Day 14 of The First Time 2011, the first of my Disney Trip Reports, is here! Today is another rest day with a visit to Downtown Disney.
The First Time 2011 Trip Report Index has the full list of days for the trip. You can also check out my 2011 Pre-Trip Planning Report to find out more about us!
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Day 14: Downtown Disney
IHOP, and Earl of Sandwich
17th August 2011
At Liam’s request, today was a rest day (of sorts). We went to Downtown Disney and ended up being there for most of the day!
The first port of call was IHOP for breakfast.
It was pretty busy when we arrived at about 9:30 am but we were shown to a table.
We ordered Chocolate Chip Pancakes ($7.59) with a Side of Bacon ($2.69) for Liam. His breakfast was huge, but he nommed up his pancakes no problem!
I had the Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity ($7.99) which consisted of 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausage, and pancakes which I had with warm apple cinnamon compote on the top – the pancakes were scrumptious!
I can’t eat eggs without toast, so ordered a Side of Toast ($1.59).
Steve enjoyed his brekkie of New York Cheesecake Pancakes ($8.29) with eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns.
Service was nothing spectacular and the food was fine – the pancakes were top-notch, but the rest? Meh.
Probably wouldn’t go back due to the fact that I thought it was very pricey for what you got at $40.89 (once you factor in the drinks). But at least we can cross it off our list.
Onward to Downtown Disney, we parked near T-Rex Café which is where we parked on our first visit.
We wanted to do Characters in Flight and headed in that direction first, only to find out it was shut due to weather conditions (grumble, grumble), so wandered in and out of the shops which were all really quiet.
We popped into the Harley Davidson store first off to see if could buy something for my bro – but it is hard judging sizes.
He’s so fussy, that I didn’t want to get the wrong sort of fit t-shirt for him – I even texted to find out what size to get, but he was so vague with his response that I just didn’t bother to risk it!
However, both Liam and Steve took a moment to pose on the Harley in the shop window.
Liam wanted to get a few more parts for his RideMakerz car that he made on our first visit to Downtown Disney, so we went in there to purchase the bits he wanted.
Then we popped into House of Blues for a quick look and thought it was very cool.
The gift shop part was very funky and I really liked it there.
We did try to get an ADR for the Gospel breakfast, but couldn’t…next time…
We then caught the steamboat to the Market Place and I began to Disney shop like it was going out of fashion!!
In Goofy’s Candy Co., we bought some sweet treats to take home as gifts, and Liam bought a slushie. I still wished I’d bought one of the candy apples!
We then popped into the Rainforest Café gift shop before going into the Disney Christmas shop. OMG, Christmas heaven!
At this point, the heavens decided to open and flood the place. Along with a few big claps of thunder, we then realised why Characters in Flight was closed.
Oh well, it was an excuse to stay in the store and marvel at all the lovely (and expensive!) decorations!
After spending close to $100 in here and with the rain still pouring down and also figuring we couldn’t spend the WHOLE day in this shop (had it been a Halloween shop that would have been a completely different matter!!) we made a dash across the way to Disney Wonderful World of Memories where I bought some scrapbook supplies and some other bits and bobs. Another $100 was well spent!
We wandered in and out of Mickey’s Pantry and purchased a few gifts…
…before going into Once Upon A Toy where I got a little too excited for a 34-year-old woman!
Especially when I saw you could create your own Mr. Potato Head!! (We didn’t buy one though!)
Over to Pin Traders next to feed my new addiction and more dollars racked up on our Citibank card.
By now, all feeling a bit peckish, we made a beeline for the nearby Earl of Sandwich…
…where Liam had a Kids’ Pizza Sub ($3.99).
I had the Earl’s Club ($5.99) and Steve, the Italian Sub ($5.99).
The sandwiches were a lot smaller than I had anticipated, but tasty and more than enough for lunch when you factor in a pot of salad and a bag of crisps.
We also picked up desserts but ended up taking them home with us. The total here was $38.75.
Into Team Mickey Athletic Club next to buy a gift for Liam’s Dad. Spotted a couple of (I think) Hidden Mickeys…
…before finally heading into World of Disney to buy stamps for postcards home, and of course, marvel at the ‘world’s biggest Disney Store’, which let’s be fair, is just a culmination of all the stuff from all the stores in the Market Place.
Therefore there was no need for us to buy anything here as it had all been bought already.
We sat outside and stuck stamps to our postcards then found a post box nearby and popped them in – hopefully they’ll arrive before we get home!
For reasons unknown, we didn’t even go into the Lego Store – gutted! I think by now, our debit card was crying ‘no more, please!’
All shopped out, we made our way back to the car, just in time for some big black clouds to roll in again.
Once we were home and the rain passed, we hopped back into the pool.
All the rain had really brought down the temperature and it was actually quite chilly in the swimming pool.
A free evening allowed Liam to have an early night as he’s been complaining about feeling tired each morning, and it allowed me to catch up with writing my trip report (in my hand-written diary).
All photos from this day can be found on my Flickr!
Read about the day after:
Day 15 – The Giant Golf Ball!
Epcot, and Teppan Edo
Read about the day before:
Day 13 – El Parque Acuático
Aquatica, and Banana Beach Cookout
More Disney Trip Reports
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- Ohana Means Family Trip 2022 < Coming Soon!
- Four Resorts, Two Festivals 2019
- Hibiscus & Holly at The Poly 2017
- WDW-40:2016
- Christmas at Disneyland Paris 2015
- Halloween in The Wilderness 2015
- Dine Around Disney 2014
- Back To The Magic 2013
- The First Time 2011
- Disneyland Paris 2010