What happened to Disney Springs?

[princesspiglet]

My whole family loves the new DS! We love to just walk around and take in the sights, but we also love dining there. Our favorites are The Boathouse, Homecomin' and Amorette's. The poutine kiosk is also awesome, and who doesn't love Ghiradelli??!

 

[ktlm]

We were at DLR 2 weeks ago. They are refurbishing their World of Disney store too. It is awful, but on the bright side I saved a ton of money. We thought the open part had yet to be refurbished and they were working on the other part, and we asked about it and what they were still doing in the open section and were were told the open section was the finished section. It was like a TJ Maxx or a Target - it no longer felt "Disney" at all other than the merchandise was Disney. Bright lights throughout- no more big Disney touches or character sculptures- nothing at all outside of merchandise interesting to look at. The merchandise is no longer well laid out or put forth in an appealing manner. We could spend hours in World of Disney previously, but had enough of the revamped version after 10 minutes. The exterior signs were awful too-- we thought they were in the process of doing them as they looked half finished--- then we realized the part that looked half finished was supposed to look like a flattened globe and they were finished--- the cute Disney scupltures that we loved there are gone too and a CM told us they are not coming back. It is very "adult" discount store (albeit definitely not discount prices) styled- not Disney

 

[disneyvoice]

We are locals now and we LOVE Disney Springs. It's the closest mall to us so we love that it isn't just all touristy, Disney merchandise. Between shopping and restaurants we are there a lot - just went this morning, actually. Don't worry about the World of Disney store - they are still working on it, only part of the store is opened right now.

 

[Amy11401]

We are locals now and we LOVE Disney Springs. It's the closest mall to us so we love that it isn't just all touristy, Disney merchandise. Between shopping and restaurants we are there a lot - just went this morning, actually. Don't worry about the World of Disney store - they are still working on it, only part of the store is opened right now.

Does anyone know how much longer it will be before they are done working on World of Disney?

 

[Pmlocke]

My wife and I loved, in the past, to visit Disney Springs but this past visit in February wa a major dissapointment. I guess our biggest complaint was the distance from the new bus pick up area (not the drop off area) where you need to walk forever to get back on a bus. We are in our 60's so yes, that extra walking was, to us, a hardship. We miss the old drop off zone which was adjacent to the Christmas Store. We were sad that the Disney Store was undergoing construction and had high hopes they were just sprucing up the place. Used to love going throught that store. Based on these comments, I wonder what lies in store for our next visit.

 

[wfjny]

As to the World of Disney, both the one in Orlando (I was there last week) and the one in Anaheim (I was just there on a business trip in June) are undergoing refurbishment, and probably both are less than half of their normal size. I do not know what the full plan is, but I would expect that they will both return to their normal size once the work is done. For some reason, I thought i read somewhere that was supposed to be in the fall (makes sense, before Christmas season), but please do not hold me to that.

As for Disney Springs overall, yes, you can put me in the camp that is less than impressed. I am not a fan of yet another mall, but I am sure that they are attempting to capitalize on that fact that many people on vacation seem to toss the budget out the window. I get it, it is a business decision.

I would also point out, we went there for dinner when we were in "The World" last week. The issue was we were at Epcot, then heading to DS for dinner. Obviously no way to get back to Epcot, but that was ok, we were heading to the hotel anyway. Uncovered stop for DS at Epcot. Long wait for bus. Return to the Contemporary was also a long wait, but we were waiting for a new driver, so at least we were on the bus at that point.

 

[Wes1stTrip2016]

We were just there last week, the Disney store is still pretty big, we had no problem getting lost in there, and the walled off part is still undergoing renovation, it will open up soon and make the store huge again!

The rest of Springs is a welcome change in my opinion, yes it's a bit of a mall, but it has lots of great restaurants, it has the Void (which is freaking amazing), it has the themed bars which we love, it still had plenty of shopping to be done, ask my bank about that, we went a little nuts.

Matt

I had never heard of The Void until this thread - so I checked out their website! How cool!! 2 questions, is Star Wars the only experience they are offering & do you have to be 10 or older (as tickets only show prices for 10+)? Thanks!

 

[Wes1stTrip2016]

Pity the void seems to be for older kids (DD is 8 so too young to participate and as a family I’d not want to do an attraction we all couldn’t take part in).

I was wondering if you have to be 10+ to experience the Void. We will have to wait and try it in Anaheim.

 

[hopemax]

My Dad ran down to DS today to buy a pin for me, and I got an earful about how awful WoD looks. He said more is open than has been open and you can see the new theming which means, as he called it, Warehouse. He said it was more open, the room concept is gone. All the sculptures which were so key to the original WoD design are gone. There are some new brick arches, which I guessed were supposed to tie it back into the whole Disney Springs concept. But he said it just is so blah, and boring.

It got me wondering, I know Minimalim is in, in terms of home decor choices, but does it work for someplace like Disney? We've heard plenty over the years about how the Imagineers come up with fun and whimsical designs, with a lot to see and experience. But when Operations takes over all they do is complain about the cost of upkeep. Operations seems to finally be getting their way, and so you can see in all the more recent Resort remodels and shop remodels, how all the layers of details are stripped away until all you are left with is plain fixtures and walls, with only a few natural materials. Is this what people expect?

We used to consider the non-attraction spaces, still attractions in a way, because there were neat things to look at. Even if you weren't interested in buying whatever was being sold. A way to occupy a little time when everyone is tired of standing in line, or you have a schedule to keep and don't have time for a real attraction. But now going into non-attraction places is becoming more and more pointless. I can't think it's good for crowd control, instead of having a trickle of people here and there, but packing bodies into ever decreasing areas that are worth your time.

 

[kathy884]

Operations seems to finally be getting their way, and so you can see in all the more recent Resort remodels and shop remodels, how all the layers of details are stripped away until all you are left with is plain fixtures and walls, with only a few natural materials. Is this what people expect?

Your comment made me think of the Polynesian lobby remodel. Yes it's perfectly nice, but not anything that unique or outstanding. Back in 71 when the resort opened it was a lobby like no other.

We've been to Orlando annually the last few years, but haven't gotten over to Disney Springs yet. We'll be hitting it in March 2019, though: Budget four night/three days trip with SeaWorld day 1, Titanic attractions, pool time, Disney Springs, and dinner at Pointe Orlando day 2, and the MK day 3. I'll keep expectations low and time to a minimum at Disney Springs I think, just wander around a little. Actually I'm not into shopping, so have never been that thrilled, but DS would like to check it out -- checked out Lake Buena Vista when it was supposedly a unique shopping place, Pleasure Island, Downtown Disney, so might as well check out Disney Springs, just to see.

 

[DOOM1001]

World of Disney(before and after)and most of the stores are just "meh",.I do like Uniqlo,though!World of Disney is not finished and I understand how it feels smaller now with its cleaner and open floor plan,I'm not sure how much bigger it will look when they reopen the side thats closed.I go to DS mainly for the atmosphere and maybe get a bite to eat,maybe a movie,but more than anything the reason I go to Disney Springs is to see this guy

 

[FCDub]

I had never heard of The Void until this thread - so I checked out their website! How cool!! 2 questions, is Star Wars the only experience they are offering & do you have to be 10 or older (as tickets only show prices for 10+)? Thanks!

Yes.

Yes.

 

[Evad]

All these negative posts should mean a less crowed DS when we come down in December.... We always enjoy going to DS.

 

[DOOM1001]

All these negative posts should mean a less crowed DS when we come down in December.... We always enjoy going to DS.

Don't count on it,they keep building new garages,currently two huge ones along with a surface lot and a third garage in construction.Every time I visit I think about how many more visitors it must be getting today when compared to just 5 years ago just based on how little parking there used to be back in the day,and with a third garage how many more they must be expecting along with new things like having buses go to DS straight from the parks after 4pm.

 

[MJ6987]

Don’t most people regard the move to Disney Springs a huge success? Lou Mongello recently called it the “5th Gate”

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Don’t most people regard the move to Disney Springs a huge success? Lou Mongello recently called it the “5th Gate”

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!

 

[zebrastreyepz]

We hate it. It's terribly crowded with no decent traffic flow. Mobs of people everywhere.

Food is good but not enough to draw me back except for one more time this fall at someone else's request to go to Raglan Road.

 

[Gophers]

I agree that looking at videos WOD store doesn’t have the same feel....yet. I want to wait until they are finished and I’m hoping they had a little bit of the Disney decor. As far as more space to move around I love that. There were many times that it was so crowded you couldn’t shop. Disney springs itself is just wonderful. So many places to go to for entrainment, shopping and eating. The new higher price stores do have a mall feel but we don’t usually spend a lot of time in that area. We could have a different feel for DS since we don’t get to go but one week every year and a half. We usually spend 8 hours total in a 10 day trip.

 

[yulilin3]

DS has become a huge hit especially among locals.
I love going there for all the different food options, the nightly entertainment and some stores.

 

[Victoria3]

I'm local and I love going to Disney Springs for the food and entertainment.