Garden Walk

[ebenmax]

We have two nights when our guys are going to baseball games and the girls are not. One night we planned DTD but I wondered about Garden Walk. Is it within a safe walking distance of VGC?
Is there a lot to occupy a 28 and 12 yr. old (plus Mom in a wheelchair?)

Thanks so much!

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

It is close enough to walk and safe. We have not spent a whole lot of time there in several years but there was not a lot of stores open then. There are some decent restaurants nearby.

There is a lot to see and do in DTD, you could easily spend two days or parts of two days enjoying yourselves there. Take in a movie, check out the other resorts, lots of people watching. There are quite a few activities you can avail of at the GCH. You can always take a bus or cab to the beach. I see these as being sleep in days to recharge, relax by the pool, etc.

If it is not to late to get tickets, you may want to take in one of the ball games. There are a lot of things to see and eat at ball parks these days that can be quite entertaining for even the casual or non sports fan.

 

[Imdboss]

In the past we've stayed at a hotel that took us past the Garden Walk to get to DL. Back then there wasn't an ART stop there so we would walk to/from twice a day. I even took my DD on a girls only trip when she was 5 and we made the walk back to the hotel at midnight and I never felt unsafe. We would usually go to Bubba Gump's and Cheesecake Factory once per trip, there are some other nicer restaurants there also (I think most if not all are chains). There is also a bowling alley and some shops but I believe most of those close early evening.

 

[sheetz]

Gardenwalk has not been successful at attracting many businesses and most of it remains empty. There are some good chain restaurants and a bowling alley but not much else.

 

[Indiana Scott]

I think you would be very disappointed with Garden Walk. It's not up to the same standards as DTD and is really rather boring.

 

[YukonMommy]

Wandering through the Garden Walk does not take much time at all. As others have said most stores are closed. But the Cheesecake Factory and Bubba Gumps are always on our must eats when we go to Disney!

I think you could definitely spend 2 evenings in DTD!

Have a magical time!

 

[Doctor Who]

My Wife and I were there in July of 2014 and it was empty. The first half didn't have a single shop open. We did eat at PF Chang and bought a pair of sunglasses but that was it.

 

[ebenmax]

Thank you for your input! That's sad that it hasn't really taken off! We may end up late afternoon swimming at the GCH then dinner and browsing at DTD. I think exploring the other resorts sounds fun, too!!

 

[mrkyyyle]

Thank you for your input! That's sad that it hasn't really taken off! We may end up late afternoon swimming at the GCH then dinner and browsing at DTD. I think exploring the other resorts sounds fun, too!!

We are locals and frequent the movie theater at the Garden Walk at least a few times a month, I'd recommend that. Other than restaurants you aren't going to find much there, most of the shops have closed up over the years. It is kind of perplexing as that entire mall was supposed to have a hotel built on top of the parking structure at one point. I'm pretty sure Disney has had a part in it not taking off at all, as without any type of cross promotion (and Disney having DTD not very far away) the mall itself is relegated to people coming for the restaurants only (which are always busy). Also the type of shops that are there are ones that you'd go to at home, so at best it is usually window shoppers there. Wouldn't surprise me if Disney eventually buys it at some point.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I haven't been there in several years. When we went, all they had were boring stores. They were all clothing and not terribly interesting to browse through. I just listened to the podcast where they talked about shopping at City Walk and those stores sounded interesting. Why couldn't they bring in some of those? With those great restaurants to anchor the mall, you have to work hard to keep people away- and they did. I'm just so annoyed they let it sit there. What a waste.

 

[taffy]

We go there to eat as it has some great restaurants but that's it for us.

 

[SplashMo]

We have two nights when our guys are going to baseball games and the girls are not. One night we planned DTD but I wondered about Garden Walk. Is it within a safe walking distance of VGC?
Is there a lot to occupy a 28 and 12 yr. old (plus Mom in a wheelchair?)

Thanks so much!

The garden walk has some OK restaurants. As a mall it is nothing special.. I will say that it is not 100% safe to walk there. I would catch a cab or take the Art or a shuttle...

I would go to the park an extra night or hit LA.

 

[offwithyourhead]

I would recommend The Outlets At Orange instead. There is a bus that goes there and back with ART (which was wheelchair friendly when we went) or it would be a short cab ride back to the resort area. There's a Dave and Buster's there which I've heard is a ton of fun. And they have a bowling alley and movie theater and a ton of places to eat if Dave and Buster's is not your thing.

You'd probably get much more enjoyment out of there than Gardenwalk.

 

[mrkyyyle]

The garden walk has some OK restaurants. As a mall it is nothing special.. I will say that it is not 100% safe to walk there. I would catch a cab or take the Art or a shuttle...

I would go to the park an extra night or hit LA.

Curious why you'd say it wasn't 100% safe to walk there? It is a straight shot down Katella, more than half of which is along the back of California Adventure, and that whole stretch of Katella has tons of convention center attendees and guests walking around as well. There are people out there at all times of the day/night, sure there might be a kook or two but you are likely to find that walking around just about anywhere.

 

[endy]

I would recommend The Outlets At Orange instead. There is a bus that goes there and back with ART (which was wheelchair friendly when we went) or it would be a short cab ride back to the resort area. There's a Dave and Buster's there which I've heard is a ton of fun. And they have a bowling alley and movie theater and a ton of places to eat if Dave and Buster's is not your thing.

You'd probably get much more enjoyment out of there than Gardenwalk.

Totally agree with this vs Gardenwalk. We usually spend more than a few hours at this Dave and Busters, have a teenaged son. Pick up at coupon book at guest services.
There's not much at Gardenwalk other than restaurants. I like Fire and Ice. We only go there to eat.
If you have a car we really like the mall at Irvine. Spectrum? Fairly quick drive down the 5.

Also agree with going to the baseball game one night. You can get cheap seats and enjoy the ambience. We don't have baseball here, we do have hockey and I enjoy the atmosphere at the ballpark. It's very different than hockey.
Tho the next week or more are going to be very exciting for hockey fans in Anaheim. We're going to be at least a couple games next week both hockey and baseball. Hope to see a lot of Flames jerseys, we'll be wearing ours.

 

[mrkyyyle]

Totally agree with this vs Gardenwalk. We usually spend more than a few hours at this Dave and Busters, have a teenaged son. Pick up at coupon book at guest services.
There's not much at Gardenwalk other than restaurants. I like Fire and Ice. We only go there to eat.
If you have a car we really like the mall at Irvine. Spectrum? Fairly quick drive down the 5.

Also agree with going to the baseball game one night. You can get cheap seats and enjoy the ambience. We don't have baseball here, we do have hockey and I enjoy the atmosphere at the ballpark. It's very different than hockey.
Tho the next week or more are going to be very exciting for hockey fans in Anaheim. We're going to be at least a couple games next week both hockey and baseball. Hope to see a lot of Flames jerseys, we'll be wearing ours.

Yep it is the Irvine Spectrum and that is a good mall as well.

I'm with everyone on the baseball side, Angel stadium is fun to go to (typically go to about 15-20 games a year myself) especially as a family. When hockey is in town that is fun to go to as well (Go Ducks!).
Enjoy your trip down Endy!