A day in Downtown Disney

[waxpop]

My kids (almost 5 and 8), elderly mother, and I are staying at the Camelot in April and our flight home after 3 days at the parks doesn’t leave SNA until 7:30 pm. I have breakfast at Storytellers booked for 10 am (and a backup reservation for noon if we’re really moving slow), but I’m wondering what else there is to do in the walkable area (no car) until we need to head to the airport in the early evening. I know there’s tons of shopping but I’d love to avoid a full day of it with gift-hungry kids. Any cool little experiences or exhibits or something at one of the resort hotels…? My dream would be to make it a 4th park day but I don’t think it’s in the budget, unfortunately. Thank you!!

 

[Hobbes]

I'm interested in replies to this too-we are in the same position (minus the kids and mother ) and our international flight is 10pm from LAX!

 

[BrianL]

If you go over to the Disneyland Hotel, there are small exhibits in the base of the towers. Walk into them and you can find some scale models of attractions. Big Thunder Mountain is one. I can't remember what else is in them - maybe some original ride vehicles? There are also pictures on the walls with some backstory. I really love the BTTMR model though. This is not something that will kill a lot of time though.

 

[BrianL]

I'm interested in replies to this too-we are in the same position (minus the kids and mother ) and our international flight is 10pm from LAX!

If you're flying out of LAX, you might consider looping your way into the city proper. Go check out Hollywood or something. That would be less convenient for the OP since they are going out from SNA. Hollywood isn't exactly close or "on the way" but you have a lot of time, so if you can make it work it might be something.

 

[foolish_mortals]

There isn’t much free activities in the walkable area. There’s the fireplace in GCH but I can’t imagine spending more than a hour or two there. There’s the Packing District but that is like DTD, free to walk around but mostly shops and eateries.

You could take a taxi/Lyft/Uber to the beach. There are some museums and parks in the wider area but you would need a car since they are difficult to get to even using public transportation.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Not gonna lie...I would have a hard time killing a whole day in the walkable area of DLR without going into the parks. Especially if you aren't wanting to wander through shops (at DTD or maybe Garden Walk, though I've never been there.) I think you'd need to get in a car to do anything worthwhile.

 

[waxpop]

Hmmm I just checked prices and the cost of adding a 4th day in one of the parks is less than the price of breakfast at Storytellers! Sounds like there's not a full day of stuff to do in DTD. Maybe I can convince my group to do another park day after all. I so appreciate all of the input here!

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

I had a similar situation many years ago. I don't know if any of these things are back post-covid, but we started with a late brunch character meal like you (although ours was over at Pixar/Paradise hotel). That got us until about noonish, and then we found the little room where they had Mickey short cartoons showing and DS was happy to sit there and watch the cartoons for quite a while. They used to have spots like that in all 3 Disney hotels - don't know if they're still doing that, but we loved hanging out in each of them over the years. We hunted down the pressed penny machine at some point too - DS used to collect them and that was a cheap souvenir. After we left there, we wandered around the Disneyland Hotel looking at the displays and art, found their pressed penny machine and cartoon area, and then went through security into DTD. I think by that point is was close to 2pm. We stopped in a couple shops, and spent a lot of time at the Lego store where they had a spot for kids to build lego cars and race them. Around 3:30 we grabbed a small snack - I don't remember where or what we got, but I do remember we ate near a fountain and DS spent more time trying to play with the water than sitting still to eat. We wandered into the Grand Californian at one point to find their cartoon spot, and I think it was about that time that we were all getting tired and bored of just wandering around. If I remember correctly, our flight out of SNA wasn't scheduled to leave until 8ish, but we decided to head to the airport at 5 just because we were done and decided to grab dinner there. In the end our flight was delayed quite a bit, so we were waiting at the airport for ages.
That was around 10 years ago, and I have never since booked a trip where I have that much time to kill on a non-park departure day. I either fly home the evening of a park day or in the morning after our last park day. It was just not fun trying to keep a small kid occupied and entertained that long. We should have gone somewhere else - even a playground in a local park - rather than trying to wander DTD all day.

 

[BrianL]

Hmmm I just checked prices and the cost of adding a 4th day in one of the parks is less than the price of breakfast at Storytellers! Sounds like there's not a full day of stuff to do in DD. Maybe I can convince my group to do another park day after all. I so appreciate all of the input here!

Yes, the price for additional days starts going down the more you buy. It's worth considering.

 

[foolish_mortals]

Hmmm I just checked prices and the cost of adding a 4th day in one of the parks is less than the price of breakfast at Storytellers! Sounds like there's not a full day of stuff to do in DD. Maybe I can convince my group to do another park day after all. I so appreciate all of the input here!

I was thinking the same thing, but wasn’t sure how committed you were to Storytellers.

I will say having eaten at Storytellers you will find your money better spent on that additional park day.

 

[wendlle]

You can go bowling at Gardenwalk, we typically fill our first day at DTD and find plenty to do in the area. But another park day is what we usually do when we are leaving late in the afternoon.

 

[Chili327]

*edit*
Yea, what she said^ lol

GardenWalk. (plenty of other things to do)

Maybe Knotts Berry Farm, or an Angels game.?

 

[goooof1]

I always do an extra day in the parks when leaving in the afternoon. You won't be sorry to add on an extra day!

 

[DLgal]

I'd also add on the extra park day.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I agree on the extra day. The only time it sucks to do that is if you had a 5-day ticket because then you have to do a 1-day and those are pricey.

 

[waxpop]

OK, I'm gonna push for a 4th day. They're gonna think I'm crazy! Now to figure out which park to do for the 4th day – we'll have already done 2 days at DL and 1 at DCA. It will be the kids' first trip to the parks. One day at DCA felt right at the time but now with a 4th day...hmmm. 3 days at DL sounds like a lot but so does 2 days at DCA.

 

[starlite_]

OK, I'm gonna push for a 4th day. They're gonna think I'm crazy! Now to figure out which park to do for the 4th day – we'll have already done 2 days at DL and 1 at DCA. It will be the kids' first trip to the parks. One day at DCA felt right at the time but now with a 4th day...hmmm. 3 days at DL sounds like a lot but so does 2 days at DCA.

Choose which ever you enjoy being in the most. By day 4 you'll probably don't feel the rush to do anything, so choose the park you want to hang out in best.

 

[Tinkaboo]

Well if kids are into Marvel (though they might be a little young), you can spend half a day in Avengers Campus just trying to meet characters…I always say those are the longest lines in the parks!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

With your kids being younger, I would advise making your extra day a Disneyland day. I think you will get more bang for your buck.

 

[DLgal]

Disneyland.