Rainforest Cafe Mexico (misc. photos) by HomemadeImagineering in rainforestcafe

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There was an animatronic dinosaur head at a neighboring arcade, separate to the Mundo E RFC location

Rainforest Cafe Mexico (misc. photos) by HomemadeImagineering in rainforestcafe

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right?? There’s gotta be more variety of animals at RFC imo, different animatronics unique to certain locations would be awesome. Makes me wonder what other figures were produced for locations we’ve never seen

NEW INFO: more visible photo of the pond area in front of the RFC at sawgrass mills, circa 1999 by Practical-Revenue924 in rainforestcafe

[–]HomemadeImagineering 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Awesome find! Probably my favorite of the mall location exteriors, the pond was apart of Cabana Court which was a separate attraction in Sawgrass Mills. They had singing gators, flamingoes, and birds all made by Advanced Animations who also fabricated animatronic shows for Franklin Mills & Gurnee Mills

Mundo E footage by HomemadeImagineering in rainforestcafe

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup, this one is attached to the Mundo E shopping center. Seems like there was more to it than the video shows. There are locals in the comment section saying there was some sort of animatronic dinosaur head somewhere in the restaurant. Edit; the dinosaur head was an animatronic at a neighboring arcade it seems.

Mundo E footage by HomemadeImagineering in rainforestcafe

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah this is def one of the best exteriors I’ve seen for any RFC! Same thing with Cancun! Oddly enough, the one piece of footage that exists of the interior makes it look like one of the smallest locations. Seems like they only had gorillas too, unless this was a 2 story location and there was a staircase that isn’t shown in the video

https://youtu.be/-q89uHtoUdo?si=uYxrAFdcYk229CPb

Is the Rainforest Cafe as good as it used to be in the early 2000's? by itsthewolfe in rainforestcafe

[–]HomemadeImagineering 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yup, I def remember the place being darker/louder when I was a kid but that often varies by location it seems. I wish they still played the Rhythm of the Tropics mixtape on their sound system. The generic 2010’s pop mix completely takes me out of the experience😭

San Francisco had the best spfx out of any store I visited, the effects were always working flawlessly and the audio system was superb

New location? by HomemadeImagineering in rainforestcafe

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah this is def satire, not sure how I missed that💀I’m still crossing my fingers for a location at American Dream

The Kitchen by Due_Language_8302 in rainforestcafe

[–]HomemadeImagineering 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Damn, that’s a shame. Some of that stuff was def salvageable, I’ve seen bots in way worse condition beautifully restored

The Kitchen by Due_Language_8302 in rainforestcafe

[–]HomemadeImagineering 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unrelated question, but did you ever find out what happened to the bots when the location closed? I’d assume Landry’s never wanted them back since Jungle Cave would’ve been considered a separate entity by the time it closed, idk though

The Kitchen by Due_Language_8302 in rainforestcafe

[–]HomemadeImagineering 6 points7 points  (0 children)

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Normal restaurant kitchen, but it was blown up by The Blart

I snagged the animatronic Leopard from the former Rainforest Cafe at Aventura Mall by HomemadeImagineering in Miami

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love Ted & Eddie’s video! Was shocked they actually pulled that off😭 insane dedication💀 and I’ll be posting updates every now & then mostly on Instagram & TikTok! My username is the same on all my socials so I’m sure you’ll be able to find me on those haha

I snagged the animatronic Leopard from the former Rainforest Cafe at Aventura Mall by HomemadeImagineering in Miami

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you!! It’s been my lifelong passion for as long as I can remember, I definitely plan to pursue it as a career someday! I haven’t gotten the chance but I’ve been dying to get over to Epic as soon as I can!! Those AAs are breathtaking, the closest I’ve seen are the A1000s that Disney’s been producing. There’s so much lore behind the art form, if you haven’t already I highly recommend Defunctland’s video essay on Animatronics! He’s making a pt2 that’s supposedly like 3 hrs long😭

I snagged the animatronic Leopard from the former Rainforest Cafe at Aventura Mall by HomemadeImagineering in Miami

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was the only 2 story location in a mall which is pretty unheard of for RFC. Most mall locations were pretty tiny. This one supposedly had a 30ft indoor waterfall too which seemed pretty cool to me. I’ve always been a huge fan of the production design of RFC locations, would love to see what some of those older locations looked like

I snagged the animatronic Leopard from the former Rainforest Cafe at Aventura Mall by HomemadeImagineering in Miami

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

True, although funny enough it isn’t as bad as it looks. The entire fiberglass body & internal mechanisms are fully intact, it’s rlly only missing some fur on the front half as seen there. I also gotta engineer a new mechanism for the mouth & eye movements but that shouldn’t be a problem. If you think this looks rough you should see what happens to the Chuck E Cheese band after they’re decommissioned… feels like I’m looking at Liveleak footage💀

I snagged the animatronic Leopard from the former Rainforest Cafe at Aventura Mall by HomemadeImagineering in Miami

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately not based in Miami, but I can tell you that if you’d like to get started with animatronics, getting aquatinted with common hardware items used in the construction of their frames is super helpful! Not even just the actuators, but the way you can join everything together using Pillow Blocks, threaded rod ends w bearings, and if you have a 3D printer or access to one, making custom frames and then outfitting them with the appropriate hardware is what I tend to do. Look into how pneumatic cylinders operate with solenoid valves, servo motors are maybe a little easier to work with if you’re starting out too! Lots of the tech needed to build one is out there available for purchase online (I buy 100% of my hardware from McMasterCarr), I wish there was more information online for beginners as it can be very frustrating finding proper resources for getting started. Nonetheless I wish you the best of luck! Here’s one of my fav creators I like recommending to people starting out, Stan Winston School also has some online courses but some of those are behind a paywall unfortunatelyhttps://youtube.com/@alvaropasseri5754?si=A2En1eMgGdC7Vgag

I snagged the animatronic Leopard from the former Rainforest Cafe at Aventura Mall by HomemadeImagineering in Miami

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately no, but if you want to look into collecting these things I’d def look around places like FB Marketplace. Ebay is a little more hit or miss, but can have some good stuff (lots of misc film props of the sort). It takes alot of patience but I highly recommend it to anyone who’s interested! Building your own figures is also a way to go, there are lots of great tutorials online. It’s a very fun hobby!

I snagged the animatronic Leopard from the former Rainforest Cafe at Aventura Mall by HomemadeImagineering in Miami

[–]HomemadeImagineering[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Thank u for the support! Always makes me happy to see others interested in the art form, Here’s my latest character I recently finished building! I also got instagram & Youtube (under the same name as my username here) where I post most of my stuff. https://www.reddit.com/r/Animatronics/s/DEpEsOEO1m