I Drove to Every Rainforest Cafe in North America

i did something really stupid when i was gone do you want to know what it is this is the rainforest cafe it's a themed restaurant that's decked out to look like a rainforest they got animatronic animals the waiters refer to themselves as safari guy and every 30 minutes there is a thunderstorm that happens within the restaurant it is the stupidest most ridiculous restaurant to exist and i love it so much and for that reason i drove almost 10 000 miles to go to every single one of them what else did you expect [Music] [Applause] this rainforest cafe odyssey began by stopping at the closest location to la in ontario california it's also where i met up with my partner eddie burback he's dastardly good looking played a perfect game in wii bowling and has a mustache that makes animated disney movie fathers cry like little wing wham babies he was perfect walking into that random mall in california i knew that we were about to embark on something truly special initial thoughts i like it here shut the [ __ ] up jim entering this holy place made me feel like a young boy again the animatronics seemed so real and the menu still had some of my favorites from my childhood including the gorilla grilled cheese delight and the jurassic chicken tidbits what is a tidbit i'm pretty sure we made our servers day by actually signing up for the rainforest cafe members card which normally wouldn't have much use but for our specific situation made a lot of sense then all of a sudden without any warning our first rainforest thunderstorm that thunder had a shivering in our little boots we waved goodbye to this first rainforest cafe prepare for our road trip to every single other location of this restaurant this is the stupidest thing i think either of us have ever done i walked out of my apartment and i was like oh my god i'm not gonna be back for three weeks because i'm doing this there's gonna be so much driving and we're doing that driving in my 2002 toyota tacoma forest green aesthetically rusted from the new england winters and also the only car that i've had for the last eight years that's right i'd drive myself to high school in this car and i'm almost 25. the first startup of the truck can you imagine if it didn't [Music] la we drove 384 miles to phoenix arizona where we'd find our second rainforest cafe you might be asking why i'm doing this in the first place i was one of the children whose childhood was blessed with a rainforest cafe filled life it was the best thing that ever happened to my small tiny frail body but that's not the only reason a popular family restaurant in johnson county closes its doors popular restaurant rainforest cafe abruptly closes its doors rainforest cafe has closed its location outside today the rainforest cafe is dying out at its peak there was 34 rainforest cafes in the united states today that number has been whittled down to half and if i didn't go to every last rainforest cafe in the country i don't know if i would even be able to look at myself so yeah here we are at rainforest cafe number two eddie and i decided to share the flatbread appetizer which was served on a very fancy stone platter typical of your higher end eating establishment and i got a beyond burger with one of my favorite sides safari fries what makes them different from normal fries um you're eating them on a safari one of the interesting facets of this location though was how insanely loud the elephants we were next to were and hey what's a rainforest cafe without random animal heads sticking out of the walls without very clear proportion guidelines with that we've hit rainforest cafe number two on to number and then five and then six [Music] we're somewhere in new mexico right now and we're about to go camping in the middle of the desert we're little crunchy granola boys sometimes i would say mostly not me but i'm hoping i have a good experience i like beds everyone refers to eddie burback as like mr groundhog i don't know about that i know that it was a eddie top 10 on trending burbank okay recently uh eddie the king of the squirts uh [Music] we're now at our campsite baby we're in the middle of nowhere in new mexico tomorrow we're heading to the dallas rainforest cafe we set up our camp made a little fire and as we sat there under the stars we dreamed of all the rainforest cafe visits we had left in store weeks of experience in front of us the world was our oyster or should i say rain forest that was so stupid that didn't even make any sense just a quick word from the sponsor of this video which is better health i have adhd and since i have a job that requires a lot of personal executive functioning it can sometimes be a heavy weight on my own personal mental health amongst other things if you're struggling with your own mental health you're absolutely not alone and even if the people around you encourage taking care of your mental health it can be difficult to know where to start better help is customized online therapy that offers video phone and even live chat sessions with your therapist so you don't even need to see someone on camera if you don't want to there's a broad range of expertise and better helps 20 000 plus therapist network so you can have access to help that may not necessarily be available in your area you fill out a questionnaire to help assess what your specific needs are and you get matched with a therapist in under 48 hours then you schedule secure video and phone sessions and everything that you share is completely confidential if you find your therapist isn't right for you then you can request a new therapist at no additional charge any time if you think better help might be good for you then you can get 10 off at betterhelp.com ted nevison good morning everyone it's 5 30 in the morning and we have to drive an additional 10 hours to make it to our next rainforest cafe if we don't our plans will be squandered we have reservations tonight [Music] first we hit white sands national park which is pretty literal to the name there's sand dunes everywhere baby what the hell is going on why is this in america from there we began our 621 mile trek to dallas texas and when you've got 10 hours of drive time sometimes roadside attractions become as enticing as ever oh eddie eddie pistachio land okay pistachio land uh-huh have you ever seen the largest pistachio before chances are i know i'm fine with that i could be on my deathbed and someone go what are your regrets and i would say definitely not missing out on the largest pistachio there's another one yeah they're ad they're billboard ads they want us to go that's how advertising works bigger is better that's so true bigger is better you can freak out all you want i don't know if i'm going to be able to forgive you or myself if i don't see the largest pistachio in the world i can i can't stress enough how much i can live without it's the longest okay well i'm satisfied [Music] we made it to dallas texas the first thing we noticed at this rainforest cafe was the difference in the population of customers in the restaurant it's a miracle we're not the only ones perhaps it was because it was the first rainforest cafe we went to that had fish or it could be because of a theory i've held for a while that i was seeing in the flesh for the first time the rainforest cafe texas supercluster theory [Music] this is the texas rainforest cafe super cluster as i've mentioned which means i think that all of the restaurants in this area are going to be higher quality they're going to be busy they're going to have lots of people food's going to be good drinks are going to be popping we barely scratched the surface ladies and gentlemen of what we can discover it's a pretty good sign if a specific rainforest cafe is completely booked up the galveston one the san antonio one they're both booked up out the wazoo now we're starting to reserve rainforest cafes ahead of time we cannot afford to not get into one of these rainforest cafes galveston one apparently has eight somebody said it was a ride then i heard it was a water ride if there is even a chance that we can go on the galveston rainforest cafe ride i want it we gotta do it in my mind right now i'm imagining like a tiger-themed roller coaster that goes through the restaurant and i don't think it's gonna be anything like that and we drove from dallas all the way down to san antonio to reach rainforest cafe number four it was situated in a pretty cool location the riverwalk in san antonio we also met up with some pals here that you may know this location was cool because it had three floors to it it was really compressed into the location it was in which was unique to this rainforest cafe i believe everyone in the group had a fantastic time and i was proud to say that we converted them into rfc lovers don't believe me listen to them they gave me a freaking light up cup and it was sick they had my name on one of the keychains i really appreciate that out of toilet seat covers but they did have two white toilet papers conor had a panic attack we were supposed to drive back to austin texas where we'd then leave for houston the next morning unfortunately though the truck started being a bit louder than normal it's not supposed to sound like that [ __ ] so i drove the truck to the nearest midas repair shop if we were gonna stay on schedule the truck had to be fixed and fast to see my broken green child hurting like this was almost too much to bear but what was even harder to bear was what i had to deal with while i waited for it to be fixed for some reason at 7 30 a.m in the morning they decided to play saving private ryan on the tv at almost full volume i don't think you understand the fever dream of watching people's heads be blown off on the beaches of normandy at 7 30 a.m in a midas waiting room like it was good morning america and i watched the entirety of saving private ryan then i stepped outside briefly to get some air and make some calls and i come back in to see that saving private ryan was playing a second time i was in the most uniquely crafted scenario in hell thankfully the truck got fixed in time but now something within me is broken before we left austin though we got a little peek into the rainforest by getting to meet the animals at alvayus animal sanctuary i got to stroll with an emu which is a terrifying bird that seems like it should not exist and i made friends with the crows they will remember me with their fifth greater brains as an ally to the world of crows this is a crow his name he's gonna remember my face and you know these animals sort of reminded me of all the mascots for the rainforest cafe they're called the wild bunch and they're all known criminals you've got cha-cha the red-eyed tree frog a money launderer iggy the iguana a thief nile the crocodile arrested for drunk driving rio the macaw an infamous poacher maya the jaguar tax evasion kooky the elephant cyber bully bomba the gorilla in the can for assault and battery and ozzy the orangutan weed so we drove to houston texas to visit the katy mills rainforest cafe this rainforest cafe was a pretty standard mall rainforest cafe delicious and exciting meal as always but we went to bed that night thinking of the rainforest cafe we had tomorrow the number one rainforest cafe in texas galveston we were greeted the next morning by the most impressive rainforest cafe we had seen yet a beautifully shaped volcanic building along with a handy sign that showed us the one and only rainforest cafe ride this was going to be one for the books this location was popping and we ate some of the most delicious general american chain restaurant food money could buy eddie even enjoyed a slushie with that money launderer's head on i'm having the greatest lunch of my life then we bought matching shirts and prepared for what could be the most electric rfc experience yet my god [Music] elephants what the [ __ ] is going on [Music] to say we were blown away would be an understatement that was the greatest thing i had ever seen i almost didn't even want to leave what the hell i mean wow wow this lived up and i think was a little bit better than i expected am i kind of turning you over to the side of the rainforest cafe well no no if we weren't doing this video and you said like do you want to go to the rainforest cafe for like another time this month i'd still probably say no is your enjoyment ramping up no matter the location just every time we go to one you're not tired of the safari fries for the sixth time in a row here's what i'll say i think if you just get a little bit more rainforest cafe it'll click for you no so the problem is that i'm having too much why don't we table this for a little bit i suppose i'm not i mean we could take it why don't we table this conversation yeah i'm not gonna change my so we drove from galveston all the way to celebrate our progress in new orleans still living off the high of that last rainforest but there was still more to come after breakfast in new orleans we begin our drive to gainesville florida and oh my god what is that i was blessed with a vision of a mascot character advertising a gas station called bucky's and i just had to make her stop and check out what the hell was going on i forced eddie to push a bucky's run because we'd never been to bucky's before we're out of gas ted had to skip multiple gas stations to go to bucky's this was the most massive gas station shop i had ever seen they had everything some guy was chopping a brisket like it was the only thing that he had ever learned in his entire life this beaver was running an empire under my nose the entire time and they sold everything they had jelly they had jams was there even a market for pickled quail even the ice was funny 69 that's the sex number my love for mascots my love for theme i just couldn't handle it i just feel like you're kind of a sucker for mascotted brands what do you mean [Music] on day eight we reached the southernmost rainforest cafe in the united states just outside of miami florida for our seventh visit to this magical place although this rainforest cafe wasn't the one in florida i was most excited about that would come when we drove back north to orlando upon arriving in orlando we met up with our girlfriends who had just flown in nice to see and we met up with drew and amanda who would be joining us for this stop at the disney springs rainforest cafe this rainforest cafe had an exterior that was an even more intense volcano building than galveston whoa i didn't know it and the classic crocodile for this one was just hanging out next to the volcano walking into this rainforest cafe i knew that we'd be convincing amanda and drew to join our rfc fan club the atmosphere was on point this was a pretty good one drew and amanda were having so much fun that we had to take an rfc fan club family photo to savor the memory look at us and since our waiter got lost in the jungle for 40 minutes to find our chat we got to spend extra time listening to elephant screams and thunder claps drew was practically overwhelmed with satisfaction what a time eddie what a time i murdered him will you vouch for me in order to reach the second orlando-based rainforest cafe we had to venture into probably the most thematically appropriate place for one to be which was the [ __ ] animal kingdom in disney world we are currently at the most exclusive rainforest cafe location hidden within the confines of a transnational multimedia conglomerate it's animal kingdom rainforest cafe what did you like but that's not the only thing that made this rainforest cafe special this location is the only rainforest cafe in the entirety of north america to serve breakfast that's right we were there at 9 00 a.m and we were gonna start our day with a rainforest themed breakfast feast this breakfast selection came with its own menu with a slew of options somehow more ridiculous than the normal menu jurassic chicken tidbits i raise you pie of the viper a mexican style breakfast pizza it's like they spun those three descriptors on a slot machine we ended up getting the breakfast sliders i don't know if it was because the eggs were fresh or they just put crack in them but those those sliders were good i also got a bloody mary that morning at 9am but i only did it because i was trying to get something out of it but i'll tell you what that is when i finish this trip of course after leaving the only thing that was on our minds was to go on an actual safari we saw zebras we saw giraffes we saw monkey the only thing that would have made this better is if i had a plate full of safari fries on my lap i was over the moon of course moments like these can last forever so after spending the rest of our day at the animal kingdom our journey would continue as we reached [Music] nashville tennessee possibly the most out of the way rainforest cafe on the entire route we left so early in the morning that we got there before it had even opened so we waited it's an interesting sensation to sit in a mall at 11am and wait for a rainforest cafe to open there was a shocking amount of people in this rainforest cafe at 11am and since this location didn't even serve breakfast what are you here for brunch at the rainforest cafe this location is also where we learned an interesting fact about why some of the rainforest cafes get rid of the fish they spend 3.5 million dollars a year per location just for the fish which is probably why this fish has been staring me down the whole time we ate he knew he was more expensive than me and he wanted me to know it either way eddie and i were having the time of our lives i could just tell eventually it was time for us to leave tennessee and make our way further north we were heading to the atlantic city rainforest cafe and we were on a roll two rainforest rascals rolling down the open road going to every location of a beautiful themed restaurant everything was going great nothing could stop us that is of course until disaster struck us like lightning to an animatronic gorilla we've run into a bit of an issue of a caliber uh that may be a big problem very large problem actually we were driving on the highway and the truck reacted really abnormally to what would be a small bump i noticed the truck was aggressively leaning to one side and when i checked under it i discovered this that is the suspension right there it has snapped off as far as i know it would be a really really bad idea to drive this car without the shocks the damage was so bad we had to get the truck towed to the nearest repair shop for now atlantic city had to wait it seemed like our entire journey was being called into question i stood there in the drizzling rain of delaware as i watched my steed be hauled away the rain felt like what i had experienced in a rainforest not so unfamiliar to me now i knew in my heart that there was a way to get this done in three weeks but tonight we had to stay in hell on earth newark delaware this put our road trip plans in a terrible situation would we be able to get the truck fixed tomorrow or would parts not come and we'd be waiting a day or two days we literally had no idea all we could do was wait for tomorrow [Music] we received a rainforest miracle the truck was fixed somehow they found parts for the truck and we had a chance to make back the time we lost but we'd have to go to two rainforest cafes in one day so we race as fast as we legally could to atlantic city like mad men and when we arrived at this rainforest cafe we ordered our food and drinks and immediately asked for the check we scarfed down mozzarella sticks like starving british orphans and i sucked down that cheetorita like i was a dehydrated elephant at the watering hole a quick touch to the atlantic ocean and we kept going screaming down the roads of new jersey like our wives were in labor there wasn't a damn thing that was going to stop us now and we arrived just in time to reach the edison new jersey rainforest cafe oh oh so we had heard stories of this rainforest cafe it was rumored to be the lowest performing location in the country i can summarize the state that it was in with this the crocodile pond was devoid of water it looks sad we were joined at this lowest performing rainforest cafe with nakey jakey and our boy fritz this is the worst location that we heard from other rainforest cafe employees if you look at the sign despite the flaws of this rainforest cafe it was still a rainforest cafe the wow factor was still there and you could see that jakey was having a good time jakey and fritz were so inspired by this rainforest cafe that they gave us a little bit of slam poetry rainforest cafe in the forest built like a snake i'm a forest gump i forgot my rake and he doesn't like to hum then we drove into new york city spent some time celebrating our journey thus far with jakey and friends and prepared to hit the road once more because we weren't finished yet [Music] [Applause] on day 15 we reached the american niagara falls rainforest cafe and this rainforest cafe is significant because i've already been to this rainforest cafe before four years ago with my buddy ross it's one of the earliest videos on my channel and i was delighted to see that it was still open maybe there is hope i bought a niagara falls rainforest cafe crew neck with all my favorite criminals on it how do i look yeah it's it's good i guess and from there we prepared to cross the border in order to go to the last canadian rainforest cafe all we had to do was just pass through border patrol once you have that code then you can seek entry to canada oh unfortunately you're not evil we just got tonight entry to canada we got in five minutes later when we filled out the right paperwork this canadian location was unique in that it was the only privately owned rainforest cafe so the menu was a bit more custom than your average rfc even the fish population was custom and by that i mean they had a [ __ ] shark uh that's my favorite animal from the rainforest even the animatronic animals seemed a bit more lively than what we were used to we also saw this waterfall but not a rainforest cafe so no reason to care me say [Music] we stopped at rainforest cafe number 15 in detroit michigan at this point i could see the amount of rainforest cafes we had been to was weighing on eddie we had been to so many thus far and it was probably impossible for him to figure out what his favorite one was i really felt for him because i was going through the same thing from detroit we drove to chicago where we stayed with eddie's mom and on day 17 for our 16th rainforest cafe we traveled from chicago to gurney illinois to enjoy another helping of safari prize at the rfc and this time we were joined by danny gonzalez danny and i just clicked he was a rainforest cafe lover like myself and he might have been having a better time than i was which is uh wow like he must have been a veteran too because he knew tracy tree by name a talking tree that's in every single gift shop of every single rainforest cafe and they say the same thing every time check out the wild selection of toys gifts and souvenirs right here in the ring is a sell-out eddie's joy i could tell was more internal he's more of a philosophical lover of the rfc honestly i think it makes him kind of cool danny and i walked out of there with a glorious safari march and he loved it so much that he said this my favorite thing about the rainforest cafe was the way the waiter was so nice and he reminded me of a real rainforest cafe right now we are heading to bloomington minnesota which is the location of the second to last rainforest cafe and also the first rainforest cafe to ever have been open this is a very big deal for me i can't believe that we've been blessed to go to almost every rainforest cafe at this point bless maybe words like cursed imprisoned bells have been cast on me oh come on man what are you talking about when guardium depression what are you talking about dude more like wingardium safariosa is what i'm thinking baby so we set our sights on where this rainforest found its roots in the mall of america it was such a maze to navigate through that we made it there just an hour before closing lucky for us too because i think that this was eddie's favorite rainforest cafe yet hello kids my name is tracy [Music] to tropical fish [Music] are you being paid by the rainforest cafe what are you talking about how are you still having a good time we're going to every rainforest cafe in the united states eddie that's a joy parts of the road trip are fun but then we [ __ ] end up in another rainforest we've been to 17 rainforest cafes and don't you feel like the luckiest person in the world like that there's lucky you've got animatronic animals safari fries have you tried the safari fries i had another [ __ ] safari fry dude i'm dunking myself in the alligator pit slowly as we continue i'm more and more miserable every goddamn mall every mills mall [ __ ] katy mills auburn how small are the best ones they're the ones that bring life to a small town there's suburbs in major cities it's just a boring [ __ ] mall i just have no idea how you continue to go to rainforest cafe after rainforest cafe with the same menu and enjoy it more and more maybe it's because it's all i have [Music] oh [Music] it's all i have when i was a boy i went to the rainforest cafe and i was a miserable little boy until i stepped through those doors and i saw the animatronic animals i ate the safari fries i sipped on the icee with cha-cha's head rested upon it like a golden idol we're going to every single rainforest cafe because it's an awesome place and i don't know what i would do if it was gone do you understand the toll 17 rainforest cafes has on your digestive system i gotta find a moment to try and fix it and i gotta find a moment when you'd show me uh just a sliver of appreciation for this beautiful trip i'm taking you on but no we're gonna go to the last rainforest cafe and you are going to enjoy the [ __ ] out of it eddie i swear to god i'm going to enjoy it because it's the last one i just want to be done with the trip just don't even [ __ ] talk to me until we get there well maybe i won't good maybe i [ __ ] won good [Music] i had been a fool i was so caught up in teaching eddie about the wonder of the rainforest cafe that i didn't see what was right in front of me the whole time this trip was meant to bring our hearts together not shatter them completely was my love for this megacorporation-owned themed restaurant misplaced i couldn't wrap my head around it maybe i should just forget about this silly goal and just work on repairing what's left of eddie and i's friendship and then maybe wait i forgot eddie hasn't even tried the famous volcano cake there's still a chance to save him the most famous item at the rainforest cafe the brownie sparkling volcano dessert a giant rich chocolate brownie cake stacked up high served warm with vanilla ice cream creamy whipped topping caramel and chocolate sauces it was my only shot to instill the glory of the rainforest inside young burback's heart and what a perfect city for our last rainforest cafe las vegas nothing bad has ever happened in this city and everyone leaves wealthy emotionally i think we arrived in las vegas and i had the fire of ambition in my heart once eddie knew that all he had to eat was that volcano i could see the sparkle of joy in his eyes and i was surprised too he was being such a meanie 1712 miles ago approaching this final rainforest cafe we were filled with passion and so we entered that rainforest we ordered that volcano and there it was in all its glory all it took was one bite and i knew eddie's mind had changed i could see it in his eyes we had completed our task and gone to every single rainforest cafe in north america and eddie was a bigger rainforest cafe fan than ever look how happy it is there's no other reason why he could be happy right now we gazed out onto the bright cityscape of our final stop and i we almost couldn't believe it ontario mills galveston texas bloomington minnesota niagara falls we had done them all we were true heroes and what did i have to show for it you may be asking well every rainforest cafe gives you a free souvenir cup every time you buy a specific type of drink so now ladies and gentlemen i have a souvenir cup from every single rainforest cafe in the country guinness book of world records your move [Music]

Channel: Ted Nivison

Views: 3,380,287

Keywords: JehBerDeh, TedNivison, Ted, Nivison

Id: 7InqrH1TCI8

Length: 30min 32sec (1832 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 06 2022