The 10 Best Things About Downtown Disney

To the uninitiated, Downtown Disney seems like a distraction, a non-theme park Disney "attraction" designed to lure out of towners into adding another day onto their stay, a place where the whole point is to - surprise - spend more money. And this is perhaps not entirely untrue, but it's also one of my favorite places in Walt Disney World. And so, I proudly present:

The Top 10 Best Things About Downtown Disney:

1. On any vacation, there will be one day where it rains incessantly. This is especially true in Florida, where the 4 PM Thunderstorm Parade makes daily appearances. Downtown Disney is a great place to ride out the rain (and the mad dashing between stores is kind of fun).

2. The Art of Disney. Hands down, the coolest store in Downtown Disney. Granted, we can't afford anything in there, but it makes for great "look but don't touch" shopping.

3. DisneyQuest! Yes, the admission is kind of absurd ($40 per adult, $34 for kids 9 and under), but it's amazing how much time you can spend in here. Highlights include: writing and mixing your own song (it's hilarious, trust me) and CyberSpace Mountain, where you design and then ride your own roller coaster. For the recap, let's turn to boy band sensation NSync (fast forward to 3:40):



By the way, that makes me laugh as much today as it did when I watched that special when it premiered back in my teenybopper days.

4. There's a walkway that leads from the Downtown Disney Marketplace to the Saratoga Springs Resort. Lots of geckos and other creatures reside here, which means it can take our family 20 minutes to walk a 5 minute path becauses we are constantly taking pictures. And even if you're not staying in Saratoga Springs, it's a nice little stroll with some good views of Downtown Disney.

5. Wetzels Pretzels - Obviously, these exist elsewhere, but sometimes you just need an afternoon snack. And this quick service location is nicely positioned on the water, so it's a good place to take a breather.

6. Basin - Amazingly, Basin only has two stores (in WDW and Disneyland), so every time we go, I stock up on a year's worth of soap - the caffeine one is particularly amazing. And who can resist smelling every single soap/salt on display? Not me, because by the time I've checked out my olfactory system has shut down from overstimulation.

7. Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop - We never buy anything in here (chocolate + sun = fail), but if you time it right, they hand out free samples. Free high-end chocolate? Yes, please - and welcome to my top 10!

8. Disney's Days of Christmas - Our family is a proud member of Christmas Overshoppers Anonymous, yet we always seem to fall off the wagon here. Our attic is filled with at least 4 Christmas trees worth of ornaments, but how can you resist this store?

9. Disney's Pin Traders - This is the HQ for all the Pin Trading in WDW, and if you're kicking yourself for not buying a pin you saw 2 days ago and now can't find again - this is the place to look. Each year, we find (and purchase) pins here that we don't see anywhere else in WDW, and one-stop pin shopping cuts down on having to ransack the pin displays in the theme parks.

10. Disney Tails. Disney + pets = adorable. I always wish this store was bigger.

Now, you'll notice this list is missing some of Downtown Disney's flashy new additions - because I haven't seen them yet. Our next trip to Disney is in July, so here's what I'm most looking forward to seeing:

1. The new look of Pleasure Island. I was never a Pleasure Island fan, and it always seemed like really poor planning to stick it in the middle of Downtown Disney, making it awkward to get from the Marketplace to the West Side. Can't wait to see what Disney does with this primo real estate.

2. Disney's Design-a-Tee. Paying $20-30 for a t-shirt constitutes highway robbery, but let's get real: I'm going to do it anyway.

3. T-REX. It looks ridiculous, in a dinosaurs-and-hamburgers kind of way. I'm so in awe of this place that I'm making it a point to take the family there for a light lunch.

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