Disney outlets close to property

[CanadianDisneyFan]

We'll be heading back to Disney in late August 2010 for our 6th annual trip!! For the first time, we are considering going off property for some outlet mall shopping. We have never rented a car while at Disney and plan to take a taxi from Downtown Disney. My questions are, what is the best outlet mall for Disney themed items (Premium, Prime, etc...) and if you have taken a taxi in the past, what is the approximate taxi cost from Downtown Disney?

[CanadianWDWFan]

to INTERCOT!

We have always visited the Premium Outlet Mall on Vineland Ave. just across the I-4. It is pretty close to Downtown Disney. It has never taken us longer than 5 minutes to get there from Downtown Disney. We are pretty successful in our purchases whenever we visit this store.

As for taxi cost, sorry I can't help you there as we almost always have a car.

[debandbub]

thanks for asking this question- we are thinking of doing the same thing, partly because we miss the variety and quality of the stuff we've seen in years past, and we were hoping to find some different things out there. Since this is the main reason for doing a shopping trip off property, can anyone tell me if it would be worth our while to check it out? Or is is a lot of the same stuff as on property? Thanks in advance!

[BelleFan2]

In all my trips to WDW, I only didn't rent a car one time. I took a cab to the outlets on Vineland and it was close to $40 - one-way! It was literally cheaper to rent a car for one day - I would suggest that if you really want to go off property. Then you can hit more outlets and even get some food or drink or hit up a grocery store if you want.

[Julie_Mouse]

In terms of the merchandise at the Disney store, when I was there (on all of my previous trips except August '07) we rented a car, so we drove. I suppose it depends on what you're looking for, but we found the selection to be a good assortment of things that were not available in the parks. It was definitely cheaper!

As for the cab, hopefully someone else can provide info on the cost of cabbing from DTD-ish to the outlets, because I didn't think it would be $40 one-way! If it's that expensive, we may have to re-think it...

EDIT: I should clarify This was a review of the Orlando Premium Outlets on Vineland.

[lwhan4]

We always rent a car. We enjoy seeing Orlando and having other options. We've been to the outlet stores but prefer Character Premiere which is located at the Orlando Premium Outlets. Most of the items seem to be from the previous season or year. It' seems to be the luck of the draw, sometimes we find good items, sometimes we don't. The Character Outlet at Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores is similiar. We always make a stop at the outlets during our vacations.

[MushuGrl]

We hit the Premiere Outlet for the first time on our last trip - LOVED it! My sister found a shirt that she'd wanted at the park for over half off.

We visited the Character Premiere store in St. Augustine which had kinda the same stuff - I nabbed two sets of lithographs, two pairs of flip flips, a book bag, and a POTC mousepad for under $15.

[tinkerbell615]

We always drive and have a car, but have never really ventured offsite except the one year that my DD had to go to the urgent care. Maybe we will visit the outlet malls this time. Thanks!