Florida Has 3 Of The Last Remaining ‘Rainforest Café’ Locations
The chain restaurants of the early 2000s were unlike anything else. The decor was wild. Seating was comfortable and the food was cheap. That’s the trifecta needed for a solid restaurant experience. Rainforest Café was one of the coolest chains of the 1990s and 2000s, but where can you still find Rainforest Café in 2024? Florida has 3 of the last Rainforest Café locations in the USA.
What Happened to Rainforest Café?
If you were a kid in the late 90s to early 2000s, the Rainforest Café was one of the coolest places to be. Live animals, animatronics, jungle shrubbery, and storm sounds throughout the entire restaurant. What was the food like? Honestly, can’t remember, but the atmosphere was great.
The Café and shopping malls went hand in hand. You could be in the middle of Mall of America and somehow transform into the atmosphere of the jungle just by taking a seat in the Café.
When shopping malls began to lose their traction, with the rise of online shopping, Rainforest Cafe began to see its hype decline. As malls become emptier, fewer people want to dine in a deserted shopping mall leaving the legendary cafe to close up shop.
Where can you find locations in 2024?
There are currently 15 locations left in the United States and if you are looking to visit one in Florida, you’re in luck. Disney World Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs, and Sawgrass Mills are the last 3 locations in Florida.
Back in 2019, one Tampa resident created a petition to bring the Rainforest Café to Tampa. He wrote, “This is holding us back as a city, as other cities that are near a Cafe are larger and ‘more glamorous,’ such as New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The main difference between Tampa and these major cities is the lack of a Rainforest Cafe.” Is Tampa held back because of the lack of a Cafe? Might want to let that one marinate before signing that petition.
Texas has 3 remaining locations. New Jersey has 2. Illinois recently closed 2 in Chicago, leaving 1 remaining in the state. Tennessee, Nevada, California, Arizona, Tennessee, and Michigan all have 1 as well as the original location that’s still standing tall inside the Mall of America in Minnesota.
To learn more about the remaining locations in each state, click here.
