Downtown Disney

When I started writing this blog I swore "It's not going to be a Disney blog, It's not going to be a Disney blog... I swear I will not turn this into a Disney blog!" With all the cool places to visit in Florida, and the billions of Disney "gurus" out there, why would I want to compete? After all, there's more to Florida than Disney (although, the first 10 years I lived here, you couldn't have told me otherwise)

Then, I left Florida for two months(ish) and now that I'm back in Florida for a little bit, I'm obsessed with Disney. Actually, what happened is this, I planned to work 40-50 hours a week for two weeks for the rodent. But, I'll be lucky to get 50 hours total. That leaves me a lot of free time but not a lot of money to go questing for new state parks and beaches. My friend Ross told me to meet up with him a Downtown Disney. I used to be a bigger fan of DTD when there was an actual "Pleasure Island" and Virgin Megastore on the West Side. Since both of them are gone now, I don't have a lot of reason to go there. But once Ross invited me to come visit, I thought it would be a good time to go take pictures of some of the Christmas Decorations.

Disney has the most impressive collection of Christmas decorations (and every other Holiday for that matter) Christmas at Disney has always been my favorite time of year. In the next couple of posts, I hope to share some of the decorations and places that make this the most magical place to be during the Holidays. Downtown Disney is good (and free) place to start.

Downtown Disney is three separate sections: West Side, Pleasure Island,  and The Marketplace.
The West Side is home to AMC, House of Blues, Cirque du Soleil,  Disney Quest and a few other restaurants.

Pleasure Island used to night clubs but now is mostly restaurants. *sigh* I miss the night clubs.

And The Marketplace is mostly shops. And it always busy. Always. Uncomfortably busy.

Me in front of AMC 24

In front of Once Upon a Toy

The Marketplace

Some free and/or cheap things to do at DTD: 1. Window shop 2. Lots of free entertainment, musicians and performers 3. take a water taxi ride to another resort like Old Key West or Port Orleans 4. Get a sample of ghirardelli chocolate 5. Play with the Legos at the Lego Store. 6. Smell all the soaps at Basin 7. build a Mr. Potato Head at Once Upon a Toy 8. catch a movie at AMC 24 9. rent a boat at the Marina 10. not cheap but still fun -- Disney Quest if you are into video games