Visiting Downtown Disney during the holidays, seeing the Disney holiday decorations, and listening to the holiday music is so very uplifting. Shopping at the shops and eating at any of the different restaurants is a great Disney experience without even paying to go into Disneyland or California Adventure. I often visit Downtown Disney just to walk through the venue to get that “happy” place feeling.
On a 4 night stay in The Grand Californian, we ate in the parks, in Disney hotel restaurants and in Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney was the best value BY FAR. The restaurants here are independent, so you don't get saddled with the "Disney premium." There is plenty of variety to choose from, so something for everybody. The quality of food and service here at all of the places we ate was every bit as good, if not better, than the Disney locales. We just wish we figured it out sooner.
A wonderful place for all ages but more beneficial if you are at least 8 years old or up. My friends and I are in our 50s and 60s and we had a ball. We had hot weather but if you go later in the afternoon and include the evening it’s cooler and you can see he light parade and fireworks depending on the season. At the moment the Halloween theme is in. You can get an app for fast passes but we found the queues not too bad.
I love going here just to walk around, looking in the shops, have something to eat or drink. A really nice place to be.
We were expecting an experience similar to Orlando Downtown Disney, but instead found mostly restaurants. There is a Lego Store and a World of Disney Store, and a few others, but not the shopping we had hoped for. If you're looking for Disney Souvenirs, you're better off buying them IN one of the Parks, as there is only a fraction of the items in the World of Disney Store.
