How much time for Disney Springs minimum?

[randir]

We are flying into MCO at 4:00. Planning on renting a car, visiting the American Girl store at the Florida Mall and then on to Disney springs for dinner reservations at TRex.

How much time do we need to be able to get into Disney springs and eat and walk around? Is this something we can do in 3ish hours? We will have to drive to cocoa beach after.

 

[Upatnoon]

We are flying into MCO at 4:00. Planning on renting a car, visiting the American Girl store at the Florida Mall and then on to Disney springs for dinner reservations at TRex.

How much time do we need to be able to get into Disney springs and eat and walk around? Is this something we can do in 3ish hours? We will have to drive to cocoa beach after.

One thing missing here is when is your T-Rex reservation and what day of the week is it? Traffic and crowds at Disney Springs are bigger on the weekend and worse in the evening.

Anyway, a 3-hour window would be enough time to eat dinner, but little time for walking around Disney Springs, which is large.

You will have to find parking, walk to the parking garage exit, go through security, then walk to T-Rex. You may find the closest parking garage to T-Rex full and have to go to another one, killing more time in traffic with longer walking time.

When you arrive at T-Rex, you may have to wait a while to be seated. Then you will need ample time to eat dinner.

Disney Springs is a half-mile long with lots of areas and crowds of people.

Now, if things work out, and you have some free time, T-Rex is close to the Lego Store and the World of Disney, so you might be able to visit those.

 

[randir]

One thing missing here is when is your T-Rex reservation and what day of the week is it? Traffic and crowds at Disney Springs are bigger on the weekend and worse in the evening.

Anyway, a 3-hour window would be enough time to eat dinner, but little time for walking around Disney Springs, which is large.

You will have to find parking, walk to the parking garage exit, go through security, then walk to T-Rex. You may find the closest parking garage to T-Rex full and have to go to another one, killing more time in traffic with longer walking time.

When you arrive at T-Rex, you may have to wait a while to be seated. Then you will need ample time to eat dinner.

Disney Springs is a half-mile long with lots of areas and crowds of people.

Now, if things work out, and you have some free time, T-Rex is close to the Lego Store and the World of Disney, so you might be able to visit those.

Thank you so much for the response! Our reservations are for Friday at 7:00 so it seems like we won’t have a ton of time to explore but maybe dinner and a few stores. We can always stay later but will have two tired kids with us. We thought it might be a small taste of Disney and a fun restaurant to try before the cruise!

I wasn’t sure how long parking/security usually takes.

 

[Mle8308]

Thank you so much for the response! Our reservations are for Friday at 7:00 so it seems like we won’t have a ton of time to explore but maybe dinner and a few stores. We can always stay later but will have two tired kids with us. We thought it might be a small taste of Disney and a fun restaurant to try before the cruise!

I wasn’t sure how long parking/security usually takes.

You will probably have time after dinner, before could be cutting it close depending on what airline you are flying (the new Terminal C is further out and you may have to go to side A or B for your rental), how long it takes you to get your rental car and how long you plan to spend at the FL Mall. It's about 25-30 minutes from the Mall to DS. As @Upatnoon mentioned, weekends are busy at DS, between finding parking and security, that could take up some time. Good thing is, if you do shop around after, the kids will probably crash once you get to Cocoa Beach!

 

[randir]

You will probably have time after dinner, before could be cutting it close depending on what airline you are flying (the new Terminal C is further out and you may have to go to side A or B for your rental), how long it takes you to get your rental car and how long you plan to spend at the FL Mall. It's about 25-30 minutes from the Mall to DS. As @Upatnoon mentioned, weekends are busy at DS, between finding parking and security, that could take up some time. Good thing is, if you do shop around after, the kids will probably crash once you get to Cocoa Beach!

We will be flying delta and hoping to only spending less than an hour at the Florida mall, just to visit American girl. We are also coming from Idaho so at least we will be on pacific time which won’t feel as late! It’s our 3rd time cruising but not going to WDW, so I was really hoping we could at least visit Disney Springs and it seems doable at least for dinner and Lego and a few stores! Thank you so much for the info!

 

[Mle8308]

We will be flying delta and hoping to only spending less than an hour at the Florida mall, just to visit American girl. We are also coming from Idaho so at least we will be on pacific time which won’t feel as late! It’s our 3rd time cruising but not going to WDW, so I was really hoping we could at least visit Disney Springs and it seems doable at least for dinner and Lego and a few stores! Thank you so much for the info!

Since it's Delta, no need to worry about Terminal C! T-Rex is close to both the Lego Store and World of Disney, definitely doable! Have a great cruise!

 

[thanxfornoticin]

You're probably aware, but parking at DS can be an adventure and time-consuming, especially on a Friday night. Once you're in, you'll be close to the things you mentioned - Lego is right near T-Rex, also near the big World Of Disney store. But on a Friday night, I'd probably want to be heading into one of the parking garages by 6:30 to get to a level, find a spot, walk through security, and get to T-Rex for dinner at 7. Good luck and have fun!

 

[Upatnoon]

While it all seems doable on paper, I would suggest considering now what you want to do if things don't work out perfectly.

If your flight is slightly delayed, the line for the rental car is long or traffic is busy, you could find you have a decision to make -- skip American Girl and make your T-Rex reservation or go to American Girl and blow your T-Rex reservation.

I think your plans would be more comfortable with a later T-rex reservation or skipping American Girl and just going to Disney Springs, but I speculate not everyone in your group would be happy with these changes.

 

[Woodview]

We are flying into MCO at 4:00. Planning on renting a car, visiting the American Girl store at the Florida Mall and then on to Disney springs for dinner reservations at TRex.

How much time do we need to be able to get into Disney springs and eat and walk around? Is this something we can do in 3ish hours? will have to drive to cocoa beach after.

Arrive at 4 pm ........ In terminal at 4.20 then 20 min to visit restroom & collect luggage now 4.40 pm

Then join Q for car hire desk & collect car ( including walk to garage ) 30 min Time now 5.10 pm

Find way onto Hwy 50 and onto F.Mall & Find Parking =30 min Now time is 5.40

Walk to Shop & Back (Window shop ) 40 min time is 6.20

Drive to Disney Springs .....through traffic & find parking 60 min Time is now 7.20

Have meal & rest room & walk back to car 90 min ==== time 8.50 pm

Then Drive to CoCoa Beach 90 min Time is 10.20 pm

 

[hrhdhd]

Find way onto Hwy 50 and onto F.Mall & Find Parking =30 min Now time is 5.40

If you find Hwy 50 to get to the Florida Mall, that's going to be way more than 30 minutes.

 

[hsmamato2]

Arrive at 4 pm ........ In terminal at 4.20 then 20 min to visit restroom & collect luggage now 4.40 pm

Then join Q for car hire desk & collect car ( including walk to garage ) 30 min Time now 5.10 pm

Find way onto Hwy 50 and onto F.Mall & Find Parking =30 min Now time is 5.40

Walk to Shop & Back (Window shop ) 40 min time is 6.20

Drive to Disney Springs .....through traffic & find parking 60 min Time is now 7.20

Have meal & rest room & walk back to car 90 min ==== time 8.50 pm

Then Drive to CoCoa Beach 90 min Time is 10.20 pm

I think it's *possible* maybeeee.... but OP I do think your time plan is a little unrealistic...I think the day/time you're landing is gonna be pretty busy- so those times may be way underestimated (hopefully not but plan for the worst timewise) and I'm guessing you have a child who wants to go to AG store...the mall is pretty big, and you will never be in and out in 40 minutes. I can't imagine that happening in that time frame, just finding parking there can take quite a while. I'm not sure if T Rex has penalty for not showing at res. but keep all that in mind. It really all depends on how stressful you want that first travel day to be lol. The springs is lively,crowded and can be fun on a Friday night! If you don't mind getting to your final destination later than you planned it could be done....

 

[Silvermist999]

We were just there over the holidays, there was no security check before entering Disney Springs. I think you could do it in one evening, depends on how many stores you want to actually check out. We have done Disney Springs before on arrival night, but it’s a long travel day for us so usually we don’t stay very long and return another night to see everything.

 

[Skippyboo]

We were just there over the holidays, there was no security check before entering Disney Springs. I think you could do it in one evening, depends on how many stores you want to actually check out. We have done Disney Springs before on arrival night, but it’s a long travel day for us so usually we don’t stay very long and return another night to see everything.

Did you take Disney bus? Definitely security check when parking in DS parking garage. OP when your flight back post cruise could you maybe hit the American girl store then.

 

[randir]

Thank you everyone for the time frames and suggestions. It looks like we should try and at least move our reservations to 7:30. If we get back to cocoa beach later that’s ok. It will be a longer travel day but we will be used to pacific time zone. We can probably drop the AG store if needed. We won’t have time after the cruise but that’s ok. If everything works out it might be doable and if it doesn’t we will plan to pivot! Thanks again!

 

[randir]

Arrive at 4 pm ........ In terminal at 4.20 then 20 min to visit restroom & collect luggage now 4.40 pm

Then join Q for car hire desk & collect car ( including walk to garage ) 30 min Time now 5.10 pm

Find way onto Hwy 50 and onto F.Mall & Find Parking =30 min Now time is 5.40

Walk to Shop & Back (Window shop ) 40 min time is 6.20

Drive to Disney Springs .....through traffic & find parking 60 min Time is now 7.20

Have meal & rest room & walk back to car 90 min ==== time 8.50 pm

Then Drive to CoCoa Beach 90 min Time is 10.20 pm

It was showing that the mall was about 10 minutes from the airport. Is it further? I saw the AG store entrance was right next to the parking lot so was hoping we could just be dropped off and run in to jus take a look around! Thank you for your breakdown that is helpful! Looks like we better move fast and plan for a later night.

 

[Upatnoon]

It could take 10 minutes at 3 a.m. Sunday -- and it could take 30 minutes at 5:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.

I would plan for traffic to be worse in the afternoon and delighted if I don't run into any.

My daughters went to the American Girl store a few years about and spent about 40 minutes in there. The mall has lots of stores, so killing the time was fine for me.

 

[Silvermist999]

Did you take Disney bus? Definitely security check when parking in DS parking garage. OP when your flight back post cruise could you maybe hit the American girl store then.

Yes we took the bus from our resort. No security check before getting on the bus either. So they are doing security checks at the Parking garages now, but not checking those who are getting there by bus or other means? A lot of hotels nearby too where people can just walk over. Interesting.

 

[nancipants]

Local here. I would honestly not plan on doing both Florida Mall and Disney Springs on the same night. They are both very crowded and traffic will be bad on a Friday night. It would make for a stressful start to your trip, especially if your flight is late or you have a long wait for luggage/car rental. If you're just going to Florida Mall for one store, I would skip it and focus on Disney Springs instead.