In this post, we give a brief review of Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe, a quick service restaurant at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Our quick service reviews don’t cover every menu item, instead focusing on the essential information you need—location, seating, menu options, etc.—to decide if and how this restaurant might fit into your day at the park. Read on to learn all about Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe!
If you’d like to read more about your Magic Kingdom options, we have a list of Best Quick Service Restaurants at Magic Kingdom. We also link to all our Magic Kingdom quick service reviews at the bottom of this post.
Basics of Cosmic Ray’s
Cosmic Ray’s is a counter service restaurant at Magic Kingdom offering standard American fare (burgers, hot dogs, chicken). Guests on a Disney Dining Plan will spend one quick service credit for an entree and a drink from the restaurant.
Cosmic Ray’s is typically open from around 10:30AM until park close (but sometimes closes earlier). The restaurant serves lunch and dinner and has nearly identical menus for both. Cosmic Ray’s does not take Disney World Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs).
Cosmic Ray’s is located in Tomorrowland. Its main entrances are opposite Tomorrowland Speedway, but the restaurant extends to Fantasyland (ending near Mad Tea Party) and has entrances facing Cinderella Castle as well.
Cosmic Ray’s Review Summary
Seating — Indoor / Outdoor
Cuisine — American / Burgers
Go-To Item — 1/3 lb Angus Bacon Cheeseburger
Go-To Dessert — Varies / Changes
Pro-Tip — Grab a seat with a view of Sonny Eclipse
Cosmic Ray’s Menu
Cosmic Ray’s doesn’t have many unique items, serving food you’d find in most theme parks. Its specialties are burgers (also found at Pecos Bill). That said, with a Greek Salad and chicken strips also on the menu, Cosmic Ray’s is a decent “something for everyone” option.
Vegans and vegetarians will be happy to know there’s a plant based Impossible Patty melt available. While we don’t find it to be the best vegan item ever, it is at least a little different than usual offerings.
Most items are served with french fries, and a topping bar is available if you’d like to add a little something to your meal. But, honestly, we’re not here for special food. This is one of the restaurants we visit most at Disney World, and we’re here for something else…
Seating at Cosmic Ray’s
Cosmic Ray’s has a mix of indoor and outdoor seating. There are a few small patches of indoor and outdoor seating scattered around the edges of the restaurant, but the feature room is in the middle and has a stage…complete with its own animatronic!
Sonny Eclipse is an animatronic at Cosmic Ray’s who puts on a recurring 25-minute musical set. Nothing about it is amazing, but there are some fun and funny moments, and this is the only quick service restaurant in Magic Kingdom offering anything like this.
With ample indoor and outdoor seating, we’ve never had trouble getting a table at Cosmic Ray’s. If you want a table with a good view of Sonny, though, you might have to wait a few minutes, as some people will wait out a full 25-minute set or at least wait until he shuts down for a few minutes between sets.
Theming
Other than Sonny Eclipse, there really isn’t anything by way of theming at Cosmic Ray’s. That’s okay, because Sonny Eclipse is really all the theme you need to come to Cosmic Ray’s.
Conclusions
It’s sort of a shame more hasn’t been done with the Cosmic Ray’s space—including giving it a more creative menu—but the presence of an animatronic doing a 25-minute musical set has got to be enough to give the restaurant consideration.
If you’re just looking for burgers, then Cosmic Ray’s is definitely a good option. Personally, we don’t find much drawing us to the other Magic Kingdom quick service spots, so Sonny Eclipse is usually enough to bring us into Cosmic Ray’s.
Other Magic Kingdom Quick Service Reviews
If you’re considering Cosmic Ray’s, you may want to read some of our other Magic Kingdom quick service reviews:
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