JULY 2ND PART THREE: DINING WITH THE DINOS
As I’ve mentioned about 900 times already in this TR, we dined at T-Rex on our first night in the World. Not gonna lie, I was REALLY excited about this meal. Really, really excited. I mean, how often does one get the chance to dine with real, live dinosaurs?
What? They aren’t actual dinosaurs? Oh.
Well, either way, it was quite the experience.
First of all, T-Rex was swamped. There were a ton of people attempting to dine walk-up style and it left the outdoor waiting area in complete and total disarray. They have a special line with ropes and everything for walk-ups, but, of course, people didn’t bring their entire party into the line, instead leaving them to crowd around the entrance. I felt awful for the poor guy who was trying to process them all. Especially because I overheard two separate people say that they had over 10 people in their party. WHAT? If you’re dining with that many people, why wouldn’t you make reservations ahead of time? Plan ahead, people!
Lucky for me, all I had to do was elegantly glide (or rather shove my way through obnoxious crowds) up to the podium and give one of the hosts my name. It was pretty much the T-Rex Fastpass line. Of course, I made sure I was extra smiley when speaking with the hosts. I felt awful for them. Dealing with hot and hungry hordes of people is never fun.
I was handed a slip of paper with my name and our party size on it and sent over to the ‘People Who Were Smart Enough to Make Reservations’ line. There were a whopping three parties ahead of us in that line. Again, plan ahead, people…
We had to wait a few minutes for another host to come get us, so I took a couple pictures.
How awesome would it be if they gave us little mini pick axes instead of forks? That way, we could really play paleontologist. I would also very much like to be handed one of those cool 'I'm digging for dinosaur bones out in the hot sun and I need this to protect me' hats. I'm sure you know the ones I'm talking about...
While we were waiting, I found a new CM to feel sorry for: The poor girl with the microphone who has to say “Michael, party of five, your prehistoric family adventure is about to begin!” over and over and over. That would suck. “Jill, party of two, your prehistoric family adventure is about to begin!” “Louis, party of 25, your prehistoric family adventure is about to begin!” “Sam, party of…” I think you get the point.
After a total of five minutes of waiting (I timed it) someone came over to take us to our table. Even though you can request to be seated in a certain area of the restaurant upon check-in, I didn’t bother. I figured it would make the wait longer and all I really wanted to do was stuff myself with food. As it turned out, we were seated in a pretty awesome area of the restaurant. Technically, we were sitting in the Fern Forest, but, from our table, we could see into the ice cave and the underwater area perfectly.
Here are a bunch of pictures to help better illustrate that. Keep in mind that these were all taken from my seat at our table at various times throughout the meal.
Not too shabby.
Initially, it took a little while for our waitress to show up. When she finally came to our table, she was so sweet and apologized for the wait. We, of course, told her that it was no problem. The restaurant was completely full so it was totally understandable. Plus, there’s no hurry on vacation! It’s not like we were sitting there for 45 minutes without service. And I had plenty of cool dinos to distract me. I guess this is where I should mention that the entire time we were in there, I fought the urge to scream “INCOMING!” at the other patrons. Oh, Dinosaur…
While Mom and Dad were chowing down on the side salads they ordered as part of their meal, we experienced our first meteor shower! I don’t want to spoil it for any of you future T-Rex diners, so I won’t go into great detail, but it was very cool. Very, very cool.
Oh, and here’s a picture of the side salad. It was ginormous and not very side-ish at all.
Shortly after the meteor shower, it was time for food!
Dad got the Cretaceous Chicken Fried Steak. It was HUGE!
Mom got the Age of Salmon. The salmon was glazed with an orange basil reduction. It was served with Raptor Rice. I love that they give literally everything a fun dino name.
I ordered, very excitedly I must add, the Pteradactyl Salad. As I ordered it, I started laughing because it reminded me of the Power Rangers. Whenever it was time to fight evil, one of them would yell “It’s morphin’ time!” and then, one by one, they’d all call out the prehistoric animal they were associated with before morphing into their power ranger outfit. They’d be, like, “Saber-Tooth Tiger!” “Mastodon!” etc. Kimberly, the Pink Ranger was Pteradactyl. Whenever we played Power Rangers as kids, I demanded to be Kimberly, so let’s just say I had plenty of practice ordering that salad.
Again, it was huge! The portions at T-Rex are too big for even a T-Rex itself to finish.
Overall, the food was yummy. Was it mind-blowingly amazing? No. Not at all. It was typical chain restaurant fare. But I still think dining at T-Rex is worth it for the atmosphere (especially if you have a little paleontologist in your family…though expect to shell out some serious dough in the gift shop). It is a
very cool place. And dining in cool places is what Disney is all about.
On our way out, I stopped to take a few pictures of the Woolly Mammoths. They’re so cute! Too bad they’re not still around today. Stupid extinction. (Stupid Judy. Stupid Energy.)
Because we were at Disney, we definitely had to check out the gift shop. There was a lot of cool stuff in there, mainly for kids though. Bummer. I debated doing the Build a Dino thing because there was an adorable little Woolly Mammoth, but the line was long and I really didn't feel like waiting. Plus, I've reached the point in my life where I've got to start throwing away stuffed animals, not accumulating more.
Here are a few shots I took in/around the gift shop.
In case you've ever wondered what the roof of a dino's mouth looked like...
After dinner, it was time to head back to the Christmas store to pick up our ornaments. So, even though our car was parked right by T-Rex, we headed deep into the bowels of the Marketplace. While Mom picked up the ornaments, Dad and I headed over to Goofy's Candy Co. so I could FINALLY do something I've always wanted to do: Make my own Mickey Mouse Rice Crispy Treat!
For those of you who don't know, I have an addiction to Mickey Mouse Rice Crispy Treats. They are delicious and, in my deluded mind, nutritious. Plus, they come on a stick and everyone knows that the best foods come on sticks. Duh.
So, I got in line, filled out an order sheet, and watched magic happen. I planned on taking a few pictures of MY MMRCT, but as I watched the CM dip it in white chocolate, roll it in peanut butter chips, and drizzle it with chocolate, the only muscle in my body that moved was my tongue.
Here's a shot of another CM making someone else's. Let's just pretend that it's mine.
While waiting for it to firm up, I struck up a conversation with *my* CM who, ironically, was also from Ohio! Meeting CMs from Ohio became a running theme of this trip. There were so many of them. That's obviously because all of the cool people are from Ohio.
Anyway, here's the final product (taken after I unwrapped it later that night once we were back at the hotel).
It was heaven. And only $4.95 ($5-something with tax). That's not a bad price to pay for heaven.
We met back up with Mom outside and headed for the car. Instead of dealing with the hassle of walking through throngs of people, we decided we'd just walk along the parking lot. I was dragging a bit behind Mom and Dad, trying my best to absorb all of the Disney magic I could. It felt so good just to be able to breathe in some Disney again. At one point, a man stopped me to ask for directions. I don't remember where he wanted to go, but I pointed him in the right direction and smiled. I find it hilarious that people always ask me for directions. Everywhere I go, someone always flags me down. Each quarter, on the first day of classes, I get stopped a gazillion times by lost Freshman. Half the time I don't know where I'm directing them (Ohio State is
big, man) but I ALWAYS get asked. Always. So, of course, I'd get stopped at Disney. Of course.
We made it to the car, tired after a long day of driving and still full from dinner, and headed out. We were worried that the traffic would be absolutely horrible, but, surprisingly, it wasn't bad at all. We were back at the hotel in no time. I changed into my PJs and settled in to sleep. Except I couldn't sleep. As I tweeted:
I'm tired. I've been up since 5:30 AM. I should be asleep. And yet I want nothing more than to lie here and watch Stacy. Oh, Disney... 10:23 PM Jul 2nd via txt
Yeah, Disney does that to ya. So I stayed up, ate some of my MMRCT, and watched Stacey. I also watched
Whose Line is it Anyway? reruns on ABC Family. That became another running theme of the trip. I'm pretty sure I watched it every night.
Eventually I fell asleep and dreamt about castles, pixie dust, and a big, clothes-wearing mouse.
UP NEXT: Checking in at Coronado Springs
ETA: HAPPY CHRISTMAS IN JULY!!!
I had a similar thing happen to me, but fortunately it was right after I had gotten back from a trip.
I've stayed there once before, and I LOVE it, so I can't wait to go back. Only 15 hours until I go to the airport!!!! 
So I will not be shunned by my fellow man by being a scummy frump. 
It ususally works too! I just love all of the food. 
I'm going to have to check out those shoes you were talking about!
I reallyyy hope you get to go! 
