There is one restaurant at Walt Disney World that guests constantly scoff at and just walk right by, rather than taking the time to consider incorporating it into their day. One of the biggest reasons this restaurant gets overlooked is for its over-the-top, campy theming.
While this restaurant might not be offering high-end cuisine, it’s a blast straight from the ’90s, and it’s time everyone stopped being snobs about this fun restaurant. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including new Disney World experiences for kids and a viral Disney World snack that you’ve got to put on your list.
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Rainforest Café Offers a Fun Experience
Rainforest Café is a themed dining experience in Walt Disney World with one location at Disney Springs and one outside the entrance of Animal Kingdom. Rainforest Café Disney World is an over-the-top themed dining experience that transports guests to a jungle with animal animatronics, jungle storms, fish tanks, and large light-up drinks.
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Rainforest Café is often scoffed at by regulars for its lower-end food quality in comparison to much more elegant food options in Disney Springs and Animal Kingdom. You likely won’t hear this recommended as a top restaurant you must do from regulars on your Disney World trip. However, this in-your-face theming is the big reason you have to do it, especially if you have kids.
The theme of Rainforest Café is that of a tropical rainforest with fake plants, fog machines, waterfalls, fish tanks, and animatronic rainforest animals. Each Rainforest Café has a bar, restaurant, and a large merchandise store.
The theme of Rainforest Café is definitely over the top, and as you dine, you might even experience a rainforest thunderstorm! The lights will dim, and you will see flashes of light to simulate lightning along with the sound of thunder. Sorry, no authentic rainfalls though. But you are vacationing in Florida, so that will become a part of your vacation experience regardless.
The theme carries into the store itself, where you can continue to find more of these life-size animals. And of course, an abundance of low-quality products you would come to expect at any highly themed restaurant.
So why are so many people haters of Rainforest Café? Most of the critiques you hear about this restaurant focus on the quality of the food. The menu at these locations is pretty standard American-style, nothing too flashy or fancy. This is not the place to enjoy high-end cuisine. Foodies tend to detest Rainforest Café based on the menu alone. I get it, but that’s not entirely the point of the restaurant, is it?
Bring “Camp” Back to Disney
I think it’s helpful here to define “camp,” which Wikipedia calls “an aesthetic sensibility that celebrates the exaggerated, the theatrical, and the ironically bad taste.” Camp often plays on extravagance, where something is appealing precisely because it is so over-the-top. Disney has had a habit recently of renovating their restaurants and hotels to look like corporate, beige-washed structures, and I’m one Disney adult who will always push for the camp over that style any day.
Aside from myself, who makes up the majority of fans of Rainforest Café? That would mostly be kids, families, and those nostalgic about the big ’90s themes. Kids love large themes, like those you’ll find at the Disney value resorts, and so they will always gravitate towards Rainforest Café.
Are you telling me you’re going to walk your kids past a restaurant with a giant volcano outside and tell them you can’t go inside?
My son’s first introduction to the Rainforest Café was on his first Disneyland trip at age seven. This was when Rainforest Café was still a part of Downtown Disney before its removal in 2018, and we had dinner there on our arrival day. There was no better way to start my son’s first Disneyland vacation than with an over-the-top dining experience at the Rainforest Café. And that memory sure did stick!
Sadly, Disneyland lost its Rainforest Café in 2018. Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort is a great example of an area of Disney that has fallen victim to the loss of camp in favor of beige-washed architecture.
Now at 16 years old, my son still demands we eat at Rainforest Café on every Walt Disney World trip. He also has some strong words for Disneyland about the removal of Rainforest Café from Downtown Disney.
And I am always willing to indulge his request. I love the whimsy of dining underneath a giant mushroom. If you’re planning a kid’s first trip to Disney, you will blow their minds by taking them to a restaurant filled with rainforest creatures, giant plants, and archways filled with real fish.
Food at Rainforest Café Is Really Not That Bad
I also think the grief that I hear about the food at Rainforest Café is a bit undeserved. The menu at Rainforest Café is not too different from eating at a simple American chain restaurant like Applebee’s or Chili’s.
I think we’ve determined that the Rainforest Café is not for the foodies in your group, but the menu is average enough to keep most guests happy.
The price is pretty on par with most Walt Disney World table service dining and often far less than the restaurants that most foodies will covet. Depending on your kid, you might be looking at paying $25 for them to enjoy three bites of a French fry anyway, so why not opt for a restaurant with a theme that will keep them entertained?
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Cheers to Rainforest Café, I hope my defense of this rainforest-themed restaurant helps enable your decision to book a spot at the volcano on your next Walt Disney World trip. If we don’t support the campy restaurants of the ’90s, they will disappear forever.
You can read more about why we eat at Rainforest Cafe every trip here.
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