Frightening the Children.....yet fun

Yesterday our neighbor took Claire and I to The Rainforest Cafe to celebrate Claire's birthday. They have been out of town for a while so it was kinda neat for her to do it again a month later! I have never been there my husband went with my mom and her once about six months ago but that is it. The atmosphere is really snazzy....until they dim the lights and it starts lighting, pretending to rain, and the animals go bazurke. Both Claire and L were clammering to get up our arms. Luckily it doesn't last long, then they sat us right in between two elephants who constantly move and "talk" to each other. After about 30 minutes of explaining it was pretend, they seem to settle down....then another lightning storm came. I of course thought "oh this is going to be a fun meal". By the end of the two hours we were there they were completely fine and thought it was the neatest thing! Monkeys, snakes, butterflies any animal you might find in The Rainforest is there and animated. In the gift shop there was a crocodille that did wig them back out a bit, but it was pretty realistic even for me! I thought they were a bit pricey but if your kids don't get scared easily, or they are older it is a really neat place to go. AND.....if it a birthday I recommend doing the Lava Cake, it is four large peices of cake with ice cream and cool whip topped with a sparkler and a singing staff. Our daughter has never been sung to in public so she was a bit embarassed but she smiled the whole time! The cake was delicious!