Mouse Extra

Perhaps this is no big deal, but McDonalds is definately leaving Downtown Disney. Frankly, Its hard for me to remember it even being there. With the slew of food offerings at Disney I haven’t had the need for the golden arches, but McDonalds has had a long association with Disney.

So what will replace it? Apparently some chicken joint called Pollo Campero. According to the Daily Disney blog, the new chicken quick-service chain will be in place by late 2010.  I have never been there not have I even heard of it, but the chain is international and apparently, serves fresh latin food. Thats gotta be better than McDonalds, right?

Before heading to Walt Disney World last month, I had read many reviews online about the new T-Rex Café at Downtown Disney.  And none of them were very positive, to say the least.  Various reviewers spoke poorly of the food, the noise, and even the service.  Needless to say I wasn’t too excited about checking it out.  But it was new, and I do my best to try anything new at the Mouse that doesn’t have to do with American Idol, and my seven year old nephew was looking forward to it and he is in command of that regiment.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  Yes, it is essentially the Rainforest Café just set a few millennia earlier, but I don’t necessarily think that is a completely bad thing.  The food is fine.  It won’t make you wonder if Disney sent Le Cellier’s chefs here, but it won’t make you green either.  I had the Mega Mes-O-Bones, which means to say I had a full rack of barbeque ribs.  They were rather good, and I would recommend them to anyone who goes there hungry.  The portions, even for the side dishes, were huge!

And the service we had was very good.  Despite the long line, we were seated with little wait and our waiter was very attentive.  (On a little side note, I spotted a gentleman working there that used to be behind the bar at Crockett’s Tavern at Fort Wilderness.  He was exemplary over there so ours was not the only good waiter.)

And perhaps the audio-animatronics dinosaurs are not the most advanced in Walt Disney World.  But they still look really cool and are fun to watch.  Your kids will be fascinated with them.  The Ice Room is also a place you’ll not find anywhere else.  Yes the place is loud.  But roaring dinosaurs is a different kind of loud then the kind you get at Chef Mickey’s…if you know what I mean.

So I guess what I am trying to say is don’t believe all you’ve read.  It may not be the best dining experience at Walt Disney World, but if you need a place in Downtown Disney to bring some kids for decent food don’t hesitate to go to the T-Rex Café.  The dinosaurs are cool, the food is alright, and the service is good.  But if you are exhausted and looking for a quiet place to chill out after a long day of hearing kids screaming in Fantasyland…skip it.

On our last trip to the World, we finally had a chance to try Wolfgang Puck’s at Downtown Disney. For those who don’t know, there are, in fact, three different Wolfgang Puck eateries. At the Marketplace, there is the Express which serves an abbreviated version of Wolfgang Puck’s menu. Over in Downtown Disney, you can either go to the Cafe or the more upscale Dining Room which is on the second floor. We chose the Cafe which is big, open and very noisy.

The food was also average at best. The Butternut Squash soup was superb but the tortilla soup was rather boring. The pizza was soggy, meaning I still haven’t had a good slice at the Mouse. The only decent piece of pizza is at Pizzafari. The Rigatoni with Sausage was pretty good but certainly nothing above a B grade. The fettuccine dish was also average.

Overall, I would skip this restaraunt when going to Downtown Disney. In my opinion, I would stick to the House of Blues and perhaps Raglan Road.

Today’s review is from Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra.

The much anticipated T-Rex Restaurant has opened at Downtown Disney.  The droos opened yesterday and our friends at WDW New Today already have some great coverage of the place.  Take a look at their video and photos.

It does appear interesting to me and I am looking forward to trying it out when I get to Walt Disney World in January.  But I will be completely honest here.  It does not seem to distinguish itself all that much from the Rainforest Café.  The T-Rex audio-animatronics are impressive, but certainly not all that technologically advanced.  But I will reserve judgment until I can experience it myself.

This morning, Jim Hill has gone off on a rant like I have never seen before.  The closing of the Adventurer’s Club has got Mr. Hill, and many other Disney World lovers, in a complete uproar.  Making matters worse is the fact that the Pleasure Club has apparently been totally jammed for its last few weeks.

It’s a crazy, crazy time at the Adventurers Club. With people standing 5 deep at the bar in the Main Salon, with the cash registers there constantly opening & closing in order to accommodate all of those drink orders … And yet Disney officials still insist that Pleasure Island has to be closed because places like the AC just don’t appeal to WDW visitors anymore.

Oh, really? Try telling that the people who were still standing on line outside of the Adventurers Club at 1 a.m. this past Saturday night. Try telling those folks that this PI nightclub is no longer popular. I’d imagine that those Guests might have a few choice words for you. None of which would be “Kungaloosh.”

As upsetting as it might be, this is the best way to protest Disney’s decision to close the club.  If there is a hope left to convincing Disney to keep it open, and I doubt there is, the only way they will change their minds is if they see that it can make money.

The fact is, and this is what is so upsetting, the Adventurer’s Club does not have to close in order to re-invent Pleasure Island.  If we are going to fill the Island with family-friendly, well themed restaurants, why can’t the Adventurer’s Club fit in?  Sure, it will take some retooling but so what?  Make it a restaurant, add some more seating, there you have it.  If we are tearing everything around it down, the space will be there for an expansion.  In what will certainly be an island full of third-party brands, why can’t we have one that reflects the one brand name most popular with those in attendance…Disney?

Screamscape.com has some interesting details via a press release on what we can expect to find in the upcoming T-Rex Café set to open this fall.  This is the first example of what is to come from the new Downtown Disney, so a lot is riding on this newbie.

Guests will be greeted with life-size animatronic dinosaurs that live among cascading waterfalls, bubbling geysers, a fossil dig site and much more. There will be a meteorite shower every 20 minutes and an aqua bar complete with a 6,000-gallon shark tank and a large octopus with mechanical tentacles. A full-size skeleton replica of Argentinosaurus, one of the largest of the dinosaurs and copied from a museum specimen about 125 feet in length, looms over the entrance, joined by a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton.

The only reason I am posting this is because I want to read what you the fans think of what you see hear.  The cynical Disney addict has been saying that this will be no more than a re-themed Rainforest Café.  But this looks a lot more elaborate than your average Rainforest and much more interesting as well. 

Yes, the animatronics could be ciraca-1964 and turns this into a giant cheese-fest, but let’s stay positive.  I mean a shark tank is cool in almost any form…unless this turns into some sort of Nemo-ized shark tank…