Downtown Disney...DON'T DO IT

[jimandami]

This was on a Saturday afternoon 2 weeks ago.

Sorry to hijack, but that is literally one of my top 3 favorite places in all of Disney!!

 

[Tigger's ally]

Sorry to hijack, but that is literally one of my top 3 favorite places in all of Disney!!

Mine too!

 

[sweetpea29488]

We will be there on our arrival day Feb. 24 which is a Monday. Prob. arrive around 5:00pm using Disney buss. Just want to eat and shop at the Marketplace. What should we expect? Normally I know but with all the construction

 

[FigmentChick]

I thought the walkway over by SSR to DTD was closed during construction?

After reading this thread I want to switch our days around. Saturday night is when we wind up in DTD, but switching days requires switching ADR's which isn't going to happen plus futzing around with FP+. Guess we'll be stuck in crowds.

I just looked at a map and there is a back way to drive to DTD from OKW (usually I use the main route and that has traffic lights on top of traffic lights). So, that is what I meant about the back way....hopefully, I interpreted his way correctly and, if not, I just found a route that is the same distance, but less time.

 

[mesaboy2]

OK, now I must hear this song and story.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2617133

 

[disneyerin]

Uh, not by then.

 

[joelkfla]

I thought the walkway over by SSR to DTD was closed during construction?

I think they were talking about driving.

But while the walkway from SSR Congress Park to MktPl is closed, the walkway from behind Carriage House at the Springs to DTD WS remains open. Just cross the bridge near the boat dock (walk along the waterfront to get to it), and then bear left.

There's also a trail along the DTD side of the canal to OKW, but it's about a mile long, and it closes at dusk. At OKW, the entrance is across from the 5500 Villas at South Point.

 

[BLTLDZ]

The story that inspired the song was what made me laugh so hard. I might dust it off and revive it in time for Christmas this year. I think I gave it last year off.

I'm the poster that experienced and posted the debacle! LOL Yo must dig it up post thanksgiving

 

[mesaboy2]

I'm the poster that experienced and posted the debacle! LOL Yo must dig it up post thanksgiving

Oh yeah, I remember. I did throw a link up to it a few posts back.

 

[mom23guys2]

We were there- or at least tried to be- last Friday. We looked or a parking spot for 45 minutes. We had a handicapped person with a scooter and didn't even try to par kind the lot across the Street at Team Mickey. We just gave up and came back Saturday morning. We then cancelled our ADRs for Sat night at Raglan Road.

 

[Treehorn]

Is there a crowd level calendar for dtd?

 

[Section250]

DTD is super fun , especially if you like shopping and the best value in town: Earl of Sandwich! However, we took the boat from French Quarter so had no driving or parking issues.

 

[LucyBC80]

And that's why we take the boat from POFQ and go during the week!

 

[Mammaz]

We went to Downtown Disney on Saturday night. We have been going to downtown Disney at least one night every trip, every year for the past 30 years.

It was so crowded. It may have been because of the construction and much of Downtown Disney blocked off so less room for the crowds to spread out.

Traffic and parking are already horrible in that area but I have never seen such a CLUSTER____ in my life!!!! First you have the usual traffic problems, and it is made worse by horrible traffic lights(that seemed like they were being controlled by Disney Employees sitting on the corner. We sat at an intersection and without exaggeration, the lights for all four directions were red, and the don't walk sign were lit in all four directions for a good 7-10 minutes!!!! I don't know what this doofus was doing but he built up such a log jam of traffic it was ridiculous. With the lots being taken out for construction they are Parking youacross the street over by the old Casting Building. Then you have the option of getting on a bus and sitting there until it fills up and then leaves to only sit in traffic for another half hour until it gets you to the Marketplace or you can bring your best walking shoes and walk the 20-25 minute walk it takes to get to the Marketplace. OH, you can walk 10 minutes to the West side and go in there and then try to walk to the Marketplace through the funnel of plywood walls with people jammed in trying to go every which way. Don't even think of venturing into the lots by the Marketplace that are still "functional". When we were leawe saw almost every aisle full of cars trying to find their way to a spot or just toout.

I will not be going anywhere near Downtown Disney until every bit of construction is done over there and I would recommend the same to everybody. A trip over there is usually one of the most enjoyable parts of our trip each year, this time it was a nightmare X 10.[/QUOTE


We were there the exact same night and it was CROWDED! But we figured it was a Saturday so we picked a really bad night to go. We weren't able to do much more than fight our way through people, but hey, we were on vacation and not at work,

 

[sazzifrazz]

a few weeks ago we took the bus there on a weekday evening. It took forever since it stopped at a few other resorts first. It irks me when a bus fills up t the first stop yet continues to stop at other resorts. It was so crowded at DTD that we did about 5 stores and decided to get the hell out of there. We waited about 30 minutes for a return bus and the line was HUGE. They packed us on like freakin' sardines and then stopped at a bunch of resorts again. The entire adventure start to finish took about 4 hours and we only shopped for 45 minutes. NEVER AGAIN!!! My parents had an even worse experience. The bus lines are not clearly marked. Many resorts share one numbered bus stop. People were getting on wrong buses, bus drivers were arguing with customers. it was ugly!!!

 

[CookieGVB]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2617133

Awesome and awful at the same time!

 

[nkereina]

We went twice last week and everything was fine. It was noticeably crowded at night on Thursday 11/14 but I attributed that to DHS's early closing (4pm for private event that day), AK closing at 5pm as per usual, MK closing at 7pm for MVMCP, and leaving Epcot as the only viable park option but which closed at 9pm. So I expected it to be busy and it was, but still manageable.

We went again last Tuesday night and crowds were moderate at worst. It was fine.

 

[Planogirl]

We went twice last week and everything was fine. It was noticeably crowded at night on Thursday 11/14 but I attributed that to DHS's early closing (4pm for private event that day), AK closing at 5pm as per usual, MK closing at 7pm for MVMCP, and leaving Epcot as the only viable park option but which closed at 9pm. So I expected it to be busy and it was, but still manageable.

We went again last Tuesday night and crowds were moderate at worst. It was fine.

Did you have any trouble finding a parking spot?

 

[dgramling]

Has anyone tried the valet parking? I will be there next Wed. and will have two handicaped people with me, so parking across the street sounds like a pain, but valet might be worth it in our case.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

We went to DTD on our recent trip. We got there right as the shops were opening, so we got a great parking spot and had a nice time. I realize that is only realistic if you are taking a day off of the parks...otherwise you'd be using up prime park time.

I had really wanted to go to Festival of The Masters during our trip, but I just couldn't bring myself to actually go and face the parking nightmare with a four month old possibly screaming in the back seat.