Dining Review: Planet Hollywood Observatory at Disney Springs

Hi everyone!

We were invited last week to the Planet Hollywood Observatory at Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) to try a variety of items off the menu. I’ll start off by saying that I personally prefer the new menu to the old one, I had a good meal and the desserts are certainly showstoppers in their own right. It was fun to look around at the restaurant artifacts as well, and I’ll show some of that later in the article.

I’ll talk about these desserts later too, but first I’ll share the appetizers and entrees.

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Planet Hollywood was closed for about one year to become the Planet Hollywood Observatory. The restaurant is located across from the Orange Garage at Disney Springs. Guests parking in Lime Garage will have a few minute walk.

Characters in Flight is also close to the Planet Hollywood Observatory.

Here is the look at the stairs to go up to the next floor, there are four floors total.

In the lobby, Chewbacca stands tall.

A Superman costume worn by Christopher Reeve is also here.

R2-D2.

This Spider-Man costume was worn by Toby McGuire.

We had been invited to help promote offerings, but the restaurant was packed on a Monday night. Planet Hollywood has been here for a long time, and shouldn’t have a problem filling seats.

On to the food. We were given a limited menu to choose from, with plenty of choices but there are many more on the main menu.

Here is our video of Planet Hollywood Observatory, and then keep reading for photos and a review of the items we tried.

We started with the Hummus Trio. It comes with roasted red pepper and black bean hummus, edamame hummus, and roasted garlic hummus, served with toasted herb flatbread. The bread tasted more like pita bread to me, I didn’t notice a strong herb taste (though you can see it on the bread). The hummus didn’t really have any kick to it, but that is the way I prefer it. For the amount of flatbread given, the hummus portions were generous, there was a lot of hummus still left at the end.

A holdover from the former menu is the World Famous Chicken Crunch appetizer. The menu says of it, “all-natural chicken tenders hand-breaded with a crunchy sweet coating, served with our signature Creole mustard sauce”. Honestly, it was a little sweet for me, it’s a very popular dish and I think it’s more that I’m not used to having a sweet coating on chicken. I still ate two.

Here is a closer look at the World Famous Chicken Crunch.

The blue drink is Halley’s Comet Planet-Bowl and includes Cruzan aged light rum, SKYY vodka, Beefeater gin, Jose Cuervo Especial Gold tequila, DeKuper blue curacao, fresh lemon, lime juice, and Sprite. For $27.00, it includes the souvenir glass. Refills are $20.00. The Solar Eclipse Planet-Bowl is the same price, and includes Jose Cuervo Especial Gold tequila, Cointreau and Grand Marnier. These are big drinks and I definitely recommend splitting them.

The High Roller Platter is on what looks like a ferris wheel, though it doesn’t turn. It is a nice presentation, though. The wheel includes the Famous Chicken Crunch, Texas Tostados, Buffalo Wings, Five-Cheese Dip and Peri-Peri Shrimp. It is a nice way to try a number of different appetizers, and also came with the chips in the basket below.

Jeff tried the Buffalo Wings and said they were good, but that they weren’t unique enough for him to order this as an appetizer in the future.

I didn’t try this one, the Five-Cheese Dip. Planet Hollywood says of it, “A flavorful, gooey dip made of Swiss, mozzarella, provolone, Parmesan, and Asiago cheeses with spinach, artichoke hearts and roasted tomato, served with corn tortilla chips and toasted herb flatbread”.

The Texas Tostados weren’t my thing, I didn’t care for the BBQ sauce flavor – but that is why the High Roller Platter is a great group option, it’s something for everyone. The menu says of this appetizer, “Crispy gyoza skins topped with BBQ chicken, sautéed onions, blend of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, pico de gallo and drizzled with sour cream and BBQ Sauce”.

Jeff liked the Peri-Peri Shrimp a lot. The shrimp are “fried and tossed in a spicy sauce of chilies, garlic, herbs, and spices served on cabbage slaw”. The shrimp were a pretty decent size as well.

Here is a closer look on the flatbread and chips included.

Now to entrees. The BBQ Ribs were a group favorite. They are slow-cooked in-house St. Louis style pork ribs smothered with BBQ Sauce. This was the best presented entree and the meat fell off the bone. Everyone raved about them.

Guy Fieri created a portion of the menu, including this sandwich. The Turkey Pic-A-Nic Sandwich comes with house-roasted turkey breast, cranberry, relish, Swiss, BBQ kettle chips, LTOP and donkey sauce on a garlic-buttered pretzel bun.

I believe this sandwich was modified some from the menu description. Jeff was given half of it to take home and it was a big half sandwich (which he liked a lot).

This Guy Fieri award-winning burger should be very popular, and it is what Jeff ordered. It is the winner of NYC Wine and Food Festival Burger Bash! with Applewood-smoked bacon, six cheese mac-n-cheese cheddar, LTOP, crispy onion straws and donkey sauce on a garlic-buttered brioche bun.

It’s a HUGE burger Really too big once everything is put on it, though tasty. Jeff said he’d probably order a burger in the future with a little less of the filling.

I asked for the same burger without much of anything on it. The waiter asked me if I just wanted a plain burger, and I said yes. This was a good burger for me. I actually took it home and finished it over two more meals, it was generously sized, juicy and I would go back to Planet Hollywood for this one. Fries came with it, but for me are just so-so (it’s something in the seasoning) and I’d ask if I could substitute the fries for something else. But others in the group liked the fries, so it’s just one opinion.

Guy Fieri flourish.

The drinks at Planet Hollywood that I ordered were excellent. The Rocket Fuel includes Stoli Citros vodka, Cointreau, Chambord, cranberry juice and Sprite. I don’t think there was any dry ice in it, though the menu shows it. I liked that this drink wasn’t too sweet.

There is an Ice Cream & Gelato Challenge on the menu that guests can order.

The desserts…I’d seen the photos, but wasn’t quite sure what to expect as far as flavor. We were able to try several shakes and the Brownie Sundae Martini (the one signature dessert I haven’t seen yet is the Planet Meltdown, a reveal dessert which also looks fantastic). This is the Chocolate Comet Supernova Shake.

The Strawberry Big Bang Milkshake was where I took most of my dessert calories during this meal. And they weren’t from the shake, they were from the cake. If I ordered this in the future, I’d split the shake with someone and take the cake home – it’s a huge piece, and delicious with a small filling that is some sort of berry jam (maybe strawberry since it’s a strawberry shake, but I’m not sure on that).

The Cosmic Cotton Candy Milkshake was probably the most popular at our table in terms of shake flavor.

Here is a look at the cake on the Strawberry Big Bang Milkshake, you can see the filling in this photo.

And the top of the Cosmic Cotton Candy Milkshake.

The last dessert item we tried, and one I showed in the first photo with the other desserts is the large Brownie Sundae Martini. There are twelve chunks of freshly-baked brownies with six scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, topped with caramel and chocolate sauces with a LOT of whipped cream. What I remember of this is mostly the brownies and whipped cream, the brownies are really good. This is a dessert I’d recommend for a group. I don’t know how it is possible to walk out of Planet Hollywood Observatory with an empty stomach and without a to-go container, the portions are so big.

There is a huge video screen that was in view. The music was fairly loud, but not uncomfortably so – I could talk to my group without having to raise my voice much.

Next, we stopped at Stargazers Lounge. It is on the first floor, and we held a table here with a drink while taking more photos around the restaurant. The bar wasn’t too busy, though we were told it picks up a lot on weekends.

I asked if I could get a sangria. It isn’t on the menu, but they created a very fruity, tasty drink for me. So if you don’t see something on the menu, ask.

We could see Characters in Flight from our seat.

I walked around the restaurant to take more photos, including of the Jim Carrey Joker costume from Batman Forever.

In one of the restrooms are lip prints, including Demi Moore and Winona Ryder.

Sound of Music dresses are in one case, including one that Julie Andrews wore.

There is an outdoor dining patio, and Characters in Flight is in view here.

There are some cases outside, including this one from the Anaheim Ducks.

Inside, tables were still busy as I walked around.

The Planet Hollywood Observatory also has a store that includes dedicated merchandise.

Some of the merchandise is just general Planet Hollywood, but the nicest items are from this location.

They include Tervis tumblers, hats and shirts.

This is a nicer yellow shirt.

And this one that is filled with stars.

Here is a look outside of the store.

Planet Hollywood Observatory is a destination restaurant, and you’ll find a lot of groups and tour groups frequent it. There was one large tour group party that was very loud temporarily, louder than the music. But other than that, I enjoyed the experience quite a bit, my food was good and we look forward to returning. The portion sizes are overall very big (moreso the entrees and desserts than the appetizers), so take that into account. I can take food home, so I didn’t push myself to finish everything. There are many great food options at Disney Springs now, I can’t even imagine being on vacation here and having to choose just one or two restaurants in a trip.

Planet Hollywood covered our meal except for our gratuity, all views are ours.