Shopping at Disney Springs
We left Bonnet Creek just before 5pm to go to Disney Springs and had parked in the Lime Garage by 5:10pm. It was less than a 10-minute drive from our resort. Our dinner reservation wasn’t until 7pm but we wanted some time to shop before eating. Specifically, we were on a hunt for magic bands and an autograph book for DD5, since we had brought one from home for DD7.
Going through Security, the guard looking through my bag goes, “You have a lot of glow sticks in here!” That was supposed to be a surprise, but it got DD7’s attention. I tried to shush him but it was too late.
We started at World of Disney.
They told us they were sold out of magic bands but that we should try Pin Traders. DD5 picked out an autograph book with all the princesses on it. I tried mobile ordering the book with the help of a Cast Member at the back of the store but it wasn’t working for me so we got in line toward the front.
We ducked into the Marketplace Co-op next, but they also told us to try Pin Traders for magic bands. Pin Traders had 2 options, but both were $35 and not designs we were excited about. The Cast Member there told us we could find cheaper options at the Emporium at Magic Kingdom on our first day, so we decided we would do that.
As we were leaving, the girls spotted the Carousel and begged to ride. It was $5 for 2 tokens. I thought the sign had said that one adult was free with each child, but it apparently said that children under 42 inches must have an adult accompany them for free, which meant that children over 42 inches do not get a free adult.
This led to some confusion when my dad and I tried to follow the girls onto the ride. The Cast Member asked for our tokens, which we hadn't bought, and said only the girls could go on. We told the girls to go without us, but they were refusing to go. DD5 was scared to go on the carousel alone, and DD7 wouldn’t go without her. The CM said my dad and I could go this one time without tokens, which was very nice of her.
It was awkward to watch the CMs having to lift the other kids onto their horses. There were a lot of kids who might have been tall enough to ride alone, but they couldn’t get on and off the horses on their own. My kids would have been upset to have strangers lifting them. We joked that Disney should be paying the parents to ride vs. the other way around.
DD7 picked a horse but DD5 wanted to ride in a carriage that ended up rocking back and forth, making both my dad and I feel a little queasy (and I was riding backward). At least it was a quick ride, only about 2 min.
As we were walking off the Carousel, the girls saw Once Upon a Toy and begged to go in (the store designers knew what they were doing with that entrance and location in view of the carousel!). I said okay, but we’re not buying anything.
They begged for the Ariel bubble wands, and Pat said yes. We had looked for some cheaper ones at Target earlier that day, but Target didn’t have any. This came back to haunt me later on because I would say, “We’re not buying anything” as we went into other stores and DD7 said, “You always say that but then we get to buy something!”
We walked by the
Lego Store and saw some old favorites as well as some new installments we hadn’t seen before. We always have to get that picture with the water dragon.
We passed the T-Rex Restaurant, which DD5 said she wants to eat at next time.
Our next stop was Gideon’s. I thought if we put our name in 30-45 min before dinner, that we might get in by the time we finished eating. We were added to the virtual line at 6:26pm and were told it was a 3 hour, 10 min wait. 190 minutes! We realized it was going to be after 9:30pm before we could even get in line to order and decided to bail and try another night. I was able to cancel from my phone after we ate dinner.
It was time to go to one of the dinners I was most excited for this trip!
Which is why I mentioned Harry Potter vibes!
