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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2025 |
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Remy from Ratatouille is not the only rat who can cook. Rizzo the Rat from Muppet*Vision 3D, The Muppet Show, and other Muppet endeavors has a pizzeria that he calls PizzeRizzo. |
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Rizzo has mastered how to make personal pizzas with doughy crusts and minimal sauce, cut into four slices — just like the mediocre pizzas at Pizzafari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Catalina Eddie’s at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and value resort food courts. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Flickering neon |
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Rizzo has an impressive neon sign advertising his place. Some of the yellow letters flicker, revealing that “it’s rat pizza.” |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2025 Los Angeles street sign with the city’s iconic city hall |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2025 Miss Piggy Fountain at the Muppets Courtyard. |
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The streetwise rat has a New Jersey accent, but his restaurant is located in The City of Angels. Specifically, it’s at the Muppet Courtyard on Grand Avenue, next door to Gonzo’s Royal Flush (restrooms). |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 PizzeRizzo when approaching from Mama Melrose’s |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Window placard for François Fromage and his Dancing Cheeses |
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Rizzo uses name-brand ingredients. His Pizza is topped with genuine François Fromage and his Dancing Cheeses. You might remember how these cheeses started to melt under the hot studio lights during the first episode of Muppets Tonight (March 8, 1996) with guest star Michelle Pfeiffer. If gooey melted cheese has made you hungry, go inside now and place an order. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Ordering counter |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Menu card |
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This is a quick-service eatery with a simple menu. Choose from four kinds of pizza, a meatball sub, or an antipasto salad. You’ll normally be served quickly because the kitchen is turning out food continuously. Don’t expect to see pizza chefs artfully twirling dough in the air. These are mass-produced pizzas heated in high-volume commercial ovens using pre-made components. Rizzo believes in efficiency, not culinary excellence. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Stairs to the upper level |
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After you get your pizza, you’ll have many choices where to sit: lower floor, upper floor, banquet room, or balcony. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Plenty of tables on the upper level |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Rizzo’s Deluxe Supreme Banquet Hall |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Gil and Lill got married! |
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Pretend you’ve been invited to a wedding reception in Rizzo’s Deluxe Supreme Banquet Hall. It’s B. Y. O. B & P — bring your own beverage and pizza. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 New York signage |
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Rizzo took more than just his accent to Los Angeles. He brought the look of a New York City pizzeria, including an “18th Street Station Downtown and Brooklyn” subway sign. Don’t worry. Rizzo didn’t steal it from New York City. He stole it from the fake New York subway entrance in the Streets of America section of what was once Disney-MGM Studios. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Drawings of Muppets |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 A striking drawing of Miss Piggy |
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The VIP Area at the far end of the upper level includes comfortable corner booths. The walls here feature drawings of Muppets, including caricatures in the style of legendary cartoonist Al Hirschfeld. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Balcony seating |
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If it’s too hot or too cold outside, you’ll probably want to pick a table inside where it’s climate-controlled. But on a pleasant day, the uncrowded balcony, with its shade roof, is better. Watch park guests coming and going below. Relax “above it all.” |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Vegetable Pizza, Caesar Salad, and Moretti Blonde Draft |
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Pick up a slice of your pizza. There’s so much great theming inside, so why is the pizza served on generic “Disney Parks” paper plates? Is that the best Rizzo could do? |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Clever trash cans |
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Before you leave the building, read all the clever captions on trash cans, enjoy the funny record labels, spot the rats that have been skillfully added to historic photos, and check out the Muppet bulletin board. This is more than a restaurant; it’s a walk-through Muppet attraction. |
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PizzeRizzo officially opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on November 18, 2016. It replaced Disney’s Toy Story Pizza Planet, which had operated from December 15, 1995 to January 19, 2016. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Homage to Pizza Planet on the sign: ”The best PIZZA on the PLANET“ |
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The part of the planet that Rizzo the Rat is from — New Jersey and New York — knows how to make great pizza. Alas, PizzeRizzo opened with essentially the same menu that Toy Story Pizza Planet had. Even the photos of the four kinds of pizza on the menu were the same. Word has it that the pizza at PizzeRizzo came in frozen from Nation Pizza and Foods, a huge commercial food producer in Schaumburg, Illinois, near Chicago. But it’s also nothing like Chicago’s renowned pizza — deep dish or tavern style. Disney does not reveal its actual suppliers, unless there’s a sponsorship deal. PizzeRizzo permanently closed its doors on June 7, 2025, when Muppets Courtyard closed to begin its transformation into Monstropolis. When Monstropolis opens in 2027, the former PizzeRizzo (and former Pizza Planet) will again be a counter-service pizza restaurant. Archie’s Scare Pig Pizza is named after a character in the Disney-Pixar film Monsters University (2013). In the film, Sulley meets Mike Wazowski in a sequence that prominently features Archie the Scare Pig, the six-legged, orange mascot of Fear Tech, the rival college of Monsters University. According to several websites on September 9, 2026, Archie’s Scare Pig Pizza is getting brand-new kitchen equipment and the food will be an improvement. That would be great. The source appears to be a post on X by theme park journalist Alicia Stella, who spoke with Joe Schott, president of Walt Disney World. |
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© 2026 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated September 11, 2026 |
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