The Rainforest Café is located right outside the entrance to the Animal Kingdom. You do not need park admission to go to the Café. The theme for the Rainforest Café begins before you even enter the restaurant. There are lush gardens, waterfalls, animal statues, (some of which even spew water into the fountains) and musical ambiance. The fountain/waterfall entrance is grandiose.
If you have ever been to a Rainforest Café, then you know what is in store as they are all very similar inside. As you enter the building you are greeted by two pillar aquariums full of tropical fish. You are surrounded by a huge gift shop. The host/hostess is situated on a pedestal slightly above the crowd. You check in with them. After our check in fiasco in California, we were slightly nervous about eating at the Rainforest Café at Animal Kingdom. At CA’s rainforest café, they had lost our reservations and we ended up sitting there for two hours before being seated. As we approached the podium at Animal Kingdom’s Rainforest Café we were told that we had no reservations! Needless to say we were livid! They told us they would get us in as soon as possible but it would be close to an hour. We would have stormed out had it not been for the fact that we were meeting Mom and Dad there. A few minutes later we got a call from Dad who was sitting at a different entrance waiting for us. We met up with him to find out he had already checked us in! That was why they didn’t have our reservations. Shheeww (wipe forehead with back of hand)!! Once we were all together we had to check in to let them know the entire party was there. We were seated immediately.
If you have never been to a Rainforest Café, you are in for a theme treat! This restaurant is decorated with such vivid displays you will forget you aren’t actually in a rainforest (add that to the Animal Kingdom décor and you’ll really be lost-but that’s another review)! We were seated at a table “under the stars”. The mural above us had a few constellations out of fiber optic lights. Every few seconds a shooting star would pass by. We were right near the swinging monkeys in the surrounding trees. We had glimpses of the noisy gorilla and the giant aquariums. The waterfall was behind us, far enough away to be a little quieter, but close enough for us to enjoy. We were entertained with the sounds of the jungle for our entire meal. We even weathered three storms while we were there (you don’t get wet, it’s just thunder, lighting and wild animals).
The menu is rather large at Rainforest Café. The options are endless: burgers, chicken, pasta, seafood. The kids have the usual mac-n-cheese, pizza, pasta, burgers. The drinks are endless including soda, non-alcoholic and alcoholic specialty drinks, coffee, and tea. We each got a souvenir flashing Rainforest Café mug to replenish our broken set. The food was fantastic. We ended our meal with a Volcano dessert. This dessert is huge and fed all six of us with some left over! As the servers bring them to the table they yell V.O.L.C.A.N.O all the way to your table. It’s a fun way to get your dessert.
Our experience with Rainforest Café in the past was surpassed with this incredibly enjoyable experience at Animal Kingdom. I can now highly recommend Rainforest Café at Animal Kingdom to anyone who is seeking a fun, enjoyable evening in the jungle.
This review was contributed by Mynde, aka Esmerelda on the DisneyMouseLinks.com forums. Thanks Mynde!