We visited the Rainforest Cage at Downtown Disney, but there is also one at the entrance of Animal Kingdom – you do not need to enter the park to dine here however.
This a great place for the kids and now that they offer priority seating I would take advantage of this as there can be huge lines here as it is very popular.
It re-creates a tropical rain forest through a combination of live and animated wildlife and special effects. As you walk in you're greeted by a tropical rainforest (as the name kinda indicates doesn’t it?) there’s lots of lush vegetation and even live tropical birds, thunder and lightning noises and there are simulated rain showers (don’t panic you don’t get wet) and the talking trees will make the kids jump! There are lots of “animals” including crocodiles, monkeys, butterflies and watch out for the elephants! – it even smells a bit like a rain forest - Pangini Trial in Animal Kingdom has the same sort of atmosphere. There are huge fishtanks in the restaurant with really brightly coloured fish which creates a great ambience.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our food, there were lots of dishes like Tuscan Chicken, Tree Top Filet, Cedar Wood Salmon, Rasta Pasta, Mojo Bones, and many more exotic selections. Prices range from about $10 to $20 per main course.
If you visit about 5.30, it is not so busy but as the parks start to empty it is very popular and we did try to get a table once and we were told it was a 2 hour wait! I have read on forums that there is never much of a wait for lunch but this wouldn’t be any good for a “light lunch”.
The staff are very friendly and quite daft at times! We had a very nice waiter, very efficient.
Like Fridays, portions are huge here. The kids enjoyed their food from the kids menu - varied but similar to other Disney kids menus, chicken fingers, hotdogs etc. It is more than other Disney restaurants but the food is nicer. Don’t take the kids to the very large gift shop you walk through to enter and leave as there is a wide variety of items, some of which were very expensive – “just say no” just doesn’t cut it in Disney!
Overall experience was fun and good (not great) food - we will definitely visit again but we are going to try the one by Animal Kingdom next time.