We Will Be Eating For Free Using Gift Cards From Swagbucks!

We will be eating for free on our next trip to Walt Disney World!  Huh?  Eating for free?  Yes, we will be eating for free for two meals during our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World using gift cards purchased with Swagbucks for Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex Cafe.  We could even use them at Yak and Yeti if we were planning to dine there.

After earning Swagbucks, I redeem them for the gift cards.  A $10 gift card for Rainforest Cafe  is 1,000 Swagbucks.  Then, I print the gift card which includes a scannable bar code and take with me on our vacation.  And, since we have ADR's for both T-Rex Cafe and Rainforest Cafe, we will be able to eat for free at both locations. 

Have you signed up for Swagbucks yet?  If not, now is a great time as new members earn 50 Swagbucks by including the following code when you sign-up:  SPRINGIN2SWAG. 

There  are many ways to earn Swagbucks while interacting with the web-site.  Here are just a few:

• Shop & Earn
• Search
• Watch (SBTV)
• Play (the Swagbucks Games portal)
• Answer (surveys, daily polls, tasks)
• Discover (special offers, coupons, toolbars, NOSO)

 So, go ahead and start earning.  Click here to get started.  It's fun, easy, and free!

Dining Reservations For Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex Cafe Can Be Had By Calling Restaurants

“You know where you want to eat six months from now?”  Not only do we know where we want to eat, but approximately what time of day and that makes planning Advanced Dining Reservations for Walt Disney World easy.  Most of the time, our travel agent makes our dining reservations for us.  But after adding an extra day to our upcoming July 2013 trip and extra dining reservations, I decided to give making our own ADR’s a go.

The goal was to make a dinner reservation for Rainforest Café at the Animal Kingdom location and a lunch reservation at T-Rex Café in Downtown Disney.  I phoned 407-WDW-DINE and made my way through the voice navigations only to discover that late dinner times were available for our selected date for Rainforest Café.  Not ideal.  I hung up the phone without even trying for T-Rex Café or speaking to an agent.

I then found the phone number for Rainforest Café at Animal Kingdom and called the restaurant directly.  A human answered the phone—bonus!  After a few questions, no credit card to reserve our time slot, and asking if we were celebrating a special occasion, we had dinner reservations at our preferred time slot! 

That was so easy; I did the same for T-Rex Café, calling the restaurant directly.  Again, success!

I learned that calling the restaurant directly is the best way to go for these two restaurants, and most likely the Rainforest Café at Downtown Disney.

While we have eaten at T-Rex Café at Downtown Disney previously (click here to read more), we have yet to try Rainforest Café locations in Orlando.  We have dined at Rainforest Café at the Mall of America several years ago so we are looking forward to dining there again.

The question that we are still wrestling with is whether or not to join Landry Restaurant’s Select Club prior to our trip.  Membership is $25 with a credit of $25 after your membership is activated and then opportunities to earn points after that.  Joining prior to our trip would allow for the membership to be activated rather than joining while at the restaurants themselves (Landry is the company that owns/operates both T-Rex Café and Rainforest Café along with several other restaurants).

Dining at T-Rex Cafe in Downtown Disney

Meteor showers, ice caves, and a giant octopus.  What do these have in common?  They can all be found at T-Rex Café in Downtown Disney.

We have dined at the T-Rex Café in Kansas City—click here to read more—the only other T-Rex Café so we wanted to give the almost new T-Rex Café in Downtown Disney a try. 

T-Rex Café is a part of Landry Restaurants—think Rainforest Café, Aquarium, Saltgrass Steak House, The Chart House, etc. and has restaurants across the U.S.  Rainforest Café already has two locations at Walt Disney World—Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney.  T-Rex Café gives guests another unique dining experience among the varied restaurants at Downtown Disney.

We made an Advanced Dining Reservation for lunch at the 180 day mark prior to our trip.  You can do this through Disney’s Advance Dining Reservations system on-line, by phone, or by calling the restaurant directly.  Our reservation was for after 1:00 pm, but we started to get hungry around noon and it started to sprinkle, so we headed to the restaurant a bit early for both food and shelter.  No problem, we were seated within minutes after checking in at the podium near the entrance. (The rain is also why we did not take any pictures outside the restaurant—but be sure to do this when you visit!)

The Ice Cave was our seating assignment for lunch.  We received menus and service quickly.  After we ordered, the boy and I wandered throughout the restaurant taking photos and talking about the various dinosaurs, wooly mammoths, and sea life found in the restaurant.  Guests are encouraged to do this, as it is a site to behold.  The servers are pretty good at dodging wandering guests.

Our meal arrived quickly and we were graced with a meteor shower.  The Ice Cave changed colors from its more constant hue of blue.  We were smiling and enjoying the experience.  Much different than our first encounter at T-Rex Café in Minneapolis when the boy was small and he ended up on my lap, head in my chest, for most of the meal—though he remembers it fondly now.  The meteor shower happens about every 20-30 minutes and includes loud noises and roars from the dinosaurs. 

The boy had been talking about having dessert at T-Rex Café since our ADR day.  He wanted the Chocolate Extinction which is served with a dry ice volcano and is enough to share.  We had said yes, but when the time came to order dessert, he wasn’t hungry so we passed.  The memory or thought of it must have been enough.

There are enough varied items on the menu—burgers, steak, seafood, pizza, pasta, and appetizers to appease most guests.  Prices are aligned with other Landry restaurants and Downtown Disney restaurants—about $20 per person including drink and tax on average or more if adding on dessert or alcoholic beverages.

We were using the Disney Dining Plan, but paid out of pocket for our lunch at T-Rex Café as we had more reservations than restaurant credits and had planned to pay out of pocket for two table service meals.  The plan was that T-Rex Café would be one of our least expensive table service meals and we were right.  So, money wise, it was a good decision to pay out of pocket for this meal and get more for our money with the Dining Plan by using it at more expensive restaurants.

Another way to save money at T-Rex Café or any Landry Restaurant is to join the Landry Select Club.  Our server offered it to us during our meal.  Simply pay a one-time $25 enrollment fee and receive benefits including a $25 reward to use on your next visit to any Landry Restaurant, a $25 birthday reward, priority seating, $25 reward for every $250 you spend, exclusive offers, retail benefits, etc.  We passed, as we were not planning on returning to a Landry Restaurant anytime soon.  I played around on the Landry web-site to see if you could join on-line rather than at a restaurant and couldn’t find this option.

T-Rex Café includes a shop full of dinosaur and T-Rex Café themed merchandise.  Guests can also build their own stuffed dinosaur to take home.  There is also an area for kids to dig for dinosaur bones, though we didn’t use it.  There may be an additional charge for that experience.  You are welcome to browse the store even if you aren’t planning to eat at the restaurant.  Guests can experience the meteor shower from the store as well!

Dining at T-Rex Café is an experience, a unique experience.  If you haven’t tried it, go for it at least once!

Dining at T-Rex Cafe

Where can you eat a chocolate volcano for dessert? Where can you experience a meteor shower every 30 minutes? Where can you eat pizza next to a Wooly Mammoth or Allosaurus? Where can you dig for dinosaur bones, mine for gold, or break open rocks to find crystals?

Where else, but T-Rex Café! T-Rex Café is a part of the Landry Restaurant chain—Rainforest Café, The Chart House, The Crab House, Salt Grass, etc. Their home base is in Houston, and many of their restaurants are a part of touristy locations, such as the Kemah Boardwalk, Downtown Disney, etc. Speaking of Downtown Disney, there are only two T-Rex Cafés world wide--one in Kansas City and the other in Downtown Disney.

I know you are thinking, Kansas City. . . touristy destination? Yep. Touristy destination. You see, the T-Rex Café is located in The Legends, a shopping and dining destination. The Legends is right across the street from the Speedway, down the street from Great Wolf Lodge—the only one located in the mid-west (click here to read about our stay at Great Wolf Lodge), and down the highway from Schlitterbaun (you know, the water park). This is the first time Schlitterbaun has had a location outside their 3 locations in Texas. Are you getting the “touristy” part yet?

Anyway, we have been to T-Rex Café in Kansas City on three different occasions and have had the opportunity to sit in three different locations inside the restaurant.

Know that the restaurant is on two levels. Stairs and a well hidden elevator can take you to the second level. Bathrooms are located on the second level, just behind the “ice age” room.

Speaking of rooms, the restaurant has rooms. Well, they aren’t really walled off rooms per say, but more like themed areas of the restaurant and as you walk from area to area the décor or theme changes. There’s the Wooly Mammoth Ice Age Area, the prehistoric underwater area, large prehistoric dinosaur area, etc. The kitchen is on the main level and you get to walk by the volcanic flames!

One half on the main level is bar, kitchen, and dining. The other half of the main level is store and dinosaur dig. The dinosaur dig is extra, as are all amenities in the store. Note that if your child is below a certain age—I think 6 or younger, an adult is required to enter the dig site and the adult entry is an additional charge.

The menu is somewhat limited but has the usual selections of steak, fish, chicken, pasta, salad, and a kids menu with pizza, chicken, etc. Appetizers are available as well. Then there’s dessert! We shared a Chocolate Extinction the last time we were there. Yummy, fun, and less expensive that everyone ordering dessert.  You can check out the menu on-line at the T-Rex Cafe web-site.

You’re not really there for the food anyway. You’re there for the experience of dining with the dinosaurs and meteor shower. You’re there to say you’ve been there; that you have dined at T-Rex Café!

The store and dig site are fun to be in. There’s a portion of the store that is like “Build-a-Bear” workshop, but you make a dinosaur. There’s even a clothing collection to choose from for your new prehistoric friend. The boy has yet to get into this sort of thing, and we are kind of glad. I’m happy to pay the few dollars to get him into the dig site and he can play to his hearts content while I browse the shop. (You get to experience the meteor shower while in the shop, too.)

All in all, it is great fun! Reservations are highly recommended! I have the number to T-Rex Café programmed on my cell phone, so if we are heading that direction, I can call for a reservation. Without a reservation, the wait can be excruciating.

Take your camera, as photo ops are plentiful both inside and outside the restaurant. There is usually a photographer on hand to take your photo with the mascot Rex and you can purchase the photo.  Don't be afraid to roam the restaurant after you have been seated to take photos.  It's OK!

Dining at T-Rex Café can be a bit pricey, but discounts can be had. First, check to see if there are any T-Rex Café fliers in the display racks found in hotel entrances. You know the little tri-fold pamphlets that tell about various tourist locations. If you find a T-Rex Café one, there is usually a coupon included. Second, see if your hotel, if you are staying at a hotel, has a discount agreement with the restaurant. When we were staying at Great Wolf Lodge, we got a discount off our meal based on that agreement. Third, there is a discount club to join through Landry Restaurants. This is a good discount if you eat at Landry restaurants frequently. You can ask about joining the club while at T-Rex Café and take advantage of the discount--Landry Rewards. Fourth, ask about Diner’s Club or AAA discounts. You may be surprised. This husband used to be embarrassed when I would ask about discounts. Now, the larger the savings the broader his smile!

 
For another fun dining experience in Kansas City--check out Fritz's Railroad Restaurant--click here to read more!