Rainforest

The rain Forest Cafe is a jungle themed restaurant that leaves the impression you are dining in the middle of a rainforest. Throughout the restaurant are animatronic animals (monkeys, elephants, etc) who wake up, take some action, and then turn back to silence. Then once every so often, the entire rainforest wakes up with a storm of activity.

There are two Rainforest Cafe at Disney World: Downtown Disney and Animal Kingdom. The Animal Kingdom cafe has been open since the park opened. Back in those days we could see the water falls towering to the side of the entrance. 

Today, the restaurant is hidden behind an overgrowth of trees to the left of the park's entrance gates. You don't need to have an Animal Kingdom park pass to dine - there are two entrances, one from inside the park and one just after the security check point before the park entrance.

We arrived at park closure with no reservations and with a large party of nine. We were prepared to wait longer than an hour to get a seat. Instead, we got right in with almost no wait!

The restaurant cost is within expectations for a table service restaurant at Disney.

I had the Chicken Parmasean, which was an interesting and odd twist on the classic. The chicken breading had Parmasean in it, and small pieces of cheese melted over it. It was served with linguini, and the sauce wasn't to my liking, but I managed to eat my fill.

The Rain Forest Cafe at Animal Kingdom can be a nice break from the traditional Disney fare. While we were lucky and able to walk-up and get seated, I do recommend calling for reservations.