Where’s the world’s largest Disney store? It’s at Disney Springs in Orlando! Because resort check-in is 3:00 PM, it doesn’t make sense to purchase a park ticket for the first day. Instead, we catch a Disney transportation bus and head there to kick start our Disney experience.
The food…
While you can find plenty of great eateries at Disney Springs — including the Boathouse, the Edison, and Chicken Guy — we prefer to junk out on our first night. There’s always a couple food trucks and we typically hit those. This year, taco cones made the cut.
We skipped Poutine (that stuff is gross!), the Polite Pig, Planet Hollywood, and the other 50 or so restaurants.
Because it was so darned hot…
We opted for ice cream sundaes! At $66 for 4, it was our first real purchase where we experienced buyer’s regret. We could’ve split only one of these and everyone would’ve had enough.
Shopping!
We never miss the Tommy Bahama store at the Springs… and of course, always hit up the Disney Store. Get this — there were so many people that no less than 8 workers were standing at different entrances of the Disney Store to direct people to the door they wanted them to use.
The LEGO store is a draw for most, but we only took a couple photos of the Disney characters and more formed from the tiny blocks. I put blinders on so I’d pass the Coach and Pandora stores. I think we all left there with a shirt or two, but made no major purchases.
We ended up at Disney Springs twice this trip. Colette traveling to the parks with us was changed last minute (GRRRR!) so picking her up at the airport changed that day’s plans for everyone. We had to switch our park days so Ben, Perry and I headed back to Disney Springs again on day #2. That was more than enough!
While I might visit there occasionally on weekends if I lived locally, once is enough for a week-long trip.