50's Prime Time Café

{{Short description|Restaurant at Disney's Hollywood Studios}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox restaurant

| name = 50's Prime Time Café

| logo = 50's Prime Time.svg

| logo_width =

| logo_alt =

| image = 50s Prime Time Cafe.jpg

| image_width =

| image_alt = A photograph of a white building with a pink, green, and yellow television-shaped sign in front of it reading "50's PRIME TIME Cafe" in stylized letters

| image_caption = Entrance

| pushpin_map =

| map_alt =

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| slogan =

| established = 1989

| closed =

| current-owner = Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

| previous-owner =

| chef =

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| dress-code =

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| street-address =

| city = Bay Lake

| county = Orange County

| state = Florida

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| country = United States

| coordinates = {{coord|28.3574468123|-81.5587105705|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| seating-capacity =

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| other-label = Sponsor

| other-information = Coca-Cola

| website = {{Official website}}

}}

The 50's Prime Time Café is a restaurant at Disney's Hollywood Studios, one of the four main theme parks at Walt Disney World.O'Halloran (2007), p. 189. The restaurant replicates the kitsch of a 1950s diner.Gindin & Greenhill-Taylor (2011), p. 19. The waitresses dress similarly to Leave It to Beaver character June Cleaver, and each acts as though she is the mother of the guests she is serving, to the point of scolding and giving (mild) discipline to the patrons if they are "misbehaving" (similar to the concept of themed restaurants such as Ed Debevic's (a 1950s-themed diner in Chicago) and Dick's Last Resort, where the servers are specifically trained to be obnoxious).Wiley & Jenkins (2012), p. 327. While eating, guests watch 1950s television shows such as Leave It to Beaver and Topper on black-and-white televisions.Goldsbury (2010), p. 313.

Menu items include chicken pot pie, pot roast, fried chicken, meatloaf, and milkshakes.Lafray (2005), p. 60. The 50's Prime Time Café opened in 1989. Two years later, another theme restaurant opened at the park: the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant;{{Cite news|work=Restaurants & Institutions|title=Sci-Fi Dine-In among WDW's 20th birthday attractions|author=Nicholas, Erin|date=December 18, 1991|page=37}} the 50's Prime Time Café had garnered much success, and Disney hoped that another restaurant that had a strong emphasis on theme would have a similar level of success. The Sci-Fi Dine-In initially received little interest, but, within five weeks of opening, it was serving between 1,500 and 2,000 meals on a daily basis, just as the 50's Prime Time Café was doing.{{Cite news|work=Amusement Business|date=October 21, 1991|page=20|author=O'Brien, Tim|title=Disney-MGM Studios eateries create fun environment, boost bottom line}} These restaurants are two of the four in the park that offer table service, the others being the Hollywood Brown Derby and Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano.Shumaker (2003), p. 77. In the book Walt Disney World Resort: Also Includes Seaworld and Central Florida, Corey Sandler writes that the 50's Prime Time Café ties with the Beaches and Cream Soda Shop at Disney's Beach Club Resort for the best milkshakes in Walt Disney World.Sandler (2007), p. 46.

References

{{reflist}}

Bibliography

  • {{Cite book|author=Gindin, Rona|author2=Jennifer Greenhill-Taylor|title=Fodor's 2012 Walt Disney World|year=2011|publisher=Fodor's Travel Publications|isbn=978-0679009481}}
  • {{Cite book|author=Goldsbury, Cara|title=The Luxury Guide to Walt Disney World Resort: How to Get the Most Out of the Best Disney Has to Offer|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0762767021}}
  • {{Cite book|author=Lafray, Joyce|title=Joyce Lafray's Big Guide to Florida Restaurants|publisher=Seaside Publishing|year=2005|isbn=1419607995}}
  • {{Cite book|author=O'Halloran, Jacinta|title=Florida 2008|publisher=Fodor's Travel Publications|year=2007|isbn=978-1400017966}}
  • {{Cite book|author=Sandler, Corey|title=Walt Disney World Resort: Also Includes Seaworld and Central Florida|year=2007|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|isbn=978-0762741694}}
  • {{Cite book|author=Shumaker, Susan|author2=Than Saffel|title=Vegetarian Walt Disney World and Greater Orlando: The Essential Guide for the Health-Conscious Traveler|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|year=2003|isbn=0762727039}}
  • {{Cite book|author=Wiley, Kim Wright|author2=Leigh C. W. Jenkins|title=Walt Disney World with Kids 2013: With Universal Orlando, Seaworld and Aquatica|year=2012|publisher=Fodor's Travel Publications|isbn=978-0307929228|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780307929228}}

{{Disney's Hollywood Studios}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:50's Prime Time Cafe}}

Category:Disney's Hollywood Studios

Category:Walt Disney World restaurants

Category:1950s in American television

Category:1989 establishments in Florida

Category:Restaurants established in 1989

Category:Retro style

Category:Nostalgia in the United States

Category:Restaurants in Florida