What is Downtown Disney like in CA?

[Sherri]

Is it like downtown Disney in Florida? Is the Disneyland hotel in walking distance to it?

 

[pxlbarrel]

The Disneyland Hotel and the Grand Californian are actually "attached" to Downtown Disney. It's a few steps from both to DD.

It has many delectable restaurants and the World of Disney. Lots of other stores too and a small pin trading kiosk.

DD in Florida is much bigger and has more Disney related stores. DD in Anaheim is actually pretty small compared to Orlando....but still...it's nice to walk around...especially at night. It seems to really come alive at night with lots of people, tourists and locals alike.

 

[ADisneyPrincess]

There's usually a lot of live music going on at night which is nice. Different styles. Even though CA DD is smaller than FL, I like it better. The atmosphere is really nice.

 

[Tiggernut_jadie]

My DH, DD and I will be at DL from 11th-15th November. On the Saturday night my DH has arranged to go to see the college football with a friend of ours who now lives in LA. This will leave DD (who's 6) and myself on our own for the evening.....

We don't want to use up one of our ticket days just for the evening but I was wondering if we'd be safe walking from Best Western Park Place Inn into Downtown Disney for a meal and a bit of 'girlie' shopping? What do people think?

 

[pxlbarrel]

My DH, DD and I will be at DL from 11th-15th November. On the Saturday night my DH has arranged to go to see the college football with a friend of ours who now lives in LA. This will leave DD (who's 6) and myself on our own for the evening.....

We don't want to use up one of our ticket days just for the evening but I was wondering if we'd be safe walking from Best Western Park Place Inn into Downtown Disney for a meal and a bit of 'girlie' shopping? What do people think?

Oh, it's perfect for that Disney feel without using a ticket. That's what we did one evening before our full blown invasion of the park the next day.

It should be very safe since you won't be alone. Lots of people will be walking with you to the park. You have to go through Disney security to get to DD since the parks are between Harbor and DD. In other words, you have to go through the "sterile area" before you reach DD. There's the Build Your Own Bear store that your DD will love .... hmmmm...maybe you ought to avoid it unless you wanna end up with a few of those lovely bears. World of Disney shopping is always fun. Head over to the Disneyland Hotel for a walk around. Ooohhh...and Haagen Daaz ice cream...

I always wanted to try the kettle corn in DD but I never had a chance. I would think that would be a nice little snack to take back to the hotel. LOL

(Yes, my vacations are remembered by the foods I eat...how sad, eh?)

 

[rosiep]

[/QUOTE]
(Yes, my vacations are remembered by the foods I eat...how sad, eh[/QUOTE]


ME TOO! ME TOO!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Everything at DL is within walking distance of everything else. That's what makes it so nice. There are a lot of good places to eat at DTD at DL, plus all three hotels are very close.

 

[GailT]

(Yes, my vacations are remembered by the foods I eat...how sad, eh[/QUOTE]


ME TOO! ME TOO! [/QUOTE]


I plan the food around my vacation, I was just talking to someone at work about that.

 

[fidoprincess]

Tiggernut Jadie, You will be perfectly safe!! The walk is not far esp. from BWPPI, you cross at the light right in front of the hotel and walk through the main entry plaza straight across into DTD. You have your choice of places to eat. My dd 6 loves Rain Forest Cafe for one. Also, you will be able to go into the hotels to eat as well. Goofy's in DLH is right at the end of DTD past ESPN Zone and my kids love this place as well. Depending on the time, you can also go over to DLH and drive the remote boats.

My dd is not so into shopping but she does love build-a-bear! Another thing lots of people do is the Libby-Lu place where the kids get "make overs" into princesses. Mine won't do it because she can not stand the smell of hair spray but we see lots of kids seemingly having a great time there. (Both of these places have websites so you can get an idea of the prices.) The only other stores she really likes is the Lego Store and World of Disney. WOD is fairly large and they have everything from clothes to toys to books. She also likes the store in the DLH but it is much smaller than WOD.

There is plenty to do in just DTD alone, there is even a movie theater. Mine like to walk into GCH and sit by the big fireplace where there is storytelling and anyone can do that.

Since it is Sat night, I strongly suggest making reservations for dinner somewhere as the walk-in lines get really really long esp. for RFC. We have seen wait times over 2 hours!!

 

[LOVEDISNEYLAND]

Are there a lot of christmasy type shops open in DTD during the holidays???

 

[Tiggernut_jadie]

Thanks to pxlbarrel and fidoprincess! We chose the BWPPI becasue it was so close but the arrangement for DH to go to the football came later in the planning!

My DD is not too keen on shopping normally but her exceptions are Build-a-bear ( we have those in the UK too! - and her bear 'BB' from there always comes with us to the USA!)) and the Disney Store - so I think we'll be ok!!!!

Libby-Lu sounds great - I'm off to have a look at their website - My DD is VERY girlie and mad on the Princesses (especially Ariel!) so I think she'd love this!

Thanks again for your help - let the fellas do the sport - the girls are going SHOPPING!

 

[fidoprincess]

Here is one of those cool maps but I do not know how to mark things on it. http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=11&Z=11&X=1037&Y=9352&W=3&qs=|disneyland|ca

Anyway, your hotel is on the right, see those circle type driveway things, that is the main shuttle/bus drop off point and you are right across that street on the right, closest to where people have to cross the street. Then the pinkish square area in the middle is the entry plaza with DL on the top(kind of a big circle see the white roof of Space?) and DCA on the bottom and the buildings with the green roof to the left, that is the GC Hotel and the top part of that is all along DTD shops ending on the far left at DLH, you can see the pool.

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

We preferred DD in DL. It's a bit smaller, but it has a more intimate feel. Only thing I didnt care for is that the World of Disney store seems quite a bit smaller than the one in WDW. If you get a chance, and you want a snack, go to the Ralph Brennens Express and grab a bag of beignets. They are soooo good!!

 

[Tiggernut_jadie]

Thanks fidoprincess - that's great! I've looked at the aeriel shot before but didn't know exactly where DTD and the Disney hotels were - that's great!

Thanks too CaliforniaDreamin (great name by the way!) for the advice about the beignets - I might have to give them a try!

 

[tomjhansen]

We have gone to DTD many times and the last time was the first time we actually did the AMC movie theater. My brother and his family live in So Cal and they said it's one of the best movie theaters ever. So we decided to blow two hours and it is a really nice movie theater. Plus it wasn't crowded. Keep that in mind. Also, you can go into the GCH (the entrance is by Lubby Liu's) and they have a restaurant (Story Book Cafe) that didn't seem too busy any of the nights that we were there and a store also.

 

[Judy from Boise]

About the Christmas store, there is a department 57, that always has fabulous animated Christmas displays year round.