies here. Nevertheless, felt the Space Elevator was an effective and well-executed use of screens.
Upon exiting the elevator, you walk through an entrance hallway with some space horticulture.
This is pretty cool.
The circular chamber rotates and has a mirrored illusion that it’s quite lengthy.
Definite Living with the Land meets Horizons meets the Martian vibes here.
From here, you head deeper into the Centauri Space Station, towards the themed dining area.
The arrival makes a strong first impression and thus far, Centauri Space Station feels pretty authentic–based on my extensive experiences with real space stations, naturally.
For whatever reason, we got from the pragmatic space gardening to a circular room with a bunch of holes for hundreds of wine bottles.
Now that billionaires are dominating the ‘space race,’ it only makes sense that we’d move from boring stuff like innovative agriculture to ostentatious oenophilia!
Jokes aside, the dining area stopped us dead in our tracks.
Photos don’t do justice to first seeing this panoramic view of Earth in the distance outside the windows of Centauri Space Station. This first glimpse got me as close to suspension of disbelief as screen-based anything ever has–it’s a breathtaking reveal.
The view from the top of the stairs leading down to the tables closest to the windows is the best in the house.
We’d actually advise against requesting a table close to the glass, which is the exact opposite of what we recommend at Coral Reef. More on that in a bit, though.
Since only a handful of screens have views of Earth, the void is filled (literally and figuratively), with other objects.
You’ll see other spacecraft, the moon, and a variety of work and leisure activities taking place beyond the windows of Centauri Space Station.
Some of these “leisure activities” include nods to Disney’s big space-centric intellectual property.
Ah, synergy.
There are a ton of Easter eggs and I don’t want to spoil them all for you. (In part, I can’t because many were gone before I could even snap a photo.)
However, since I’m not a monster, I’ll share the most important one that you might otherwise miss: SPACE DOGS.
On the far left and far right screens, space dogs appear at random.
There are (supposedly) three different space dogs that residents of the community above Centauri Space Station take for a space walk from time to time. One is such a good boy that he can go off-leash.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough on the draw to capture (photographically) any of the space dogs. Both times I saw them I was (no joke) so excited that I fumbled for my camera and messed up the shots.
These are among the many things I saw but didn’t manage to successfully shoot. If the trading cards that came with our meal are any indication, there’s a lot more that we didn’t see at all.
Opinions on these space work and leisure activities is probably going to be mixed, with some Walt Disney World fans deriding the Star Wars ones as contrived or crassly commercial and others as cheesy. (If you come for the space dogs, just keep in mind that you’ll lose all credibility!)
I strongly disagree.
The view of Earth is incredibly serene and understated, which is part of its appeal.
That has not been cartoonified, exaggerated, or whatever to make it more exciting. It’s breathtaking at first because it looks so natural, and while I don’t think that gets old, it does get a bit static.
The life in space is what keeps things interesting and engaging, and allows Disney to get a bit goofy with the visuals while still maintaining authenticity.
Plus, humans just put a car in space and there’s no telling what’s next–I don’t think a few lightsabers and space pups stretch credulity.
With that said, Space 220 is not flawless.
You might notice blue lines and other ‘artifacts’ in many of the photos with a view out into space. These are reflections of lighting inside the restaurant.
None of this is a deal-breaker that ruins the illusion or anything of the sort. To the contrary, if you were in a space station with the lights on, you’d see those reflected in the windows.
I don’t purport to be an expert on outer space, but that’s how lighting and reflections work.
Still, it feels like this could’ve been avoided.
If you’ve been on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, think about the first pre-show room. That effect is accomplished via a screen within a mirror. The reason it works is because Imagineering went to great lengths to make sure no lights in the room would ruin the effect–even the exit sign is lower than where it’d normally be to help sell the illusion.
Similar thoughtful design changes would’ve produced a similar result with Space 220.
All of the blue rim lighting could’ve been recessed so it didn’t get picked up by the windows. Other lights could’ve been handled the same way, or used more sparingly. Perhaps this comes across as nitpicky, but I loved the view at Space 220 and think attention to these lighting details could’ve made the view out into space even more majestic and awe-inspiring.
Outer space aside, the atmosphere in Space 220 is pitch perfect.
The cool colors are relaxing, the music is both mellow and uplifting, the lighting is appropriately moody (I’d be fine with it being a bit darker, but others might disagree), and seating area has a sense of sophistication to it. We were surprised at how adult Space 220 feels (this is not to say kids aren’t welcome or it’s inappropriate for them–quite the contrary).
Backtracking to the point about where to sit, the booths next to the windows are ostensibly the most appealing, and there’s definitely something to be said for being so close to outer space.
However, your view will be of your one window–you’ll be too close to see anything else, and miss 90% of the space activities as a result. We were in the second row back and I still found that to be too close.
In spending a lot of time wandering the restaurant, I think the second tier is the way to go.
The front row here is ideal: you get an elevated view, can see all of the windows from your table, and won’t have anyone standing (directly) in front of your table for photos or space selfies. This should also be an easier request to have fulfilled since most people will probably want to be as close as possible.
Here’s another video from Sarah offering a tour of Space 220’s seating area.
The restaurant is quite large, with a large area dedicated exclusively to the lounge that serves drinks and a la carte cuisine (that should help address a lot of the complaints about Space 220 being prix fixe).
Past posts have referred to Space 220 as Coral Reef: Outer Space Edition, and that was definitely an apt way to describe it. The start-to-finish “storytelling” is definitely better at Space 220, as is the overall ambiance. Coral Reef mostly wins on animals, although the space pups make a compelling case for Space 220. With that said, there’s one area where Coral Reef absolutely gets trounced: the food. But we’re already at 2,000+ words–so we’ll cover that in full detail in tomorrow’s lunch review!
Ultimately, we love the themed experience at Space 220. The execution isn’t flawless, but it’s better and more convincing than anticipated. Space 220 checks all of the right boxes for us in terms of atmosphere, with the visuals perfectly toeing the line between realistic and fun. Others might disagree, finding it to be too boring or too cartoonish–it’s impossible to please everyone, but the balance is perfect for our tastes. As far as long-delayed, highly-hyped screen-based things in EPCOT go, this is far and away our favorite of this year’s new additions. We had high hopes for Space 220, and it surpassed those expectations.
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Your Thoughts
Are you excited for the Space 220 restaurant at EPCOT? Does the concept of Coral Reef…but in outer space…appeal to you? Think the visuals come across as cheesy, boring, or perfectly balanced? Thoughts on the lighting reflections in space? Expect Space 220 to participate in the Disney Dining Plan for lunch or dinner? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Hello. I had great difficulty with the reservation site as it was a nightmare. I do agree that if this was a mess what is potentially in store for Genie + YIKES! That aside if can get a reservation what would you say was total time spent there start to finish so I can plan other experiences around it? Would like to dine there and just was hoping for a ballpark figure. Thank you as always for the excellent information you always provide!
I am here this week. For those that went opening day:
1) Can 1 person from your group wait in line and when you get closer can the others join?
2) You can’t wait in line and get a time for later in the day or sometime later in the week, right?
We were at Space220’s grand opening today, with two kids, 4 and 8. My husband ran there (we came from the Boardwalk) and got in line right away and ultimately the wait for our group was about 3.5 hours. We are from out-of-state and not media or bloggers, so we were in the minority but felt compelled to have the first day experience.
Not to step on any toes but I’ll add my perspective re: some of the questions in the comments:
– The kids’ food left a lot to be desired when compared to other table service we have experienced. I tasted the “space-ghetti” and the chicken meatball was good but nothing spectacular going on there. Portions were large, but no vegetable/side option with their meal.
– It’s not just an overpriced burger! We ordered the tuna tartare and burrata for appetizers and seared tuna and flat iron steak for lunch entrees. The seared tuna was cooked to perfection! I was famished upon entering the restaurant but the entree was large enough that I couldn’t finish. We ended with the vegan carrot cake and a gluten-free chocolate cheesecake, both of which were excellent! I went in expecting food to be ok but not great.. it definitely surpassed my expectations!
Tom, it was so lovely to meet you – forgive me if I was awkward but as you noted, we weren’t quite expecting that wait outdoors and I think we were all a little loopy. Haha 🙂
You are so right about the photo glare… It really was not like that in person! Thank you for working so hard on the editing, because my phone photos pale in comparison. The only thing I would have liked to see more of on the screens was more meteors or something… I absolutely agree about the static nature of the graphics, although they were still spectacular from our first row, second tier seat.
I hope everyone who wants to eat there gets to do so! I highly recommend it.
It was nice meeting you and your family, I didn’t think you were awkward at all! Thanks for sharing the thoughts on your meal, especially the kids cuisine, since we didn’t have any of that.
Back in our ‘before blog’ days, we did plenty of opening day experiences as out of state tourists. It’s not for everyone, but there’s a certain energy and excitement about being there for day one–and it makes a lasting memory that you’ll always have when revisiting the location. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
So we have a reservation for lunch on 10/9… Once seated at a table are we required to order the 2 course meal? Or can we order off the Flight Bites part of the menu? Or do you have to be seated in lounge area for that. With Food and Wine going on we don’t want to overdo it for lunch… Thank you for all you do!
We were there at rope drop today too (coming from Boardwalk) in that hoard. Epic fail Disney – zero crowd plan, zero organization – seriously not a single line marker, barely any employees in the area….one CM with a “line starts here” sign ala Mine Train could have fixed it all. So we left and went back at 3:00 to check out crowd and soooo much better. Waited just under 3 hours, got in and AMAZING! Worth the wait. Food was excellent!!!! Far exceeded my expectations.
We were in line at 1015 until about 1115 but bailed out when we found out they wouldn’t be giving ‘come back times’. Seemed cool, but didn’t want to spend the day there. Bummed I missed you guys, been following you for a while!! Glad you got to enjoy it!
I’ve been thinking about this leading up to our trip for weeks, but somehow completely forgot today was the opening when we arrived at Epcot. At least this explains today’s “crowd” (for lack of a better word, still slower than “normal” but seemed like a lot more people than I was expecting). Looks like something we’ll definitely have to try out (though I’m waiting to see what you say about the food first) after everything dies down. Like next year. Love the pictures, though. Thanks for letting those of us that won’t get in there forever see what it looks like.
I know this has limited use, but any tips for any of us who can make it before the 9/27 reservations-only to try and get in via walk-up? Do you think it will stay this crazy at rope drop, or was that because every blogger and their space dog showed up today? Also, is the lounge only going to be accessible by reservation starting next week, or will that stay walk up? Thanks!
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the prices. $55 for a burger and salad or $29 for a kid’s spaghetti or Mac and cheese seem out of this world for sure! Are these single meals large enough to feed multiple people?
Yes, as others have said the Disney IT was a total failure this morning. Got up at 4:30 am (central time) to log in and try to snag a reservation at a space 220 for our October trip. Continually crashed and got error messages until about 5:15 am (Central time)at which time no reservations were available. Nightmare scenario for genie+ likely on the horizon.
Thanks for the review. It sounds like just the type of dining experience that is great to have at Disney. I can get spectacular food minutes from my house, but I can’t get a view into space! Now, they just need to bring back the international cast members to the WS restaurants.
Disney IT was a total fail this morning. 6 reservations that stalled out.
Gave me the swift reality check of what a nightmare genie is going to be.
I’m in California and I woke up super early to try and get reservations but no luck. Our only Epcot day is October 16th. I’m also curious how the walk-up Lounge might work and if you need a reservation. I’m not totally disappointed because I was able to get coral reef for lunch and Rose and Crown for dinner and hopefully we’ll be able to see harmonious from our table. Having a drink at the bar would be a really cool experience.
I’ve been refreshing all day wondering if you’d head to Epcot for this experience. I had a harrowing time this morning getting reservations for Sept 30th but after somehow having to put in my credit card again (I’ve stored three cards with you Disney, how come you forget them so often?) I was successful. As one of the ‘Mars 100’ who was, a few years ago, destined to go and die on the red planet, I figured I ought to at least get a few hours of space-cred in. Even virtual space-cred is something, right?
I haven’t said anything on your last few posts (about this) but your humor and cynicism has had me particularly grinning lately. However, it’s your pictures that caught me this time — you are the first person to actually make this space (220) look impressive. Every other shot had such glaring blue reflections that I thought the imagineers had strung blue space wires out in orbit. The wine-room picture in particular caught me by surprise and made me very excited to experience this for myself, so kudos to you–I know how difficult low-light conditions with glare can be.
Can you tell me though…how receptive are they to requests? If I ask for ‘first balcony seating’ will I get a side-eye or a smile?
Thanks for the kind words about the photos–I’ve literally been working on editing them and writing this for the last several hours, which is why it was posted at almost 10 pm.
Receptiveness to requests is always YMMV. They were going to try to seat us next to the window (our request), but those were still all occupied by media when we checked in so we got the “next best thing” (supposedly). So long as you’re not requesting a window table, you probably have a pretty reasonable likelihood of success.
3 of us were signed in on multiple devices when reservations became available but we were unable to snag the coveted spot. Can you explain how the walk up lounge works and what’s the best way to get a spot in the lounge? Are kids welcome in the lounge? Thanks for all your info!
Kids are definitely welcome in the lounge–there’s bar and table seating. I can’t answer the other questions yet because I’m not sure, but we’re going to do dinner at some point soon and I’ll make a point of asking. I assume it’s just a matter of walking up to the podium and there being availability (or not).
How was the food?
Arrived home from the Mets game around 1 am stayed up trying to get reservations for Oct 3rd but no luck. Last attempt was 3:30 fell asleep at the computer tried again at 5ish went to bed got back up at 6ish tried using a laptop and a computer till 7:45 then went back to bed. I’ve been dragging all day trying on and off but no luck. Too tired to complete a project I had scheduled for today so will do that tomorrow. Any tricks for the best way to scoring reservations or should I give up hope for Oct 3rd?
I’d recommend checking for ADRs periodically. I’m betting a lot of locals made reservations as a backup plan in case they didn’t get in via walkup this week, and will cancel.
Another option is using one of the reservation finders (there are a few of them, all pretty much work the same way). I’m not sure if any are free, but here’s the TouringPlans one: https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/reservation-finder
This looks like more fun than I thought before… I really hope I can snag a reservation for my next trip! I have a 7 year old boy and I’m honestly not sure which of us would geek out more over this experience.
Dangit! You must’ve missed my cameo. I was the astronaut that floated past random windows saying, “Open the pod bay doors, Hal.” They may have cut this from the final plans, but if so, too bad. I shone in that role. ˡᶦáµáµ‰ ᵃ ˢᵗᵃʳ
I think you were replaced with a glowing red light. Lower maintenance and didn’t have to deal with SAG rates.
So excited to go! We snagged reservations for our trip in November!