In the glorious 1990's, right after the Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheeses of Connecticut started fading, a new, wildly decorated restaurant that featured animatronics swooped into our lives, and I just found an old video of it.

My wife and I visited Westfarms Mall in Farmington recently, and I had a vivid flashback of the Rainforest Cafe that once operated at the bottom of the escalator in the North end of the mall. A wild explosion of colors, sounds, and animatronic animals, Rainforest Cafe - Westfarms closed down a long time ago, but they still exist in 2024. The two closest Rainforest Cafes to Connecticut in 2024 are both in New Jersey, one is in Edison, and the other in Atlantic City. Overall, 16 Rainforest Cafes are open today, with most of the other locations near traditional tourist traps like Orlando, Opryland in Tennessee, and Minnesota's Mall of America. Here's the video that I found on YouTube of a walking tour of Rainforest Cafe in Westfarms Mall, it was posted by The Toy Channel in 2011.

Do you remember the excitement as you were gliding down that escalator? Hearing the water splashing and the jungle sounds they broadcast over the din of mall walkers? From what I remember, the food was adequate, but I stood underneath the fish tank archway for what seemed like hours. It's such a trip to actually see those incredible features, and the explosion of color that made the rest of Westfarms seem dull.

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The only place I can think of that is comparable in the Connecticut of 2024 is Cava in Southington, who spend months going over-the-top with incredible decorations to draw us in. Sadly, Cava does not have an animatronic python or croc, yet.

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