Questions about Downtown Disney before cruise

[teshawildlee]

OK so I have a lot of questions because I never knew what downtown Disney was before I kept seeing it mentioned on the boards and decided to investigate lol. So please if any of you wonderful people could explain/answer my questions it would be more than appreciated . Now that that is out of the way my husband and I are doing an adults only b2b cruise on the Dream in April 2016 (this is our second dcl cruise). We are flying in a day early and planning on staying at the Hyatt in the airport. We were just going to stay in the room all day but this literally the only vacation we are going to have alone in a long time and want to experience some things by ourselves (we will have 3 small kids by this time). When I found out about Downtown Disney I was like "we could totally go there". So anyway sorry I know this is getting kinda long but here are my questions (finally lol)

1. What does Downtown Disney have to offer and what are some 'musts'?
2. Could we book transportation through Disney to get there and back to the airport? or do we need to rent a rental car?
3. We haven't book our flights yet but should we just wait till after the cruise since we will more than likely have a late flight?

I probably have more questions than this but I'm currently pregnant and have horrible mommy brain plus I don't want to 'talk' your ears off so any added info you guys can give I'll be glad to take it.

 

[MPS516]

Disney does not do airport transportation to DTD, you would have to go to a resort and catch a bus, boat or walk over. Getting back would be a long cab ride.

I am assuming you are taking DCL from airport to ship. We usually book at a resort, take Magic Express, than DCL from resort to port. Maybe a bit more expensive but sure gets us dialed in for for our Disney Vacation.
.

 

[teshawildlee]

Disney does not do airport transportation to DTD, you would have to go to a resort and catch a bus, boat or walk over. Getting back would be a long cab ride.

I am assuming you are taking DCL from airport to ship. We usually book at a resort, take Magic Express, than DCL from resort to port. Maybe a bit more expensive but sure gets us dialed in for for our Disney Vacation.
.

ok that is what I thought so we are probably going with a rental car. Yes we are taking the dcl bus from the airport to port. We looked at stay at one of the resorts but we couldn't justify their prices being higher than the hyatt in the airport. We would love to stay at one but we opted out plus we are military so we get a nice discount at the Hyatt.

 

[Passholder]

1. What does Downtown Disney have to offer and what are some 'musts'?

Dining: anywhere you eat will be great. Fulton's Crab Shack, Wolf Gang Puck, The Earl of Sandwich, Ghirardellis (free samples)...lots lots lots more

Shopping: if you want something with Disney on it, this is your place, a Disney Store, a Lego store, lots and lots of other stores to wander through.

Entertainment: there is a stage in the middle, there is usually something going on

Disney Quest: a gigantic arcade

There's also a movie theater and bowling alley.

 

[teshawildlee]

sounds great and who doesn't love samples? lol

 

[tinkerone]

dinner and dtd at night are amazing. when you say you looked at staying on site were you looking at the values or the mods? either one you could probably get at the same rate as the hyatt I would think. its just starts the Disney vacation off right, imo. nothing like a dash of Disney before the main event. I would much rather spend the day at a resort then at the hyatt but again, jmo.
as far as things to do there is everything from Disney quest to bowling to cirque de soleil. the shopping, even if its just window shopping, is great. the bus will pick you up at your resort for transfers to the port, a little later than some like but I think its perfect timing.
what ever you decide have a great adults only time.

 

[Aerin75]

We've been able to get purchases shipped home from Downtown Disney so we didn't have to worry about overfilling our car (we drove); we were thinking of doing the same when we go on our cruise. If you ship home, you are saved tax which will offset the cost of shipping...but then you also won't have potential extra baggage fees, either.

 

[JMHDisney]

I found downtown Disney to be pretty unimpressive and a hassle to get to. I would either go to a park or hang at the pool at the Hyatt. If you really want to do something Disney, i'd just stay at a Disney resort. You can get transportation to the port from the Disney resorts.

 

[DCL4LIFE]

Hopefully the road construction is done by then. Right now it's an absolute nightmare around that area. Like, raises your blood pressure, shortens your life type traffic. If you were asking about now I would say it's not worth it, not sure about next April. Just something to keep an eye on.

 

[Sarah Trahan]

You can get transportation to the port from the Disney resorts.

 

[LLM]

I would stay at a Disney resort like others have said and use their transportation. By the time you factor in the cost of a rental car, the Disney resort will probably end up costing you less!

Lisa

 

[artnerds]

ok that is what I thought so we are probably going with a rental car. Yes we are taking the dcl bus from the airport to port. We looked at stay at one of the resorts but we couldn't justify their prices being higher than the hyatt in the airport. We would love to stay at one but we opted out plus we are military so we get a nice discount at the Hyatt.

Have you considered Shades of Green since you're military? Might be even less expensive than the Hyatt, and you would be staying on property so it would be easier to enjoy a day at Downtown Disney or one of the parks.

 

[bfamily5]

There are usually room only discounts for that time of year but they won't be released for some time. You could take Magic Express from/to the airport eliminating the need to rent a car. DTD is a nice place to spend some adult time. We usually end up at Raglan Road - great food, service and entertainment. Our pre cruise plan this year is either Disneyquest or one of the waterparks if the weather cooperates. Port Orleans offer boat service to DTD and that resort has it's own nighttime entertainment in the form of Yeehaw Bob. All this is less expensive than a hotel in San Juan

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Have you considered Shades of Green since you're military? Might be even less expensive than the Hyatt, and you would be staying on property so it would be easier to enjoy a day at Downtown Disney or one of the parks.

I second this. While I haven't stayed at Shades of Green, I've driven by it and it looks really nice. It's also close enough to the TTC that you could shuttle over there and enjoy the restaurants and shows at the Magic Kingdom resorts via Monorail. I know this may throw a wrench into your planning but I think you may enjoy it more than DTD.

 

[artnerds]

I second this. While I haven't stayed at Shades of Green, I've driven by it and it looks really nice. It's also close enough to the TTC that you could shuttle over there and enjoy the restaurants and shows at the Magic Kingdom resorts via Monorail. I know this may throw a wrench into your planning but I think you may enjoy it more than DTD.

Shades of Green is a really beautiful AFRC resort with nice pools and located on a golf course in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area. Disney buses, including Magical Express and Disney Cruise Line, do not go to the resort, but they do have their own shuttle bus service to the parks (as well as to Universal Studios and Sea World). Shades of Green guests are able to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours at the WDW parks.

Rates typically start between $95 and $130 per night, depending on rank/status.

 

[teshawildlee]

Shades of Green is a really beautiful AFRC resort with nice pools and located on a golf course in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area. Disney buses, including Magical Express and Disney Cruise Line, do not go to the resort, but they do have their own shuttle bus service to the parks (as well as to Universal Studios and Sea World). Shades of Green guests are able to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours at the WDW parks.

Rates typically start between $95 and $130 per night, depending on rank/status.

I might sound silly saying this but...I've never heard of Shades of Green and we are Air Force lol. If we stayed there I guess we could just go take advantage of our free trip to Sea world each year but them we have to worry about one getting there and two getting to port. We kinda have this thing about having set transportation because every time we don't our vacation turns into a stress-cation. We have been to Sea World a bunch of times though and kinda want to experience something new. DTD seems like the best thing for us to do that won't cost us too much extra money. We would love to go to to WDW but we seriously can't afford that and the b2b as well so we went with the cruise.

 

[artnerds]

I might sound silly saying this but...I've never heard of Shades of Green and we are Air Force lol. If we stayed there I guess we could just go take advantage of our free trip to Sea world each year but them we have to worry about one getting there and two getting to port. We kinda have this thing about having set transportation because every time we don't our vacation turns into a stress-cation. We have been to Sea World a bunch of times though and kinda want to experience something new. DTD seems like the best thing for us to do that won't cost us too much extra money. We would love to go to to WDW but we seriously can't afford that and the b2b as well so we went with the cruise.

Something to keep in mind for future trips.

 

[Skg11576]

Something to keep in mind for future trips.

 

[teshawildlee]

Something to keep in mind for future trips.

Thank you I appreciate it. It is for sure something to keep in mind for sure.

 

[Skg11576]

Shades of Green is a great resort! I would check with Disney Cruise Line transportation, when I was at Shades in September I saw 2 Disney Cruise Line busses on different days. I also think that they have added the transfers from the Swan and Dolphin also.
We took a Mears shuttle to SOG from MCO and I think it was about $20.00 pp.
There is also a Shades Of Green in Hawaii, I have never been but it's supposed to be great