Day 8: Downtown Disney
After we left Animal Kingdom for the day we went right back to our Hotel. Im not gonna lie it was actually kind of nice to be done with the parks early again (something we hadn't done since our Universal Studios Florida day) and be able to go back to the hotel and rest up for a bit. Since I nearly killed my cameras battery again (the back up was used for most of the final pictures from the Asian trails onwards) it gave me time to recharge the primary camera before heading back out for the night. It also gave us time to rest our feet and Daniel was able to feed without being distracted.
We rested for just over an hour before we once again left our hotel for a nighttime activity that we have done on every single visit we've had to Florida. Even if we weren't having a "Disney" vacation. We would be going to Downtown Disney. We have always loved Downtown Disney. We fell in love with it in 2009 and have loved it every year since. Its a nice little slice of the Disney magic even if your not visiting any parks. You could spend hours here alone if you take your time looking at all the different shops and shows that take place here.
Parking was kind of a pain though as we weren't expecting it to be so packed on a Thursday night but it was way, way busy. But after driving around the parking lot we eventually found a spot near the Marketplace area of the shopping complex. Which was good cause this is the area we wanted to be in.
This was because by this time at night we were starving. It was much later then when we had normally been eating. But this was intentional as we had a place in mind for Dinner that we had been craving for since the last time we ate here back in 2010. That place is Earl of Sandwich.
When we ate here the first time we fell in love with this sandwich shop. We wish that we had one closer to us back home in Utah but its probably a good thing we don't because we would likely be poor if there was. It easily takes the top spot for my favorite Toasted Sandwich shop. When we have come here in the past the lines were always way crazy busy for it. However we came late enough that there was practically no wait to order. I decided to try the Full Montagu and Kiera got (if I recall right) the Hawaiian BBQ. We also got a Muffin and bag of chips to share and I got a soda cup. Now the food is very, very good but whats even better is how cheap it is. With all that we got it was still one of the cheapest meals we had the entire vacation. I love that although its on Disney Property it doesn't have Disney prices. So check out of Earl Of Sandwich when at Disney World. You won't be dissapointed.
After a filling and very good dinner we started looking around the Downtown Disney Marketplace area shops. And we started with one located right next to Earl of Sandwich. The Disney's Days of Christmas shop. Although we already bought our Disney Christmas Ornament a few days earlier at Epcot (we are "swapping" ornaments with last years) it was still fun looking around at all the different and fun Christmas goods that the store sells. Its a must look for any Christmas fanataic but since we bought the ornament already we walked out of the store with nothing.
The store I was looking forward to going to was the one we went to next. This store is the Once Upon a Toy store and sells an assortment of Disney themed toys. Theres also many none Disney toys too from Hasbro. What It is really cool about it though is that it has a couple of build it yourself sections. One is a build your own Mr. Potato head station which someday will be fun for Daniel. But the sation I was going here for was the Build your Own Lightsaber area. If you recall I really wanted to do this in Hollywood Studios but we ran out of time. So this was a must do for me.
The first thing I noticed about the station here was how big of a mess it was. The one in Hollywood Studios was much more organized and they had a CM on hand to assist. There was no one in sight here but I figured I could do it on my own. I took my time finding what parts I wanted to use and built the Lightsabor to my perfection. Eventually somebody did come over to start cleaning up the station and helped me out when I forgot a piece. It took long enough though that Daniel got bored and fell asleep lol. Once I finished though I was happy with the final result and thought it was alot of fun building my own Lightsaber. And I wasn't doing this just for fun. This was my souviner for the trip. Since I bought a Wand from the Wizard World of Harry Potter back in 2010 I had to have the Lightsaber to go with it. Its even cheaper then the Wands cost as a single blade lightsabor was only $23. Kiera told me I should do a double blade for only like $3 more but I told her I didn't want a double blade. I just wanted a single. We checked out and continued on thru the stores. I look to that day when Daniel gets old enough to do the Jedi Training Academy so we can have fun building him a lightsaber too.
As we continued along we stopped and looked in the TrenD and Team Mickey Athletic Club Shops. Team Mickey also currently has the RideMakerz shop in it as well where you can build your own car (like a build a bear). I think this would be cool but it could get pretty expensive very quickly. Needless to say we didn't buy anything in ether store and continued on past the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain which had lines out the door.
Our next stop was at another Must visit any time we are in Orlando. The World of Disney store. This store is the largest of its kind and you will be able to find pretty much anything Disney Park related in the store. Which was good because we've been waiting to buy stuff until this night at this store. The first thing we started looking for was a Purse for Kiera. After looking around the parks she found a few purses that the liked and was in need of a new one so she figured thats what she would get for herself on this vacation. We eventually found one that she liked (picture will come later) and we continued browsing the store.
The other thing we wanted to get was some Mouse Ears for Daniel. I mean thats pretty much a right of passage isn't it? Every little kid needs a pair of Mouse Ears on the first visit to Disney. Although we didn't find the Infant sized hats with the other hats. Instead they are located with the Baby/Infant/Toddler section of the store. We were also still considering getting him a shirt or something too for his first visit but we couldn't find anything we liked in his size.
One of our other vacation traditions we have is that we get some Postcards to represent the place we visited on vacation. As you know I already talked about this during the Universal portion of the trip and expressed that its getting tougher to find Park postcards that we don't already have. Well that seemed even harder at Disney as we couldn't find ANY single park Post cards. Every postcard they had was just a generic Disney World post card that featured all 4 parks. I wanted 1 for each park. Something we couldn't even find in the parks themselves. It was kind of sad but I just got 1 generic 4 park card and called it good. We also picked up a new Minnie Mouse pen for Kiera and then went and checked out. We spent a good chunck of time in the World of Disney shop and it was now nearing closing time.
After leaving the World of Disney we next walked down to the Lego Store. We didn't plan on buying anything here but its always fun to stop in and see the displays that they have built out of Legos. Its pretty amazing what all they can do. We especially liked the newer Disney themed displays outside the store as well.
Downtown Disney actually consists of Three areas. We were currently in the Marketplace area of the complex and after passing the T-Rex restaurant we would be entering the next area called Pleasure Island. Back in the Day Pleasure Island was the nighttime Hot Spot on the Disney Property as it offered many themed clubs and nightlife for adults. However 5 years ago Disney shut down all the clubs and the area is now nothing more then empty buildings and a few small shops and resturants. Disney supposedly has plans to renovate this section of the Downtown Disney complex but those plans now seem to be on hold. There really isn't even anything here to take photos of .
The Third and newest section of Downtown Disney is the West Side. With closing time happening at any minute we quickly ran into a couple shops. The first was the D Street store which sells many of the Vinylmations. I expected that this would be where I could find the Tron Vinylmations but since I found them earlier at the Character Warehouse We were more so just browsing and seeing the Different Vinylmations. I couldn't belive how expensive some of these can get. And that theres people that actually pay for them. I think some are pretty cool but I could never get in to collecting or trading them.
We also ran into the Candy Cauldron Shop as well and looked at all the Disney themed treats they had for sale. However like D Street we just looked around and didn't buy anything. This would also be our last shop we looked in as they closed the doors for the night right before we exited. Something that echoed thru most of the Downtown Disney shops at 11pm.
This West Side section to me seems like the hip and happening area of the Complex as it offers many entertainment options. From the Characters in Flight Hot Air Balloon to the AMC Movie Theater. Also Higher end entertainment like the Disneyquest indoor theme park and a Cirque De Solie Show. There are also some popular restaurants in this area such as Planet Hollywood and House of Blues. Coming soon is even the new Splitsville Bowling Alley. Although we didn't do any of these things on this trip we have at at House of Blues a couple times before and even went to a movie at the AMC theater and were blown away by how great that theater is. Just plan on paying that Disney premium for these items that you likely have much cheaper at home.
With everything closing up we decided to call it a night. Danny was tired and getting hungry again so we walked back thru Pleasure Island and the Marketplace and back to our car. We found and bought all that we wanted to get so it was time to head back to the Hotel.
We had a great evening at Downtown Disney and just wished that maybe we had a little extra time to look around. Still Downtown Disney will continue to be a must do on any of our Orlando trips even when we aren't visiting any Disney parks. Like I said before its just a small slice of Disney Magic. Check it out if you have time on your trip or if your just passing thru.
When we returned to the hotel we were exhausted from over a weeks worth of park time. Tomorrow was a day that we had looked forward to since Sunday. It was another take it easy day. A day that we planned to sleep in and relax and take it at our own pace. We had seen all the parks now so our day would not be rushed to try and see everything. We would have a long and good nights sleep. We only had 1 full day left in Orlando so we would take it easy and finish doing what we wanted to do.
After we left Animal Kingdom for the day we went right back to our Hotel. Im not gonna lie it was actually kind of nice to be done with the parks early again (something we hadn't done since our Universal Studios Florida day) and be able to go back to the hotel and rest up for a bit. Since I nearly killed my cameras battery again (the back up was used for most of the final pictures from the Asian trails onwards) it gave me time to recharge the primary camera before heading back out for the night. It also gave us time to rest our feet and Daniel was able to feed without being distracted.
We rested for just over an hour before we once again left our hotel for a nighttime activity that we have done on every single visit we've had to Florida. Even if we weren't having a "Disney" vacation. We would be going to Downtown Disney. We have always loved Downtown Disney. We fell in love with it in 2009 and have loved it every year since. Its a nice little slice of the Disney magic even if your not visiting any parks. You could spend hours here alone if you take your time looking at all the different shops and shows that take place here.
Parking was kind of a pain though as we weren't expecting it to be so packed on a Thursday night but it was way, way busy. But after driving around the parking lot we eventually found a spot near the Marketplace area of the shopping complex. Which was good cause this is the area we wanted to be in.
This was because by this time at night we were starving. It was much later then when we had normally been eating. But this was intentional as we had a place in mind for Dinner that we had been craving for since the last time we ate here back in 2010. That place is Earl of Sandwich.
When we ate here the first time we fell in love with this sandwich shop. We wish that we had one closer to us back home in Utah but its probably a good thing we don't because we would likely be poor if there was. It easily takes the top spot for my favorite Toasted Sandwich shop. When we have come here in the past the lines were always way crazy busy for it. However we came late enough that there was practically no wait to order. I decided to try the Full Montagu and Kiera got (if I recall right) the Hawaiian BBQ. We also got a Muffin and bag of chips to share and I got a soda cup. Now the food is very, very good but whats even better is how cheap it is. With all that we got it was still one of the cheapest meals we had the entire vacation. I love that although its on Disney Property it doesn't have Disney prices. So check out of Earl Of Sandwich when at Disney World. You won't be dissapointed.
After a filling and very good dinner we started looking around the Downtown Disney Marketplace area shops. And we started with one located right next to Earl of Sandwich. The Disney's Days of Christmas shop. Although we already bought our Disney Christmas Ornament a few days earlier at Epcot (we are "swapping" ornaments with last years) it was still fun looking around at all the different and fun Christmas goods that the store sells. Its a must look for any Christmas fanataic but since we bought the ornament already we walked out of the store with nothing.
The store I was looking forward to going to was the one we went to next. This store is the Once Upon a Toy store and sells an assortment of Disney themed toys. Theres also many none Disney toys too from Hasbro. What It is really cool about it though is that it has a couple of build it yourself sections. One is a build your own Mr. Potato head station which someday will be fun for Daniel. But the sation I was going here for was the Build your Own Lightsaber area. If you recall I really wanted to do this in Hollywood Studios but we ran out of time. So this was a must do for me.
The first thing I noticed about the station here was how big of a mess it was. The one in Hollywood Studios was much more organized and they had a CM on hand to assist. There was no one in sight here but I figured I could do it on my own. I took my time finding what parts I wanted to use and built the Lightsabor to my perfection. Eventually somebody did come over to start cleaning up the station and helped me out when I forgot a piece. It took long enough though that Daniel got bored and fell asleep lol. Once I finished though I was happy with the final result and thought it was alot of fun building my own Lightsaber. And I wasn't doing this just for fun. This was my souviner for the trip. Since I bought a Wand from the Wizard World of Harry Potter back in 2010 I had to have the Lightsaber to go with it. Its even cheaper then the Wands cost as a single blade lightsabor was only $23. Kiera told me I should do a double blade for only like $3 more but I told her I didn't want a double blade. I just wanted a single. We checked out and continued on thru the stores. I look to that day when Daniel gets old enough to do the Jedi Training Academy so we can have fun building him a lightsaber too.
As we continued along we stopped and looked in the TrenD and Team Mickey Athletic Club Shops. Team Mickey also currently has the RideMakerz shop in it as well where you can build your own car (like a build a bear). I think this would be cool but it could get pretty expensive very quickly. Needless to say we didn't buy anything in ether store and continued on past the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain which had lines out the door.
Our next stop was at another Must visit any time we are in Orlando. The World of Disney store. This store is the largest of its kind and you will be able to find pretty much anything Disney Park related in the store. Which was good because we've been waiting to buy stuff until this night at this store. The first thing we started looking for was a Purse for Kiera. After looking around the parks she found a few purses that the liked and was in need of a new one so she figured thats what she would get for herself on this vacation. We eventually found one that she liked (picture will come later) and we continued browsing the store.
The other thing we wanted to get was some Mouse Ears for Daniel. I mean thats pretty much a right of passage isn't it? Every little kid needs a pair of Mouse Ears on the first visit to Disney. Although we didn't find the Infant sized hats with the other hats. Instead they are located with the Baby/Infant/Toddler section of the store. We were also still considering getting him a shirt or something too for his first visit but we couldn't find anything we liked in his size.
One of our other vacation traditions we have is that we get some Postcards to represent the place we visited on vacation. As you know I already talked about this during the Universal portion of the trip and expressed that its getting tougher to find Park postcards that we don't already have. Well that seemed even harder at Disney as we couldn't find ANY single park Post cards. Every postcard they had was just a generic Disney World post card that featured all 4 parks. I wanted 1 for each park. Something we couldn't even find in the parks themselves. It was kind of sad but I just got 1 generic 4 park card and called it good. We also picked up a new Minnie Mouse pen for Kiera and then went and checked out. We spent a good chunck of time in the World of Disney shop and it was now nearing closing time.
After leaving the World of Disney we next walked down to the Lego Store. We didn't plan on buying anything here but its always fun to stop in and see the displays that they have built out of Legos. Its pretty amazing what all they can do. We especially liked the newer Disney themed displays outside the store as well.
Downtown Disney actually consists of Three areas. We were currently in the Marketplace area of the complex and after passing the T-Rex restaurant we would be entering the next area called Pleasure Island. Back in the Day Pleasure Island was the nighttime Hot Spot on the Disney Property as it offered many themed clubs and nightlife for adults. However 5 years ago Disney shut down all the clubs and the area is now nothing more then empty buildings and a few small shops and resturants. Disney supposedly has plans to renovate this section of the Downtown Disney complex but those plans now seem to be on hold. There really isn't even anything here to take photos of .
The Third and newest section of Downtown Disney is the West Side. With closing time happening at any minute we quickly ran into a couple shops. The first was the D Street store which sells many of the Vinylmations. I expected that this would be where I could find the Tron Vinylmations but since I found them earlier at the Character Warehouse We were more so just browsing and seeing the Different Vinylmations. I couldn't belive how expensive some of these can get. And that theres people that actually pay for them. I think some are pretty cool but I could never get in to collecting or trading them.
We also ran into the Candy Cauldron Shop as well and looked at all the Disney themed treats they had for sale. However like D Street we just looked around and didn't buy anything. This would also be our last shop we looked in as they closed the doors for the night right before we exited. Something that echoed thru most of the Downtown Disney shops at 11pm.
This West Side section to me seems like the hip and happening area of the Complex as it offers many entertainment options. From the Characters in Flight Hot Air Balloon to the AMC Movie Theater. Also Higher end entertainment like the Disneyquest indoor theme park and a Cirque De Solie Show. There are also some popular restaurants in this area such as Planet Hollywood and House of Blues. Coming soon is even the new Splitsville Bowling Alley. Although we didn't do any of these things on this trip we have at at House of Blues a couple times before and even went to a movie at the AMC theater and were blown away by how great that theater is. Just plan on paying that Disney premium for these items that you likely have much cheaper at home.
With everything closing up we decided to call it a night. Danny was tired and getting hungry again so we walked back thru Pleasure Island and the Marketplace and back to our car. We found and bought all that we wanted to get so it was time to head back to the Hotel.
We had a great evening at Downtown Disney and just wished that maybe we had a little extra time to look around. Still Downtown Disney will continue to be a must do on any of our Orlando trips even when we aren't visiting any Disney parks. Like I said before its just a small slice of Disney Magic. Check it out if you have time on your trip or if your just passing thru.
When we returned to the hotel we were exhausted from over a weeks worth of park time. Tomorrow was a day that we had looked forward to since Sunday. It was another take it easy day. A day that we planned to sleep in and relax and take it at our own pace. We had seen all the parks now so our day would not be rushed to try and see everything. We would have a long and good nights sleep. We only had 1 full day left in Orlando so we would take it easy and finish doing what we wanted to do.