Disney 2015 ~ Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney)

(Thurs, Sep 17, 2015)

Thursday was a day of flexibility and change.  We had originally planned to go to Animal Kingdom (AK) but woke up to the 1 rainy day of our trip.  Since Hannah had requested that we skip AK this trip and the weather wasn’t cooperating we decided to do some other things.  Dave and Trish had a ‘down day’ planned so these changes also gave us an opportunity to spend some time together since we’d spent the majority of the previous couple of days apart.

We started with breakfast at our resort then a swim in the Hippy Dippy pool.

After this we boarded a bus and made our way to Disney Springs (DS)which was in it’s final days as Downtown Disney as it was formerly renamed to Disney Springs last week.  Our families each set off in different directions with plans to meet for lunch a couple of hours later.  Since it was still raining Hannah and I headed to the Lego Store and hung out there in the ‘create’ area for an hour or so.  My girl was in her glory and I was determined to build something other than the only thing I knew how to build….a rectangle house with possibly a window and door.  This was Hannah’s final creation which I thought was neat with all the clear blocks.

This is Mommy’s flower garden…minus a rectangle house.  Woot!

On our way to lunch we noticed that many of the signs had already been changed to ‘Disney Springs.’

This picture was taken on a new walking bridge that saved us a lot of steps.  For those familiar with DS/DD it goes from the area near Rainforest Cafe and goes over to the Lego Store.   We used this bridge often while we were there.

Although a little blurry I like imagining what was happening while the girls played together.  They are the best of friends and I am so thankful for how close they are!

After lunch it was time to browse around some of the stores as well as pick up a few souvenirs but first it was picture time at our traditional spot.  I can’t begin to count the number of pictures we’ve taken in this exact location!

Here are but a few….

Apr 2010

Feb 2011

Aug 2012

Aug 2013 with my Aunt Chris, Uncle Tim, Cousin Bridget and her 6 kids.

Feb 2014 with Nana before our first Disney Cruise

Aug 2014

Back to this year’s trip.  After an afternoon of shopping fun with my girl we boarded a bus back to Disney’s Beach Club Resort.  We had a supper reservation at a new to us restaurant called the Beaches and Cream Soda Shop.   It’s a cute little shop with just 10 tables and 10 more spots at the soda bar.  Reservations are a must although there is a walk up counter for those without a reservation.  Hannah and I hoped to see someone order ‘The Kitchen Sink’ but they didn’t so we’ll have to go back again.

It too a lot of no effort to convince Hannah that tonight’s supper would be nothing but ice cream!!

Oh yes!  We’ll return here another year for sure!

One of the ‘extras’ Hannah enjoys doing to Disney that we don’t often get to do elsewhere is to play mini golf.  We asked and were told that the mini golfing was ‘less than a mile away’ so we set off.  Can I tell you how thankful I was for the stroller that pushed so easily since ‘less than a mile’ was a good hike!  We made it but oh my, with a tummy full of ice cream it was a workout!  Guess it was a good way to wear off some of my peanut butter and chocolate sundae.

The theme of this mini golf location was the movie Fantasia.  Other than one hole that was in a cave, Hannah enjoyed it.  To skip the ‘scary’ hole we walked back from hole 8 to hole 1 and then backwards from 18 to 10. 

I have no idea what our scores were but it would not be wrong to say we were well over 150 each! LOL!

We left mini golfing around 9pm which meant shortly into our walk Hannah was sound asleep.  (I love how safe I feel around Disney and was quite comfortable walking back to the Swan and Dolphin to begin our travels back to our resort.  I learned A LOT about Disney transportation and different routes this trip!!) 

So pretty at night!

This one’s for you Auntie Deb.

We took a boat from the Swan and Dolphin to Disney’s Hollywood Studios  and then a bus back to our resort from there.  My sleepy girl.  We go hard at Disney and one of the reasons we can is because she sleeps when she needs to.  Sweet ice cream dreams my love.

Tomorrow….back to Epcot!