Is Downtown Disney worth taking time from the parks:

[Alpha Jeanie]

In all the trips that we have made to Disney World, we have never made it to Downtown Disney. Is it worth taking time away from the parks to go to Downtown Disney? FYI: We have a 9 year old daughter & 15 year old son.

On our last trip, we finally made it to the Boardwalk to eat at Spoodles (before Koucina) and although we liked the restaurant we were not impressed with the Boardwalk in general.

What stores, restaurants, etc. do you think are not to miss at Downtown Disney?

[Celakip]

Your kids will love Disney Quest. It's full of video games, virtual reality games, and even a giant pinball machine. It's very loud, so it gets old for the adults after a while, but the kids will love it!:mickey:

[Strmchsr]

The Christmas Store, Lego Store, sports store, toy store, Art of Disney and many more are worth the trip to DTD. The Lego Store itself is worth the trip. You should do it at least once and then judge for yourself if you want to do it again. We usually spend one morning there each trip.

[Zippy 1]

We love Downtown Disney!! We go there every night after the parks close. Lots of shops, some great art to look at and a fun place for a snack. We actually did lunch there on our last trip/ We went to Planet Hollywood and had a great meal along with some terrific memorabila from the movies

[CleveSJM]

Downtown Disney is great for shopping on the last night in town. If you get all your shopping done at the resort or parks, DTD is pretty optional.

It does have a Gharadelli chocolate store and ice cream shop. Wolfgang Puck express has awesome pizza. There is a big House of Blues, Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex Cafe that are interesting.

[Alaska Disney Fan]

We love going down to DDT, we will even take a break from the parks and head down for lunch at one of the many places. DisneyQuest is great for the kids, I'm sure they would enjoy the Lego shop too. There is so much more going on, than at the Boardwalk. Ridemakerz where they can build a RC car from scratch, Characters in flight - a tethered hot air balllon right, best taken at night.

[2Epcot]

I enjoy Downtown Disney. We usually go at least once or twice during every visit, and it doesn't take time away from the parks. Often we go on arrival day evening depending on when we get in to Orlando. Depending on the time of year, we will also go after the parks have closed.

[Tink#64]

We love DTD! It's our arrival day tradition! We've been heading there after checking in at our resort since our 1st trip when DS's were 4 & 6, they're now 14 & 16 & still enjoy it. In fact one year I tried to schedule DTD later in our trip & DH & DS's balked! World of Disney store is our fav, but the Christmas Store would be a close 2nd for me, every trip we get a personalized Christmas ornament! :cloud9: When DS's were younger the Lego store was an absolute must & Disney Quest is a blast! But we did it on a seperate trip to DTD, we went one morning at opening & spent 6 fun packed hours there! :D We enjoy DTD so much, we now head back there a few evening after the parks!

We've enjoyed eating many places in DTD, but our last trip we got to experience T-Rex & Earl of Sandwhich for the 1st time & REALLY enjoyed them both!

We always enjoy The Boardwalk, but it doesn't compare to DTD! So many more shops, restaurants, and last year we experienced more live "street performers" there than ever before! For us a trip to WDW wouldn't be complete without visiting DTD! :mickey:

[Tinker Fan]

We could not visit WDW without going to Downtown Disney. We go at least 3 times a trip, it's a great break from the parks. Some of our greatest memories are in Downtown Disney.:thumbsup:

[Fastpasssteve]

I really enjoy the shopping district. So much variety!

For the adults, Pleasure Island used to be a lot more fun before they closed the night clubs. Don't get me wrong, I love the Irish bar, but that's not enough reason to make the trip.

[Janmac]

We rarely go to DD. We did take our grandkids to Disney Quest when they were about 9 and 10. Then enjoyed themselves but have not asked to go back. :confused: We went early - when DQ opened when it wasn't very crowded at all and they had a great time.

We ate once at Raglan Road and that was another place no one in our extended family has asked to go back to, though everyone seemed to enjoy themselves while they were there.

We do like to eat at Earl of Sandwich and have even gone there to get sandwiches to bring back to the resort.

The Lego Store is one place we've visited several times, but there again, even our biggest Lego fan has no trouble going to WDW without visiting the store.

I think that the resort pools have been a bigger draw - outside the parks - than DD has been, overall.

Definitely, if you have time in your schedule, go to DD.

Jan

[slegrant]

My family and I love Downtown Disney! We love all the shopping and the atmosphere is always fun. Places to eat are Earl of Sandwich and for a great dinner Raglan Road, this has become a must each trip. Go and I bet you will have a great time:mickey:

[Tygger7]

We love DtD and try to go at least a couple of times during our trips. World of Disney is one of my favorite stores...I could spend hours wandering around in there. The Lego Store is really interesting and the sculptures are amazing.

One thing to note though: Disney Quest requires a separate admission fee. Our daughter is a HUGE video game fan but she didn't like it at all. There were lines for all the games and it was May while kids were still in school! We all got frustrated and left after an hour. We only went because we had gotten a free "water parks & more" upgrade and definitely would not pay to go back.

[SBETigg]

We rarely go to Downtown Disney and while we love Raglan Road, an Irish themed restaurant/pub there, we feel it often isn't worth our time compared to spending time at the resort or parks. It's a shopping area. That's pretty much it. Most of the same merchandise, you can find at the resorts and parks. My kids were 14 and 16, and gamers, when we went so they could go to DisneyQuest, and they hated it, felt it fell far short of their expectations. I don't want to be too down on it. When our trips are long, it's something else to do to add to the mix, and it is a pretty cool area. But if my time was short, and sometimes we have shorter trips, we skip Downtown Disney in favor of park/resort time.

[Dopey's Girl]

I devote at least part of a morning to DD. The World of Disney store is awesome, and I love me some Earl of Sandwich!

If you haven't been before, it's at least worth trying. If you don't find anything you like (who wouldn't love Goofy's candy store?) at least you know for next trip!

[whitney37354]

Go at least once to check it out. We went one morning & DD bought all of her souveniers there. We enjoyed Cookes of Dublin for lunch. I enjoyed looking through the shops, but DH said it was a waste of time that we could have used at the parks.

[minnie04]

Your kids will love Disney Quest. It's full of video games, virtual reality games, and even a giant pinball machine. It's very loud, so it gets old for the adults after a while, but the kids will love it!:mickey:

We have been once and that was enough for us, but it is a good place when it’s raining and you want to get out...

We always take a trip to Downtown Disney every time we go to Orlando. I love walking the shops and hanging out. It’s nice to do at night. Kids like it. We always buy the few things we want at the World of Disney store it always has plenty of good stuff. I don’t buy in the parks I hate carrying bags all day or when we are trying to leave those stores on Main Street get so crowded. I do look around but I save the buying for Downtown... :mickey:

I love the Xmas store
DD loves everything
DS16 loves the sports store
DS8 loves the candy store
DH loves when its time to go ...lol.. he's not a shopper

[Sylvia]

Others have already mentioned them, but I cast my votes for Earl of Sandwich, World of Disney (AP discount), Lego store, Once Upon a Toy, etc., etc., etc.

I usually head over to DD at least 3 times every trip.

[Mousemates]

we like to use it as a break from the parks...and typically sandwich a day there in the middle of our trip...like so many others our trip includes a visit to the earl of sandwich...our other personal fave is the Christmas store. We also tend to hit the big AMC theatre if something new has been released.

[DisneyDog]

We are arriving in the late afternoon next Wednesday. We will be checking in to our hotel and going straight to DTD. We love the shops, and we have dinner reservations at Raglan Rd. We never miss DTD on our trips. It is a must see.

[jwallace378]

DTD is great at night! The stores, restaurants, or just relaxing on a bench on the lake is a wonderful break after the theme parks.

[Mickey052501]

Definitely worth it!:mickey:

[LoveofEVERYTHINGDisney]

DTD is a must for us as well! Love the shops! We usually do all our souvenir shopping at World of Disney.
As for Disney Quest - we will never spend the extra $ again! At first we loved going b/c it was relatively empty. We were able to enjoy everything DQ had to offer without standing in line. Don't know if it was the time of year we went or even the time of day. We always go in Disney in May (43 days and counting!:cloud9:). That all changed for us a couple of years ago. We planned on doing a morning at DQ. At he time my DD was 15 and loved arcade games. When we arrived at DTD we noticed a hoard of school busses in the parking lot. That should have been our cue to return to our resort bus and head to one of the parks. We had no idea that DQ has become a school fieldtrip destination! It was awful! The whole place was filled with unruly children with nary a chaparone in site!:mad:. We tried to enjoy ourselves but after about an hour my DD had had it with the middle-school aged brats. We have learned our lesson - never again!

[MinnieMommie]

We love DD. Try to make it there on every trip. End up walking through all the stores although do have favorites. Usually eat, get sundaes at Ghirardelli and try to catch a move at AMC. :mickey:

[MrPeetrie]

Put us in the We-Love-Downtown-Disney class, too. Our DD8 INSISTS we schedule at least one trip there. Possibly two, if we have the time. She LOVES the Disney Store and the Once Upon a Toy store. My wife loves all the stores there. I like the food options. Wolfgang Puck Express is a hard-to-beat counter-service option.

Sometimes, when we're there, we do an inverse dinner (to be performed ONLY in Disney):
Eat all the Ghirardelli's Ice Cream you can fit into your belly, THEN go have a dinner afterwards if you have room. This is a Disney-only tradition!

You should definitely give it a shot!

[kemps@wdw]

our game plan is always to arrive @ WDW around 5-7 pm (if we drive), spend our 1st night in the DTD area. Our stops...World of Disney, House of Blues, Ghiradelli's, and just kinda stroll around and gearing up for for the wonderful week ahead! There are some great places to eat for the kids. Planet Hollywood, Earl of Sandwich, Rainforest Cafe, make-your-own-tee shop, the Lego displays alone are awesome, and one could spend DAYS in the World of Disney store and the Team Disney sports store!

[LudwigVonDrake]

I usually spend an afternoon doing some shopping in DTD but that's about it.

[Seasonscraps]

We always go to DTD for Earl of Sandwich. We'll usually go for lunch or dinner one day, walk around the area a bit, maybe shop, sometimes have a drink at that bar kiosk close to the water. It's a nice time. We don't consider it a "time away from parks" situation - we are just doing something else we enjoy on vacation.

[TikiGoddess]

In all the trips that we have made to Disney World, we have never made it to Downtown Disney. Is it worth taking time away from the parks to go to Downtown Disney? FYI: We have a 9 year old daughter & 15 year old son.

On our last trip, we finally made it to the Boardwalk to eat at Spoodles (before Koucina) and although we liked the restaurant we were not impressed with the Boardwalk in general.

What stores, restaurants, etc. do you think are not to miss at Downtown Disney?

It depends.

How long is your trip? If you are at WDW for, say, a week, then yes, take half a day and visit DTD. It's a nice way to get your Disney fix on a day when you're taking a break from the parks.

If you have a shorter vacation planned, I would skip it. DTD is really about shopping and dining. There are some great shops -- and I enjoy shopping (my husband will confirm that!) -- but for me, I get enough shopping in the parks. I would rather spend time in the parks (and so would my kids, especially my DD9).

It's an interesting area to visit, but just be aware it doesn't offer much past shopping and dining.

Kathy

[Mogie]

Definitely worth checking out at least once. See Cirque de Soleil and have dinner. Might be a good filler for an arrival day if you don't start using your park passes until the following day. A lot of it is shopping and commercial, but it still feels like youre in Disney.

[ANG]

We also like to go on our arrival day since we arrive in the evening and don't want to pay for a park ticket.

We enjoy the shopping but also the atmosphere

[caryrae]

We also love to go a couple times a trip. We like to go and just wander around at a slow pace, it is a nice change from the go go go at the Parks.

[AJ Springfield]

I enjoy DTD... but we would never skip park time to go. We usually go over in the evening for dinner (or after dinner) when we are done with the parks. Once we headed over on check out day and shopped for a couple hours before getting in the van for the long drive home.

We enjoy walking around and going into World of Disney-- biggest store on property. We have eaten dinner at Earl of Sandwich (very good) and ice cream at Ghiradelli's (expensive, but good)... as well as various pretzels and frozen lemonades.

One evening in June 2010, there was a live performer near the water...he was a riot and involved the whole audience. We hope something of this nature will be happening this June.

You can always take a bus to Port Orleans French Quarter or Riverside (connect at MK) and take the boat to DTD. It takes longer than a bus straight to DTD, but if you have an open evening it's a fun way to spend it.

[goofy-4-disney]

I find that DTD is a nice break from the parks. We usually try to make it there a few times each trip. Different restaurants/food than you can get in the parks, different stores with different merchandise and a much more relaxed atmosphere. At night it can get pretty crowded, but during the morning/early afternoon its much more relaxed. I think its worth the trip over and take a look around. If its not for you, you can quickly hop on a bus and go somewhere else! Thats whats great about Disney, theres always a way to get to something else very quickly!

[i'm grumpy]

It has seemed such a hassle to get there. And DTD is always crazy busy. :shrug:

[cuteduck223]

We go on arrival day, and sometimes after AK closes (since it closes earliest). We love it, and try to go two-three times per trip.

[finaldynasty]

Yes...DTD is a good change of pace.

[P.Sherman42]

DTD is great at night! The stores, restaurants, or just relaxing on a bench on the lake is a wonderful break after the theme parks.

I completely agree with this. The shops are great at night, and can be extremely relaxing for one night of your vacation!

[mdricks]

I do an adult trip every year and we spend at least one or two nights at DTD.

Fulton's for stone crabs with a cigar and mojito at Sosa's afterwards. Get a pint and the tunes at Raglan road.

The lego store is the bomb. Not a huge fan of trex or raniforest althought that might be a draw for your kids.

The shoping is far better than the resorts and you dont need a park ticket to get in.

If you have a travel day and dont want to use a park ticket this is the best "standby".

:number1:

[tjstrike]

I would try it once at least, plenty of great things to do and places to eat. It's usually our 1st stop after we get checked in.

[finaldynasty]

Another DTD fan here...I would recommend going at least once. I thought it would be boring, but I think your children will enjoy the shopping options. Plus, Disney Quest is pretty cool...:mickey:

[harlowandthemermaid]

WE always go to DTD but I like to shop! Love the Christmas Store and can't help but browse WoD. If you are an ice cream person, Ghirardelli's hot fudge sundae is reason enough to go. Sometimes there is music/events on the stage by WoD and there are other fun little things to do. I've found it hit or miss as far as crowds. Sometimes it's insanely packed, other times not so bad. I tend to go in the late afternoon/ early evening, say after a half day at one of the parks.

[JerseyDad]

....DTD is usually our first "stop" of our vacation at WDW. We usually arrive at out resort before noon...un-pack...maybe hit the pool...and then head to DTD for dinner and shopping. We love to go to Planet Hollywood for dinner...skip dessert...then get a huge ice cream concoction at Ghiradelli (and an espresso...make that a double). We also get all of our shopping done...and of course have the purchases sent back to the resort.

...also.. Wolfgang Puck Express...is a really good counter service eatery...and has some great pizza (only second to the pizza at Via Napoli...in my opinion)

[Crow]

usually go to DTD each trip, but idt i would miss it much if i didnt. the art of animation store doesnt seem quite as good or the attached bookstore, scrapbooking place. i like Raglan Rd, but otherwise PI is just a space to walk thru from one side to the other.
I like Cirque, but have seen it 3 times already.Disneyquest i was in once. dont really go into the shops on that end.
i usually walk thru WOD and the Pin store, but i hardly buy anything anymore.
I will probably eat at DD tuesday, since my friend wont have park admission tickets til later in wk. and i may go on the boat at end of wk from POFQ.
if you have the time yes go, as its better than BW for things to see but if you are on a tight schedule dont worry about trying to get there

[riley1129]

I believe so. Sometimes you need to get out of the hustle and bustle of the parks and see DTD. I think it is an awesome place.. especially at night. Im not a fan of DTD during the day because it is WAY TOO HOT!! But at night time its perfect and so many fun things are going on.

[ryca1dreams]

I'm going to be the party-pooper here. I don't care for DTD. I have restaurants and shops here in our area with the same kind of stuff. To me it is a waste of time unless you just want to get away from the parks.

There are two things there I liked:

1 - Disney Quest is pretty fun for about a half day. We've been there several times and it was worth it

2 - The Adventurers Club is gone, which was pretty cool.

Look at the different clubs/shops/restaurants that are there and see if it's a draw for you.

[Arielfan98]

Yes! It's definitely looking at least once (although I recommend once every trip). The kids will love Disney Quest, filled with games. As a kid I have tons of memories at Lego Land and at the giant Disney Store (best one ever). On top of that I also enjoy browsing the shops, especially the magnet store!!! The restaurants there serve fine food as well. There's a lot to offer. And if you're worried about wasting a day I suggest you do half a day at either one of the water parks: Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon OR spend the day at Animal Kingdom (which always closes early), then go to Downtown Disney in the afternoon :thumbsup:

[danicaca]

Our favorite restaurant was Wolfgang Puck Express - great especially if you are on the DDP! We will be trying Raglan Road on our next trip, and the kids just loved our time there. It was more fun to shop there than at the parks! Also, we are staying at POR, so we can take a boat to DTD, so that adds to the fun! I would not miss it if I were you!