Episode 23: Dinner & T-Rex & Night at Disney Springs – Walt Disney World – September 2016

One of our absolute favorite places to eat at Disney World is T-Rex at Disney Springs!  This has been a go to spot for us since the kids were little… are all little boys obsessed with dinosaurs or just ours???  This restaurant is a place you go not just for good food, but for the all immersive experience.  

Giant dinosaurs!

There are huge animatronic dinosaurs everywhere that move and roar and make other sounds that dinosaurs make…  Not only dinosaurs, but other large extinct creatures like a Wooly Mammoth with huge tusks.  And the ‘water’ area as I will call it has a giant octopus across the ceiling and if you watch the tentacles move!  

Also there are large jellyfish hanging in this area and the main feature is the fish bar or as it is also known the ‘shark bar’.  On a different trip of just us adults, Jason and I spent some time hanging out at this bar and it was a really cool experience.  The bar itself looks like ice and slowly shifts in color, but the enormous tropical fish tank is a sight to behold.  It is so big and there are so many different types of fish, they even have picture books along the bar to help you identify them.

Meteor Shower

Another really unique feature of T-Rex is that every @20 minutes, there is a ‘meteor shower’ where the restaurant goes dark, lights flash, the blue ice room turns red and if you look up at the ceiling you will see balls of light hurdling down towards you.  Well, nothing is actually coming out of the ceiling, but it is a really cool effect!  While this is happening, the animals are all in an uproar!  They are all making load, ‘fearful’ noises of their impending doom.  But it only lasts a few minutes and everything then becomes calm once again.  But I will tell you that it is something you are not soon to forget about this place!

On to the food…  

First let me say these portions are ginormous!  We have been here enough that we have tried just about everything on the menu and have not found anything to disappoint!  My personal favorite is the Mastadon Stuffed Chicken which I have enjoyed on our last two visits.  It is so good!!!  It is a large, very moist and tender chicken breast stuffed with artichoke hearts, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and butter and served with delicious whipped mashed potatoes.  I am getting hungry just thinking about it!  

Another favorite is the Boneyard Buffet which is half a rotisserie chicken and St. Louis pork ribs served with waffle fries.  We didn’t get on this trip because Cameron was just wanting ribs so chose instead the Mega Mes-O-Bones, which is similar but has double the portion of ribs.  

A couple of our guys were in the mood for burgers which we had never tried here before this trip.  Colby got the Bronto Burger but Jason was feeling extra hungry and got the Doublesaurus burger!  That thing was huge!  I have no idea how he actually fit it into his mouth!!!  I tried a bite and it was great!  There are good burgers, ok burgers and bad burgers in this world and I will rank this one way at the top!  

Ethan has been on a Fish & Chips kick on this trip and has vowed to try them at multiple locations.  When this order came out, I didn’t even think my 16 year old bottomless pit could finish it!  There were four huge pieces of fish and a pile of fries.  He tried his best, but he did not conquer eating it all…

 

Did someone say dessert???  

T-Rex has our favorite restaurant dessert anywhere at Disney World…  The Chocolate Extinction!!!!  This is a family style dessert which is four pieces of chocolate cake and four scoops of vanilla ice cream which is all covered in fudge sauce and whipped cream.  To top it off it is served with a canister with dry ice in the center so it looks like a volcano exploding.  And let me tell you…  I don’t care how full you are, that chocolate cake will get eaten…  Every.  Single.  Bite.  It really is that good!

T-Rex also includes a unique gift shop including a Build-a-Bear station that is transformed into Build-a-Dino.  Our kids did one of these when they were younger and still have it to this day!  There are also really beautiful rocks similar to what you would find in museum gift shops and right outside the gift shop is a play area for kids with giant bones and sand and pails, buckets and paint brushes to work on an archeological dig while waiting for your table.

Disney Springs

After T-Rex, we wandered around Disney Springs a little and explore Uniqlo, one of the new stores that we were really excited about.  I had seen clips of this place prior to our trip and they have regular clothes but also really cute Disney t-shirts for way less than you will find in the parks.  I think the average price was $14.90!  Unfortunately, no purchases were made and we carried our tired bodies back to the boat launch to catch the peaceful ride back down the river to Port Orleans Riverside.  But we got a great bonus while we were waiting!  There was a great view of the Star Wars fireworks from Hollywood Studios!  This ending another awesome day of our Walt Disney World adventure!

Join us next time as we wake up the animals over at Animal Kingdom!!!

YouTube EECC Travels – WDW Episode 23