Rain Forest/T-Rex

[MomLC]

I am a Landry Restaurant member. Landry's claims that you can just walk up to any of their restaurants without a reservation, show them your membership card & you will be seated as soon as possible. My family & I will be leaving for WDW in a few weeks & we would love to eat at T-Rex but wondering how true this is?

 

[Mary976]

I will say that I haven't found Rainforest/TRex to require the same type of planning as restaurants in inside the parks. We are not Landry's members, but have not had a problem getting a table as a walk up at either DTD restaurant. Sometimes there's a wait, but it sounds like the card will help with that.

Mary

 

[Kay1]

Thanks for asking this question. I would love to know the answer and I'd also like to know how to become a Landry member.

 

[bbagnall]

I joined the Safari Club to get the extra discounts on the meal and I remember the paperwork saying something about mimimal wait time. I feel pretty comfortable in saying that if you were to walk up to any other T-Rex/Rainforest Cafe except Disney you would get seated pretty quickly.

With Disney I don't know....On one hand I know that they only give half of their reservations to Disney Dining and keep the rest for call ins or walk ups so maybe you will be able to be seated pretty quickly. On the other hand it is Disney and depending upon the time of year and time you go it is ridiculously busy.

I am a planner who doesn't like to leave things to chance and I would call up T-Rex and make the reservation. If you don't want to do that go ahead and do a walk up and see what happens, have a backup just in case.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

 

[mickeys friend]

I have a membership card and used it last year.We did have ressie's and when we got there the line was unreal,so I went up to the people taking names and showed them my card and told them when my ressie was for and they did get us in sooner ( still a wait,but not nearly as long ). Then inside I showed it to our server and she told us how we could use it.I had forgotten we had the card and it had expired and I called them ( I still had the old card) and gave them my number and I paid $5.00 to renew it.For us it was worth it because we went in Aug. and the heat and lines were really bad.We were not the only ones who were using the memebership cards that day.I saw other familys.Also,I didn't know anything about being able to use the card there till I saw it here on this borad.Have a great trip.

 

[mickeygirl14]

I didn't remember the "minimal wait time" as a perk - we are members too. Definitely will check that out. I can say that my DH and I were at T-Rex in late Feb and the lines were UNBELIEVABLE. I can't even remember what they were telling people the wait times were. Thankfully, we had a ressie and they seated us pretty quickly (much to the dismay of quite a few people around us who had apparently been waiting a long time). If you're going at a busier time, I would make a reservation. And call them directly rather than doing it through WDW DINE. They only release a small number of tables to Disney. So WDW DINE may show no availability, but the restaurant has plenty of tables available. One of our favorites, BTW!

 

[bumbershoot]

The Safari Club has worked really well for us. Used it at T-Rex and RFC at Disneyland for seating and free appetizer or reduced meal cost.

"Priority Seating ...
For parties of six or less, seven days a week. Priority seating (based upon availability) on a walk-in basis ensures you quick attention and the earliest available table."

"10% Off Entrées!
For you and up to three of your guests, or a free Chef's Appetizer of the Day with the purchase of an adult entrée at participating Landry's Restaurants nationwide**."

I love that one at RFC, so hubby can get an entree and I can get their pita quesadillas (without chicken) b/c I looooove them.

But at T-Rex they had this whole list of things, and we got a reduced cost on some appetizer combo thing.


I'm sure if it's drastically busy you're either going to still have a long wait even with the priority seating, or they might curtail it, but I'd still try!

Also, you can call RFC or T-Rex directly to get reservations, if you can't get anything through WDW's system, if you want to get an ADR.

 

[ClaudeGobet]

yes, it works. we put it to the test last year on a lunch time walk up. my wife no sooner walked outside with the pager and it was buzzing (unlike all the other people standing outside with pager's still in hand). it happened so fast that she hadn't yet put the card away (it was sitting on the table with the rest of her stuff), the server noticed it while taking our drink order and asked what kind of free appetizer we'd like, nice. i'd forgotten all about that deal. yes, don't forget the card.

 

[Lynne M]

I'm going to move this over to the Restaurants board.

 

[a1tinkfans]

the reservations for both of these are not the same craziness as the disney restaurants....But can also be busier at high season times and exact dinner hours...But you can call them direct and make your own reservation and they are quite accommodating, so not sure what you had to "do" to join,
there are also discount coupons you can get online....I got them last year and had no issue using them....I wanna say it was restaurant dot com or something...Someone actually posted on the dis and we got it and worked great.

 

[Disneyliscious]

We made ADR's in 2009. In fact, the online system glitched and we ended up with 17 ADR's for a party of 4 on the same day (I only discovered it when I called a CM about another reservation and she found them all in the system). It was all fixed several weeks before our trip. The restaurant was nearly empty when we went. Im guessing 10 tables were filled.

People don't have to buy a park ticket to get into it so its not as crazy as some of the ones in the parks. I think you'll be just fine.

 

[bumbershoot]

...so not sure what you had to "do" to join,
...

To join Safari Club you pay something like $15, once, and as long as you go there around once a year* it stays active. You get a gift certifcate in the mail around two months after you join, you are supposed to get certificates for your birthday (I've only gotten one and I joined in '07 so...), you get either a free appetizer with entree OR a percentage off of your meal, AND you flash your card to the people at the elephant (or whatever your RFC/T-Rex has) and, unless it's absolutely slammed-busy and they decide to halt priority seating during that time, you are put on the list **as though you have a reservation** even though you don't.


Sometimes the public coupons are better, other times the card is better, once you're inside the restaurant. But flashing that card outside *can* be pretty fabulous! (last time at Disneyland in March it shaved off half the time that other walk-ups were waiting, so we waited 25 instead of the 50 minutes they were quoting others)


*some have better luck with this than others. as I mentioned I don't seem to get the birthday certificates, but I went at least two years between uses, and wasn't charged any sort of renewal.

 

[disneymomoftwins]

I was trying to join the Safari Club and could never find where to join. I clicked on "update your Safari club profile" and I read this "To Join, you MUST visit your nearest Rainforest Cafe". Is there any other way to join besides at the restaurant itself?

 

[Traveliz]

I joined the Safari Club YEARS ago - when Disney only had the one Rainforest Cafe and it was only 5.00 to join. It is a wonderful little Club! You have to join at a restaurant.

I just take out my card and as I reach the podium say that I have a party of whatever and I have a Safari card and show it. They then direct me to the line that is seating now so the wait time is very short. My wait is whatever wait there is to reach the podium and then however many parties have been called up to be seated.

I have never ever gotten reservations - we just use the card.

You get a free appetizer or 10% of of your meal with the card and they send coupons through email out regularly. I always get one my Birthday month that is pretty good and it is usually good for a couple of months.

Liz

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I will say that I haven't found Rainforest/TRex to require the same type of planning as restaurants in inside the parks. We are not Landry's members, but have not had a problem getting a table as a walk up at either DTD restaurant. Sometimes there's a wait, but it sounds like the card will help with that.

Mary

We also don't have this Landry's membership card, however in the past when we use to eat at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney Marketplace we would go between 4:00 PM - 4:30 PM and didn't need wait at all for our name to be called. Right away after saying how many people were in our party they told us to line up and we would be seated within a few minutes.

 

[LaurieN]

I was trying to join the Safari Club and could never find where to join. I clicked on "update your Safari club profile" and I read this "To Join, you MUST visit your nearest Rainforest Cafe". Is there any other way to join besides at the restaurant itself?

I did the same thing. I belive that is the only way to join, for me there is a Rainforest Cafe here in NJ but it is 2 hours away in Atlantic City. I am going to have my sister stop there on her next visit there (she is a gambler, I am not).
Laurie

 

[bumbershoot]

Gotta join at a restaurant. As far as I know the priority seating kicks in as soon as you buy it (so go into the giftshop to get the membership then go out and show the temp card/receipt), and the discount did when we bought it.

 

[happygirlagain]

is there a difference between the safari club card and the landry select card???

 

[ClaudeGobet]

is there a difference between the safari club card and the landry select card???

the landry card cover's all their restaurants. you can go to the landry website for a complete list and locations. the safari card is supposedly rainforest cafe specific, but we know people who did use it for the same benefits at t-rex, it was accepted there last year. as for this year, i'd call and ask them if they are still allowing it's use (for t-rex).