Has anyone actually had a good dining experience at RFC in DTD?

[Tink33]

How often is the outside second level terrace open? We ate there the last time and had a short wait for a table, great service and a nice lunch. We sipped tropical drinks (smoothies for the kids) while listening to steel drum music. I felt about a thousand miles away from a theme park.

 

[fidoprincess]

Go to RFC for breakfast and then do Goofy's for dinner. I love the dinner there. I don't care too much for the brunch but the food for dinner is good. They always have a lot of variety for both kids and adults.

There is always a carving station with roast beef and then lately they have had a few entrees on the left like crab stuffed fish, pork tenderloin, turkey and then on the right they had make your own burrito thing lots of people were enjoying. I usually don't like the roast beef because it is so rare but they slice it and then sear it on the grill for me so it is more well done and it has been delicious. I always get that and the fish and even some popcorn shrimp and feel like I had a good combo of surf and turf-lol. They have a really big nice salad bar, a whole center section for the kids with pizza, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, fried popcorn shrimp and more. They have some really good veggies and 3 kinds of potatoes-mashed, mini stuffed baked, fries. Then the desserts! A giant table of all kinds of desserts and an ice cream machine to make sundays.

My kids love it so much! The only caution is that for a table for 4, you will most likely be seated toward the back room of the restaurant. This drove me crazy as we did miss some characters. The nice tables right up front are for large parties. I finally just said that I wouldn't worry about what characters came and just enjoyed the dinner-lol, I enjoyed it so much I was way too stuffed!

My kids were scared at RFC but now that they are older (youngest is 6) they are fine with it but the thunderstorms and the gorillas made them cry! To this day, we always ask to be by the elephants, away from the gorillas-lol! Also, reservations are a must unless you want a 2 hour wait. I would not skip Goofys for RFC unless I did Plaza for breakfast.

 

[jencav5]

I booked our PS for Rainforest Cafe a few days ago. But the more people I've talked to the more I'm considering cancelling it. I've heard mostly bad things.. pricey, food so-so, terrible service. Has anyone actually had a *good* experience? Or am I better off just cancelling our PS and eating somewhere in DLR? (leaning towards Carnation Cafe in place of if we do)

We eat there fairly often and have never had a bad experience. I don't think it's any pricier than any other restaurant! They have a good variety of food, so you can usually find something you like. I wouldn't say the food is great, but it is not bad either. I actually prefer their breakfast, but you only get to sit downstairs at breakfast. It's still a rainforest, but no large animals. The kids love it and that's why we usually go. I think you will enjoy it. You should at least try it once if you've never been!

 

[lulubelle]

RFC is one of our family favorites, but than again we love fish tanks and are all adults

I agree it is a little overpriced, but the food is good and the portions are huge. We love the atmosphere and always have a great time there. I agree Breakfast is good, too.

 

[Brina78]

One idea is to buy the Safari card as it cuts your wait time and gives you a free appitizer. It's a one time fee of $15 and is good forever. You even get a $5 gift card on your birthday and anniversary date.

Hey, that sounds like something we should get since we sometimes think about ordering an appetizer. I should look into getting one of those. And $15 is not a bad price for it.

 

[DisnyMama]

We have been eatting at RFC for years with our 1st experience being the one at Animal Kingdom in WDW. We have always had wonderful service and using the Safari Club Membership gets us a free appetizer. As far as the prices go the pizzas are great and not your typical "chain" pizza but not weird gourmet where the kids will think it's icky and not eat it. There big and if you get a side salad two people can easily share one. I reccommend Pappagaillos Perfection (I think thats close to what its called). My other reccomendation are the wraps. They have a Turkey Caesar wrapped in a flour tortilla or the Barbeque Beef or Chicken wrap in the tortilla. They are all served with their homemade potato chips which are excellent. They charge extra if you want fries instead. The last I checked these items were all at about the $10 range give or take a buck or two ( I think the pizza might have been the buck or two more but the wraps I am pretty sure were under $10) It's the other menu items that are much more $$$ that can run between $12.99 and $20.00 average. But you absolutely have to order the VOLCANO!! It is a mound of icecream pilled in a mountain with brownie slices layered against the outside of the "volcano" with tons of hot fudge and caramel poured (not drizzeled) down over this thing to replicate lava then topped with whip cream and nuts and a silver party favor thing to look like a sparkler. It costs about $11.99 and they will bring plenty of spoons/forks and everyone justs dives in. It can feed 2 or in my opinion up to 6 people. The waiter or waitress carries out of the kitchen yelling "VOLCANO" the whole way to your table and all the other wait staff joins in repeating it. Go and have a good time. The food and ambiance are terrific.

 

[Brina78]

But you absolutely have to order the VOLCANO!! It is a mound of icecream pilled in a mountain with brownie slices layered against the outside of the "volcano" with tons of hot fudge and caramel poured (not drizzeled) down over this thing to replicate lava then topped with whip cream and nuts and a silver party favor thing to look like a sparkler.

Oh, yeah, did you know DTD is the only location that will do that? Other RFCs use real sparklers, but because Disney has a lot of rules and worry for fire safety, especially with a lot of young children in their restaurant, they use a silver party thing instead. My first RFC dining experience happened in Costa Mesa and I saw bunches of sparkling-firey desserts run by me. It's a real cool effect, but I can understand why Disney changed it.

 

[Mom2micayla]

Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone.

We decided to stick with our reservations to RFC and skip Goofy's. I'm looking forward to it (3 wks from tomorrow ) and hoping that the kids won't be scared.

We're not big desert eaters since DH is a diabetic so I think we'll skip the volcano. Sounds yummy though.