Sell me on DTD

[iheartdisney]

I've only been a few times (the last time was about 10 years ago) but I've never found DTD a place worth spending any amount of time. But soooooo many people rave about it. I just read a post in another thread about being able to design your own light saber (my husband and sons are big Star Wars fans) and thought, ok, maybe we SHOULD schedule some time at DTD this trip.

So...convince me as to why we should visit DTD this year! Ready, set, go!

[SBETigg]

I'm with you, and therefore no help. Downtown Disney is fun if you want to shop and have the time to kill, but I would much rather spend time at the parks and going to Downtown Disney tends to pop my happy Disney bubble, takes me out of magic mood.

We'll do it only when there's plenty of time, or in the case of our next vacation, we're coming in a day early and staying at the Downtown Disney Hilton before we even have our park passes. So we're not taking time away from our planned Disney time, it's time we wouldn't be in parks anyway and before we actually check in, so it won't feel like time out. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother. But we do love Raglan Road.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I'm with you too, we're not big DTD fans. We usually spend a couple of hours, do some shopping, but that is about it. We like the Christmas store, and usually get some personalized ornaments, for us and as gifts.

This year, we're heading over for dinner, to try the T-Rex restaurant, but it isn't a place we spend a lot of time.

[TheVBs]

We like going, but just for a few hours, unless we're having a meal there, then it's longer. Our big thing about going there is that the girls love to get the new Potato Head and My Little Pony accessories. Okay, it may be DH and I who like the Potato Head stuff. But, we definitely don't devote a lot of time to it.

[dtootsie42]

We go to DTD to have lunch at Fultons...we usually spend a few hours looking through the shops, especially the christmas store. We usually do this on our arrival day, once we leave we don't go back unless we know there is something we wanted to buy and could not find it at a store in the park.

[Keasmom]

DTD- Well, my first visit there was Jun 2007 when I took my daughter to WDW. We got there late in the evening and my daughter wanted to "go somewhere". She is a 8.5 year old commando when it comes to the parks. So off to DTD, it was amazing. The Lego sculptures and store, the Ghiaredelli (I spelled that wrong) shop, the amazing World of Disney store and, the environment-like a very safe downtown used to be. We ended almost everyday there and it was our last stop on the way out of the parks.

We enjoyed window shopping, we order an art piece from the Art of Disney, we had hot cocoa and hot fudge sundeas from Ghiaredelli, and we had a blast just strolling around watching people and looking at all the cool stuff. And we felt totally safe. The bus transport made it very accessible and large number of restaurants made it a great alternate dining choice.

Hope that helps.

[elmjimmlm]

We don't really have a choice because we go on our last day to go shop for toys...We hold them off until then and let them pick out their own things...That saves us from buying something every time they get off of a ride...
We also have to get something from Earl of Sandwich...

[AmandaChan]

Well, we don't LOVE LOVE LOVE DTD (and I've never really met anyone that's been obsessed with it or anything) but it IS a nice nighttime break from the parks. I really miss 8 Trax and that was probably one of our favorite parts of the area. We make it a point to go out to dinner at one of the restaurants, stop by World of Disney and maybe get some ice cream. That's about it for us. Just a fun side thing to do.

[stitchaholic]

we love it,the whole atmospere,the shops,WPE (favorite CS in all disney),it is a nice break from the parcs,and don't forget goofy's candy shop and the hand dipped goodies!

[garthbarth1]

DH and I went for the first time last year and probably will not go back this trip. We spent an hour or so there. Lego shop was cool! We are not big shoppers -I usually get a sweatshirt and maybe an ornamnent- to remember our trip and thats all. We heard all these wonderful things about Goofys Candy Company so we wanted to check it out. Well, it WOULD have been wonderful to have a hand-dipped treat of my choice, but there was a line a MILE long and ONE PERSON making the treats. Waited about 5 minutes, the line barley moved, and that was the end of that. I feel like our time was spent better at the parks. Either way, enjoy your trip!

[tjstrike]

There's a few good stores and a few good places to eat but not worth spending much time there.

[iheartdisney]

So, our feelings about DTD seem pretty common. But if we DID have time to kill where could we find the place where you can design your own light saber? (Or will there be something like that at DHS? - we'll be there during Star Wars weekends)

It sounds like the Lego store and designing light sabers are going to be the only things we'll really want to do there.

Thanks!

[MistressGracey999]

The design-your-own-lightsaber is at Once Upon A Toy in the DTD Marketplace. They actually have alot of Star Wars stuff there! WAY COOL!

We like DTD alot. We go to Virgin Megastore to look at the video game related merchandise. Lego store to make our own Lego men. Basin is so neat with it's hand cut soaps. We find it it be a nice "down day" to go strolling through DTD. I look forward to the expansion, and to trying the T-Rex restaurant!

[Faver]

I love DTD.... the atmosphere is electric!!! There are so many shops and restaurants that are really neat to see. You do spend money down there, but there's so many cool things to spend money on!!!!!! And you''ve got to see Cirque du Soliel it's marvelous

I highly recommend these restaurants/shops: Bongos, Goofy's Candy Company, Ghiradelli, Wolfgang Pucks, World's Largest Disney Store, Once Upon a Toy, and Basin.

Check it out

[kemps@wdw]

We usually hit DTD our 1st night as we stay in the area. We like to check in our resort very early in the AM to get our room preference, so we stay the night before across from DTD, and spend the evening strolling around eating and shoppng. Love the World of Disney store, (I can find some of my scrapbooking supplies there) Ghiradelli's,and having a cold one @ the HOB,

[i'm grumpy]

Took almost an hour to get there and wasn't impressed with the merchandise. Wish we had just stayed in MK. Was too late to eat at Earl of Sandwich.

[Hull-onian]

We took the boat from Rainforest Cafe over to the West Side. We had a ball. We checked out La Nouba...the building. Then went to Virgin Mega Store. They had some neat stuff. Then went to the Magnet Store and got magnets for everyone. There was a speciality candy store there. We saw House of Blue, Bongos, and Pleasure Island. Meanwhile, there was a duo playing outside. The called themselves the Bodacious Brothers. They were good and funny. They got all the kids to play musical instruments and then go them to do the Limbo. It was so cute. Then we walked over to T-Rex and checked it out, then back to DTD. We had a blast. We just love it so much. Then over to Ghiradelli's for ice cream. After that, we boarded our boat back to POFQ. It was so much fun.