What happened to Disney Springs?

[ellbell]

People who are going to be unhappy with something will find anything to be unhappy about. Most of the time if you can point out that a person's reason for being dissatisfied or unhappy with something factually doesn't exist they will just find another reason.

I choose to be positive and see the good in change. In my opinion others don't take change well and choose to remain unhappy about it.

 

[Farro]

We don't really go there for the shopping, but we think it's just a beautiful space. Feels vacationy, great places to eat and a nice way to spend a night or two when you are tired of park crowds.

We really enjoy it.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Sure if you have everything close by that's awesome. Also from your original post it seems you miss pleasure island the most, even if it was still open it wouldn't be for the morning hours which is when you went. I would not recommend going to Disney springs looking for breakfast options for sure. Like I said before, the only big thing that closed from the original was pleasure island, not sure if your went inside the co op building. Lots of unique Disney items in there. What they did do was add a lot of stuff.
Like I said before Uniqlo is my new favorite store, I'm a tshirt and jeans person and the tshirts are superb quality for $15-$20, also really unique designs, I've bought Alice in Wonderland inspired, Dumbo, Star Wars and Marvel shirts from them. As a local it is great to have everything in one place especially with how horrible parking is at the local malls and outlets. Disney is not just a tourist destination it caters to locals as well.

Morimoto has accepted the dining plan since it opened. 2 credits for dinner, 1 for lunch. And the Daily Poutine has regular poutine with cheese curds in it (super yummy!). Just wanted to clarify in case you missed it.

Yep, we were there during breakfast hours. So what you are saying is that Disney Springs is NOT somewhere you want to go in the mornings...

 

[yulilin3]

Yep, we were there during breakfast hours. So what you are saying is that Disney Springs is NOT somewhere you want to go in the mornings...

Not if you're looking for breakfast

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

People go to Disney springs and think its going to be all disneyish.

Disney springs is a great place to go to get some food and shop. Its a beautiful area.

It basically is a very beautiful outdoor mall, with great restaurants and nice views, with great stores.

Just go into it thinking that.

Its not some " must do Disney " thing. Its a cool place to kill time and get drinks and food.

 

[Princess_Nikki]

I don't know about most people, but some of us miss the Pleasure Island nightclub era. Comedy Warehouse, Adventurers' Club, Mannequins, etc. And every night there was New Year's Eve!

I miss it!!! Pleasure Island was amazing!!

I do LOVE all the new Disney stores popping up, the Co-Op, Trend-D, Ever After, Disney Style...but all the new shops are a catch 22 for me. Although I could do without MOST of them, it is quite fantastic to have a Havianas, Alex & Ani, Ugg (still don’t know why some of us Floridians wear them, but we do!), and a few other of my favorite stores.

What bugs me the most, is how much more crowded it feels.

 

[momimouse27]

Across the board, everyone in my family absolutely loves the changes. We haven't been to WOD since it was opened up again, but I like the new additions to unique things elsewhere. Cherry Tree Lane, the boutique, the honey shop, the hat shop, Pandora, the amphicars. The restaurants have much needed overhauls....my girls went to Edison-loved it. DH and I checked out STK, which was really good, and our family ate at Paddlefish the first night. Best of all, they still had my favorites, like the Christmas Shop, the Art of Disney, etc. It was getting kind of old, and I felt like it needed that pick me up they gave it.

JMHO

 

[momimouse27]

I love DS as well. It's usually an arrival day tradition for me. In fact I am driving to Fort Lauderdale for a cruise in November from Ontario and we are specifically taking time to spend 5 or 6 hours in DS before driving the rest of the way to For Lauderdale.

Same here! We always go to DS on our first night, even if we eat at a resort.

 

[DisneyOma]

People who are going to be unhappy with something will find anything to be unhappy about. Most of the time if you can point out that a person's reason for being dissatisfied or unhappy with something factually doesn't exist they will just find another reason.

I choose to be positive and see the good in change. In my opinion others don't take change well and choose to remain unhappy about it.

So, because I find Disney Springs to be mostly a typical outside mall, like so many Floridian outside malls, I don't take change well? Well, if they had made the changes well, then, well, I'd not be unhappy!

 

[zebrastreyepz]

People who are going to be unhappy with something will find anything to be unhappy about. Most of the time if you can point out that a person's reason for being dissatisfied or unhappy with something factually doesn't exist they will just find another reason.

I choose to be positive and see the good in change. In my opinion others don't take change well and choose to remain unhappy about it.

So, if I don't like it because it's overcrowded and is poorly designed, you can tell me that factually doesn't exist when really my reasons are simply my opinion and subjective?

Not ALL changes are good changes to everyone. I like many things that have changed in Disney over the years and even though I don't like DS, I'm glad many others do enjoy it.

 

[disneyvoice]

Some of the complaints have to do with the day and time people go to Disney Springs. If you get there in the morning on either a weekday or a weekend you can easily drive right into a parking garage and have your choice of just about any parking space you want and it isn't very busy at all. If you try to go on a Friday or Saturday anywhere from late afternoon to early evening you will not have any easy time at all finding parking.

We actually love how they designed Disney Springs. We are able to park so we can eat and shop and don't have to walk through the touristy part if we don't want to.

 

[Planogirl]

Disney Springs seems nice for locals. I don't see it as such a big deal for tourists though. Like some others I can do a lot of the activities and shopping at home and I don't care for most of the current merchandise. I would like to check out Uniqlo even though I'm not much of a shopper. I also hope that the Art of Disney is still there and we love eating at Splitsville but otherwise I don't see much for us so far.

 

[yulilin3]

These kind of threads keep popping up every once in a while. This is where I like to remind people that WDW is not just a national tourist destination but also a huge international tourist destination. People saying that they don't want to visit for the new stores there because they have those same stores at home is a logical reason, why would I go and take hours away from my Disney day to go too Zara or Francesca's...Disney saw the Downtown Disney parking lots (that's where Town Center lives now) as money making opportunities. If you go to the outlets or even the Florida Mall you will see it filled with international travelers, Disney made a choice to use parking lot space to bring those mall stores into the already existing Disney Springs to keep the tourist, and their money on property. So ADDING to the already existing Marketplace and West Side they created Town Center (old parking lots) and The Landing (Old Pleasure Island). SO I will continue my defense for DS as not just a glorified regular shopping mall.
As far as the bus loop being away from things, if you are only doing marketplace I agree it's a walk but if you want to walk around the entire DS it is pretty central, disembark the bus make a right toward Marketplace, come over to the Landing, check out West Side, walk back over to Town Center and the buses are there. You can also take the boats between Marketplace, The Landing and West Side
Obviously if shopping is not the thing for you then you will probably not enjoy DS until night time when all the diverse street performers come out. You have a capella, bluegrass, pop, latin, Spanish guitar, instrumental, acoustic guitar,living statues. Again not sure in what regular mall you would find that. Coupled with unique Disney stores like the Dress Shop, Twenty Eight and Nine, Trend D, Christmas store, Art of Disney, Marvel Superhero Headquarters...is it crowded in the evening and the weekends? yes it is but you are at Disney what do you expect?
I am not a wealthy person, actually from the new shops I've only purchased merch from Uniqlo, Francesca's and L'Occitane but we enjoy window shopping, sometimes we go into Johnny Was just to play "guess the price" of a shiirt we always come out short

 

[carlosalonsor]

We have one of those fancy dine-in movie theatres at home. There are several bowling alleys in our city and I hate bowling anyway.
You couldn't PAY me to get in a hot air balloon.
We have a VR HTC Vive system in our living room and I also hate Star Wars.

Wow... you hate a lot of things! Definitely DS is not for you.

This is where I like to remind people that WDW is not just a national tourist destination but also a huge international tourist destination. People saying that they don't want to visit for the new stores there because they have those same stores at home is a logical reason, why would I go and take hours away from my Disney day to go too Zara or Francesca's...Disney saw the Downtown Disney parking lots (that's where Town Center lives now) as money making opportunities. If you go to the outlets or even the Florida Mall you will see it filled with international travelers, Disney made a choice to use parking lot space to bring those mall stores into the already existing Disney Springs to keep the tourist, and their money on property. So ADDING to the already existing Marketplace and West Side they created Town Center (old parking lots) and The Landing (Old Pleasure Island). SO I will continue my defense for DS as not just a glorified regular shopping mall.
As far as the bus loop being away from things, if you are only doing marketplace I agree it's a walk but if you want to walk around the entire DS it is pretty central, disembark the bus make a right toward Marketplace, come over to the Landing, check out West Side, walk back over to Town Center and the buses are there. You can also take the boats between Marketplace, The Landing and West Side
Obviously if shopping is not the thing for you then you will probably not enjoy DS until night time when all the diverse street performers come out. You have a capella, bluegrass, pop, latin, Spanish guitar, instrumental, acoustic guitar,living statues. Again not sure in what regular mall you would find that. Coupled with unique Disney stores like the Dress Shop, Twenty Eight and Nine, Trend D, Christmas store, Art of Disney, Marvel Superhero Headquarters...is it crowded in the evening and the weekends? yes it is but you are at Disney what do you expect?
I am not a wealthy person, actually from the new shops I've only purchased merch from Uniqlo, Francesca's and L'Occitane but we enjoy window shopping, sometimes we go into Johnny Was just to play "guess the price" of a shiirt we always come out short

As an international traveler I agree. I have only been on DS once and for a couple of hours and I loved it. I can't wait for going back on my next trip on december and spending more than a couple of hours wondering and seeing stores that I don't have back home.

 

[Mome Rath]

I'm from the rural midwest, and we don't have anything close to DS there. So, I do think it depends on what you are used to and where you are from. For me, the determining factor of going to DS is if we have extra time or not.

 

[FastPasser.]

I can't wait for going back on my next trip on december and spending more than a couple of hours wondering and seeing stores that I don't have back home.

I suggest going at night on a weekday when things are hopping. Of course it'll be busier than during the daytime.

I'm fifteen minutes away from DS, I'm also at WDW every week and I've liked all of the versions including this latest version.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

These kind of threads keep popping up every once in a while. This is where I like to remind people that WDW is not just a national tourist destination but also a huge international tourist destination. People saying that they don't want to visit for the new stores there because they have those same stores at home is a logical reason, why would I go and take hours away from my Disney day to go too Zara or Francesca's...Disney saw the Downtown Disney parking lots (that's where Town Center lives now) as money making opportunities. If you go to the outlets or even the Florida Mall you will see it filled with international travelers, Disney made a choice to use parking lot space to bring those mall stores into the already existing Disney Springs to keep the tourist, and their money on property. So ADDING to the already existing Marketplace and West Side they created Town Center (old parking lots) and The Landing (Old Pleasure Island). SO I will continue my defense for DS as not just a glorified regular shopping mall.
As far as the bus loop being away from things, if you are only doing marketplace I agree it's a walk but if you want to walk around the entire DS it is pretty central, disembark the bus make a right toward Marketplace, come over to the Landing, check out West Side, walk back over to Town Center and the buses are there. You can also take the boats between Marketplace, The Landing and West Side
Obviously if shopping is not the thing for you then you will probably not enjoy DS until night time when all the diverse street performers come out. You have a capella, bluegrass, pop, latin, Spanish guitar, instrumental, acoustic guitar,living statues. Again not sure in what regular mall you would find that. Coupled with unique Disney stores like the Dress Shop, Twenty Eight and Nine, Trend D, Christmas store, Art of Disney, Marvel Superhero Headquarters...is it crowded in the evening and the weekends? yes it is but you are at Disney what do you expect?
I am not a wealthy person, actually from the new shops I've only purchased merch from Uniqlo, Francesca's and L'Occitane but we enjoy window shopping, sometimes we go into Johnny Was just to play "guess the price" of a shiirt we always come out short

Good traffic flow which I feel it does not have. Again, it's all subjective and to suggest that your crowd level comfort is someone else's is disingenuous. I don't mind the crowds in the park because they are better at managing/controlling the crowds. DS is like Black Friday on steroids IN MY OPINION. Everyone else's mileage may vary.

Where I get annoyed is when groups have opposing opinions and instead of just accepting someone else has a different POV, we try to change them or get them to see the reasons why we think they are wrong.

No one is right or wrong here. Thank goodness we dont' all like DS. Can you imagine what that would like?

 

[yulilin3]

Good traffic flow which I feel it does not have. Again, it's all subjective and to suggest that your crowd level comfort is someone else's is disingenuous. I don't mind the crowds in the park because they are better at managing/controlling the crowds. DS is like Black Friday on steroids IN MY OPINION. Everyone else's mileage may vary.

Where I get annoyed is when groups have opposing opinions and instead of just accepting someone else has a different POV, we try to change them or get them to see the reasons why we think they are wrong.

No one is right or wrong here. Thank goodness we dont' all like DS. Can you imagine what that would like?

I accept people having different opinions on everything, it's a fact of life but saying DS is like Black Friday on steroids is not correct. It is crowded during the evenings on weekends but early afternoon is really comfortable to walk around, not crowded by anyone's standards. The flow does get a boy to get used to but you can do a full circle without double tracking.
I'm not trying to convince anyone to like ds, if you don't like shopping you probably won't like ds, what I'm saying is that it is not your typical local mall and only looking at the upscale stores that it now has is not looking at everything they have to offer

 

[Love Tink]

I accept people having different opinions on everything, it's a fact of life but saying DS is like Black Friday on steroids is not correct. It is crowded during the evenings on weekends but early afternoon is really comfortable to walk around, not crowded by anyone's standards.

I was there Saturday night (NOT my idea) and I think Black Friday is an apt comparison.

I have been there twice this week in the afternoon and it was crowded both times by my standards.

 

[yulilin3]

I was there Saturday night (NOT my idea) and I think Black Friday is an apt comparison.

I have been there twice this week in the afternoon and it was crowded both times by my standards.

again, I and others have said weekends in the evening are the most crowded but it is NOT always that crowded. Giving absolute statements like "DS is like Black Friday on Steroids" is not accurate.