Downtown Disney

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: Downtown Disney is the shopping, dining and entertainment complex for Walt Disney World. Divided into three sections (Disney Marketplace, West Side and Pleasure Island) with constantly changing venues makes it one of the premiere entertainment complexes in the Orlando area.

The concept for Downtown Disney began in March of 1975 with the opening of the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village. The village was to serve as the shopping center for the planned residential portion of the Disney development. The residential section never occurred and the complex became the shopping center for the Walt Disney World complex and was renamed Walt Disney World Village.

In 1986, Walt Disney World Village grew with the opening of Pleasure Island. Pleasure Island was a an expansion to the village consisting of several adult night clubs, providing Walt Disney World with the adult nightlife it was looking for to help compete with other Orlando clubs. During this time, the Walt Disney World Village was renamed the Disney Village Marketplace.

Downtown Disney saw its last major expansion in 1997 with the opening of Downtown Disney West Side. The West Side addition contained some of the more popular attractions with Cirque du Soliel and Disney Quest.

Currently Downtown Disney is home to the following businesses:

Shopping
• Arribas Bros
• The Art of Disney
• Basin
• Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
• Changing Attitudes
• Curl
• Days of Christmas
• Design A Tee
• Goofy’s Candy Company
• Harley Davidson
• Hoypoloi
• LEGO Imagination Center
• Magic Master
• Magnitron
• Mickey’s Groove
• Mickey’s Mart
• Once Upon a Toy Store
• Pin Trader
• Pop Gallery
• Rainforest Café Shop
• Sosa Family Cigars
• Starabilias
• Team Mickey
• Tren-D
• World of Disney
• World of Disney Kids

Dining
• Bongo’s Cuban Cafe
• Cap N Jack’s Oyster Bar
• Cookes of Dublin
• Earl of Sandwich
• Fulton’s Crab House
• Ghirardelli’s
• House of Blues
• McDonald’s
• Planet Hollywood
• Portobello
• Raglan Road Irish Pub
• Rainforest Café
• T-Rex Cafe
• Wolfgang Puck Cafe
• Wolfgang Puck Express

Attractions/Entertainment
• AMC Theaters
• Boat Rentals
• Carousel
• Characters in Flight
• Cirque du Soliel La Nouba
• Disney Quest
• House of Blues

The destination continues to add shops and restaurants throughout the years to compete with other Orlando area tourist destinations. In 2008, Pleasure Island was closed to make way for future upgrades to Downtown Disney. Although plans have been delayed due to the economy, it won’t be long before new business start popping up again.

For more photos, click the photo above or visit my Downtown Disney photo gallery.

Updated January 1, 2010

Comments

  1. MaroussiaTuesday, April 13, 2010

    It will be great to watch Cirque Du Soleil - La Nouba, i have bought tickets from
    http://ticketfront.com/event/Cirque_Du_Soleil_La_Nouba-tickets looking forward to it.

    ReplyDelete

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