Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando is located at 1800 E. Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830. The telephone number is 407-827-8500; reservations are recommended as this restaurant is extremely popular with Disney tourists.
The forty minute wait to get into Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando could be an evil plot to force diners to browse the enticing gift shop, but there are enough diners-to-be browsing there to lend credibiilty to the notion that the wait is authentic. In any case, the wait is not painful to those who enjoy shopping. It may, however, be painful to their wallets, especially if children are on hand.
Like the restaurant itself, the gift shop at Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando is rainforest themed. Books, stuffed animals, walking sticks, rain sticks, trinkets… there’s not only enough to keep an adult occupied in the Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando gift shop, the selections are so enticing to kids that they will be begging to stay there when you finally hear your name broadcast over the PA system, notifying you that your table is ready.
Don’t miss the gigantic tropical fish tank upon entering Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando. It sets the tone for what is to come and contains the only living fauna you will find in this restaurant.
The dining experience at Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando is worth the waiting. Not the dining per se, but the experience. Mayan ruins amid a jungle replete with a waterfall, volcano, and animatronic wildlife set the scene for rainforest drama. But that is not all the folks at Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando have in store for unsuspecting diners. No, periodically those diners experience a not quite bona fide but nevertheless believable tropical storm with simulated lightning. Subtle touches emerge throughout the dining experience- the jungle cat whose eyes suddenly rove the dining room in search of his own dinner (maybe you!) or a loud squawk erupting from the colorful parrot. Then there is are the not-so-subtle touches like the trumpeting elephant and the chest-beating gorilla. Eating at Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando is especially entertaining for children, but it’s a pleasant experience for adults as well.
The varied menu includes theme foods like Planet Earth Pasta, Mogambo Shrimp, Passport to Paradise pizza, Rainforest Burgers, Jungle Steak and Shrimp, and an eclectic assortment of other seafood, meat, and pasta dishes as well as salads and sandwiches. Many of the offerings at Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando derive their tropical flavor from such ingredients as pineapple, coconut, mango and macadamia nuts. Child friendly foods include favorites like dino nuggets and grilled cheese sandwiches.
Tropical drinks are featured at Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando: Margarilla, Raspberry Rainfall, Rainbow Colada, Panama Punch among them. Beverages served in 21 oz. souvenir glasses include the Green Python, Mongoose Mai Tai, and Cheetah Rita. Beer and wine is also available.
The finale to any meal at Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando must be the family sized Sparkling Volcano Dessert- a volcano shaped brownie sundae dripping with chocolate lava and aflame with its own sparkler.
Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando’s menu can be viewed online here.
The prices are a bit more than the average in the area perhaps. Sandwiches cost about $11 and full entrees range from $20-40 per person, but diners at Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando are paying for atmosphere, not merely the food. And the electric bill for that place might be whopping.
The dress code at this family-oriented restaurant catering to Disney tourists is casual, with tropical attire welcomed but not required. There is parking available outside the restaurant. Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando is open Sunday to Thursday from 10:30 a.m. until 11 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. until midnight. American Express, MasterCard/Eurocard, Visa, and cash are accepted at Rainforest Café Downtown Disney Orlando.
