Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

The newest restaurant in Downtown Disney, the T-Rex Cafe, is set open on October 14, 2008. Last Friday morning, I had just finished a history walk of Pleasure Island with the WDWCelebrations folks as part of their "World Wide Weekend" and I noticed how far the T-Rex Cafe has come along since my last visit to Downtown Disney.

Here are 2 blogs with earlier construction photos

Official Disney Photographs

Here's some additional information the T-Rex Cafe:

T-Rex: A Prehistoric Family Adventure, A Place to Eat, Shop, Explore and Discover is scheduled to open at Downtown Disney on October 14, 2008. T-Rex, developed by Schussler Creative, Inc., and operated by Landry's Restaurants, Inc., features dining and retail in a 30,000-square-foot, 600-seat interactive prehistoric environment. The concept is built around water, fire and ice: 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 theme carries over to the menu, which features items with names such as Caesarsaurus (Caesar salad), Raptor Ribs (Asian BBQ ribs), Pterodactyl Wings (Buffalo chicken wings), Triassic Tortellini (tri-colored cheese tortellini) and Gigantosaurus Burger (think really big hamburger).

The last photos I posted of the T-Rex Cafe's construction site were basically fences and signs.

There is now a temporary walkway between Pleasure Island's Raglan Road and McDonald's on the parking lot side of the site.

Here are a few photos that will make you wonder if I was wearing a hard hat at the time I took them. (For the record, I was only in areas I was allowed to be in - cameras do magic these days, don't they?)

The T-Rex Cafe - A Prehistoric Family Restaurant is finally getting started at Downtown Disney. The Cafe was announced way back in February of 2006. To be honest, I had forgotten about it till I recently noticed a fence had been erected in the parking area near the Portobello Yacht Club and Fulton's Crab House. The T-Rex Cafe is owned and will be operated by Landry's Restaurants, Inc. Landry's also owns and runs the Rainforest Cafes at Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney's Marketplace. The new restaurant will be home to life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, a dig site and much more. The table service restaurant will feature waterfalls and geysers, and, as the name indicates, there will also be a retail shop.

The sidewalk along the parking lot between McDonald's and the Pleasure Island ticket booths is currently close. You can easily travel from the Marketplace by crossing the bridge near Fulton's and using the boardwalk along side of Cookes of Dublin and Raglan Road.