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Downtown Disney

June 20, 2013 By Rhoda 13 Comments

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While in Orlando, I did get to Cocoa Beach for a half day and enjoyed seeing Ron Jon’s Surf Shop again.  It’s been since the 70’s since I stepped in that place and boy, has it changed!

ROn Jons

It’s now a mega store, filled with all sorts of beach and surfing items.

Ron Jons Surf shop in Cocoa

And they are open 24 hours, can you imagine?  Ron Jon’s is an icon in Cocoa Beach.

Ron Jon T's

Lots of cool t-shirts and beach wear.

Ron Jons boards

Surf boards and more.

Cocoa Beach

It’s been mid-70’s since I was on Cocoa Beach, so it was fun to go back and visit again.  It’s not as pretty as the Gulf coast beaches, but sand and water is still a good thing.

Downtown Disney sign

While in the Orlando area, my friend, Beth and I headed to Downtown Disney.  I had no idea what this was all about, but it’s a resort like shopping, dining, and fun play attraction built by Disney.  I guess when you come to Orlando, they want to keep you occupied the entire time.  Disney all the way!

Cirque at Downtown Disney

Cirque du Soleil has a huge presence, I’m sure this is a fun attraction.  We didn’t do any of the rides, but had lunch and I did go to a movie here during the week.

Downtown Disney1

Disney is always over the top, colorful and full of excitement.

House of Blues

House of Blues is here too.

Downtown Disney2

There’s bowling and movies and lots more.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang Puck has a restaurant here.

Balloon Downtown Disney

There’s a huge lake with a hot air balloon ride.

Balloon at Disney

So cute with Tinkerbelle on the side.

Downtown Disney 4

It was a hot day just walking in here.

Downtown Disney 5

But fun to see what it’s all about.

Downtown Disney 6

Ice cream

Pleasure Island

Pleasure Island

Planet Hollywood

Planet Hollywood

Fultons

Fultons Crab House, this is a real riverboat, I do believe.

trex

T-Rex attraction.

Rainforest Cafe
We ate lunch at the Rainforest Café.  Pretty crowded, but an interesting spot to visit.

Legos

Legos

Lego truck

How about this giant truck made out of legos.

World of Disney

World of Disney

Ghirardelli

Ghirardelli is wonderful, I’ve visited here when in San Francisco.

Rainforest

Back to Rainforest Café, it’s a cute place with lots of animals for the kids.

Dragon

A lifesize dragon coming out of the water.

Lagoon

Fountains and ponds.

Castle

A miniature castle, for all the princesses out there.

Girls dress up

And dress up clothes so every little girl can be a Disney character.  So cute!  Disney has figured out a way to draw in the crowds and make everyone’s dream come true. Downtown Disney is a fun spot to visit, so I would definitely recommend seeing it while in the area.

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Filed Under: Travel 13 Comments

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Amber @ Black Rooster Cottage says

    June 20, 2013 at 9:51 am

    One more thing to be excited about! We are moving in a week and a day to Alabama from CA. Once we get settled, we’ll be heading to Florida for a FUN vacation. The kids will be so excited. Might wait till late Fall though! 😉

    Reply
  2. Terri says

    June 20, 2013 at 10:04 am

    awww….. love Downtown Disney…. We enjoy the RainForest Cafe as well….. even though “Weatherwise” we are in full blown summertime here in Florida… it looks like you are having an awesome time!!! Thanks for sharing Rhoda!!

    Reply
  3. Deborah says

    June 20, 2013 at 11:12 am

    Really enjoy your blog!

    Reply
  4. Judy Clark says

    June 20, 2013 at 11:49 am

    Rhoda – Disney is such a fun place to visit regardless of your age. We also enjoy Epcot a lot.

    Glad you had a good time.

    Judy

    Reply
  5. Debbie V. says

    June 20, 2013 at 12:46 pm

    We went last summer to Disney and visited Downtown Disney. We ate at TRex and it was my absolute favorite! We can’t wait to go back again!

    Reply
  6. Mary L says

    June 20, 2013 at 1:30 pm

    We love Disney World and can’t bear to miss a year going there. Last year when we visited Downtown Disney we had lunch at Earl of Sandwich and it was delish!! We got to Disney World around noon and could not get in our room until after 2:00 so we took a boat over to Downtown Disney to eat lunch. We will do that again for sure.

    Reply
  7. Sherry says

    June 20, 2013 at 8:13 pm

    We love Disney, too…and eat at Earl of Sandwich every single trip! It’s been about 3 years since I’ve been then – did they add rides to Downtown, other than the ones that are there mostly for the kids over by Earl of Sandwich, or the ones in the arcade, Disney Quest? Maybe it’s just because you mentioned that in conjunction with Cirque, which is a beautiful venue that provides for an outstanding Cirque show called La Nouba. (I literally cry each time I see the show – so many of the numbers and live music performances that go with them are absolutely beautiful – breath-taking.)

    And thanks for posting the pics of Ron Jon’s. It’s been nearly 20 years since I was at the store in Cocoa Beach and cannot believe how enormous the place is!

    Reply
  8. Marianne G. says

    June 21, 2013 at 6:00 am

    Next time you get to Panama City Beach,. there’s a Ron Jon’s in Pier Park.

    Reply
    • Rhoda says

      June 21, 2013 at 12:45 pm

      HI, Marianne, I went there when I was in PC in April! Fun place too.

  9. [email protected] says

    June 21, 2013 at 4:24 pm

    There’s an awesome sandwich shop in Downtown Disney called Earl of Sandwich. It’s a chain, but Disney was the first one we’d ever been to. Delicious! We went back 3 times while we were there for our honeymoon!

    Reply
  10. Christina @ The Frugal Homemaker says

    June 24, 2013 at 10:38 am

    My husband and I went to Disney for vacation 2 years ago and we loved Downtown Disney. We ate at Earl of Sandwich and LOVED it. In fact we went back one day just to eat there. 🙂 Loved that it was a taste of Disney even with some parades but didn’t cost anything to walk around.

    Reply
  11. Daisy says

    June 24, 2013 at 2:44 pm

    We usually come every year…..and visit downtown Disney just about every time. My little boy loves going to the Lego store!
    Daisy~

    Reply
  12. LinhC says

    June 30, 2013 at 9:02 pm

    We visited Downtown Disney the first week of June and the weather was really nice. We ate dinner at Planet Hollywood and my Jenny saw the Bubba Gump shrimp boat and asked me about the movie because many of her friends would say her name the way Forrest Gump did his friend. I guess we have to rent the movie and watch it. There were live bands throughout the area, and there was older gentleman who showed off his 70’s style moves at each place whether the music was salsa or jazz. He was a hoot!

    Reply

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