Pan Galactic Pizza Port Review
Pan Galactic Pizza Port is a counter service restaurant in Tokyo Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. It’s a pizza restaurant that is unique to Tokyo Disneyland, with its big draw being a multi-media dinner show featuring an Audio-Animatronics alien named Tony Solaroni.
Sometimes, a man goes into a pizza restaurant and it’s love at first sight. That’s the story of me and Pan Galactic Pizza Port. The best way to describe this restaurant is: “rad.” You remember how cool things like LA Lights, neon fanny packs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Furby were back in the mid-1990s?
Well, Pan Galactic Pizza Port combines the best elements of each, tosses it in a restaurant, and turns it into one of the coolest and easily the most bizarre restaurant at Tokyo Disneyland. If this was what the 1990s were like in Japan, we absolutely need to discover the key to time travel.
The reason this restaurant is so rad is thanks solely to a heroic alien named Tony Solaroni. To put this succinctly, Mr. Solaroni is basically the pizza world’s equivalent to Batman. That is, if Batman had a boss and wife that were always riding him, and was responsible for supervising a machine that produced pizza for various parts of outer space. So really nothing like Batman at all except in the sense that both are awesome.
The best comparison to anything in the US parks is Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe, but better because the show at Pan Galactic Pizza Port is much more elaborate. That’s right: Tony Solaroni is the Disney galaxy’s best entertainer–better than Sonny Eclipse.
At least, that’s what I gathered from the videos that played in Japanese on the TV sets above the alien Audio-Animatronics figure’s head. I’ve watched it a few times through, and I’ve more or less pieced together what’s going on.
There are English subtitles, but the concept is so bizarre that even those who understand it are probably going to be left saying, “HUH?” after watching it.
In the show/video, Tony Solaroni uses his ginormous pizza-making machine to somehow bring happiness to the galaxy by delivering pizzas from his new base on earth. In so doing, Mr. Solaroni is is the working man’s hero who is constantly harassed by his very demanding boss and his wife.
Mr. Solaroni’s boss probably doubles as the bad guy who has been somehow secretly depriving the world of pizza. Lots of other stuff happens, including song and dance, and who knows what else. The brilliance of this show clearly isn’t in the plot, but in the eclectic spectacle of it all. The video feels like a product of the 1990s.
A brilliant, glorious product of the 1990s. (It’s actually from 1989, so the late-1980s if we want to be technical.)
If it were a motion picture, it would score ~15% on RottenTomatoes, but would probably develop a cult following in 10 years for being so quirky and over the top. It’s such a fun show that this is really forgivable.
If you think my bizarre ramblings about Pan Galactic Pizza Port are an exaggeration, I encourage you to watch this video (and parts 2 and 3). I’m not exaggerating one bit. This shouldn’t be read as me mocking the show, because I am not.
It’s odd, but I absolutely love it. For more about the origins of Pan Galactic Pizza Port, I highly recommend reading this article, which contains some cool photos of the puppets, as well as interviews with the Imagineers who created it.
This boy is clearly a huge Tony Solaroni fan.
He’s so riveted by the performance, that he’s hanging on the edge of his rail.
Being that it’s a restaurant, Pan Galactic Pizza Port also serves food. Namely, pizza.
On our first visit to Tokyo Disneyland, the menu was almost exclusively pizza, with typical pizza choices that you’d expect to find in the US. There was also snow crab pizza (previously listed as one of our favorite snacks at Tokyo Disneyland).
This pizza was shockingly good for counter service pizza, with fairly large chunks (for a pizza) of snow crab.
Because of that pizza alone, Pan Galactic Pizza Port was one of our top counter service restaurants of the trip.
The other pizza was good, too. Unlike a place like Pizza Planet at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it didn’t taste like an overly processed ‘fake’ pizza. Everything from the dough to the cheese to the toppings tasted good.
Because we liked it so much on our first visit, we went back to Pan Galactic Pizza Port on our second visit to Tokyo Disneyland. The menu was substantially different, now with calzones in place of the snow crab pizza.
Both of the calzones we had were dominated by dough and cheese.
I love cheese just as much as the next guy, but there was a lot of cheese here. I thought the calzone was so-so, but Sarah thought it was pretty bad.
I don’t believe the calzones were part of a seasonal menu for Christmas, but I am hopeful it isn’t a permanent thing. If they’re serving calzones during your visit and you aren’t too interested in regular pizza (it’s pretty good!), still stop by here for dessert or simply to enjoy the Tony Solaroni show.
If the snow crab pizza is still missing, we recommend heading to Captain Hook’s Galley in Fantasyland, which still had the pizza during our last visit.
On the plus side, the desserts are really good. The Toy Story alien mochi are a snack unique to Tokyo Disney Resort that you’ll definitely want to try at some point in your trip, anyway.
Overall, Pan Galactic Pizza Port is a difficult restaurant to rate. Going solely upon our first experience, during which we enjoyed the fun show and excellent counter service pizza, it would be a perfect 10. While our subsequent visit still had the awesome entertainment, the calzones was subpar. However, in its defense, other pizzas were still available, and were presumably still good. All things considered, we view Pan Galactic Pizza Port as a must-do thanks to the Tony Solaroni show alone. They could be serving pungent garbage from a dirty dumpster and we’d still recommend this place because of the show alone. The food is significantly better than dumpster dinner, but still not at the top of the counter service restaurants, so we’re knocking it a bit for that.
Planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort? For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea Trip Planning Guide! For more specifics, our TDR Hotel Rankings & Reviews page covers accommodations. Our Restaurant Reviews detail where to dine & snack. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money post. Our What to Pack for Disney post takes a unique look at clever items to take. Venturing elsewhere in Japan? Consult our Ultimate Guide to Kyoto, Japan and City Guide to Tokyo, Japan.
Your Thoughts…
What do you think of Tony Solaroni? Have you dined at Pan Galactic Pizza Port? If so, what did you think? If you have any questions or thoughts to share, please post them in the comments. We love hearing from readers!
I can’t wait to visit in August. I coordinated production in filming the live action segment of the video. I also helped input most of what you see on the video matrix wall here in Glendale, California, before it was installed in Tokyo. It was a wonderful work experience meeting all the people who designed the animation, the animatronic figures, and the rest of it at Disney Imagineering.
Were the people in the video actual actors, or just Imagineers and other random people WDI found to appear? I have so many other questions about this 1990s masterpiece, but I’ll leave it at that for now…
The calzone was okay. But I really just got it for the paper wrap that it came in! Haha! I liked the PGPP & it’s nineties charm. I just wish there were more tables inside.
When you went, was the snow crab pizza still on the menu, or was it mostly calzones?
No snow crab pizza on the menu. This was mid-November.
Furby was never rad – he was just plain freaky. And yet, he rounds out your comparison in a way that makes complete sense. (Also, I wonder how many people reading this review had to look up LA Lights to find out what they were. We’re getting old, Tom. OLD.)
While I don’t expect to be making a trip to Tokyo anytime soon (it’s going to take me the next year to save for my big trip to Disneyland – the original – next Fall), I can tell that I would absolutely love this restaurant. I love Cosmic Ray’s in a way that too few people understand, and this place really does seem to have much of the same feel.
And since I actually LIKE the pizza at Pizza Planet, I think I’d enjoy the food here, as well.
Getting old?! Speak for yourself. I’m still young at heart! 🙂
As for the pizza, it’s delicious. It’s the calzones that are suspect, and even they are fine, they just aren’t nearly as good as the other delicious food at Tokyo Disneyland.
This review brings back some amazing memories. Easily one restaurant because of its location that can be missed in favour of more popular ones like Queen of Hearts. But the show alone is a good enough reason to pay this place a visit. Plus the pizza is fairly good in my opinion.
Agree on the pizza. Also agree on the show alone being enough reason to pay it a visit. I suspect big things are in store for Tokyo Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, and I’d hazard a guess that Tony Solaroni will be retired sooner rather than later, so enjoying it while we can is a good idea.
I loved this article. Once I saw that the calzone packaging bore the claim “If you don’t get your pizza in less than a Saturn Day, It’s Free!” so when you patch in your solar system cell service call to Zenith-9909 set your timer for 10h 39m as that is length of a Saturn Day!
Haha, luckily they’re efficient enough that it *doesn’t* take 10+ hours to deliver your order!