Disney Springs
Known as Downtown Disney in the (not so distant) past, Disney Springs are another great place to visit in Orlando, besides all the awesome amusement parks. This area of Florida is really nothing special - the landscape is swampy, with a few palm trees, but all the amusement parks make it pretty interesting. But hitting different amusement parks day after day can be extremely exhausting, so it is a wise decision to take a day off after a few days at all these amusement parks, and do something a little different.
And what can you do on your day off in Orlando, since all the amusement parks are the main attraction? The answer is simple - you can go to a little shopping village, called Disney Springs, which is a cute and not so little shopping village, situated pretty close to all the parks, but at the same time far enough that you will not have to suffer in traffic jams when you go there.
How to get there?
The closest amusement park to Disney Springs is EPCOT, and wherever you will be driving, these two destinations will be on the same exit. After you take the exit, you will have to join the Buena vista drive, and the first building you will see, will be a big white hall with a Cirque du Soleil sign on it, where you can, in fact, actually see Cirque du Soleil.
The white building that you see in the background, is the Cirque du Soleil building. Like I said, it is hard to miss.
Parking
Parking is free in most of the lots around Disney springs, which is pretty amazing. Well, I am sure they know you will spend a lot of money in Disney springs anyways. When I was there, I parked in front of that Cirque du Soleil building, very close to the House of Blues. If you park there, you will have to walk towards the House of Blues to reach the main street of Disney Springs.
Shops, bars and restaurants of Disney springs
Disney Springs has over two hundred stores, so I will only describe the most interesting ones. So, there is one main street that goes through Disney springs, and several smaller side streets. Once you start walking on the main street, you will notice a movie theatre on your right, a bowling alley, and the previously mentioned House of Blues, which looks pretty cool on the outside, and even cooler on the inside. You can stop there for a drink or two once you are done exploring Disney springs, before heading back towards your car.
This House of Blues looks like it is situated somewhere in the Wild West, not in Florida. The interior is pretty cool, too.
Shortly after passing the movie theater, you will notice a store, dedicated entirely to Star Wars. Inside, they sell everything Star Wars you can think of - costumes, shirts, hats, pins (the ones for trading that I mentioned in my post about Walt Disney World), LEGO sets, mugs, and basically anything else.
If you are a Star Wars fan and you do not wish to spend like five hundred dollars on Star Wars things, please do not step inside this store! Just kidding, you should definitely go inside, but they are selling too many cool things, so it is hard to stop yourself from buying things you did not even know you needed.
As you can see, it was a pretty busy day at Disney springs. And seeing people wearing disney stuff is nothing unusual there, such as this girl, wearing a BB - 8 / Mickey mouse hat.
Other than typical Disney stores, you can also find some more 'traditional' stores at Disney springs, such as this Quiksilver surf shop.
Then, there are several pin trading posts that you will see on your way through the Disney springs. Some of them are general trading posts, some of them are themed (such as Galaxy trading post - you can get Star Wars pins there). You should also check out a store that sells Disney Christmas tree ornaments - they are all super cute.
The Goofy store is perfect for candy lovers. In there, you can get caramelized apples (yummy!) and different flavours of cotton candy (also yummy) among other things. They also sell some funky T - shirts in there.
And since I have just mentioned the T - shirts, I remembered something I saw a lot in Walt Disney World. Probably half of all the people I saw there, were wearing personalized Disney shirts, such as: My first trip to Disney, or Disney family since 2003. Very chiche, but also cool. You can get them printed at a special store in Disney springs, and you can even pick your own design and everything!
And my absolute favourite store in the whole Disney springs? Definitely the Disney store! This is, at least from what I have seen, the biggest store in Disney springs. In fact, it is so big that it is divided into several smaller sections, simply because you would be unable to find anything in there otherwise. So, you have women’s clothing, men’s clothing, kid’s clothing, accessories, pins, mugs, travel pillows and suitcases and so on. I am telling you, this is the best place to get a cool Disney souvenir! I bought a Stitch sweater from Lilo and Stitch - the hood is actually the Stitch’s head! Well, it cost me fifty dollar, but this is now my favourite sweater.
Disney springs is full of places with great foods, so my advice to you would be to just stop and eat wherever it looks good, because the food WILL be good (albeit it might be a little overpriced, but hey, you are on a Disney vacation!), but one of the things you should not skip at all, is the Ghirardelli ice cream shop. Seriously, please go there! The Ghirardelli ice cream shop offers regular ice cream by the scoop, but what they are especially famous for, are their sundaes and milkshakes.
It is hard to pick whether you want a sundae or a milkshake, but it is even harder to decide what kind of a sundae or a milkshake would you like, because they offer more than thirty of them! Well, I can give you a hint to help you decide. If you get a sundae, it will come with a brownie on top, and a ton of chocolate syrup.
You will notice big LEGO sculptures throughout the park, which, of course, represent different Disney characters. And they are pretty cool to take pictures with! Sadly, they are behind the glass panels to protect them from visitors who might ruin them, but with a little luck and photography skills, you can make the glass disappear on pictures.
One of the funny stores is also a store that sells things, dedicated to left - handed people. (Un) fortunately, I am right - handed, but I still loved browsing through that funny little store.
Besides shopping and eating ice cream, there are two other cool things that you can do at Disney Springs. One of them is the hot air balloon ride, and the other one are the pedal boats, shaped like old timer cars. You will notice both of them on the waterfront promenade.
The hot air balloon ride looks fun, and I regret not doing it.
You can rent these pedal boats on this lake.
Prices
The prices in Disney Springs are very, well, Disney - y, meaning everything is on the pricey side. For example, a Star Wars tank top will cost you thirty four dollars. I admit it, most of the clothing looks incredibly cool, but the prices can be just outrageous. Or, another example, a BB-8 LEGO set costs almost one hundred dollars. You can get a daily admission to one of the parks for that money! But, on the other hand, this is your Disney vacation, so you might just as well treat yourself with something special. Oh, the dilemma!
A short conclusion...
Disney Springs is definitely a cool place to go to after spending some time at all of the amusement parks nearby. It is true that the place can get pretty crowded at certain hours of the day, but you definitely should not skip it.
