T-Rex Restaurant in Downtown Disney: A Disney Dining Review

On the day we were leaving, we checked in our luggage at the Virgin Check-In Desk that was set up near Cirque de Soleil, and then headed to T-Rex, where we were seated quickly, and we then ordered our lunch. Charlie had a Guac-asaurus Burger - beef patty with guacamole, a fried onion ring, pickles, lettuce, tomato, Pepper Jack cheese and crispy bacon, with waffle fries. I had a Stegosaurus Steak and Cheese Sandwich - traditional-style cheese steak with sautéed mushrooms, topped with melted Monterey jack and Swiss cheeses, and served with lettuce and tomatoes on a toasted hoagie roll, with waffle fries. (I asked for no onions or peppers on my sandwich, because I don’t like them but it is normally served with them). The waffle fries were an optional extra, and were slightly more expensive than the ordinary fries that the burgers come with, but we are normally big fans of waffle fries! We also ordered coffee, which was brought to us eventually.

Despite the restaurant not being very busy, service was extremely slow, and we waited quite some time for both our coffee and our food. Our server seemed to be dashing about a lot, servicing the few occupied tables in our vicinity, and she completely forgot to bring the iced water we asked for, despite being reminded another twice about it. When she did bring the coffee, she apologised for our wait, claiming that it had been made freshly for us. It did taste fresh, although it was rather strong and a touch too bitter for my taste. The water never turned up at all.

While we were waiting for our food, we took the opportunity to nip off separately and explore the restaurant – it is an amazing place to look at! The ice room is stunning. We took loads of photos, as it was fairly empty at the time and we therefore weren’t disturbing anyone. The attention to detail and overall feel of the place is absolutely fabulous. The meteor shower that takes place every 20 minutes is fun, not too loud or disruptive, and the animatronic dinosaurs are fantastic! When the giant T-Rex himself roars and looks 'round for someone to eat, it is really quite scary! And if I could have fitted a baby woolly mammoth into my hand luggage, I would have done – they were just soooooo cute!

T-Rex restaurant @ Downtown Disney
Inside the T-Rex Restaurant - octopus! - photo by Silvercat

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Once we had explored, we sat down again and continued to wait. When the food eventually arrived, we were horrified by the sheer amount on our plates – the servings were humungous! We looked at each other in slight panic, but began to tuck in. The waffle fries looked lovely, very large, and there were loads of them, but they had some kind of paprika coating on them which I wasn’t keen on, unfortunately. I ate a couple of them, and they were quite tasty underneath the coating. The size of my ‘sandwich’ had to be seen to be believed! I ate most of the steak and some of the mushrooms, along with a bite or two of the bread, which was rather soggy and tasteless I’m afraid. Charlie managed to eat most of his burger and fries, but couldn’t finish mine, which is something he normally does. He said that it was very good, and he enjoyed it.

We finally decided we had finished our meal, (it defeated us!), and asked for the bill, which was around $40 plus tip. This was the first meal we had actually paid for in 2 weeks, (having been on the free Disney Dining Plan up to this point), and we hadn’t been able to eat it all! 

In hindsight, these meals were much too big for two people who were about to fly home, as we were not at our most relaxed and it was also a very hot and humid day, so we weren’t really as hungry as we could have been. The atmosphere and décor of the restaurant was amazing, really good, and I’m glad we experienced T-Rex. However, I think for future visits we will plan to share a meal between us!

About the Author: Carolyn lives in the UK, first fell in love with Walt Disney World in 1989, and has visited 10 times since then, as well as 6 visits to Disneyland Paris. Her dream is to live in a fairytale castle with her handsome prince; failing that, regular visits to any Disney park anywhere in the world will do!

Related Links:
Veggie Dining At Disney - Table Service Locations last updated 12/11/2008
Veggie Dining At Disney - Counter Service Locations last updated 12/04/2008
The Kosher Traveler At Walt Disney World - A Guide last updated 02/05/2009
Dining at Walt Disney World - An Introduction last updated 2/5/2009
Yachtsman Steakhouse From a Vegetarian's Point of View - A Dining Review last updated 5/14/2009

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Reader Comments:

I agree on the portions of the meals! They are huge! My family ate at T-Rex twice in one vacation because we really loved the food. Once on our daughters birthday. We ate what we could and brought the rest to the resort and had it for dinner that night. (we had a microwave in the room) The second time was on our last day. We ordered burgers and they were huge! We ate what we could and that was that. We just really liked the food and loved the atmosphere, so we had to go back before we left!

     Planetnicole on January 27, 2012 @ 11:14 am

When we went to T-Rex when it first opened, we loved it. The portions were huge and tasty. My son spent 30 min digging in their fossil dig after dinner. We were happy to hear it is now on the DDP and will be back in August!

     shay82370@aol.com on January 27, 2012 @ 9:26 pm

My son went to T Rex Cafe after his birthday outting with his grandparents to the Titanic Experience off of International Drive. They said both were rather entertaining. We knew that later in the trip we were going to swing by Downtown Disney to look around and to play with the legos. We asked our kids where they wanted to eat and they both wanted to go to the TRex (I was rooting for WPE) but hey its about the kids. My kids each had dinosaur nuggets and bananas, my husband had some flat bread sandwich and I had the pasta which was amazing. From what we could see the cotton martinis must be pretty good too as the lady at the table next to us had at least 4 while we were there. We passed on dessert because we were all stuffed. My son made a dinosaur for his birthday at the Build A Bear site which ran us $25 he added a sound to it. My youngest had a blast playing in the fossil dig outside while her brother made his new friend. It was a real cool place to eat, we will most likely eat here again.

     ridlersbaby on January 28, 2012 @ 7:41 pm

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Updated 01-26-2012 - Article #771 

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