We all know there are a million and one things to do in Walt Disney World and you never have enough time to do them all when you come on vacation. But taking a day to enjoy Disney Springs is definitely a must do! Whether it’s the shopping, dining or entertainment, there is something for everyone. Especially if you have someone in your party who isn’t the biggest Disney fan, they will for sure find something they love here. There are so many things in Disney Springs you may not even know about so I thought this week I would do an overview of everything there is to do and see so you carve out some time on your next trip to explore Disney Springs!
Shopping
Disney Springs is THE place to shop in Orlando whether you are looking for unique Disney items or just nice things you can’t find just anywhere. Most of the stores in Disney Springs have Disney items in them that you may not have seen before. Corkcicle has all of their Disney licensed items available, STANCE has some really fun Disney socks, you will find Lily Pulitzer and Vera Bradley Disney designs too! Of course you will find the largest Disney store in the world, World of Disney as well as other unique Disney owned stores. Some of my favorite Disney stores are the Marketplace Coop where you can find Disney art, the Disney Dress Shop, a whole Disney pet shop with collars and outfits for your Disney dog and tons of housewares. I also love the Disney Style store. There you can find the cutest Disney clothes and accessories.
Disney Springs also has themed stores for Star Wars and Marvel. Pin trading store, Goofy’s Candy Company, a dedicated Christmas store with all your Disney Christmas dreams and a whole store with nothing but toys. All of these stores are themed and decorated perfectly of course and you can find just about anything you can think of or would want. From Lululemon to the Harley Davidson store, everyone is covered here!
Dining
There are seemingly endless options of places to eat in Disney Springs. From Dole Whips to sandwiches and tacos to steaks you can pretty much find anything you are craving here. You can always make a reservation for one of the sit down restaurants but we have always been able to walk up and get a table somewhere. Honestly I feel like unless there is a restaurant you have just really been wanting to go to, don’t make a reservation and just let this be a fly by the seat of your pants kind of day! You will not go hungry regardless.
Quick Service
For Quick Service dining you have Blaze Pizza, Earl of Sandwich, Chicken Guy, BB Wolfs, DLux Burger, food trucks and more. Some of these offer indoor seating with air conditioning which is great for those hot summer months and others are outside kiosks. These options pretty much cover all the basics or chicken tenders, pizza, hot dogs and burgers if you are just wanting something simple and quick. I’ll be honest here, none of these are my favorite, they are all just OK. If I am going to eat in Disney Springs I am almost always going to a table service restaurant because you can’t really go wrong there!
Table Service
From a fancier steak house like STK to super casual at Splitsville, you can find whatever you’re craving for a sit down meal. Each section of Disney Springs has some kind of dining option but most of the restaurants are going to be found in the Landing and the West Side. There are too many places to list them all here but here are a few of our favorites: The Boathouse, Summerhouse on the Lake, Enzo’s Hideaway, Raglan Road, Homecoming, Jock Lindsay’s Hanger Bar, The Edison, Paddlefish and City Works. Just those alone will have you covered from seafood to Italian to Irish to elevated bar food. The nice thing about spending a whole day in Disney Springs when you are on vacation is that, if you are a foodie, you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at a different great place and space them out since they offer some earlier breakfasts at some places and are open until 11 or later each night. Some of these restaurants are a bit of a sticker shock because you are still in Disney but others are pretty normal prices for going to a nicer restaurant and all have decent kids menus with good prices.
Desserts
What meal out or just fun day in Disney is complete without something sweet?? Disney Springs has you covered here too! Swirls on the Water is my personal favorite because it has different Dole Whip flavors and themed cones that you can’t always get everywhere else….like the Orange Bird cone they usually have for Flavors of Florida in the summer! You can get cupcakes at a few different places but probably the most unique is from the cupcake ATM outside of Sprinkles. There are ice cream shops, the famous Gideon’s Cookies that you will have to join a virtual line and wait a long time for (pro tip, if you REALLY need a Gideon’s Cookie and you have access to drive somewhere else, you can find the original Gideons at East End Markey in Orlando and get the same cookies with no wait!). There is even an incredible allergy friendly bakery called Erin McKenna’s where you can find all kinds of treats that are everything free and still taste AMAZING!! If you need a chocolate fix you can go to Ghirardelli or the Ganachery, need a churro there’s a kiosk with all kinds of flavors, the possibilities are endless! Of course you can always get dessert wherever you eat but you could spend all day just getting snack and desserts at different places in Disney Springs!
Bars & Lounges
Your drink will never go dry here either! There are countless pop upend kiosk style bars throughout Disney Springs on top of every restaurant having a bar or lounge area. If you are just by yourself or a small party you can always sit at the bar in a restaurant if you don’t want to wait on a table and order from the same menu as the restaurant. Most places have some sort of signature drink and they are always delicious! My favorites are the Duck Duck Razz from Boathouse, the Orland Spritz from Summerhouse, the Cool Headed Monkey from the Hanger Bar and the Samantha Sterling from the Edison. Presentation is always on point with these drinks too!! If you just want a walk around drink you can hit up the pop up bars outside some of these restaurants, the Disney pop up bars or the kiosk style bars like Dockside Margaritas and just take it on the go. There are some really fun drinks here in Springs but please drink responsibly and don’t become a reason for the Orange County Sheriffs to have deal with you!
Entertainment
I have said it before but I really feel like Disney Springs is one of the most fun places for entertainment! You can even go bowling or see a movie in a dine in theater here. There are typically multiple bands playing each night throughout Springs, roaming entertainment like the Roaming Piano and during the day you may even catch a local dance studio or high school choir performing on the Waterside Stage by World of Disney. What I really love about all of these is that it’s never super crowded around these areas and people dance and have fun. The cutest thing I ever saw was a large family of all ages dancing to one of the bands playing by the movie theater, the grandkids had, what looked like, great grandma out of the wheelchair and dancing with them and they were all singing along it was so cute! The bands or artists performing are always very talented and animated which makes it super fun.
If you’re looking for more of an attraction, Disney Springs has that too!! You can ride in a hot air balloon up into the sky to get a great view of Walt Disney World, weather permitting of course. This is called Characters in Flight and it does require a ticket that you can get where the balloon is located. The price for this is $20/adult and $15/child and the trip takes about 10 minutes. You can’t miss this balloon, you will see it going up and down all day and night in Disney Springs. You can also ride in a car that drives in the water!! These are called the Amphicars and are located right next to the Boathouse. They are adorable and so much fun! They look like vintage cars and drive from the ramp next to Boathouse right into the Sassagoula River and then take you on a little tour around Disney Springs. This adventure is $125 per ride and can accommodate 3-4 people. You can purchase these tickets at the Boutique store next to Boathouse and make sure you do that in the morning because they do sell out for the day. There are even rides in Disney Springs! Don’t get too excited, it is just a little train and a very small carousel that you have to buy tickets for. But if you have a little one it may be something they love. The best ride in my opinion is the river boats you can take to the Port Orleans resorts. They are free and a great relaxing ride. You can get off at the resorts and explore there if you like or just ride right back to Disney Springs. You can find the boat launches behind Rainforest Cafe.
Conclusion
I realize as I read this back to myself that it kind of sounds like my love letter to Disney Springs and honestly that’s is probably true. I do love Disney Springs! Taking pictures with Lego sea serpents, eating Disney themed ice cream cones, sitting down at great restaurants with beautiful views, having fabulous drinks and dancing to live music are my jam! We always took a day to enjoy Disney Springs when we were in Disney World on vacation, it was always a nice chill day in the middle of the long park days. You can even go to the PhotoPass Studio in the Marketplace Coop and get family pictures done that are so cute and unique to Disney Springs! So I highly advise taking a day to chill out a little and have some fun in Disney Springs! With the new drone show coming June 10th, and hopefully sticking around past the current September date, there are more reasons than ever to visit Disney Springs!
I hope this post made you hungry, has you craving a Dole Whip and ready to go shopping and boating in Disney World! Hahaha! Thank you all for reading along and let me know your favorite thing to do in Disney Springs. Have a magical day!