Hey Thrill Seekers,
Why not head over to Downtown Disney of an evening and witness some of Orlando’s nightlife. Of course, you can visit Downtown Disney in the daytime too I just think with everything lit up and all of the pretty lights it will be such a more memorable experience in the evening. From shopping to dining and all of the entertainment going on at Downtown Disney, you won’t be bored! With more than 40 different stores, there’s not much you can’t get there! Ranging from Disney souvenirs to stylish fashions, there is just so much to look at.
Home to the world’s largest Disney character store, you will be able to find many gifts, souvenirs and memorabilia. You’ll definitely be needing a lot of money. I know I spent most of my money at Downtown Disney because everything just draws your attention to it. My family and I spent a lot of time in the Harley-Davidson shop. It was just amazing to see all of the bikes in there and how big they really were.
Make sure you’ve got your camera at the ready with plenty of photo spots surrounding you. There are plenty of Disney character statues for you to snap at and the shop windows are just fabulous to look at.
There is a wide variety of restaurants to choose from so it will be difficult not find something you like to eat. The most popular place at Downtown Disney to eat is of course, the famous, Planet Hollywood. Walk in and have your group photo taken to make sure you never forget your experience and then be seated to eat along with the music playing and looking at all the amazing features around you. Planet Hollywood is a restaurant with a theme of inspiration of some of the biggest Hollywood stars known such as Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many, many more.
Another very famous restaurant over at Downtown Disney is the Rainforest Cafe. The Rainforest Cafe is a lot more popular with a whopping 27 different locations around the world. Although the California Rainforest Cafe is the more well known one, Florida is in very close second place. If you like to eat your dinner surrounded by a lot going on and a lot of loud noise, the Rainforest Cafe is definitely the place to be. It’s a very different experience to most other restaurants that you will ever visit so if you’re going to experience Florida, why not experience the Rainforest Cafe too?
The T-Rex Cafe located in Downtown Disney is the only one in the world. Quite similar to the Rainforest Cafe with all the movement and noise however this is only Dinosaurs. With different areas of the cafe relating to different prehistoric dinosaur times, you’re likely to have a different experience each time you go.
You cannot go to Downtown Disney and not go into DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive Theme Park. Luckily if you purchase your Disney tickets through Orlando Attraction Tickets, you can gain entry for free. If you’re reading this wondering what DisneyQuest is (which you most likely are) then do not fear. Not only will it be one of the first thing’s you see when you enter, but it is the biggest part of Downtown Disney. With 5 stories of fun, you can be in there for hours on end and not even realise because you will be having so much fun with so many different things to do and there is not even any windows!
So let’s start with the First Floor where they have ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold’ suitable for everyone that loves Pirates of the Caribbean. Players can control their pirate ship and destroy other ships with the cannons.
Paddle an inflatable raft down a prehistoric river on ‘Virtual Jungle Cruise’ avoiding dinosaurs and getting sprayed with water.
Moving up to the Second Floor where we have CyberSpace Mountain. If you’ve already been to Magic Kingdom, you will already know what Space Mountain is really like but this ride takes you on a motion ride where you can design your own roller coaster and then ride the simulator of your own coaster. Cool huh? Well, not only that but you get to watch yourself on it!
There is also ‘Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride’ where the players ride a magic carpet collecting gems in order to find the genie. ‘Animation Academy’ is where you can learn how to draw the Disney characters on a computer screen with a light pen. This is run in regular sessions throughout the day. ‘Sid’s Create-A-Toy’ is a programme that will allow you to design your own toy using parts of other toys and maybe even buy it too. Brilliant for the kids.
‘Living Easels’ is an interactive touch screen programme for kids to create colourful backgrounds and ‘Radio Disney Song Maker’ which is pretty self-explanatory isn’t it!
Let’s go up to the Third Floor now and see what’s up there. Well, there’s ‘Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam’ where the player can become the actual pinball in a giant pinball game. ‘Buzz Lightyear’s AstroBlaster’ allows players to use bumper cars to navigate over foam balls to suck up into the cabin and then shooting them out of the canon at the other cars.
How about going up one more floor to the Fourth Floor where we will find ‘Ride the Comix 5’. The players can enter the comic book world to battle with super villains. ‘Invasion! An ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter’ can have up to 4 players ride inside to rescue astronauts.
So there’s a lot to look forward to in DisneyQuest Interactive Theme Park, it’s not just a boring old windowless building.
The largest entertainment at Downtown Disney has got to be La Nouba by Cirque Du Soleil. I watched this show the first time I went to Orlando and I was mesmerized throughout the whole performance. It was amazing. I have never seen anything quite like it. I’ve been to a circus before but that is nothing compared to La Nouba by Cirque Du Soleil.
So why not head on down to Downtown Disney on your trip and experience the magic as there is so much more to see than just the little snippet I’ve told you about.
Smiles Included…
Louise
