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!
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