Memories of a Character Breakfast

The Stargate Restaurant was a quick-serve restaurant found in EPCOT Center. It opened with the park on October 1st, 1982, and sadly it closed on April 10th, 1994.

Outside the Stargate Restaurant.

Right now there’s very little on the internet about the Stargate Restaurant, apart from the same little one sentence blip about where it was and what replaced it. It’s a shame, because it will always make up a big part of my Disney memories due to the character breakfast it hosted.

The Stargate Restaurant

Located in what was considered the southern quadrant of Communicore East, the Stargate Restaurant overlooked the centre plaza of future world and the Fountain of Nations. At the time, the outdoor seating area was surrounded by a waterway. The pond has since been filled in with concrete, to help expand the walkway.

Stargate is #13 on the map.

The food served was your typical Disney quick-service restaurant fare: burgers, fries, pizza, salads. That said, they had spunky names like Solarburger and Galaxy Salad. It was a great place for guests on a budget, because for fast food you got fast food pricing.

One of two breakfast places in Epcot, the Stargate served omelettes, egg burgers, and hashbrowns.

Though it was a plain restaurant, the Stargate hosted one of the best character breakfasts in the parks. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, and Dale would all come through and visit, dressed up in their silver and rainbow bedecked space suits. It was nice for families on a budget, because kids could still see the characters while the price of the meal hadn’t been hiked up for that special treat.

Meeting Dale at the Stargate Character Breakfast

My parents can remember the restaurant always being very quiet. This meant that we had the chance to spend a lot of extra time with the characters, and the amount of photos we have proves it.

Spacesuit Mickey

What I remember the most is seeing Mickey dressed up in his spacesuit. There was something extra magical about it, that makes me smile to this day. I think Epcot is a big reason why I love anything futuristic or to do with space exploration.

Meeting Mickey at the Stargate

Unfortunately when EPCOT Center became Epcot ’94, the Stargate closed down for renovations. Though it got a facelift, much of the restaurant’s origingal layout remains. When it reopened it was also renamed to the Electric Umbrella, which still stands today. It was the end of the character breakfast as well, as Akershus now hosts a Princess character breakfast.

Pluto in his space suit!

Though it was a pretty simple restaurant, the magic of being able to see the characters and the reasonable pricing made for a combination that made my family go back several times over the years. It was one of those Hidden Disney gems.