How much time to budget for Downtown Disney

[Richard M Nixon]

Originally I was planning a whole day for DTD, arriving at 9am for breakfast, spending the day shopping and exploring (also, lunch), and ending the day at 5:30 to head to Cirque - Fulton's - Bar.

Now that I'm looking at what there is to do, I'm wondering if I didn't budget too much time for shopping. Excluding time for lunch, I'd have 6.5 hours to kill at DTD after eating breakfast before La Nouba. It's just my partner and myself, no kids, and we probably won't check out disneyquest after the crappy reviews I've read. Is it best to chill out at the resort for the morning and just make it down to DTD for lunch onward? I have 8 1/2 days to spend at WDW so I intend on making my DTD day one where I don't hit up the parks, and I already have an evening planned for the brief amount of time I've been told it takes to see Boardwalk.

 

[V2000]

I would say relax at your resort in the morning. Have a nice breakfast there and maybe go to the pool. Downtown Disney is rather large and there is a lot of things to do. I would suggest going late afternoon to night time. The action at night is much better. Go to a movie, a show, the house of blues, bowling, have drinks, and a romantic dinner. The entire day would probably be too long.

 

[puffkin]

We usually spend one evening there. We usually eat dinner around 6 at T-Rex or Rainforest, then walk around. DS8 & DH usually go to Disney Quest while my mom, myself and younger DS walk through the shops. We usually only spend about 2 hours walking around and can see pretty much in that time. If DS and DH aren't done, we just take the car back to the resort and they grab the bus.

I think all day sounds like a lot of time to devote to DTD. I'd be bored, but then again, thats just me.

 

[puffkin]

Then again, I think if you did a lot of the "paid" experiences it could be a pretty fun and complete day.....like DQ, Movies, Bowling, La Nouba, Balloon Ride, etc. However, it would get very very pricey to do a lot of those things in the course of a day, especially if you throw in a little shopping and dining too.

 

[Richard M Nixon]

Definitely doing bowling. I know it's in one hour blocks so I'll probably just do one hour for the two of us. I haven't bowled in years so I don't know how long it'll take to have a decent time, but I figure an hour is enough. I'll consider adding another and ordering some drinks, though...

I've heard very tepid responses to Disneyquest being outdated, unentertaining, and not able to really engage adults. I haven't built any real excitement towards it yet, but there's still time. I need to find some reviews from an adult perspective.

Cirque is a must-do as we've never been before, and I'm really looking forward to it.

The balloon ride does seem kinda interesting, but given that it's tethered and doesn't last very long, I'm unsure how exciting it will be. I imagine I can get as good a view from the top of the resort.

Going to the movies strikes me as a surprising 'attraction' to sign up for. There's nothing special or unique going on there so it seems a waste of precious vacation time for something I can do anywhere. I can see how the idea of dinner theater is appealing for people who don't have a similar place in their hometown so I'm not bashing it as completely silly, mind you.

Shopping is the big time-fill that I'm counting on. I appreciate the advice that it's really only enough to last 2-3 hours, so I'll plan on coming for the afternoon. I did want to try out the bicycle paths, so maybe I'll try to pencil that in for the morning...

 

[puffkin]

Going to the movies strikes me as a surprising 'attraction' to sign up for. There's nothing special or unique going on there so it seems a waste of precious vacation time for something I can do anywhere. I can see how the idea of dinner theater is appealing for people who don't have a similar place in their hometown so I'm not bashing it as completely silly, mind you.

I think a lot of people mention the movies because sometimes you just need some downtime in blissful AC on a trip (or if there is a bad weather). So the movies is still a "vacationy" type thing to do for a break from the parks if you don't just want to just hang out at the resort. I know we have done this a few times mid trip just for an afternoon to recharge while still doing something fun (and it isn't horribly expensive).

Another group that we find do the movies a lot are foreign travellers. Typically they come for much longer trips so have more downtime to fill. And depending on the movie, they may be able to see it a lot earlier than when it would be released in their home country.

 

[Richard M Nixon]

I think a lot of people mention the movies because sometimes you just need some downtime in blissful AC on a trip (or if there is a bad weather). So the movies is still a "vacationy" type thing to do for a break from the parks if you don't just want to just hang out at the resort. I know we have done this a few times mid trip just for an afternoon to recharge while still doing something fun (and it isn't horribly expensive).

Another group that we find do the movies a lot are foreign travellers. Typically they come for much longer trips so have more downtime to fill. And depending on the movie, they may be able to see it a lot earlier than when it would be released in their home country.

A great point. I also understand that DTD sees a lot of local action, so I'm sure it's just "the movies" to the nearby residents.