Disney springs to do

ELG13

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Just found out we will be in Orlando for 3 nights for DH Christmas party buuut they are doing everything at universal. We are driving ourselves though because we will have 3 littles with my mom and be 6 hours away...so we need to be able to come and go. The perk is that we plan on leaving early and hitting Disney springs before we have to be at the hotel. Any time we've gone before we had the kids and went to eat and do a little browsing but not much. What stores etc do y'all recommend checking out? Maybe even a good spot for lunch and or/drinks?? We've always eaten at blaze pizza and stayed pretty much confined to that area for shopping and browsing. There are so many options it's a little overwhelming knowing we can go anywhere lol!! I'm hoping that maybe we can head to MK one day we are there but we aren't sure what the itinerary is yet. And I don't know if I can convince DH to spend $300 on a side trip when we have annual passes waiting to be activated that I will most definitely not activate just for a few hours in the park....but oh man it's gonna be hard to be SO CLOSE and not walk in there.
 

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
We shop DS in the middle of our trip and again usually the day before we leave. I'm not a clothing, shoe, sunglasses shopper at Disney so I do skip a lot of the stores there. Disney doesnt make their money off of me on those things. But the shops I always check out are....
The Art of Disney, I always come away with at least one or two expensive figurine or collectable splurging on myself.
Coca Cola Store, We have a relative that collects Coke items so we shop for him and usually pick up something for ourselves too.
Crystal Arts by Arribas Brothers, If theres a Jiminy item, we always get it.
Days of Christmas, Never leave Disney without getting ornaments for our tree. We also have friends who request a Disney ornament.
Once Upon a Toy, Neat to look around here. Usually pick up a recent Disney cd for the car.
Lego shop, Fun to look. Been years since we bought a Lego item, but fun to see what they have come out with.
Pin traders, I collect pins so this attracts me in. I spend a lot of my saved gift cards here.
Goofy Candy, Cant resist picking up some things to bring home.
Super Heros Headquarters, DS is a marvel fan so we shop for him. But its a fun place to walk through and browse.
Happy Hound Kiosk and Leftys kiosk, Gifts for our pets and to see the unique left handed items they have. ( I'm a Lefty)
World of Disney, This gets a lot of money out of us. A place we visit to pick up items at the end of our trip thsat we were thinking about but didnt buy in the parks.

Dining for a quick bite weve enjoyed the Polite Pig, D-Luxe burger, Earl of Sandwich, and Jock Lindseys bar. Jock Lindseys bar has some great drinks and appetizers, as well as quick meals so I'd recommend there first.
 

ELG13

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We shop DS in the middle of our trip and again usually the day before we leave. I'm not a clothing, shoe, sunglasses shopper at Disney so I do skip a lot of the stores there. Disney doesnt make their money off of me on those things. But the shops I always check out are....
The Art of Disney, I always come away with at least one or two expensive figurine or collectable splurging on myself.
Coca Cola Store, We have a relative that collects Coke items so we shop for him and usually pick up something for ourselves too.
Crystal Arts by Arribas Brothers, If theres a Jiminy item, we always get it.
Days of Christmas, Never leave Disney without getting ornaments for our tree. We also have friends who request a Disney ornament.
Once Upon a Toy, Neat to look around here. Usually pick up a recent Disney cd for the car.
Lego shop, Fun to look. Been years since we bought a Lego item, but fun to see what they have come out with.
Pin traders, I collect pins so this attracts me in. I spend a lot of my saved gift cards here.
Goofy Candy, Cant resist picking up some things to bring home.
Super Heros Headquarters, DS is a marvel fan so we shop for him. But its a fun place to walk through and browse.
Happy Hound Kiosk and Leftys kiosk, Gifts for our pets and to see the unique left handed items they have. ( I'm a Lefty)
World of Disney, This gets a lot of money out of us. A place we visit to pick up items at the end of our trip thsat we were thinking about but didnt buy in the parks.

Dining for a quick bite weve enjoyed the Polite Pig, D-Luxe burger, Earl of Sandwich, and Jock Lindseys bar. Jock Lindseys bar has some great drinks and appetizers, as well as quick meals so I'd recommend there first.
Awesome! Those all sound like great recs. We quickly walked through a few of them when we had the kids but for obvious reasons(Christmas store namely) we did not linger long lol.
 
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"El Gran Magnifico"

Bring Me A Shrubbery
Premium Member
Park at Disney Springs. Take the bus over to Poly or GF. Have a few drinks at the lounges, walk around a bit, and get an ADR at one of the TS. Watch the water parade, catch the fireworks over the castle. Call it a day. DS is a glorified shopping outlet that happens to be in Disney. I like it very much, but I wouldn't consider it to be the "Disney Experience".

As an alternate, check out CSR (using the DS bus or an Uber). Hit up Dahlia. Great Fireworks experience. Some quality dining options near by. But again, this depends whats open at the time.
 

ELG13

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Park at Disney Springs. Take the bus over to Poly or GF. Have a few drinks at the lounges, walk around a bit, and get an ADR at one of the TS. Watch the water parade, catch the fireworks over the castle. Call it a day. DS is a glorified shopping outlet that happens to be in Disney. I like it very much, but I wouldn't consider it to be the "Disney Experience".

As an alternate, check out CSR (using the DS bus or an Uber). Hit up Dahlia. Great Fireworks experience. Some quality dining options near by. But again, this depends whats open at the time.
Oh I like that idea of riding the bus to a resort. I don't think we will be able to stay long enough for dinner, and I didn't think fireworks were happening yet but I do like the idea of running to one of the resorts A LOT. We could make and adr for lunch.
 

"El Gran Magnifico"

Bring Me A Shrubbery
Premium Member
Oh I like that idea of riding the bus to a resort. I don't think we will be able to stay long enough for dinner, and I didn't think fireworks were happening yet but I do like the idea of running to one of the resorts A LOT. We could make and adr for lunch.

I like Disney Springs. Don't get me wrong. But if I could resort hop for a few hours vs strolling around DS. Then I'm Resort Hopping.
But it really depends on how the situation is when you are there.
 

ELG13

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I like Disney Springs. Don't get me wrong. But if I could resort hop for a few hours vs strolling around DS. Then I'm Resort Hopping.
But it really depends on how the situation is when you are there.
I'm with ya! I enjoy DS because we don't have anything like it where I come from so it's something different. But I would definitely resort hop over that. We have a big trip planned for April but we've not been since 2018 because we had to cancel our 2019 and 2020 trips....so I would LOVE to be able to ride a Disney bus and get to a resort for lunch and a drink or two. Maybe even ride the monorail to the front of MK just to hear and smell all the things lol.
 

"El Gran Magnifico"

Bring Me A Shrubbery
Premium Member
Here's another option. Totally dependent on operating schedules and if things are returning a bit to normal. You could always take the Boat from DS over to POFQ and have some beignets and explore both that resort and POR. If you happen to be there around dusk you also have the option of a carriage ride. Depends on "when" you have to be at your hotel.

As an aside. If things are returning to normal by then you can just drive over and tell the gate you are just visiting. Could probably do the same at WL - then boat over to the Contemporary and ride the monorail to GF and Poly.
 

ELG13

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Here's another option. Totally dependent on operating schedules and if things are returning a bit to normal. You could always take the Boat from DS over to POFQ and have some beignets and explore both that resort and POR. If you happen to be there around dusk you also have the option of a carriage ride. Depends on "when" you have to be at your hotel.

As an aside. If things are returning to normal by then you can just drive over and tell the gate you are just visiting. Could probably do the same at WL - then boat over to the Contemporary and ride the monorail to GF and Poly.
Oh man...I just realized we could ride the boat to ft.wilderness campgrounds. That's where we stay every year! I would love to just be there and hear the sounds and walk into the trading post!!
 

NelleBelle

Well-Known Member
Depending on when you go, a lot of things are not up and running (as I'm sure you know 😉)--no boats to POFQ, no fireworks, monorail stop at the Poly is closed until sometime summer 2021, there is no water parade, the only boats currently running are the boats going from MK to WL/FW (pretty sure it's not running from Contemp. to WL or FW). @Tuvalu has been great with all the transportation offerings during the "limited" openings. I know it was so hard for me when we came back from a cruise and had a day to kill before we flew home and did DS and to be so close and no head to a park...absolute torture!!!
 

ELG13

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Depending on when you go, a lot of things are not up and running (as I'm sure you know 😉)--no boats to POFQ, no fireworks, monorail stop at the Poly is closed until sometime summer 2021, there is no water parade, the only boats currently running are the boats going from MK to WL/FW (pretty sure it's not running from Contemp. to WL or FW). @Tuvalu has been great with all the transportation offerings during the "limited" openings. I know it was so hard for me when we came back from a cruise and had a day to kill before we flew home and did DS and to be so close and no head to a park...absolute torture!!!
It will be December when we go so I'm hoping things are a little better just in general. I didn't even think about poly with the renovation. I talked to hubs today and if we could have lunch somewhere and make it to FW I'd be SOOOO happy. So maybe bus to contemporary then boat to FW. Is that something that is possible now? I can't imagine poly not having monorail availability.....that's going to be so weird. I mean....we could really take a bus anywhere couldn't we? We would have an ADR somewhere. Riding a boat to FW would just be easiest because been could get to where we wanted without having to use the internal bus.
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
It will be December when we go so I'm hoping things are a little better just in general. I didn't even think about poly with the renovation. I talked to hubs today and if we could have lunch somewhere and make it to FW I'd be SOOOO happy. So maybe bus to contemporary then boat to FW. Is that something that is possible now? I can't imagine poly not having monorail availability.....that's going to be so weird. I mean....we could really take a bus anywhere couldn't we? We would have an ADR somewhere. Riding a boat to FW would just be easiest because been could get to where we wanted without having to use the internal bus.
If you want to boat to Ft. Wilderness you will need to board at MK. The CR/WL/FW loop is not in operation. Neither are boats to/from Disney Springs. According to poster on this site (who is a boat driver) the smaller ferries will not resume operation until most resorts are reopened....hopefully sometime in 2021. There isn’t enough demand to justify the expense of running all the boats now.

Any resort hopping will have to be done by bus. It’s unlikely you’ll be allowed to park at any resort without an ADR, even three months from now.
 

ELG13

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
If you want to boat to Ft. Wilderness you will need to board at MK. The CR/WL/FW loop is not in operation. Neither are boats to/from Disney Springs. According to poster on this site (who is a boat driver) the smaller ferries will not resume operation until most resorts are reopened....hopefully sometime in 2021. There isn’t enough demand to justify the expense of running all the boats now.

Any resort hopping will have to be done by bus. It’s unlikely you’ll be allowed to park at any resort without an ADR, even three months from now.
Ok i think I knew that about the boats but I didn't realize it at the same time if that makes any sense 😂. Id still be ok with that though.
 
Park at Disney Springs. Take the bus over to Poly or GF. Have a few drinks at the lounges, walk around a bit, and get an ADR at one of the TS. Watch the water parade, catch the fireworks over the castle. Call it a day. DS is a glorified shopping outlet that happens to be in Disney. I like it very much, but I wouldn't consider it to be the "Disney Experience".

As an alternate, check out CSR (using the DS bus or an Uber). Hit up Dahlia. Great Fireworks experience. Some quality dining options near by. But again, this depends whats open at the time.
last time we were there was last year in November and instead of going to the parks we just went to all the resorts to look at the Christmas decorations. It was a wonderful day.
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Eat !! Try and get to Art Smith's Homecomin' and try to get a seat for the weekend brunch. Absolutely phenomenal. Then you
have all day to walk it off. You get some major portions of anything you order there.
 

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