Tracilla's Reviews

Downtown Disney for Cheap

Downtown Disney is a great place to spend an "in-between" day (between two exhausting days at the amusement parks) when traveling to Kissimmee/Orlando for a week or a great place for a day trip if you live in the area. Here's a plan for a fun lo-budget day for you and the kids: 1) Don't rush to get there. Sleep late, eat a leisurely breakfast and head over there around 10AM. 2) Park at the Marketplace as far to the left as possible - this is where you'll start out and end up. 3) Go straight to Ghiardelli's chocolate shop for a free chocolate sample - given out as you enter. Look around a bit and plan what you can buy to take back home or to the hotel with you AS YOU LEAVE - lots of great candy and usually good deals on seasonal or special multipacks. Cost: FREE 4) Walk out and to the left to the Lego store. Lots of great Lego statues and window displays to look at - great photo ops. Spend an hour or two letting the kids build their own creations. In the outdoor covered area, build on the bases provided or build a Lego car to race down the track. Let younger kids spend some time exploring the small stairs/slide/playhouse too. Inside, kids can build endless combinations of their own Lego people with various accessories. Again, great photo ops with their creations. Look around in the store and let the kids decide if they want to spend their day's allotment of $ here AS YOU LEAVE. Cost: FREE 5) Again walk to the left and use any of the many doors to enter the main Disney store. Browse through all the rooms at your leisure. Kids will love the Pirates of the Caribbean room (cool displays and a game system station) and the Princess room with all the latest costumes/clothes. An optional treat for little girls is to make an appointment to come back later that afternoon to the princess makeover center here - a great deal if you're planning on buying her a princess outfit anyway. For just a little more she gets a makeover thrown in, including a gift-bagged makeup set to take with her and hair accessories (clips, tiara comb or hair piece depending on the style of makeover chosen). Awesome photo op too! Look through the street clothes, home accessories, stuffed animals, toys, and jewelry rooms as well - there's something for everyone! Be on the lookout for photos ops in all these rooms - Disney magicked displays abound both on the racks and up on the ceiling! Again, let the kids be deciding how to spend their allotted $ for the day AS YOU LEAVE. Cost: FREE 6) Now that the lunch rush is over, head on to the left to McDonald's. Go through the efficient order line (look overhead at the happy meal assembly line as you wait) and pay a relatively typical amount for your lunch. Fill up those refillable drinks as you leave to carry with you. (Also features a dessert & coffee bar, but skip it and swing back by Ghiardelli's for another set of free samples to satisfy that sweet tooth). Cost: around $5 per person. 7) It should be about 2PM and okay to spend some fun in the sun time now. If the kids wore swimsuits (and sunscreen) under their clothes and you stashed a beach towel into your carry bag, head all the way to the right to the dancing fountains in front of the other toy store. Sit on the park benches and let the kids run in and out of the water as long as they'd like (did I mention bringing reading material for the grownups in that carry bag?) You have your drinks to assuage their thirst until they're done, and if you manage to empty a couple of the cups, there's loads of fun to be found in covering those fountain spickets with the empty cups and watching them shoot in to the air. Again, great photo ops and again, Cost: FREE 8) When the kids are sure they are DONE BEING WET FOR THE DAY, go to the nearby family restrooms and change them back into their original outfits (you'll need to have dry undies in that carry bag and a plastic bag for the wet clothes and towel). 9) Come back out to the toy store and spend an hour or two here. In the front main room, there is a Mr. Potato head building station with endless combinations, a "ball station" for some game play, and a Lincoln logs table. Walk through the stuffed animals on into the main middle room, where you can build your own laser sword, try out the Disney park playsets and figures, and watch the Disney trains go around above your head. In the multimedia walkway that comes next, look for a running Disney movie on the screens and a game station for older kids. In the back room, younger ones can customize My Pretty Ponys to their heart's content and play video games. Or go into the kiosk and build your own princess crown. This is a great store for value customized deals (My Little Pony or Potato Head and all the accessories you can fit into a gift box for a reasonable price, the build your own crowns or swords or jewelry) plus typical toys at very good prices. At this point, the kids should have seen all they need to make a final decision as to what to buy for the day, so go ahead and let them buy here if they want, or go back to the Lego store or main Disney store on your way back to the car if they've decided on something there. Cost: FREE plus whatever spending money you've allotted your children (and yourself) for the day. 10) It's around 6PM and your total cost for a fun-filled day (10AM-6PM) is $5 per person plus allotted spending money. Don't forget to make one last stop at Ghiardelli's for a last delicious candy sample and a purchase to take with you (this is the payback for all those free samples!) So call it a (cheap) day and head back to the home/hotel! Or to finish out the evening at a pretty good price as well, continue on and grab the candy on your way out late that night. If that's the plan, go leave all purchased items and the carry bag of towels/clothes/books safely locked in the car - I'm not much for lugging packages, as I suppose you can tell by the AS YOU LEAVE phrase I repeat so often. Now, here are some great options for the evening. 1) Again, a great option for your little girls is the makeover at the main Disney store... go back there now (their hair should be dry by now) so they can be a princess for the evening as you continue on. There are three packages available beginning at less than $50 and going up to $100+, but the biggest package includes a complete Disney princess outfit (which runs almost $100 anyway) plus some photos, I believe. The makeover takes about an hour, your daughter is treated like a princess as well as made to look like one, and the whole family gets a front row seat and can make all the personal photos they please! 2) After the makeover, it's time for dinner. Note that you should make reservations earlier - at least when you arrive that morning (send the hubby over to take care of it while mom and the kids are at the Lego place). There are some great restaurants across the bridge at Pleasure Island including a seafood place on an actual riverboat, a Rainforest Cafe (the kids' favorite) and a Wolfgang Puck's (great sushi and appetizers). Be warned that Rainforest Cafe has a store in the front, so make sure the kids have saved spending $ if they want to buy something there. It also has pretty good prices and great entertaining scenery (complete with some motion and lots of animal noises) while you eat. More photo ops. BTW, don't buy dessert - enjoy your main meal and finish it since you don't want to worry with leftovers anyway. Dessert comes later... 3) Heard of dinner and a show? Easy to do here with a movie multiplex AND Cirque de Soleil right down the sidewalk. In both cases, plan ahead - order Cirque tickets in advance and stop by the movie theater on the way to the restaurant for dinner to pre-purchase tickets. Note that going to these shows immediately after dinner saves you popcorn & drink costs. 4) After the show, couples can chill out with some light dessert and great coffee (and reading) at the coffee shop in the bookstore across from the theater. Or head back across to the Marketplace for a few great dessert options. One the kids love is the Goofy candy store (the other side of the fountains) where you can customize your own dessert on a checklist. Start with a rice krispy treat or cookie as the base and add sprinkles, chocolate drizzles, mini M&Ms etc. for a great and one-of-a-kind dessert! A cost-conscious option is back to Ghiardelli's (the restaurant side this time) for a banana split to share. With a full banana and three large scoops (each with their own topping choice) plus whipped cream and optional nuts and cherries, this is a great way for everyone to get what they want for a good price and with just enough to satisfy. With three people per split, each gets the ice cream and topping of their choice! There are plenty of other dessert choices as well, plus great coffees, both frozen and hot. Finally, remember the McDonald's dessert & coffee bar - now's the time to hit it, if you'd like. OK, that's it from me. Obviously, you can mix and match and rearrange as you please. But Downtown Disney's got a lot of great options to make a great and inexpensive day for any family.

Reviewed on: June 26, 2008