Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney is a shopping area and entertainment area adjacent to Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure.  Downtown Disney has a wide variety of shops, including Build-A-Bear Workshop, Quiksilver, Sephora, and most notably, The World of Disney.  The World of Disney has a vast assortment of Disneyland souvenirs and collecta

bles.  If you are looking for a particular piece of merchandise, but don’t want to trek into one of the parks, this is the place to go.

Downtown Disney boasts a number of restaurants, including the popular Rainforest Cafe.  While I know the Rainforest Cafe is popular with families and children, my kids were freaked out the entire time we were in there by the animals, thunder, and lightning, so depending upon your children, it might not be your best best with toddlers.  I find the rest of the restaurants to be a bit pricey. 

Downtown Disney has a number of talented entertainers throughout the property in the evenings and has a large AMC movie theater.  It has beautiful architecture and lots of water features to entertain the little ones.

Parking at Downtown Disney is free for 3 hours and you can get an additional three hour validation at any of the table service restaurants or the movie theater.  I’ve had readers ask how long you need to “visit” Downtown Disney.  Personally, I don’t really think that visiting Downtown Disney is a “must see” for a vacation.  Southern California is rich with amazing history, landscapes, and tourist attractions.  If my time were limited in So Cal, I would probably opt spend that hour or two checking out a local beach or museum.