If you are a shopper....

[la79al]

how long do you generally spend at DTD? My sister is looking forward to doing her shopping on our first day and I am trying to figure out what time to make our ADRs for that day.

 

[DisneyCP2002]

Well for me about 1/2 is plenty but only if you do the Marketplace side. I would suggest trying to get an ADR at one of the DTD dining locations if you plan on spending a huge amount of time there that day.

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

We usually budget 2-3 hours for shopping at DTD. We visit about 7-10 stores, and take our time browsing.

 

[ppony]

We seriously shop when we go. Though as the years go by, we buy less and less because we're getting more picky. That said, for us we will shop for HOURS. 3-5 at least! We usually go to DTD our first day as well.
I understand your deliemma about when to make your ADRs. I couldn't decide between an early or later dinner. Shop before or after dinner. Since we will be shopping on Friday, that is one of their latest nights hours wise there so we went w/ early dinner. I'd rather not worry about getting back at a certain hour.




As Wilma Flinstone and Betty Rubble said "Dah da-da- da. da. daaaaah, Chaaaaaaaaaarge it!

 

[Justsyd2]

DH and I spent 4 hours there and it wasn't nearly enough! I would recommend doing at least 2 - 4 hour days if you want to do it properly. They have many amazing restaurants there -- if you can, make a ressie to eat there.

 

[auntfrannie]

If you're concerned about the ADR time, you can always go with Earl of Sandwich or Wolfgang Puck Express. Both have really good counter service that's much better than what you'll see in the parks. Or else shop until you hit an odd time for meals and stroll over to T-Rex or Raglan Road while you're there.

I love shopping at DTD but sadly over the years the merchandise has gotten more generic <so sad> that I don't need to spend as much time browsing as I used to.

 

[CanadianPaco]

One evening for us! Like 5-8-ish including dinner! I love shpping there... I need more money as well as time! Aaah!

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

On our honeymoon, we had lots of money to spend and we literally spent the whole day there and then had dinner there at WPC and then went to Cirque. (We did get a later start than most days, arriving at 10 or so.) That seemed to be the right amount of time. So, if she's a serious shopper, I wouldn't plan much else that day. Make an ADR at one of the fantastic restaurants at DTD and you won't have to worry about what time it's for. You can just shop around it.

Now, we typically just spend a 2-3 hours there one evening because there's not much we want. We get our tree ornament, some custom stuff from Goofy's Candy Co., and browse.

 

[Meriweather]

for us it is 2-3 hours 2-3 times a trip. I love the stores and just walking around.
We shop around ADRs if we have them, but usually like Earl's.

 

[Wild4Walt]

I like to make an event out of it, just like going to one of the parks.

That said I can spend an hour in World of Disney alone. The other shops we tend to just browse in. We will walk through Pleasure Island and check that out ( not a lot there at the moment ) and then walk through to the West Side and browse there too.

It probably takes us about 3 or 4 hours.

 

[FirstTimeWDW]

Not to hijack, but how late are the stores open? Since we're going in December I know the parks close a little earlier so if we wanted to head over there in the evening would the stores still be open? Also, how late do the buses run and when people say taking a taxi is faster, are there taxi's just hanging out or do we have to bring the number to call one?

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

They are open fairly late - like 11 pm to midniteish. The buses run late to, no need for taxis.

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

our first few trips we did spend more time. But we still go and spend maybe a few hours. We also like to sit and listen to the music. A couple of trips they had entertainers that would get all the kids involved in dancing. Then we may grab a bite to eat and ice cream. So you really can spend alot of time .all the stores are nice. esp. the Xmas ones......

 

[ppony]

This link has park hours for this year in addition to all the Nov. DTD hours. I'm pretty sure you can bank on most of them being similar w/ respect to the holidays to Dec.

http://www.disneytravelagents.com/StaticFiles/DTA-Domestic/pdf/ParkHours/WDW_Operating_Calendar_Nov.pdf

 

[love2teach]

I spend about 2-3 hours at the Marketplace side. I don't shop much on the Westside, just at the House of Blues Company Store. I could stay in there all day if I could....

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

It's almost not worth it for us to go to Westside for the sake of shopping. There's not much there.

 

[ppony]

I wish there was more over on the west side. It is a ways to walk just for a few shops. But we just never miss the art shops and the candy place. CAN'T miss them! We spend the lions share on the art usually. I'm an artist, what can I say.

 

[Doc CW]

I would say 3-4 hours with my mom and baby sister. Its cool though, I get to walk through the Team Mickey store and check out all the sports gear, although they have no Dallas Cowboys gear .

 

[Nutz4Dizney]

I am not a crazy shopper but I would say we spend a good 2-3 hours about 3-4 nights out of our trip.

My hubby is a Christmas freak so we could spend at least 1 hour in the Christmas store.
I am a pin collector so I can spend up to 2 hours in the pin store LOL

World of Disney forget about it <in my best NY accent> I can spend all night there LOL

I guess it all depends on what you like.

I never go into the "sports" stores since, I think sports are dumb. I haven't been over to Pleasure Island since they took the Country club and the New Years eve party out. Those are the only reasons I ever went over there so I can't tell you about that.

The west side we did see cirque last year (my hubby and I feel dozed on and off, my 7 year old was bored to tears and my mom only watched because she hates wasting money) other than that we didn't tour west side. This year we will though, going to Disney quest for the whole day LOL

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

You really found Cirque boring?? I thought it was amazing!