Best Mall- i drive area.

[Ruth B]

Hi
i'm going to orlando in aug. I'm planning one day to spend doing some shopping with my 11 y/o DS. I am staying at residenmce inn- SW and will be getting there by i-trolley( at a push a taxi?)

What Mall do you like the best?
I want to buy-
Trainers and Levi jeans and my son will be buying a nintendo DS(hand held) and football tops.
I would like to have a wonder around a wall mark(or similar store) and we will proberly get lunch.
Any advice would be great
Thanks
Ruth

 

[Latel]

Hi Ruth

My favourite place to shop is Premium Outlets. It is at the end of the I-Ride line. You can buy trainers and jeans at really low prices. I can't remember if you can buy Nintendo's there though, maybe someone else remembers. There is also a food court there with plenty to choose for lunch.

I don't remember seeing a WallMart on International Drive anywhere, they all tend to be Walgreens along that way, so you may need to get a Taxi if you want to go there.

 

[Cochise]

I like the Prime outlet, good mix of shops and plenty of them, they will be in the middle of a refurb (or should be) so there may be some shops closed and a little disruption. The prime designer outlet next door is not the sort of clothes i wear so we didn't spend much time there.

Festival bay hadn't really taken off when we was there last October, there was an awful lot of units that were empty. However it was a very nice place and the additional Surf thing should be good for a short while. I also wandered round the Bass Pro shop for ages, it was so cool.

Walmart would be a struggle unless you have you own transport as the nearest is up off the Sand Lake about 4/5 mile from I Drive.

All of these places have websites of sorts i think so a bit of google action may confirm which place is best for you.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Premium Outlets is good, especially for sportswear but can be a big hit and miss as many of the items in the stores are out of season stock.

I agree with Rob about Festival Bay, worth it for the Ron Jon Surf shop alone but is taking a while to get fully going.

Slightly further afield, about 5 miles or so from I-drive is the Florida Mall which overall is probably the best place for an overall shopping day out, there is an excellent food court there too.

As for 'football tops' , do you mean club replica shirts? to be honest you will struggle to find these in Orlando, best bought in the UK.

 

[Cochise]

If it is US football tops then generally they are very expensive but there are i think 2 or 3 types of tops, the really well made ones that the actual teams wear generally known as a "authentic" and the cheaper ones "replica" jerseys. You can pay $200 full price for an authentic and about $80 full price for a replica. But there are bargains i am sure

 

[AndRu]

I don't recall any computer game shops at Orlando Premium Outlets but there are lots of clothes & sports shops for jeans and trainers. It has a nice food court as well. Premium Outlets is just off I4 between Downtown Disney and the Sea World area.

I'd agree with the other about Festival Bay, I really thought (and expected) it to take off but there too many empty spaces. I like it for "Steve & Barry's" which has great priced college gear. You can't beat the range of T-Shirts / Sweaters / Jeans etc at rock bottom prices. On our first trip we spent about $80 but had three bags crammed with stuff! I think it'd only be worth a visit for those that have the freedom and convinience of a car

As Johnny says, your best bet is The Florida Mall. This place is huge and has everything you want, including computer game shops. However, this is a bit further out of Orlando but would be a one-stop-shop for virtually all your needs.

There is one other mall in the area, The Mall At Millenia which has lots of exclusive shops. By exclusive I mean that some of the items have no prices - if you have to ask you can't afford it! It did however have a good music and computer game shop but to be honest, we felt that MAM was definetly for the more affluent.

When it comes to sports / replica shirts, the only soccer shirts I recal seeing were in Sports Dominator on I-Drive. But to my eye I don't think these were the genuine article. The quality of the material didn't ring true ... I might be wrong but they looked fake to me. If your son is after American sports gear, I've found that it pays to look on Ebay rather than buy it over there. For example, I've bought an Ohio "Buckeye" college football shirt, 2, Oakland Raiders replica shirts, USA and Orlando Magic basketball replicas from Ebay for < £30 each. I went to loads of sports shops in Orlando but was surprised to find that the replica's were $80+ I've actually saved money by buying what I wanted via Ebay.

HTH's

 

[Cochise]

Agreed Ebay is good for US sports tops. Sat here in my tmac magic swingman for £9 plus postage.

 

[Ruth B]

Thanks for all your help and the links

 

[Ruth B]

Thanks for all your help and the links