Day 7, Part 6 In Which We Eat 65 Billion Years Ago
It was nearing park closing time, so we really didn't get to explore every crevasse of Planet Watch like we wanted to. Ah well, that just leaves more exploration for next time. It was awesome finally visiting this attraction. Disney's "road less traveled" attractions are always something I walk away from thinking, "Why don't we do this more often?" My mom feels the same way. We can't wait to go back!
As we walked out of the building, it was coming down pretty hard outside. We were forced to rush past the adorable monkeys and over to the Wildlife Express Train Station.
On the way back to Africa, it started monsooning outside. When we got there, I expected bizarre sea monster looking things to float by me like in the movie Jumanji.
It was just that bad.
Everyone who had been on the train just hung out even though the park was closing.
I didn't really mind. If you have to be stuck somewhere, Animal Kingdom isn't a bad place for that to happen. I thought it was kinda cool actually. We were in the back of Africa, it was pouring and starting to get dark. No one was around except those of us who had been on the train and the CMs. It was creepy... in a good way!
The CMs were super nice and said we could all wait out the rain in the station even though the park was technically closed and we should have been, you know, leaving.
After about 20 minutes, it slowed down and we started to head out.
There was an odd calm about the place after the storm passed. It was quite nice. I wish we could have stayed.
I looove being here at night. It is so peaceful! I wish they'd do evening EMH more often. When we got to do that on our 2010 trip, it was so awesome to experience a near-empty, near-dark AK! This time, we had to head right out of the park, but I wish we could have explored more.
My favorite Christmas tree <3
We went back to Pop Century to change out of our wet clothing and then we were off to dinner!
I originally planned on us eating at Paradiso 37 that night, but for some reason, we didn't feel like doing that at the time. Often, despite my obsessive overplanning, we just end up doing whatever we feel like in the moment. So I called to cancel, and I don't know why really, but we settled on T-Rex.
Sidenote: I'm pretty bummed about the new policy of charging $10 for canceling some restaurant reservations on the same day. Sorry, but that's a rip off. I really want to stick to our schedule very well on our October trip though (since my friend Lee-Anne hasn't been to Disney since around '96, there is a LOT of ground to cover... and it will just be easier to accomplish if we stick to the plan), so it probably won't affect us. However, my mom and I like having the freedom to do whatever on our trips, and it's just annoying. Gah.
Anywho...back to that night leaving Animal Kingdom. I was interested in trying T-Rex just because I love Rainforest Cafe and I knew it was owned by the same company. Plus, there are dinosaurs inside. So.
When I suggested it to my mom, she was totally in. Instead of calling Disney Dining, I called T-Rex directly on the way to Downtown Disney to ask what the wait time for 2 people was and she said there was no wait at all. It's so funny, I've heard so many times how busy this place always is, but I swear, nothing is busy in early December at Disney except the Christmas events. It's just an amazing time to visit.
When we arrived, they asked if we'd like to sit at the bar. I had always wanted to sit in the Ice Age Room (it changes color, HELLOOO!!), but we
said yes to sitting at the bar because it looked awesome.
I mean, there was an octopus hanging over this bar. I don't know about
where you live, but we don't have octupusses ANYWHERE NEAR our bars here.
Especially giant ones.
View from our seats.
I was pretty impressed with the menu because of the MANY different choices. Everything sounded so delicious and there were a lot of things I wanted. I was dying for steak though, so I ended up getting the filet, as did my mom.
It was so epicly delicious that I was way into eating it before I manged to take a pic...
Triceratop Filet - Charbroiled center cut aged tenderloin filet, topped
with a stack of butter and served with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted
vegetables.
OMG THIS WAS SO FREAKING GOOD. My mom and I were devouring it. It ended up being one of those epic meals where you're SO hungry and tired and ready to eat and what you order just hits the spot so PERFECTLY.
The steak was juicy and tender and the spices on it were AMAZING. Seriously, the flavor on this steak was some of the best I've ever had, and I have had a
lot of good steaks. The mashed potatoes were absolutely delicious as well. And listen, I don't eat vegetables at Disney World but these were unbelievable! I LOVED them! They had the same seasonings as the steak and were cooked perfectly so that they had the right amount of crunch in them and I was in heaven. We both ate EVERYTHING off our plates.
T-Rex got 2 VERY enthusiastic thumbs up from us! It's such a fun and
different atmosphere and we absolutely loved our food. Try it!
Up next: More EMHing but with less sleeping in Disney.