T-Rex, Disney Springs Location or AK Location, What the Difference?

[sbdis]

Starting to decided on restaurants for July 2019 trip. It will be niece's first trip so I'm looking at some kid-themed restaurants and hopefully adult enjoyable. I've never been to either location but after reading, it sounds like the DS restaurant is usually really busy. What is the AK restaurant like? Is it as large as DS location, is it crowded, etc. TIA

 

[sachilles]

Starting to decided on restaurants for July 2019 trip. It will be niece's first trip so I'm looking at some kid-themed restaurants and hopefully adult enjoyable. I've never been to either location but after reading, it sounds like the DS restaurant is usually really busy. What is the AK restaurant like? Is it as large as DS location, is it crowded, etc. TIA

I'm fairly sure T-rex is only at disney springs.
Rain forest cafe, which is operated by the same company has locations at both the springs and animal kingdom.

 

[sbdis]

Oh, Okay, thanks for the clarification. Can anyone tell me how T-Rex and Rain Forest Café compare?

 

[Ben E N]

T Rex is a bit more unique because it is dinosaurs, but otherwise they are pretty similar. I would say that T Rex is more popular due to its novelty.

 

[siren0119]

Rainforest Cafe = rainforest animals and sounds, animal animatronics.
T-Rex - large dinosaurs (some animatronic some just statues) and a prehistoric theme. There's a "meteor shower" on the ceiling every 15 minutes

Both can be loud, but lots of fun. I know they're the same chain but I actually prefer the food at T-rex (my husband had an amazing burger there the last time we went). And my two boys went NUTS for the theming.

 

[sbdis]

Thanks for replies, they both seem like good options!

 

[DazzleT]

Depending on where you live, there might be a rain forest cafe near you. For me, I don’t like doing restaurants I can do locally while on vacation to I would go t-Rex cafe.

 

[Ben E N]

Depending on where you live, there might be a rain forest cafe near you. For me, I don’t like doing restaurants I can do locally while on vacation to I would go t-Rex cafe.

It is worth noting, however, that the Disney ones are a bit of a step up. They stole all the fish from ours to put them in the one at Disney Springs, for example.

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

If your niece is over 7 or 8, and she doesn’t have noise sensitivity issues, either is okay. However, any type of sensory processing concerns, I would be wary. The food at both is very similar - expensive and okay (think TGI Friday’s). If you do choose to go, consider looking at getting the Landry card (Landry is the overall owner). There’s a buy-in cost but it gets you preferred seating without reservations, $25 coupon on your birthday, and you get points for dollars spent that convert into $25, $50, etc., off.

 

[hammie59]

We prefer TREX and always request the ice cave. We have a RFC where we live, so I guess that plays into it. RFC is fine, but we like the food at TREX better, however it is very loud.

 

[sbdis]

Great information, we don't have anything like this near where I live (45 min. from Pittsburgh) or at least I never heard of it. The Landry card would be great but it wouldn't be a good investment since there are none of these restaurants where I live.

 

[DazzleT]

Great information, we don't have anything like this near where I live (45 min. from Pittsburgh) or at least I never heard of it. The Landry card would be great but it wouldn't be a good investment since there are none of these restaurants where I live.

The Landry’s card costs $25 and then you immediately get a $25 discount on first purchase. If you aren’t on the dining plan, as longer as you go, you break even. If on dining plan, it probably isn’t worth it. You do get the whole preferred seating thing and the manager stops by and makes sure you are happy. Honestly, I did feel like I got better service with the card but that could be perception. Landry’s restaurants also include Joe’s Crab Shack, claimjumpers, bubba gumps, and a bunch of steak houses so there might be something local to you.

 

[CynBeth]

We usually eat lunch at Rainforest Cafe on our AK day around 11 or 11:30 and it is not too crowded.

 

[Wild4Walt]

I haven't eaten at T-Rex but I have dined at both RainForest Cafe locations. The AK location is very large and the larger of the 2. The DS location is about the size of a typical RainForest Cafe restaurant you would find locally.

The DS location always seems busy when we go there and there is always people outside waiting.

We did breakfast at AK before we went into the park on our AK day and it was really good. Food was fresh, the service was good and it was nice to be so close to the park right after breakfast.

 

[Best Aunt]

Long time ago, but Rainforest Cafe had a thunderstorm every 15 minutes or so. My niece was terrified of thunderstorms. It was not a good restaurant choice on my part.

 

[luvmychaos]

I think it really depends where you will be at the day you are planning on dining. If you are going to be at AK, Rainforest is the logical choice; although, I would choose Tusker House for the food and characters and Yak & Yeti for the food. If you’ll be at DS, then I’d vote T Rex. It’s a must every trip for us, it’s our traditional “Welcome To Disney” dinner - gets us in the mindset of vacation without needing to go to the parks. The Landry’s card is totally worth it(and it works at Yak&Yeti) because when the PP mentioned preferred seating it means like a 5 min wait max. We’ve gone with ADR’s and still usually have 20-30 min waits at T Rex but with the Landry’s you can legit walk right up and be escorted inside. This is awesome on a 1)crowded nights, which most are since it’s Disney and 2)awesome in Animal Kingdom when everyone is hangry and you need to be seated in air conditioning STAT! Have fun planning!

 

[acarsme123]

We have been to both T-rex and Rainforest at Disney Springs, and feel that the food is better at T-rex. They have solid burgers. The food at Rainforest the one time we went was just downright bad.

It's amazing that restaurants all ran by Landry's can have greatly different food quality. Yak and Yeti at Animal Kingdom was fantastic. T-rex is decent. And Rainforest is just bad.

We always hit T-rex before heading home.