They are the covered dining spaces for Flame Tree...since Flame Tree offers no seating. So they built a series of covered patios for dining on a few pathways...It makes for a nice setting.
Wow. It looks so big for that purpose, but that kind of extra bit is what makes people love this park. I feel silly not thinking of confirming this possibility by watching a review of the restaurant to see if the area is toured. Found it in the first one. The water feature really is a beautiful little spot.
Flame Tree would not be sacrificed. The plan is to offer American food for basic people from the kiosks around the park, particularly Smiling Crocodile and Eight Spoon with some standing tables plopped down. Those locations would also utilize Flame Tree’s seating. Otherwise, do it up fancy like we do at Epcot festivals and dine on a trash can.
The park already bleeds guests and they know that will worsen when Dinoland closes.
Considering what I've heard with many of the kiosks being hit-or-miss, I suppose it's for the best. I mean, it's obviously great to not lose Flame Tree. I didn't know if the kiosks would have enough kitchen to do burgers and such. The table situation is obviously an issue, but at least those two you mentioned are right in front of the Flame Tree tables.
Funnily enough, Smiling Crocodiles current offerings of tacos and chips and salsa would be perfect for switching to Tropical Americas. Meanwhile Eight Spoon offers things found at Flame Tree alongside a burger that can easily be retained when switching to burgers/fries/nuggets. It's actually perfect if it didn't seem that demand would likely swamp the locations.
Speaking of the current Dinoland restaurants... Trilo-Bites sells churros and a tropical ice cream. Keeping those and ditching the buffalo chips that I imagine frequently get switched out for would be easy.
As for the other two, the buildings are connected. Originally, I'd wondered if Dino-Bites had access to Restaurantosaurus's kitchen . Then with some added seating, it might be possible to turn it into counter-service and the other into table-service. But knowing that Smiling Crocodiles does what looks like a working Tropical Americas CS menu out of such a small footprint, it may not even be necessary to access the larger kitchens. Although, again, there's the matter of increased demand.
Of course, I'd love a little more expanded offerings than these tacos, especially since Mexican/Tex-Mex fare is so well represented across the parks and Caribbean/South American deserves the representation, but I'm looking at what I could expect them to do. At least they should add arepas to the tacos considering the nearby Encanto attraction.
Also, travelling through the land on Streetview to get a look at the restaurants really has reminded me how well-themed that half of Dinoland is. But I've already expressed more than enough that I'm firmly in the "Dinosaurs Belong in Animal Kingdom and They Should Just Replace Dino-Rama" camp.
