By: Rikki Niblett
Have you heard the news? Downtown Disney is going to be seeing some MAJOR changes over the next few years.
Being renamed as Disney Springs, the new version of Downtown Disney will take it’s cue from Florida waterfront towns and will include meandering springs, open air promenades, incredible shopping, great new entertainment options, and wonderful restaurants. The new area is set to increase the number of venues in the district to double, from 75 to 150.
Disney Springs will now focus on four different neighborhoods to help bring this new adventure to life.
In the Town Center, guests will get to experience a mix of shopping and dining along with a promenade where guests can relax, refresh and reconnect. Next will be commercial district, The Landing which will be a colorful area with inspired dining and beautiful waterfront views. The Marketplace will still exist, with an expanded World of Disney store, as well as an over the water walkway. Finally, The West Side will continue to offer lively entertainment, as well as new elevated spaces that provide both shade and an overlook to the activity below.
This project will also take on an issue that has been so prevalent in Downtown Disney, parking. Two new parking garages are going to be built. One will be found on the West Side and one in the Marketplace section.
“Disney Springs will be a timeless, vibrant place where Walt Disney World guests and local residents can relax, shop, dine and be entertained in an imaginative setting where they’ll instantly feel at home,” said Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “Featuring distinctive brands, world-class restaurants and unforgettable entertainment, Disney Springs will be brought to life with the same focus on storytelling and attention to detail that goes into our theme parks, resorts and cruise ships, resulting in a welcoming space that only Disney could create.”
As of right now, there is no real word on what shops and restaurants will be coming in to this thriving district. However, it will be exciting to see what comes to fruition in this area that has been needing work done on it for years.
Construction for the new Disney Springs will begin as soon as next month and will continue until the area is finished in 2016. Keep in mind that Downtown Disney will remain open during the construction, however, just know you may be impacted a tiny bit while work is being done. Personally, I forward to seeing what Disney has to offer.
One reply on “Disney Springs”
We stayed in Punta Gorda Fla once and had dinner at a large sort of open air plaza that had a band with some people dancing. There ere about 6 restaurants serving a variety of foods from Italian to Chinese and fish, etc. The unusual thing was, if you wanted to have a meal from any of the restaurants there were servers all around the open air seating. You just had to mention which restaurant you wanted use and a server from that restaurant took your order. This might work well at a place like Disney Springs. At Downtown Disney now there are quite a few restaurants already . It would be nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the scenery while waiting for a meal from Fultons, Portabello, or raglan Road.
Just a thought I know we enjoyed it and it would seem that as long as getting your food to you hot wasn’t a problem it would be different.