The Downtown Disney Thread

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Disney Springs - with its free parking - feels just like an outlet mall with a few extra Disney stores. I'd go there if I was a local.

Downtown Disney - with its $10 minimum parking fee and small handful of places to shop and eat that are mostly chain restaurants I can eat at elsewhere - is not someplace I would go as a local.

This is my take on it as well, there’s some amazing stores on the Strip but as a local they are my absolute last resort, I’ll go to every other location in town before dealing with the traffic and parking issues on the Strip… I’d think Anaheim locals would avoid the traffic and parking hassles around DL like the plague also.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Disney Springs - with its free parking - feels just like an outlet mall with a few extra Disney stores. I'd go there if I was a local.

Downtown Disney - with its $10 minimum parking fee and small handful of places to shop and eat that are mostly chain restaurants I can eat at elsewhere - is not someplace I would go as a local.

Well, yeah-and undoubtedly a huge part of that is that Downtown Disney is right next to the parks and Disney Springs is not only decently far from the parks but is also more accessible by virtue of being right next to I-4.

Of course it would be nice if the resort could offer free parking and people wouldn't just mooch off of that to go to the parks, but we all know how that turned out.

Again with the chain restaurants! You act like the place is full of places like Raising Cane's, Taco Bell, Panda Express, KFC, Pizza Hut, Cinnabon, Ben & Jerry's-but that's actually Universal Hollywood. Instead, other than the Starbucks and I guess Jamba, what you have is a lot of smaller more prestige-based chains that most people would be happy to have in one convenient location. Not all chains are McDonald's. If you are over every single one of those chains at Downtown Disney, again, that's an experience shared by only a handful of people who are exceedingly fortunate to have so many high-quality chains at their fingertips to begin with.

I get that Downtown Disney isn't the most friendly for people to access who aren't already going to the resort, but given the fact that they evidently can't just trust people to park for free and not abuse the system, nor do they have unlimited land at their disposal, what exactly is Disney supposed to do to fix the situation?

 

[DLR92]

I would wish there was a Cinnabon at Downtown Disney. I still think it needs more upscale and casual restaurants. It lacking H&M, Zara, a few more places to shop.

Makes me wish there was a Panda Express across the streets too!

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

what exactly is Disney supposed to do to fix the situation?

Give people a reason to go there?

Build the creative equivalents of Jock Lindsay's and Gideon's. Heck, I'd pay $10 to park just to have an actual West Coast Gideon's! lol At least that's someplace I can't go to on this side of the country.

They should've made the former Rainforest Cafe into a Star Wars-themed restaurant with character meals and it would have minted money.

GIVE US ANYTHING THEMED THAT CAN'T BE FOUND SOMEWHERE ELSE - especially not within driving distance and with free parking at the alternate location.

Heck, when the Sweets shop is the only Disney food place in the whole area, that's just sad. And inexcusable.

I do like the idea of the Gordon Ramsey British Invasion tavern. That's at least unique. Though it would seem to fit better in the UK Pavilion at EPCOT than in Anaheim. But at least it's not the Cheesecake Factory. And as much as you want to call the rest of the places there "prestige", they're all - except the chef-run places, only one of which actually made it from concept to reality so far - the equivalent of having the Cheesecake Factory there.

You're acting like Disney has never built a restaurant on property before and therefore has no choice but to resort to renting space to chains like Porto's or Wetzel's Pretzels. Stop making excuses for their refusal to BE DISNEY and DO BETTER.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Give people a reason to go there?

I mean, they're giving people all sorts of nice restaurant options from what I can see. They have a decent amount of Disney-themed shops and live entertainment.

Build the creative equivalents of Jock Lindsay's and Gideon's. Heck, I'd pay $10 to park just to have an actual West Coast Gideon's! lol At least that's someplace I can't go to on this side of the country.

Gideon's is a chain, so sorry, per your previous comments, it's not allowed! I suppose the same would be true of Jock Lindsay's as well.

They should've made the former Rainforest Cafe into a Star Wars-themed restaurant with character meals and it would have minted money.

Fair.

GIVE US ANYTHING THEMED THAT CAN'T BE FOUND SOMEWHERE ELSE - especially not within driving distance and with free parking at the alternate location.

Heck, when the Sweets shop is the only Disney food place in the whole area, that's just sad. And inexcusable.

I'm really not sure what you're expecting here. It's not like the other Disney shopping districts are drowning in heavily themed, Disney owned & operated restaurants. The reality is largely the exact opposite-a few-forgive the use of the term-"prestige" chains, a few chef places, and a lot of stuff you could find at a fancy non-Disney mall. Perhaps they should do more Disney-branded shopping and dining, sure, but even Disney Springs, which seems to be your ideal, is lacking in this area. Even many restaurants they do operate-things like D-Luxe Burger-aren't themed in the Disney way you want them to be, it's "themed" in the generic contemporary style you see at places like World of Disney.

I don't think there's a universe where they can give Downtown Disney guests free parking with it as close to the parks as it is. It sucks, but what else are they supposed to do to stop people from abusing the system?

I do like the idea of the Gordon Ramsey British Invasion tavern. That's at least unique. Though it would seem to fit better in the UK Pavilion at EPCOT than in Anaheim.

Eh, Gordon Ramsey already has several different restaurants, and several of those are already variations on British food. I'm not sure that this is as dramatically different from the restaurants they're actually building as you seem to think it is.

But at least it's not the Cheesecake Factory. And as much as you want to call the rest of the places there "prestige", they're all - except the chef-run places, only one of which actually made it from concept to reality so far - the equivalent of having the Cheesecake Factory there.

I don't really understand what you mean by calling all of these things the Cheesecake Factory. Perhaps prestige wasn't the best word to use, but the point was that these are not dime-a-dozen chains that most people can find anywhere. I suppose in some ways Cheesecake Factory fits that bill (and Disney Town in Shanghai literally does have a Cheesecake Factory), but...what's wrong with that, exactly? They're relatively unique, highly-regarded chains that generally speaking don't have two billion locations. They're largely, to my understanding, places that have a reputation for being a cut above your average chain, which is exactly what Disney is aiming for. I don't understand why that's bad. I mean, earlier in this same thread, people were advocating for putting in an Applebee's in Downtown Disney to make it more appealing to families or something, but I'm the crazy person for pointing out that they're not putting in Oops All Starbucks, and that That's Good, Actually?

You're acting like Disney has never built a restaurant on property before and therefore has no choice but to resort to renting space to chains like Porto's or Wetzel's Pretzels. Stop making excuses for their refusal to BE DISNEY and DO BETTER.

I'm really not. What I'm doing is going off of the precedent of what Disney has actually built in their shopping complexes in the past and-as judged by what is actually going into Downtown Disney-present.

You're the one ignoring all of that and deciding that what they really need to do is make Your Personal Uber Themed Disney Shopping and Dining Land As Dictated By Your Personal Ideal Wishlist, something for which there is no precedent. And that's not even to say that what you're advocating for is necessarily a bad idea! But it doesn't really fit at all with what Disney has actually built at the shopping centers attached to their theme parks (nor Universal, for that matter), and they're not going to demo their existing infrastructure to bring that fever dream to reality no matter how cool it is.

So if it makes you feel better to say I'm making excuses, fine, I guess. But at the end of the day, I was never expecting Downtown Disney to be made over into something that frankly has no precedent whatsoever within anything Disney has already built or plans to build within any of its shopping centers, nor do I see anyone else, other than yourself, expecting that.

 

[Disney Irish]

At the end of the day DTD is just a glorified outdoor mall that happens to be located in a Disney Resort and always has been. Could it be more? Absolutely, but that isn’t what they are wanting to do with it currently and no one should be expecting them to. That isn’t making excuses, that is just understanding the reality of what DTD has always been and likely always will be.

 

[mickEblu]

I like the Star Wars restaurant idea but perhaps that’s giving the guest too much without a paid ticket. Might be counterintuitive when you are trying to sell tickets and get people in the park. Or perhaps it was never considered as that was around the same time Galactic Starcruiser was being built so you couldn’t have a Star Wars restaurant that wasn’t behind a paywall taking the oomph out of the $3000 east coast Star Wars hotel/ cafeteria/ experience. Or the the most likely, they were trying to get it up as fast as possible and it was just more feasible to turn it into a lightly themed store to start making that sweet sweet merch money right away instead of pouring however many millions into making it a fully themed restaurant.

 

[Disney Irish]

I like the Star Wars restaurant idea but perhaps that’s giving the guest too much without a paid ticket. Might be counterintuitive when you are trying to sell tickets and get people in the park. Or perhaps it was never considered as that was around the same time Galactic Starcruiser was being built so you couldn’t have a Star Wars restaurant that wasn’t behind a paywall taking the oomph out of the $3000 east coast Star Wars hotel/ cafeteria/ experience. Or the the most likely, they were trying to get it up as fast as possible and it was just more feasible to turn it into a lightly themed store to start making that sweet sweet merch money right away instead of pouring however many millions into making it a fully themed restaurant.

This actually begs the question, should DTD just be part of the Parks, ie requiring a ticket to enter.

That would essentially get what the poster wants, something that would require more Disney themed stores/restaurants because it would be inside the Parks.

On the flip side I've always suspected that the long term plan is to use most of DTD as expansion space in the decades to come.

 

[ToEarthandback]

This actually begs the question, should DTD just be part of the Parks, ie requiring a ticket to enter.

That would essentially get what the poster wants, something that would require more Disney themed stores/restaurants because it would be inside the Parks.

On the flip side I've always suspected that the long term plan is to use most of DTD as expansion space in the decades to come.

That actually makes a lot of sense given DLR space constraints - move the gate farther out , more attractions and dining and retail, sell more tickets , everyone wins

 

[mickEblu]

This actually begs the question, should DTD just be part of the Parks, ie requiring a ticket to enter.

That would essentially get what the poster wants, something that would require more Disney themed stores/restaurants because it would be inside the Parks.

On the flip side I've always suspected that the long term plan is to use most of DTD as expansion space in the decades to come.

I think it’s a possibility long term. If they put another “Downtown Disney” in the Simba lot or Toy Story lot. With that said I wouldn’t bet on it and think it would only happen when they re completely out of land in Anaheim. All expansion pads used up.

 

[Disney Irish]

I think it’s a possibility long term. If they put another “Downtown Disney” in the Simba lot or Toy Story lot. With that said I wouldn’t bet on it and think it would only happen when they re completely out of land in Anaheim. All expansion pads used up.

Well having two shopping districts would be redundant so when they do move forward with TSL into a Hotel/Shopping district (which is what its now zoned for) I would bet that is when we start to see encroachment on DTD as expansion.

 

[mickEblu]

Well having two shopping districts would be redundant so when they do move forward with TSL into a Hotel/Shopping district (which is what its now zoned for) I would bet that is when we start to see encroachment on DTD as expansion.

Right I’m just saying if that ever happens it’s at least 20-30 years from now.

 

[Disney Irish]

Right I’m just saying if that ever happens it’s at least 20-30 years from now.

Don't know about a specific timeline, but remember that 2040 is only 15 years from now. So I could see 10-15 years from now being about the time they start to look into something like this. As that would likely be when most of the current long term contracts would be up. As I suspect that is when they would start on much of the expansion into Simba and TSL, so would begin to look at how the rest of the area will be used.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

On the flip side I've always suspected that the long term plan is to use most of DTD as expansion space in the decades to come.

I think that’s the plan with the parking lots but the actual store portion is so narrow I don’t think they could do much with it, especially since they’ve just spent a fortune redoing all of it.

With the exception of the ESPN and Rainforest area I don’t see any of the other areas being torn down in the next 50 years since they’ve spent the better part of this decade redoing them all.

 

[Disney Irish]

I think that’s the plan with the parking lots but the actual store portion is so narrow I don’t think they could do much with it, especially since they’ve just spent a fortune redoing all of it.

With the exception of the ESPN and Rainforest area I don’t see any of the other areas being torn down in the next 50 years since they’ve spent the better part of this decade redoing them all.

Just like they are doing with the Harbor side, with the new entrance, they can do the same on the west side with a redo of the DTD area as they expand into the new areas on that side and incorporate it as part of the Parks.

And while we can't take it as gospel, its clear they've thought of it as its shown in the DLForward concept art that everything west of the Monorail that was DTD now looks to be part of the Parks -

You can even see what appears to be a ticket booth right in-front of the monorail tracks before you enter into the "old" DTD in this concept art.

So what is left of DTD after that can be redone as needed for a better guest entrance area. So to me its clear that DTD in its current form is not long for this world.

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

I mean, they're giving people all sorts of nice restaurant options from what I can see. They have a decent amount of Disney-themed shops and live entertainment.

Gideon's is a chain, so sorry, per your previous comments, it's not allowed! I suppose the same would be true of Jock Lindsay's as well.

Fair.

I'm really not sure what you're expecting here. It's not like the other Disney shopping districts are drowning in heavily themed, Disney owned & operated restaurants. The reality is largely the exact opposite-a few-forgive the use of the term-"prestige" chains, a few chef places, and a lot of stuff you could find at a fancy non-Disney mall. Perhaps they should do more Disney-branded shopping and dining, sure, but even Disney Springs, which seems to be your ideal, is lacking in this area. Even many restaurants they do operate-things like D-Luxe Burger-aren't themed in the Disney way you want them to be, it's "themed" in the generic contemporary style you see at places like World of Disney.

I don't think there's a universe where they can give Downtown Disney guests free parking with it as close to the parks as it is. It sucks, but what else are they supposed to do to stop people from abusing the system?

Eh, Gordon Ramsey already has several different restaurants, and several of those are already variations on British food. I'm not sure that this is as dramatically different from the restaurants they're actually building as you seem to think it is.

I don't really understand what you mean by calling all of these things the Cheesecake Factory. Perhaps prestige wasn't the best word to use, but the point was that these are not dime-a-dozen chains that most people can find anywhere. I suppose in some ways Cheesecake Factory fits that bill (and Disney Town in Shanghai literally does have a Cheesecake Factory), but...what's wrong with that, exactly? They're relatively unique, highly-regarded chains that generally speaking don't have two billion locations. They're largely, to my understanding, places that have a reputation for being a cut above your average chain, which is exactly what Disney is aiming for. I don't understand why that's bad. I mean, earlier in this same thread, people were advocating for putting in an Applebee's in Downtown Disney to make it more appealing to families or something, but I'm the crazy person for pointing out that they're not putting in Oops All Starbucks, and that That's Good, Actually?

I'm really not. What I'm doing is going off of the precedent of what Disney has actually built in their shopping complexes in the past and-as judged by what is actually going into Downtown Disney-present.

You're the one ignoring all of that and deciding that what they really need to do is make Your Personal Uber Themed Disney Shopping and Dining Land As Dictated By Your Personal Ideal Wishlist, something for which there is no precedent. And that's not even to say that what you're advocating for is necessarily a bad idea! But it doesn't really fit at all with what Disney has actually built at the shopping centers attached to their theme parks (nor Universal, for that matter), and they're not going to demo their existing infrastructure to bring that fever dream to reality no matter how cool it is.

So if it makes you feel better to say I'm making excuses, fine, I guess. But at the end of the day, I was never expecting Downtown Disney to be made over into something that frankly has no precedent whatsoever within anything Disney has already built or plans to build within any of its shopping centers, nor do I see anyone else, other than yourself, expecting that.

Gideon's has two Orlando locations and that's it, but if you want to call that a chain, okay. And there is only one Jock Lindsay. But as you managed to miss my words "creative equivalents of", whatever. Keep defending the mediocrity and I'll keep asking for something better from a company fully capable of doing better.

And better doesn't mean MY wishlist. I wouldn't pay to go to a Star Wars restaurant - it was just an obvious choice for that location. I wouldn't pay to go to Jock Lindsay. I never went into the ESPN Zone but even I recognize it was an insanely stupid idea to close a sports bar that promotes the brand. If it was my personal just-for-me wishlist, there would be a Gideon's Goes West, maybe something really special like The Adventurers' Club with live entertainment, and a World of Disney for last minute shopping and the rest would be park use of that otherwise wasted space.

You seem to think I'm asking for free parking and I'm not. I'm saying justify the $10 spend. Nothing there is worth paying $10 to visit for an hour.

And no, I think Disney Springs is a slightly more interesting version of any outlet mall we have in SoCal. But the one credit I'll give to our Downtown Disney recent additions that it took from Orlando's version is adding more themed Disney-owned stores carrying Disney merch. I don't need generic yoga leggings or socks or beachwear or sunglasses - but Disney ones? Sure. That's why I'm at the DISNEYLAND Resort.

P.S. No, I do not need Disney yoga leggings either. lol

 

[mickEblu]

Wow. Ticket booth getting demolished in broad daylight. At first I thought this was AI.

World of Screams (@worldofscreams) on Threads

JUST NOW: Vacant ticket booths at Disneyland Resort are being demolished in preparation of a brand new Porto’s Bakery location coming soon to Downtown Disney.

www.threads.com

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Wow. Ticket booth getting demolished in broad daylight. At first I thought this was AI.

World of Screams (@worldofscreams) on Threads

JUST NOW: Vacant ticket booths at Disneyland Resort are being demolished in preparation of a brand new Porto’s Bakery location coming soon to Downtown Disney.

www.threads.com

It’s always a bit shocking to see how little is saved before demo, they didn’t even bother taking the Mickey heads or the decorative elements off. I worked at a Casino that was refurbed about a decade ago and I was shocked that all they did was take out the gaming machines, the TVs and other tech, and then just destroyed everything else. There was so much amazing theming and cool architecture and they just smashed it all into little pieces and tossed it in the trash.

We once asked our local Disney Store if we could purchase some characters when they changed displays and they said they had to destroy them, and document it with photos, because Disney didn’t want them sold. It’s a shame how much good stuff ends up in landfills.

 

[Disney Irish]

Instagram user worldofscreams posted a clip of the ticket booths near the Portos location being torn down.

World of Screams on Instagram: "JUST NOW: Vacant ticket booths at Disneyland Resort are being demolished in preparation of a brand new Porto’s Bakery location coming soon to Downtown Disney."

27K likes, 1,118 comments - worldofscreams on December 30, 2025: "JUST NOW: Vacant ticket booths at Disneyland Resort are being demolished in preparation of a brand new Porto’s Bakery location coming soon to Downtown Disney.".

www.instagram.com

Same clip from same user from Instagram (threads) posted 2 posts up by @mickEblu who beat you to it yesterday.

 

[SSG]

Same clip from same user from Instagram (threads) posted 2 posts up by @mickEblu who beat you to it yesterday.

We can't all be winners

I'll delete it.