I think we spent as much time in Disney Springs as we did in the WDW parks themselves. It's where we'd head after the parks closed.
Since our visit, it looks like Disney has really put some effort into expanding Disney Springs!
Hi, I'm Pat and welcome to my blog, Life's A Trip!
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I love traveling, food and getting a great deal on anything - which is what this blog is about.
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I'll share not only my travel destinations including accommodations, dining hot spots, and top (and weird!) travel attractions with you - but how to make any trip more budget friendly.
On our first night in Disney Springs we kicked off with dinner at Planet Hollywood as I had dining coupons for 2 free meals. I think we spent more time looking at all of the Hollywood memorabilia and movie props decorating Planet Hollywood than we did eating dinner. (There's 3 floors of memorabilia and props)
We both ordered the L.A. Lasagna which is both tasty and very filling. It's pasta tubes stuffed with well, the ingredients you make lasagna with.
cirque du soleil
We weren't letting any grass grow under our feet with dinner because we had tickets to see Cirque du Soleil on the west end of Disney Springs.
If you've never seen Cirque du Soleil, it's an absolute MUST SEE!
These world renowned acrobats will take your breath away! They perform a different show every year at Disney Springs. This year's 2025 show will be called Drawn to Life. Here's a sneak preview:
dancing water
Dancing Water is a water fountain with timed jets that shoot water upwards at different intervals.
We brought our lunch one day and grabbed a bench on which to eat while watching the kids playing in the fountain. Very entertaining! It was so hot that day I was tempted to join them in the fountain!
aerophile
Aerophile simulates a hot air balloon ride where you ascend high enough to see all of the WDW property, all of the parks. Your pilot will point out all of them to you.
$30 per ride per person. My recommendation would be to do the Aerophile at night when everything is all lit up!
carousel ride
There's a lot for your little ones to do while at Disney Springs and the carousel seems to be one of their favorites. The carousel is located in the Market Place in Disney Springs.
marketplace train express
Another Marketplace ride the little ones love is the miniature train.
vintage amphicar tours
These cars are such a rush to just tool around on the water in. It is a captain-guided tour but you do the driving on Lake Buena Vista. You do have to make a reservation through Disney's website to ride one.
more disney springs dining
house of blues
We ate at House of Blues on our last night in Orlando as we had to use up our dining coupons. House of Blues isn't just a restaurant, they have live entertainment outdoors on their patio area. They also have a weekend brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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We both ordered burgers. I had the BBQ Bacon Ranch Smash Burger that came with french fries.
Neither of us were that hungry so we ordered burgers, expecting the traditional restaurant style burger. What was delivered to our table made our eyes pop out of our heads! These burgers were HUGE. And they were some of the best burgers we'd ever eaten. Definite thumbs up for House of Blues!
And we had a great ending to our meal. I still had over $100 worth of dining coupons left. There was a bride-to-be at the table behind us with who we assumed were all her bridesmaids. We gave the coupons to them and told her congratulations on her wedding. They were thrilled to get those coupons and we were thrilled they were so happy to get them. It was the perfect end to our vacation!
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop
I'm a sucker for Ghiardeli's chocolate so of course, I had to hit up their chocolate shop and soda fountain in Disney Springs to buy some chocolate to take back to the hotel.
I was tempted to try one of their sundaes until I saw the price - between $18 and $22! YIKES!
So I stuck with the chocolate I was buying.
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However, I've discovered that now Ghiardeli's is offering a 10% discount at select dining locations most days and times of day (alcohol excluded) when using the Disney® Visa® Card.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
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RAGLAND ROAD IRISH PUB
We're half Irish so when we were hot and needed to give our feet a rest we stopped into Ragland's Irish Pub just to check it out.
We ended up ordering some soda bread and drinks and staying to watch the Irish dancers and listen to some Irish music.
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Ragland's Irish Pub does serve full Irish meals.
There are many more restaurants at Disney Springs but of course, we didn't eat at all of them.
You can find a complete list of Disney Springs restaurants here.
