Monday, October 13th - Free Food at the Rainforest Cafe ... Why Else Would We Eat Here???
Even though we knew it was a decision that would qualify as a special kind of stupid - you know, like blow-drying your hair in the shower or placing a cup of scalding hot coffee between your legs while driving - we made an 8:30AM reservation for breakfast at the Animal Kingdom Rainforest Cafe knowing full well that Monday morning was EMH at the park and that it would likely be packed to the gills.
But hey, we're nothing if not adventurous, especially with a $25 gift card burning a hole in our vacation wallet.
Upon arriving at our resort bus stop we were delighted to find a CM there with a walkie-talkie; he asked us where we were headed, radioed the request in to the transportation powers-that-be, and within five minutes our chariot had arrived. And no one else in the entire resort apparently wanted to go to the Animal Kingdom because we had the bus to ourselves. Ahhh, what a luxurious waste of gasoline and space!
We've always dreamed of our own private bus...
If you've ever wondered where the entrance to the Rainforest Cafe is, the restaurant actually has two - one outside of the park near the baggage check area and another entrance that dumps out into the Animal Kingdom itself. We chose the front entrance outside the theme park so as not to deal with security or any crowds that were waiting for the official 9AM park opening.
Enter at your own peril...
The Rainforest Cafe is a ...
you guessed it ... tropical rainforest themed restaurant minus the six-foot bugs, incurable diseases, and social unrest that you might expect to find in a real rainforest. The theming is quite detailed and engaging ... fake trees and vines form an overhead canopy through which birds and butterflies and monkeys and flowers are scattered. There are large aquariums with real fish marking the area between the restaurant and the retail village where young children will find many delights to further part you from your hard-earned cash. And the bar is actually an aquarium, too, which we thought was very cool indeed.
We were seated near the front of the restaurant where an elephant we referred to as Stampy peered threateningly over our shoulders. I can totally understand why families with children enjoy dining here, but after the first five thunderstorms / eruptions with squawking birds, screeching monkeys, and stampeding elephants (get it ... Stampy!), Jay and I couldn't wait to get the hell out of there.
Front dining room...
The bar ... pretty cool, huh?
Stampy!!!
Our waiter was a little strange ... when he first showed up at the table he spoke English to me and then turned to Jason and began speaking Spanish. I gave Jay one of those looks that plainly said, "Would this be a good time for you to tell me about the double life you've been leading?"
He returned that look with one of his own, "I haven't got a clue as to what's going on here ... I've been mistaken for a Russian and an Arab, but this is a first."
When Jason failed to respond, our waiter switched back to English and apologized ... he thought Jay looked like a native Spanish-speaking person and that's why he was using a different language. We told him he didn't need to apologize ... it's not as if we were offended ... but we were definitely confused and suggested that coffee, water, and juice would be a refreshing way to clear away the mental fog we were both struggling with.
Water and coffee ... drink it up!
Jason is always more adventurous with juice selections than I am, and he boldly chose the Rainforest Ricky, which we believe was a combination of pineapple, guaveberry, grapefruit, and strawberry juices blended together with ice. There may even have been an option to include alcohol in this, but Jay requested the booze-free version. I was skeptical when it was first delivered to the table - it fairly oozed sweet gackiness to my eyes, but Jay pronounced it quite good and urged me to give it a try.
And he was right! It was surprisingly good and not very sweet at all. I promptly requested a serving of my own when we placed our breakfast orders.
Rainforest Ricky ... not at all icky!
I ordered the Breakfast of Bandits which the menu described as follows:
scrambled eggs and choice of bacon or sausage served with breakfast potatoes and fresh fruit.
But where's the fruit?
This was a very generous serving; the eggs occupied at least half of my plate and they were very well cooked, not too hard and not too runny. The bacon was cooked just the way I like it - chewy but not crisp - and the potatoes were well seasoned, slightly crisp little cubes that burst with hot, pulpy goodness at the first bite. My only quibble was with the fresh fruit ... or lack thereof. I guess I'm going to have to learn how to lower my expectations, but when I read "served with fresh fruit" I tend to think that means more than one strawberry and an orange quarter. And that lemon poppyseed mini-muffin doesn't qualify as fruit even if it did have a nice citrusy flavor.
Jason ordered the Benedict Bamba described as:
traditional eggs benedict accompanied by breakfast potatoes and fresh fruit.
Hello ... fruit?
Jason said the same thing about his breakfast as I did about mine - it was all very tasty but he was disappointed by the miserly fruit serving. We had a good laugh about it, but we did think the menu was a bit misleading in this regard.
And thus ended the meal - overall it was a good start to the day and we enjoyed the food. Would we ever go back again for breakfast or any other meal? Highly unlikely unless another gift card finds us because we think that the Rainforest Cafe is over-priced, especially at lunch and dinner. In addition to that it's just not our kind of place... too loud, especially for my delicate nerves.
And a warning to those of you with small, sensitive children - there were some little ones who were frightened by the noise and, thus, ironically added to it.
You might want to take that into consideration when looking into a meal at the Rainforest Cafe.
They should expand the seating, though. When we were there it was raining and EVERYONE decided it was a great idea to have a chocolate-y delight, all at the same time. The picture of Jay describes it well
at least not nearly enough 
blow-drying your hair in the shower 
I don't see us going back, unless it was free 
