Downtown Disney Hours Question

[muteki]

Me and the wife are headed down for a trip next week, and it has been 10 years since my last trip, and more than 20 for her, and I had a quick question about Downtown Disney, as neither of us have been there.

The first day of our trip will be half-day thing, with my wife attending a convention at the Contemporary and me joining her in the afternoon, and this first day we don't really know what to do. This is Thursday btw.

Is it conceivable to hop over to a park (say MK for instance) for a while, then spend the evening at Downtown Disney? How late are things open there? I have seen 11 pm thrown around at some sites, but is this up to date? We would specifically be interested in the World of Disney store, Lego store, and a restaurant.

Also, I know transportation to/from resorts is by bus, do they run late (~11-11:30?)

Thanks for the help!

 

[slappy magoo]

The stores should be open till 11, and the buses will run later than the times the shops close, at least 90 minutes later.

But depending on when in the afternoon the conference finishes, since you're at the Contemporary, why waste a park day with just a few hours at MK and then the night at DTD? I'd recommend one or the other. For instance, you could go to MK WHILE your wife is at the conference, and when it's over, she could walk to MK and meet you within 10 minutes, without even having to drive or catch a bus or the monorail or ferry or anything. I'd especially recommend this because (with no guarantees, naturally), Thursday won't be as busy at MK as Friday through Sunday. Weekends are busy at Downtown Disney, too, but would you rather have shorter lines waiting for rides, or waiting to pay for stuff? For me, it'd be the former. Post conference, you can spend the rest of the day and evening at MK, with maybe a dinner at one of the monorail resorts. I could be wrong, but that sounds like that would maximize your time more than spitting up what is already a half day between MK and DTD. Otherwise, as I said, don't waste a park admission on just a few hours if you can help it; go to DTD or explore the MK resorts while your wife is in conference, then go to dtd when she's done, and save MK for another day.

 

[muteki]

Well I asked if it was conceivable, not if it made sense or was a good idea. :ROFLOL:

Wife wants to go to DTD, I'd rather not waste a park ticket. Not sure how it's going to work out with her getting out around ~4, me getting to the hotel around 2:30 or so. I might just play it by ear. This whole trip is nowhere near optimal and quite complicated due to the way her work set it up, but can't complain about the free flight for her or anything.

Between me flying into orlando separate, her not knowing precisely when she will get out, and having to switch rooms that day all planned around a park or shopping, Thursday will be very interesting.

 

[slappy magoo]

How many days are you staying there, and how many days are on your theme park "magic your way" tickets? I'm only asking because even if you have a 3 day ticket, adding one more day would be less than 10 dollars, which means YOU could still do a little tour of MK without feeling like you're out a lot of money. When your wife calls you, you can walk over to Contemporary (or catch the resort monorail, it's the first stop from MK) and meet her and then go to DTD.

Otherwise, as you originally asked, you both could certainly go to MK for a few hours, say from 4 to 7, then go back to the Contemporary or to the Transportation and Ticket Center to catch a bus to DTD (there is no bus from the main gate of MK directly to DTD; parking at DTD is free, and not having a direct bus cuts down on people saving 12 bucks by parking in DTD instead). But you probably wouldn't get to DTD until at least 7:30, probably closer to 8, and since Pleasure Island is now closed, there's not as much to do beyond eating and shopping. If you go this route, I'd strongly recommend making reservations for a restaurant like Raglan Road, where there's also some limited entertainment (music and some step dancing, stuff like that). Or you may want to see if you get lucky and there's a band or musician you like playing at House of Blues. But were I in your shoes, even with my time being extremely limited (and probably wanting to see and do as much as possible), I'd still recommend one or the other, either go solely to DTD or stay in MK. Especially since it's your first day; that's a lot of running around after travel and (for your wife) a conference.