Fun Family Things for Free
Today, I loaded up the kids in the car to run some errands. As soon as we pulled out of our driveway, Bean got all excited.
“Go see Mickey Mouse?” he asked.
I know what he was thinking. Lately, it seems like every time we get in the car, we are heading to Downtown Disney for something or other. For those who aren’t familiar with Disney World, Downtown Disney is an area right outside the park that is free parking and free admission. There is a big boardwalk and then lots of shops, restaurants, and little things to do. Since we’ve been in Orlando, Downtown Disney has become one of our most frequent outings. It’s free and it’s fun.
Last week, we had some family who came to town to spend a few days at Universal Studios. My Aunt Joan and Uncle Tim are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. And they love, love, LOVE kids. Their own two are grown and in college now, so they come sniffing around my little ones every now and then to get their baby fix. Especially my Aunt Joan. She can sniff out a baby faster than I can sniff out a Girl Scout cookie.
What is so fun about Aunt Joan and Uncle Tim is how much they love to play. They are like big children themselves. Needless to say, they get along GREAT with Bean.
Like Disney, Universal Studios has an area called City Walk that has free admission. It is right outside the gates to enter the park and has all kinds of good places to eat, like Margaritaville. That’s where we spent our afternoon with Aunt Joan, Uncle Tim, and my Grandma.
We ate lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp. They had this giant dancing shrimp out front, which Bean thought was a bunny for some reason. He kept calling out, “Hi, Bunny! Hi, Bunny!”
After lunch we strolled through the shops and stopped so Bean could hang ten for a minute.
A lot of locals in Orlando sort of look down on the whole park scene. It’s a tourist trap, they say. Who wants to fight the crowds and the traffic? And I know that I’m still new here, but after a year of living in Orlando, I can say that we are still enjoying living so close to the parks. Especially the free areas. And especially when we’ve got such fun family to share it with.
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19 Comments
Rachel
Bean looks like he’s having so much fun in that last picture! His face is just shining with happiness.
claire
Margaritaville sounds like my kinda place! Also, I can totally see where Bean is coming from with the whole ‘bunny’ thing. I’ve never seen a prawn look so…mammal like, lol!
GirlyGreenGirl
Awww, the dress Gracie has on is hanging in the nursery closet waiting for my little Zoey to be born. So cute!!
~ GGG
Kirsten
I’d totally be all over being at the parks. My brother lives in Orlando and works at Hollywood Studios. He’s all about hanging out at any and all of the parks too!
p.s. – that shrimp totally looks like a bunny!
Amy @ A Little Nosh
I’m with you…I’d take advantage, even if it meant going first thing in the morning to beat the crowds (as much as you can). Those kind of memories are priceless for Bean, and they don’t cost you a penny!
Mary Kate
Oh, pshaw! I’m from Orlando and Downtown Disney and City Walk are so much fun! We would go all the time when we lived there. It’s a good way to avoid the even bigger crowds at the actual parks.
Waiting for Bulgaria
I live really close to what is literally one of the largest outlet malls in the world. People come from all over to visit it. It is a tourist attraction in and of itself. As a result a lot of the local residents despise it. But when I’m off of work and need to entertain my son it is a great place to visit. There is so much to see and do that doesn’t cost $$$. If I was close to Disney I would visit Downtown Disney frequently. Tourist trap or not.
Nikki
I loved this place when we visited Orlando! I’m so glad that you recommended it to us when I asked for ideas. We don’t have any kiddos yet, so it seemed silly to pay tons of money to get into the parks, but this was a perfect place to enjoy the atmosphere for a better price. Thanks again!
Jaclyn
Granted, I only lived in Orlando for 8 months, and it was to intern at Disney World, but I LOVE the parks scene. My family has had lots of good times at Downtown Disney when we aren’t going to the park that day for one reason or another too. (We’re much bigger Disney than Universal fans, but Citywalk it pretty cool, too.) Now that I’m in LA I STILL drive over to Universal or all the way down to Anaheim on a pretty frequent basis.
Beth @ Persnickety Hall
How fun! And free parking, totally worth it. Love the pictures of Bean catching a wave. Too cute!
Jenna
We can’t wait to take our little Ellen down to Orlando to see her Uncle Joe. This looks like a great place to stop for a family on a budget like we are! Thanks, Katie!
Sarah
As a former intern and current cast member at WDW, I love that we have a free option to our guests to experience the Disney magic. Before Mike started working at Disney, we would get our Disney fix together at DTD because I didn’t have the money for both of us to go. Now that we both work for Disney, we still love Downtown Disney.
I will say, in the year since I moved to Florida, I do dislike the outlet malls and the large tour buses.
Betty
Oh fun! We are going to be at Universal in two weeks and we will have to check CityWalk out!
Jen @ Caved In
Any place that’s free is great when you have kids, tourist trap or not. Besides it’s not like Bean is thinking that. Where does one get a shrimp costume? That’s pretty fabulous.
Sarah @TheExPat Bride
ahh the obligatory universal surfboard picture. Every Floridian has one. Or seven.
Rebecca@ The Reluctant Housewife
I LOVE Downtown Disney…because it’s free! Actually, Orlando in general has a lot of things to do for free. There have been so many times in the last 10 months that I’ve wanted to jump in my car and drive the 2 hours South to just stroll around IKEA, or the outlet malls. One of these days….
Ashley @ A Recipe for Sanity
I don’t blame Bean..that shrimp does look a bit Bunny-esque. When they cute-ified him, they made him really look like something other than an ugly crustacean! 🙂
Lil' Woman
Big Man and I used to always go to Downtown Disney for little afternoon dates. Like you said it’s free and entertaining. Sometimes we would just go down and sit near the water and B.S. Yeah, we could have stayed home and done that but it’s much funner when you have crazy tourists walking by.
Ahhhh this makes me miss Orlando soo much.
Brina
As a fellow Orlando resident, I must say that we do not look down on the whole park scene, in fact Tommy and I have annual passes to Universal (yay for free valet parking)! Also, our group of friends go to the movies exclusively at Universal because of the 20 screens (lots of available showtimes), cheap beer, and closeness to restaurants in CityWalk and the surrounding area (Have you been to Kobe yet?? Go after nine – hibachi for two only $30!). Also, movies before noon are only $5! If Bean is into boats at all, he may enjoy riding the “gondolas” at CityWalk. Tommy and I will take a boat trip to Portofino for gelato and then travel back to CityWalk. We, too, like Downtown Disney – they have the closest thing to Italian ice for Tommy (snack and people watch) and we enjoy dinner at Paradiso with the sunset over the water and live music. 😀