After many months of construction, the new volcano on the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney building was finally completed recently. Much to our surprise, the restaurant now features an erupting volcano! The show takes place in the evening and is best viewed after dark every half-hour starting at 8:30PM (this will probably be an earlier time once we slip into the Winter months). Along with the Volcano, the restaurant also added a new Lava Bar on the outside of the establishment. Photos taken by Joe Hogarty, video by Tom Corless:
The new volcano smokes during the day
At night it is really stunning
There is a new animatronic crocodile at the base
The glowing lava is a nice touch
The LAva Lounge is down a path through the volcano, but is really just attached to the side of the building and not the volcano
The bar is nice, but the seating area is fairly plain
IT’S GONNA BLOW!
Crowds gather to watch the 2-minute eruption
Here is our video of the volcano and Lava Bar featuring the full eruption show:
Personally, I think this is a great addition to Downtown Disney. The Lava Bar is fairly standard, but the volcano is definitely of Disney quality and will fit nicely into the new vision of Disney Springs. In a town of many theme parks, it is kind of surprising that the only erupting volcano is in a shopping area, but I think it is offerings like this that will make Disney Springs stand out from other similar venues in town.
What do you think? Is the volcano eruption worth a trip to Downtown Disney? Does this excite you for more Disney Springs changes?
I think they should the lava lounge have smoke coming out all over the place and more lava and fire. Also they should have a specialty drink that has smoke and has fire in it, but the volcano is amazing and a great addition to disney springs!
I like the volcano but i still hate the idea of changing Downtown Disney
That's going to fit in nicely with "Disney Springs", isn't it?
looks great….Now can they go to Expedition Everest and fix the Yeti??
This really looks really great! I just hope they maintain over time.
Honestly another flyover of the firebreathing dragon would be a much bigger incentive…!
Congaloosh!
Well, I can see it going wrong, but on the other hand, I now want one…
This is going to look rally cool, perhaps a sign of much more fun to come as DTD switches over to the new Disney Springs format!
We love DTD, but at the moment CityWalk has a kind of 'cool' feeling to it that DTD never had. Not for long it seems!