Monday, October 20, 2008

T-Rex Cafe at Downtown Disney - New high-Res pictures, and Videos



The T-REX Cafe "A Prehistoric Family Adventure" opened last Tuesday October 14 at Downtown Disney and you've probably read about it on other sites, but i was waiting for high-quality pictures, and they're finally available!

Landry’s Restaurants, in collaboration with Schussler Creative, developed the amazing concept for this new T-REX Café which features dining in an interactive prehistoric environment - the concept is built around water, fire and ice. Guests visiting T-REX are greeted with life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, bubbling geysers, a fossil dig site and much more, taking them back to a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth.



T-REX greets visitors with a skeletal version of a 125-foot long replica of an Argentinasaurus, which was not only the largest dinosaur of the period, but quite possibly also the largest and heaviest animal to ever walk the earth. Just inside the front doors is an animatronic Tyrannosaurus waiting to greet the guests.



Also upon entering T-REX, guests will be greeted by a giant animatronic octopus sitting on top of the Shark Bar, motioning guests in for a specialty drink and a view of a 5,000-gallon shark tank. Lava rock, greenery and lighting effects combine to transport visitors into a time long ago.



The 30,000 sq. ft. restaurant seats 600 guests and is divided into several separate, distinctive dining rooms, each with its own theme and animatronic dinosaurs.



The Ice Cave, for example, resurrects the woolly mammoth, while the Fern Forest is the home of a Triceratops and its infants, along with a Stegosaurus. Other exciting areas include the Coral Reef Dining Room, Sequoia Room and Geo-Tech Room.



Also - and probably one of the best idea - an amazing meteor shower travels across the dining room ceiling every 20 minutes.
It looks great, and here is a video to have a better look to this amazing special projection effect.




But, while the décor may be prehistoric, the food facilities are cutting-edge. The Kitchen of Fire offers an open kitchen with a giant rotisserie that allows visitors to see meals being prepared and T-REX experience home, the Dino-Store provides a wide variety of dinosaur-related apparel and gifts.

T-REX is not just a place to visit – it is also a place to explore. Would-be paleontologists can practice their skills in the Discovery Dig Site, a large excavation pit with replicas of fossil bones waiting to be uncovered. The Geode Splitter breaks up geodes to display hidden minerals. Pan for precious stones, gems and fossils within Discovery Creek “sluice”. Plus, guests will be able to expand their knowledge of the dinosaur era and play one of several family-friendly games on the interactive Paleo Screens.
"T-REX is the perfect place to uncover never-before-known dinosaur facts and let your imagination roam wild," said Steve Schussler, CEO of Schussler Creative who designed previously the Rain Forest Cafe and the Yak and Yeti at Animal Kingdom.

It's time to see more about this T-Rex Cafe with this opening day video from the excellent Attractionsmagazine.com web site.
A last wish: if they could have the good idea to build a T-Rex Cafe at DLP, this will be great!




Photos: copyright Disney - Schussler Creative - Gene Duncan, photographer

Youtube Videos: copyright www.attractionsmagazine.com and pacocab

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