What’s New At Disney Springs?

Disney Springs is a entertainment complex on the property of Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida. This sprawling destination features more restaurants, shops and entertainment than any reasonable person could dream of fully conquering in one Disney World visit. Well, unless maybe you skip all of the parks and don’t mind eating more than three meals a day. Now that I think about it, that’s not such a bad idea for a vacation. Today’s post covers what’s new at Disney Springs.

First, let’s define what I mean by “new.” If you haven’t been to Disney Springs in the last three years or so, more than half of the stores, restaurants and entertainment venues will feel new to you. Some of the familiar places, like Planet Hollywood or World of Disney received pretty significant make-overs. Even the name of the place changed from Downtown Disney to Disney Springs in September 2015. For the purposes of this post, I’m focusing on everything that’s opened within the last year and a few places that are scheduled to arrive in 2019. It’s a long list, so forgive me if I miss a few here or there.

Sound good?

Ready to shop, eat and play?

Here we go.

Retail

Shopping is king at Disney Springs. With the latest additions there are now more than 110 stores or “shopping options” as the Disney Springs literature likes to call them. Roughly a quarter of these locations boast well-known brands you may have shopped elsewhere such as Coach, Pandora, Under Armour and Ugg. Another ten or so are really smaller retail spaces attached to entertaining table service restaurants like the Rainforest Café or The House of Blues. Another 12 or so, as you would expect, include Disney in their titles.

One example is Disney Style, which opened in May of this year. This contemporary store features Disney-inspired clothing and accessories with an updated, trendy flair. Sometimes they even offer merchandise inspired by classic Disney attractions such as the Carousel of Progress, Jungle Cruise or the Enchanted Tiki Room.

The displays are fun and modern, like this week’s worth of Mickey and Minnie ears on a wall above some pretty cool Disney Villain merchandise.

There are several cool photo ops too, like the “it’s a small world” wall near the dressing rooms, a giant video display of Cinderella’s castle and these beautiful floating lanterns right out of Tangled. (I’ve got a dream, I’ve got a dream…)

You can find similar items online through this Disney Style link to shopDisney.

Another Disney option is the new Disney Tails shop that opened earlier this month. The boutique offers costumes, collars, treats and more for your favorite furry friends. One fun example is this Minnie Mouse pet dome also available at shopDisney.

I mentioned above The World of Disney at Disney Springs received a pretty significant makeover this year. Although the store remained open in various stages, it officially reopened in November. Stitch is back to his old tricks (squirting water on unsuspecting guests below) after a brief disappearance.

The store has a much more modern vibe, with video displays and magical touches throughout. The streamlined look also makes the store feel more open and bright.

The check-out area is all new too. Massive lines move surprisingly quickly.

Moving on to the non-Disney stores, there’s an interesting new stationery shop called Love Pop that opened earlier this month. Love Pop sells incredible cards like the one shown above featuring intricate 3D paper sculptures. It’s kind of a high-tech pop-up card with Asian paper art influences. You can also find them online  too.

Speaking of “pop” the retail strategy for Disney Springs seems to include rotating “pop-up” stores that will come and go throughout the seasons. The new Love Pop is located within the Marketplace Co-op, a building housing several different retail concepts that can be changed fairly easy. The company recently opened another, even more temporary space, called The Art of Disney by Greg McCullough this month. This new artist studio concept will close on January 1.

See why it’s difficult to keep up with all the new stuff?

Dining

If all that shopping makes you hungry, you now have more than 60 different dining options at Disney Springs. I haven’t tried them all yet (#goals), mostly because I can’t pry my family away from D-Luxe Burger to try something else! If you don’t have that issue, here are a few of the latest options to add to your consideration set.

The Edison opened in January of this year. This “industrial gothic” table service restaurant serves up traditional American fare in six uniquely themed areas. The restaurant also features an extensive bar menu and live music most evenings.

Maria & Enzo’s also opened in January of this year on National Spaghetti Day! (Is that really a thing?) The restaurant is designed to look like a airport terminal from the 1930s with 50 foot ceilings, vintage maps and art deco touches throughout the space. The restaurant serves Italian fare and is adjacent to Enzo’s Hideaway, a separate lounge and dining space themed as a 1920s bar during prohibition.

Pressed for time? You could also stop by the new Pizza Ponte next door to pick up pizza by the slice.

If you’re not too stuffed with Italian food from those three options, you can also head to Terralina Crafted Italian. This new table-service restaurant opened in June and serves traditional Italian fare and wood-fired pizzas.

Another new and interesting option is Wine Bar George, which opened in May of this year. The new location offers more than 130 wine selections as well as small plates, artisan boards and family plates. There’s also a picnic option next door where you can literally fill a basket with some fancy portable entrees and carry your meal with you.

If you don’t want to picnic, but still want a quick, casual meal, another new option is  The Chicken Guy! This quick-service restaurant (not to be confused with the Chicken MAN from Toy Story 2!) was inspired by celebrity chef Guy Fieri and opened in September this year. The restaurant, as you may have guessed, features chicken a variety of ways along with 22 different dipping sauces.

Not open yet, but coming soon is Jaleo by Jose Andres. This multi-story space will start offering contemporary Spanish dishes like wood-grilled pork, shrimp sautéed with garlic and chili, and classic chicken fritters by the end of this year.

A little further out on the horizon is the new City Works Eatery and Pour House.  According to the company’s website, the new location at Disney Springs will join seven other City Works locations that each feature 90 beers on tap, massive HDTVs and updated American fare.

Whew! That’s a lot of new places to try!

Make sure you leave room for dessert! (#sprinklescupcakes)

I’m not a foodie, but there are plenty of Disney fans who are! If you’re looking for more detailed reviews on these and other Disney Springs dining options I encourage you to follow the links above to Disney World’s main site or check out the extensive information on the Disney Food Blog.

Entertainment

So if you’re not exhausted from shopping, dining or sampling all that wine or beer, there are also a ton of entertainment options at Disney Springs. You may already know about the live entertainment stages, AMC movie theatre and fancy Splitsville bowling alley. New options have just arrived and more are scheduled to follow.

In January of this year a whole new Star Wars-themed virtual reality experience opened at The Void at Disney Springs. This fully-immersive experience enables guests to go under cover as stormtroopers to steal intelligence to support the Resistance. (What?!) You can watch a video of Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire here. It costs extra, of course, around $30 a person. A new Wreck-It Ralph virtual reality experience opened in November too.

Another incredible new entertainment option headed to Disney Springs is the NBA Experience, scheduled to open next summer (2019). This brand new facility will occupy the space once used for DisneyQuest, an interactive gaming destination that closed in July of last year. The NBA Experience will also offer games, competitions, interactive experiences and (you guessed it!) more retail and dining options.

A new Cirque du Soleil is also in the works for Disney Springs, replacing the long-running La Nouba that closed last December. According to Cirque du Soleil, the new show will “pay homage to Disney’s rich history of animation.” There’s no firm date on this one yet, so it’s not likely to premiere until late 2019 or even 2020.

See what I mean? So much awesomeness… so little time. Now more than ever, Disney Springs deserves a spot on your Disney World vacation itinerary. You can even stay nearby at a Disney Springs resort and take advantage of Disney Resort perks too.

Whew! Perhaps it would have been easier to write about what isn’t new at Disney Springs? In any case, I hope you found something new to try for your next trip or at least enjoyed a break on an uneventful Thursday. Maybe it gave you a few ideas for that early holiday shopping too?

Add a little (Disney Springs) magic to your world!