Rainforest Cafe and reservations

[mitsugirly]

I'm confused about the reservations. I made a reservation for the day we are going to be at AK, but it only had an available time for 3:15pm. I'm afraid we won't get to do everything we want if we keep this reservation because the park closes so early (5pm). I'm sure it takes quite some time for the dining experience and won't be finished in time to go back to do anything.

When I look for other days, it's showing me nothing. I also tried to look for reservations for the T-Rex Restaurant in Disney Springs and it shows nothing. I'm seeing some wording that mentions you must have a valid admission ticket to the park in order to go to any of the restaurants? So I'm assuming that I can only visit a restaurant if I'm going to be at that park that same day?

However, after I made my Rainforest reservation, when I received the email it states "Restriction / Requirement: Theme Park Admission is Not Required or Included. " So I'm completely confused.

Can anyone elaborate on this? Thanks in advance.

 

[Dug720]

Rainforest at AK has an entrance outside of the park.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I think you enter outside the Park Entrance at AK but it has option to enter/ exit restaurant inside AK? Maybe?
Good question, cause I made reservation on 12/30 because nothing else is available.

 

[mitsugirly]

Are you seeing that you have to have an admission to the park in order to go?

What about T-Rex at Disney Springs? It keeps telling me "We were unable to check for available tables at this time. A problem may have occurred while looking for availability. Please ensure if you have a valid resort reservation, it is linked to your My Disney Experience account and try again " ???

 

[mitsugirly]

Well I decided to give both Rainforest and T-Rex a call and they were able to make a reservation on the phone for the dates and times I was looking for. So weird their online booking system isn't working correctly.

 

[Dug720]

If you used Disney’s system, since T-Rex and Rainforest are third-party owned (and pretty much the same food, just named differently) not all of their available reservations are given to Disney.

 

[Moliphino]

I think you enter outside the Park Entrance at AK but it has option to enter/ exit restaurant inside AK? Maybe?
Good question, cause I made reservation on 12/30 because nothing else is available.

You need to exit the park to get to RFC at AK. There are two ways to get there, but you are outside the turnstiles no matter what.

 

[SetonHall23]

I have eaten at Rainforest Cafe twice with our young daughter who loves the animals. That being said, the food is very mediocre. You can get a better food experience and similarly great theme by eating in-park at Satu'li Canteen. I would not cut my park day short or inconvenience myself in any way for Rainforest, just not worth it.

 

[Stefne]

I think you enter outside the Park Entrance at AK but it has option to enter/ exit restaurant inside AK? Maybe?
Good question, cause I made reservation on 12/30 because nothing else is available.

We had to exit the park to get to our Rainforest Cafe reservation at AK a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure if this is the norm or if some of the entrances were currently closed.

 

[mitsugirly]

I have eaten at Rainforest Cafe twice with our young daughter who loves the animals. That being said, the food is very mediocre. You can get a better food experience and similarly great theme by eating in-park at Satu'li Canteen. I would not cut my park day short or inconvenience myself in any way for Rainforest, just not worth it.

We have eaten at Rainforest once in Canada and it was pretty good. My daughter just loves animals (she is a pre-teen, 12 years old) and I think she will just love this place (and the T-Rex Cafe). I mean they do have hamburgers and that's probably what we will end up getting. Hard to mess up a hamburger...unless it's not cooked right.

We did decide to cancel the one at AK and book at Disney Springs. I just didn't want to cut our day short at AK. With booking at DS, we can enjoy the day there as well doing activities and shopping.

I will check into Satu'li Canteen. Where is that located?

 

[Minnie1222]

Satu'li Canteen is near Avatar Flight of Passage's gift shop. It's a quick service cafeteria-style eatery.

Rainforest Cafe is located right outside of AK. It has its own entrance into the park, completed with its own security check point and magic band scan. You don't need a park pass to enter the restaurant, but you will need one to enter the park if the "private" entrance is still being used.

 

[Dug720]

Satu'li Canteen is near Avatar Flight of Passage's gift shop. It's a quick service cafeteria-style eatery.

I would never liken Satu’li to a cafeteria. It’s bowls and stuff that you order on the app or at the register. You do not go down a line getting plates of this and that.

But IMHO it is the best QS on property.

 

[Minnie1222]

I would never liken Satu’li to a cafeteria. It’s bowls and stuff that you order on the app or at the register. You do not go down a line getting plates of this and that.

But IMHO it is the best QS on property.

Correct! It is not cafeteria-style since you don't get to slide your tray and inquire about the different offerings behind the glass partition.
I'm just using the word Cafeteria as reference to any large dining hall where you have to carry your own tray and find your own table.

 

[Dug720]

Correct! It is not cafeteria-style since you don't get to slide your tray and inquire about the different offerings behind the glass partition.
I'm just using the word Cafeteria as reference to any large dining hall where you have to carry your own tray and find your own table.

Which is pretty much any QS on property - or any fast food restaurant in general. You get your food on a tray and find a table.

 

[mitsugirly]

We were able to eat at Rainforest and T-Rex (both at Disney Springs) and had a great time and the food was good. Anyone wanting this experience, I would highly recommend going to the one at DS instead of AK if you can't seem to get a reservation. It was easy getting reservations for any time we wanted at both RF and TRex at DS. The day we went to DS, we were already hungry by 5:30-6pm (our reservations were for 8:15pm) and walked right up and ask for a table then and there was a lot of tables available. We just cancelled our later reservation. T-Rex was a little different. We waited a little longer to go up and ask (and it was a Friday night) and they didn't have anything available so we had to wait until our actual reservation time (8:00pm) which wasn't a big deal...we had just ran out of things to do at DS after being there twice that week.

 

[Claudia1]

Get a Landry's card! With the card, you walk up and get the first available table at Rainforest and T-Rex. We had a 1pm ressie last week and with no availability to change it to an earlier time. We walked up at 11:30, told them we had a 1pm and gave them our Landry's card. We were seated immediately even tho they were busy. You pay $25 for the card but it comes loaded with a $25 credit. You also earn points for discounts but we only use it at WDW and rarely get to use them.

 

[mitsugirly]

Get a Landry's card! With the card, you walk up and get the first available table at Rainforest and T-Rex. We had a 1pm ressie last week and with no availability to change it to an earlier time. We walked up at 11:30, told them we had a 1pm and gave them our Landry's card. We were seated immediately even tho they were busy. You pay $25 for the card but it comes loaded with a $25 credit. You also earn points for discounts but we only use it at WDW and rarely get to use them.

Well that's cool. I wish I would have known that before going. Where do you get these cards?

 

[hereforthechurros]

Well that's cool. I wish I would have known that before going. Where do you get these cards?

You order the card online. Search Landry’s membership and it will have you create an account and charge you $25.