Disney Springs on a Saturday?

[txelle05]

I am just looking for some recent Saturday experiences at Disney Springs. Back when I started planning our trip in early 2021, it seemed like there were lots of posts about how DS was always super crowded with long lines to just get into stores, especially on the weekends, but I know a lot has changed since then. We are arriving on a Saturday and I was trying to decide if we should try to venture over there for a quick dinner and looking around, or if it would be better to just hit the pool for a few hours.

My main concern with going to DS is not being able to find something to eat without a crazy wait (I was just planning on a counter service place like Polite Pig or Chicken Guy) and also a little worried about there just being a ton of people. Are there still lines to get into stores? We would probably only go to a few of the more unique stores anyway and I did make a reservation to make a minifig at the Lego store.

 

[hsmamato2]

Go early for dinner you should be ok. It gets crazy busy after dark and when parks close....

 

[Disney.Dreamin.Dee]

Social distancing and lowered capacity have not been a thing at Disney in quite some time.
Saturday evenings are going to be more crowded since locals also go out on the weekends.
If there's a wait its because yes its busy but not because they are only letting in limited people.

 

[Grankm21]

I can’t speak about a Saturday, but we were there on a Wednesday a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t too bad when we went into our dinner reservation at 6pm, but when we came out an hour or so later it was very crowded. I can’t only imagine that a Saturday evening would be even more packed. On a Saturday, I would suggest visiting as early as possible during the day.

 

[IndyToThere]

We went to DS for dinner on our arrival day on a Sat back in mid-Oct. It was pretty busy. Every restaurant was booked up when dining reservations come about. After a snafu on my part (tried using OpenTable to book a reservation when Disney showed nothing for our family size, and Opentable let us book a DS restaurant that wasn't even at DS), we ended up waiting for a table on standby at Planet Hollywood (45 min wait).

There are lines to some of the Disney stores... most seemed not too terribly long of a wait. Although if you want to get into Guest Relations for something, it will be a LONG wait.

Basically, get your dining reservation in as soon as you can, because they get pretty busy on Sat at DS.

 

[Shellyred8]

For me, it would depend on which resort I'm staying at. If we are at SSR, we would walk over on a Saturday for a look around and a sandwich at Earl of Sandwich (love their mobile order!). But if we were at say Wilderness Lodge or somewhere with good pools and good food options (hello bison burger at Geyser Point!), we would stay at the resort.
As others have mentioned, Saturday afternoons and evenings are busy. If you have little ones, this could be a more challenging time since you will have so many more people to navigate through.

Don't forget about the Movies under the Stars options at most of the on-site resorts. That could be another fun evening activity for your family.

 

[happiestpoe]

I was just planning on a counter service place like Polite Pig or Chicken Guy

I love Chicken Guy, but seating there is an issue. Only a handful of tables and it's always banged out. That said, it's easy food to carry and eat on a bench elsewhere.

 

[txelle05]

I love Chicken Guy, but seating there is an issue. Only a handful of tables and it's always banged out. That said, it's easy food to carry and eat on a bench elsewhere.

Ooohh. Thank you for this. That is something I hadn’t thought to look into. I just assumed it would have plenty of seating.

 

[SkyGuy]

Ooohh. Thank you for this. That is something I hadn’t thought to look into. I just assumed it would have plenty of seating.

We went to Chicken Guy last Friday around 2:30, thinking it was an off enough time. Nope. We had to wait in line outside the restaurant before we were allowed to get in line inside the restaurant. We also had to wait quite a bit for our very simple order to be ready. There was zero seating inside or out, so we made our order to go and sat on a planter in the covered store area right next to the restaurant. DS was very busy. We also met some family members there on Thursday night for dinner reservations and it was insanely crowded. We had to wait about 20 minutes past our reservation time to be seated, but this was due to City Works being short staffed as much as it was the crowds.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Go before 6pm.

 

[SwanVT2]

We were there this past week staying at SSR and we walked to DS almost every night for dinner. It was crowded by 4:30 every day no matter what. I did an Earl mobile order one evening and it was a half hour wait for the mobile order and I brought that food back to hotel. Rest of the evenings we had dining reservations and we used Open Table for those. If you are a Landrys member you can walk in to T. rex or Rainforest without a big wait. The only store I saw with a line was Lego. Also definitely use the mobile shopping scan code in the Disney store so you don’t have to wait in the line at the register. The word of the day every day at Disney is LINES. One day I figured I’d waited 1 1/2 hours total waiting to pick up mobile food orders at our hotel even when I ordered in advance.. they were so busy there was always at least a half hour wait.

 

[txelle05]

I actually ended up making a reservation at Homecomin but am still trying to decide whether or not to keep it. I’m worried about timing, since we’ll be coming from the airport.

The main thing I want to do there is go to the lego store! We have a reservation to create a minifig which I believe lets you bypass the line. I guess I’ll have to be fine with Uber/Lyft if the timing starts to get tight.