Dining with a Toddler in Downtown Disney: T-Rex Cafe

As the name T-Rex Cafe says, this place is all about dinosaurs! If you think this place will automatically be a hit with your toddler just because they like dinosaurs, you might want to think again and do a little bit more research before dining here. My toddler loved it. I've seen other toddlers (and even slightly older kids) run screaming in terror from the entrance and refuse to even get anywhere near the actual restaurant. If your kid is not scared off by the large, growling dinosaur that sits directly behind the check-in podium and separates the restaurant from the retail store, you will probably be okay dining here. (My kiddo was a little scared of it when we walked in around her first birthday so we did not attempt to dine but at two she laughs at the dinosaur and growls right along with him.)

Keep in mind however, that the restaurant also gets a little dark at time and has a "show" that involves a loud meteor shower so if your kid does not like loud noises and darkness, this might not be the best restaurant choice for you.
T-Rex Cafe is located in the middle section of Downtown Disney, past where the LEGO store is but not quite to where the old Pleasure Island Section was. If you are arriving on a Disney bus it is closest to the middle bus stops. If you drive I recommend parking somewhere between the Marketplace Section (where the World of Disney and LEGO Store are) and Planet Hollywood (the restaurant inside the large blue ball with stars on it).
We dined at T-Rex on a Monday evening around 7 pm. If you think that would be a slow time for this restaurant, guess again. There was a line to give your name for a table with about 10-15 people waiting in front of us in it. Long enough, but I have seen it MUCH longer many of the times I have been in Downtown Disney so I was not scared away by it. When we got to the front of the line we were told it would be about 20-30 minutes so we decided to wait. (Note: There was a small, easily missed sign on the podium stating "bar seating available immediately, no wait. Had I seen it when we were first checking in and not when we went back after our name was called I probably would've taken them up on it. The bar area is kid friendly and the only drawback is that you are seated nearby where everybody is checking in for their table vs being totally immersed in the dinosaur restaurant, but there is no guarantee you will get a fabulous table even if you wait in line.)

The wait for a table ended up being about 35 minutes. While you wait you can explore the retail store, which includes a Build-A-Dinosaur area in the back very similar to the Build-A-Bear store in your local mall only it is all dinosaurs vs a variety of bears and other animals.

There are also a few computers scattered throughout the store with educational information about dinosaurs, but they were above my toddler's reach.

If you do not want to spend any money the dinosaur dig sand pit is a much better option, especially if you have toddlers with you. (Note: You can visit this sand pit without dining at T-Rex Cafe. It is one of my daughter's favorite spots in Downtown Disney.)

The sand pit/dinosaur dig is a little area located off the very front section of the retail store. It is fairly small, shaded, and fully enclosed so it is easy to keep tabs on a wandering toddler. No seating available for adults but many just sit on the ledges around the perimeter. There are usually numerous paintbrushes available to help children "excavate" the dinosaur bones but sometimes they are kept in a basket at the entrance vs just being scattered throughout the sand pit so if you don't see any right away ask an employee or look near the sand pit's entrance for them.

This sand pit alone is enough to keep my daughter occupied for twenty to thirty minutes. There is a hand washing station on the side of the sand pit so do not worry about little hands getting dirty before dinnertime.

If you have slightly older children you might want to consider purchasing a packet for them to pan for gems with or a geode for them to smash open. The packets to pan for gems cost $5.00 (at least at the time I published this) and the geodes are $4.99 and up.

Once you purchase a gem panning packet they take you to an area off on the side of the sand pit and help you do the panning.

If you choose a geode instead there is a device to smash your geode right next to the display where you buy your rock and again, an employee will come and help your child with the actual process. My two year old really enjoyed watching both of these things and wanted to try them herself but we were only there to eat on this particular night.
The actual time it took for our name to get called was 35 minutes so the wait time was pretty accurate. Once they call your party, "The ________ family expedition," you go to a second counter behind the one where you gave your name for a table to check-in. They call multiple parties for their "expedition" at once so we had another short wait. I found this area to be very disorganized. Seaters come to this area looking for their assigned "expedition." They are therefore pulling people out of the line from behind you and in front of you so it is basically just a holding area vs a line. Our seater was in training so it took her a good five minutes to get us and they kept calling for our party's "expedition" over the loudspeaker and even made a last call and asked us to raise our hands if we were in the area when in reality we had been standing in the holding area waiting the whole time. Our seater then had difficulty locating our table and led us all through the busy, crowded restaurant before she backtracked to find our table.

The restaurant itself is divided up into several different sections. There is a room with lots of foliage and moving dinosaurs, a volcano/fire room where you can see lots of fire along the wall that the kitchen is behind, an underwater themed room where there is a fish tank and lots of pretty jellyfish and stuff hanging from the ceiling but no animatronic dinosaurs (this room is alongside the bar, which has the same theming), and an ice cave which changes color from red to blue every few minutes. (Note: Each room does have an actual name but i don't remember what they are.) We were seated in the underwater themed room and my daughter enjoyed looking at the fish tank, however, you can not get a close up view without disturbing other diners if the restaurant is full because it is surrounded by tables. It is also not a floor to ceiling fish tank like the ones in the rainforest cafe and the fish are above a toddler's eye level so I had to pick her up for a close-up view. We were led to a table with no high chairs or booster seats and the server seemed a bit surprised and put-off when I asked for one for the two year old but there was no way she could've reached the table from a regular seat. She said they did not have booster seats and brought us a high chair (not sure if this is always the case or just because it was busy, although there were plenty of empty tables in the restaurant and i did not see any children sitting in a booster seat).
After our waitress left us with menus and the high chair she disappeared for a LONG  time. My toddler was getting very restless and I was getting ready to go look for her when about ten minutes later she finally came back. The children's menu comes as a "prehistoric playbook" coloring/activity booklet with 2 or 3 basic colored crayons but it was definitely not enough to keep a toddler occupied.

The children's food choices are on the back page and consist of your typical kid's fare like (dinosaur shaped) chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, and pizza but also choices like 1/4 rotisserie chicken, lasagna, and pork ribs. They are $6.99-$7.99 but a kid-sized drink will cost an extra $1.99 and desserts are $2.99. You can also get a drink in a souvenir bone cup for $4.99.

Although the kid's meals are quite pricey I have eaten here before with older children and they are pretty generous portions so you could easily get one meal for two toddlers or children who are not big eaters to split. The meals come with a side of carrot sticks, potato chips, baked beans, cinnamon apples, fruit gelatin, mashed potatoes, or a banana but the top right corner also says "waffle fries available" (no idea if there is an extra charge). I knew my toddler wouldn't eat more than one chicken nugget and a fry or two and we already have a whole large bag of dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets I purchased at the grocery store for less than $5.99 in our freezer at home so I opted to just have her share my meal. I ordered a chicken sandwich for myself and my husband ordered a cheeseburger so I knew she would have plenty to eat.
Even though we didn't order anything really special and I asked our waitress to please try to hurry the order due to the restless toddler it took about 40 minutes for our food to arrive. I know this because I was following the restless toddler around the restaurant trying to keep her occupied and we got to experience the "meteor shower" that takes place twice while we were wandering. During the meteor shower the restaurant darkens, the ice cave room changes color, and rather loud "meteors" come crashing across the ceiling while all the dinosaurs roar loudly. My toddler loved it but I saw several other little ones cowering and covering their ears. A screaming toddler definitely would not stand out above the noise! Although it can be seen from anywhere, the meteor shower is probably best experienced in the ice room. i do not know, however, if I would want to be seated in there because I think the constantly changing color of the walls would be very distracting for a toddler trying to eat and possibly even headache inducing to me after staring at them for a while.

While we waited we also visited the bathroom. It was clean and had plenty of stalls, however, the diaper changing table was in a rather odd spot. It is right in the room with the bathroom stalls and seemed to block the entrance to some of the stalls when it was in use. Luckily the bathroom was not crowded so it wasn't really a problem.
We walked around the restaurant several times before our dinner arrived. My toddler really enjoyed all of the different moving dinosaurs and the fish tank, however, the tables are rather crowded together and the paths between them are narrow so I had to constantly move her out of the path of servers. One of the booths is actually inside a (non animatronic) dinosaur's tail and she particularly enjoyed that area because there was a baby dinosaur next to it she could climb on.

After walking around the restaurant several times our food had still not arrived and she was getting very restless and kept trying to get back out to the sand pit area.
Once our food finally arrived it was good but nothing to write home about. (You can see the menu here: http://www.trexcafe.com/pdf/MenuOrlando.pdf . )

I had the paleozoic chicken sandwich, which is my usual standby when I eat here. It used to be served in more of a doughy pizza bread, which I thought was delicious, but this time the bread was more like a hard pita.

The waitress was nice enough to bring us a plastic plate to put my toddler's food on. She happily munched on french fries and pieces of chicken and bread while the rest of us ate. Although I think they have toned down the noise level quite a bit since the restaurant first opened, it is still pretty loud and nobody even noticed the toddler once she declared she was done and started getting restless even though the table next to us was practically on top of us. Luckily it had taken so long for our food to arrive we were all starving, so it did not take long for the adults in our party to finish their meals. Because the restaurant is rather noisy it is also not the place to sit and have a good adult conversation while you enjoy your meal. We opted to skip dessert and go to nearby Ghiradelli for ice cream instead (since we didn't know how much more waiting it would be for our dessert to arrive!). I have, however, had dessert here before and the portions are HUGE so I recommend splitting it amongst three or four people if you decide to order one.
Overall, T-Rex Cafe is a unique restaurant and not a bad choice if you are dining with toddlers (as long as they are not afraid of the dark and loud, roaring dinosaurs and meteor shower!). I do, however, recommend going for lunch instead of dinner since it is usually a lot less busy at that time and skipping it altogether if there is a good sized lined to check in for a table since it will probably be a while before you actually get to eat. It is definitely better for slightly older kids that can sit longer than it is for toddlers. While we will continue enjoying the dinosaur dig/sand pit outside the retail store, I think we will wait until my two year old is a lot older before we dine here again!

Taking a Baby or Toddler to Disney and the Other Theme Parks: Nap or No Nap?

One of the questions I most frequently get asked about taking my toddler to Disney is how I handle nap time.  The simple answer is this: I work around and skip it, however, every child is very different and what works for me (or your neighbor, friend, cousin, poster on the internet) very well might not work for you. You know your child better than anyone else. Go with a general plan in mind but be flexible and willing to change it if it does not work out. We recently went to Animal Kingdom with a group of twelve toddlers (and their younger infant siblings) from our playgroup. Some slept peacefully in their strollers, some left with their moms at mid-day to go home for their regular naps, and at park closing my toddler and two others that had been there since 10 am with no nap were still going strong!
While my toddler typically takes a nap every day, she has never been one that absolutely needs to nap from 10-12 or 1-3. Even as an infant the time she took her nap varied slightly from day to day. She has never been in a daycare setting where she was put down for a nap at the exact same time every day so she has no experience with having to have a daily, specific nap time. She will sometimes take short naps in her car seat as we drive to our destination if she is tired enough but regardless of how tired she is she has not taken a nap in her stroller since she was about two months old. I've learned to pay attention to her cues and work around the need for a daily nap time. If I notice she is getting to her cranky, meltdown point we leave immediately (hopefully) before she gets to it even if it means missing out on a ride or show I really wanted to do (there is always next time!).
We live in Orlando so it is a lot easier for us to plan around nap times than it is for somebody who has traveled from further away. There are, however, several different options for handing nap time at a theme park for all babies/toddlers.

1. The stroller or baby carrier nap- Although my own child has never been a stroller napper, many babies and toddlers will happily take a nap in their stroller. It helps if your child has a stroller they are familiar with. Many of the theme park rental strollers are hard plastic and therefore not the most comfortable place for sleeping. Make sure you bring a blanket to throw over the stroller to shield the baby and block out the sun and action if you plan on doing stroller naps and if your child has a lovey or something else they won't sleep without make sure you bring that along as well. Don't plan on doing any attractions during this time (unless you want to utilize baby swap and let the adults experience the major ones...this is the perfect time for that!). Your baby/toddler will be most comfortable if left napping in their stroller with no attempt made to move them from it. If you are at Sea World many of the shows have a specific seating area for babies/toddlers napping in strollers where you can wheel them right in and enjoy the show but Disney does not offer this. If your child will continue sleeping even if the stroller stops moving take advantage of this time to sit and enjoy a snack or cool drink and people watch. If your child is one that will wake up if the stroller stops moving consider using this time to explore the air conditioned shops (so much easier than doing it with a wide awake toddler that wants to touch everything!). With a younger baby/toddler take advantage of the fact that they will probably nap just fine in a carrier strapped to mom or dad's chest and consider bringing one along for the trip. Many of the slower rides (and most of the shows) will allow you to keep a sleeping baby strapped to your chest so you don't have to necessarily stop just because your baby is napping. Chose some quiet rides and shows and enjoy them!
2. Leaving the Park at mid-day for a nap-This is probably the most common solution for a baby or toddler who will not nap unless they are in a crib or bed. Plan a mid-day break into your schedule  at your child's regular nap time so that you can return to the crib or bed they are sleeping in for a nap. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because if your child takes a typical mid-afternoon nap you can get to the Park really early, enjoy the lesser crowds until nap time, leave for a break, and then come back to the Park later when the crowds are starting to thin out a little and the weather is getting a little cooler (really helpful with a young child in the hot summer months!). While your child is sleeping not everyone has to be confined to the hotel room. Take turns each day so that one adult can enjoy the pool, shops, arcade, spa, etc while the other one stays with the napping baby. If you are getting up exceptionally early every day though this can also be a good opportunity for everyone to enjoy a short nap so they are refreshed for the evening.
3. The attraction or car nap- If you are at a theme park that offers some type of slow moving ride you can go on continuously without getting off, this can also be a good option for nap time. Magic Kingdom and Busch Gardens Tampa both have a train that circles the Park that you can stay on for as long as you want. Walt Disney World also offers the air conditioned monorail that you can ride around for as long as your child naps and in the mid-day it isn't usually too busy with people getting on and off so you don't need to worry that you are taking up somebody's seat or that your child will be awoken by boisterous crowds getting on and off. Alternatively, if your child will nap in a car seat you can consider strapping them in and driving around the area a little bit while they take their nap. This is a good choice if your home or hotel is far away from the theme park you are visiting.
4. Plan around nap time- This is what works best for us. Although we take my daughter to theme parks frequently, we rarely stay from park open until park close. We either go early in the morning then leave at dinner time and put her to bed early or we go after she takes her regular nap and stay until park closing. Look at the Park hours and figure out what will work best for you. We have occasionally even done one Disney Park in the morning, gone home for an afternoon nap, and then returned to a different Disney Park in the evening. As long as she stays hydrated, snacks, and eats a decent lunch my daughter is usually okay with staying in a Park from its opening time until about 7 pm with no nap but we leave as soon as she is starting to get cranky and during the day I always make sure there are plenty of activities planned for her where she will be able to run around and stretch her legs and enjoy things that are loads of fun to her but maybe not so much for mommy and daddy (i.e. a playground or an interactive water play fountain). This is especially important on those days when we do stay from Park open to Park close. If you plan on being in a Park at Park close definitely consider bringing your baby or toddler's pajamas with you so that you can change them into them before you leave the Park and not disturb a sleeping baby/toddler that falls asleep in their car seat or on the bus ride back to the hotel.
5. No nap at all-While this might not be the best option, it will sometimes work, especially with older toddlers who might not be napping 100% of the time at home anymore. (Keep in mind that the opposite, however, might also be true and a toddler who recently gave up naps at home might need a nap at a theme park due to all the activity and stimulation.) This one can depend a lot on park hours. My toddler can easily do a Park like Sea World in the off season or a water park or Animal Kingdom all day without napping because the park hours are typically 9 or 10 am-6 or 7 pm. I would never, however, expect her to last all day at the Magic Kingdom when it is open 9 am-midnight. If you choose this option, be sure to plan plenty of time into your day or your toddler to enjoy things on their level vs just running from attraction to attraction. Also, don't be surprised if your toddler goes to bed earlier than normal and then decides to sleep in the next morning instead of getting up in time for Park opening when they are normally always up at the crack of dawn. 

Remember, whatever you choose needs to be the right decision for your family and it is not set in stone. Be willing to be flexible. Babies and toddlers can be very finicky and the same thing that worked great for one probably isn't going to work as well for another. If you plan on doing stroller naps and find that doesn't work and you are faced with a cranky toddler, be willing to try leaving the Park the next day for a nap. If you are dealing with a cranky, overtired toddler nobody is going to have a fun day at the theme park!

Dr. Phillips Community Park

When I asked Alyssa what she wanted to do this morning she couldn't decide between "swim!" and "go to the park!" so I decided to take her to Dr. Phillips Community Park,  a place that offers a little bit of both.

Dr. Phillips Community Park is located about ten minutes from Downtown Disney so it is a great place for both locals and visitors to head to when their children need a place to play. In addition to having a great playground and splash pad it also has a dog park, a sand volleyball court, a basketball court, a baseball field, a large covered pavilion, plenty of grassy areas, and walking/jogging trails so it appeals to a wide variety of people. The playground and splash pad, however, are usually the two busiest areas  and the biggest draws for toddlers.

The playground has both a section for toddlers/younger kids and a section for older kids. They are right next to each other so it is easy to keep an eye on children of different ages as they play but neither section is fenced in so it is important to keep a close eye on little ones that tend to wander.

Unfortunately the playground is not covered by anything so the equipment can get very hot in the Florida summer sun. There is a large covered pavilion full of picnic tables next to the toddler/younger kid's area but there are also several picnic tables scattered throughout the park and a few of them are semi-covered so parents can sit in the shade while they watch their children play. The picnic tables in the toddler/little kid's section are painted bright yellow and are closer to the ground so even though they are not covered, they are a good place for little ones to sit and eat lunch or a snack at.

Dr. Phillips Community Park has a swingset with 2 baby swings and 2 regular swings but the rest of the playground equipment is very colorful and modern.

There is no sand/sandbox but the sand volleyball court is right next to the big kid section of the playground and my toddler enjoys digging in the sand there when the court is not in use.

The entire playground is covered in soft, colorful turf (which can also get hot in the Florida sun so be careful if you have a crawling baby or a toddler or child that likes to go barefoot). In between the big kid and baby/toddler sections there is a large round rock for climbing on. The whole playground overlooks a lake so the view from any area of the park is beautiful and relaxing.

My toddler's favorite areas of the playground seem to be anything that spins. There is a large spinning circle that multiple kids can sit on and spin round and round until they get dizzy. There are also some smaller spinning apparatuses and what looks like a large red bowl that toddlers can climb inside in the little kid's section of the park. My toddler loves it when I spin her around in this thing but she has absolutely no concept of when she is getting too dizzy so be mindful of your little one trying to climb out of it after they have taken a spin. She has lost her balance and taken a spill more than once but luckily the ground turf is fairly soft and she just thinks it is funny.

After we have played in the park for a little while we head over to the splash pad. This park has ample parking and it is an easy walk from the playground to the splash pad, however, the splash pad area has a separate parking lot from the playground and I find it is easier to drive the car over so it is nearby when our time in the splash pad is done. In between the playground and splash pad is a small building that houses the bathrooms if your child needs to change into their swimsuit.

Admission to the splash pad is $1/person regardless of their age and whether or not they are playing (even babies under a year and adults accompanying their children are $1). At certain times of year and sometimes only on certain days of the week admission is free. It was free on the Tuesday in May that we visited. There is info on the Dr. Phillip's Community Park website about admission but it is not always accurate & up to date so I recommend just bringing the $1/person fee and considering it an added bonus if it ends up being free.

The splash pad has 2 sessions, 10 am-2 pm and 3 pm-5 pm (later during peak times). It closes an hour every day from 2-3 for maitenance/cleaning so you will have to leave the splash pad at that time and wait for it to reopen. If you do go back for the 2nd session and they are charging an admission fee that day you will have to pay $1/person once again to get back in.

The splash pad is divided into two sections, an area for bigger kids and an area for smaller kids. My two year old likes to wander back and forth between both. There are shaded areas with picnic tables on both sides for parents to sit at but the tables tend to fill up very quickly. The splash pad itself is not covered or shaded at all but it is completely fenced in so you don't have to worry too much if you have a toddler that likes to run.

The little kid section is more like a traditional splash pad. It has a colored zig-zag path on the ground (much like you'd see on a game board) and water jets shoot up from it. Several of the water jets are arranged on one of the path parts in a circle and my toddler enjoys running into the middle of the circle. Be aware that the jets of water turn on and off and spray higher and lower randomly though because when she was younger she'd often run into the middle of the circle when it was low or off and then become startled when it suddenly came on full force.

The second, bigger kid side of the splash pad is more interactive. It has water gun/cannons you can move, water that dumps down on you, bigger and more random sprays, etc. My two year old especially enjoys spraying the water gun/cannons even though she is still a little too short to reach them. 

The water on this side tends to pool a little bit more so it can be a little more slippery and causes bigger splashes as you run through it. My toddler also enjoys laying down in it and pretending to "swim."

The splash pad is usually least crowded during the week when school is still in session (when it is open at this time, which is not year round). Weekends and after the school day is done it tends to get a lot more crowded and the kids playing tend to be a little bit older. Because Dr Phillips Community Park is right by Sand Lake Elementary it is used by after school groups and some of those kid's parents let them stay a while and play in the splash pad on really hot days. The after school group doesn't otherwise seem to affect the splash pad, but they do use the playground so I do not recommend visiting the playground with a toddler at this time. The splash pad is, however, popular with camp groups during the summer so it does get crowded with older kids at times.

Overall, Dr. Phillips Community Park is a wonderful place to visit with toddlers and hopefully tire them out enough for a good nap time!