New attractions bubble up at Disney Springs
Goodbye Downtown Disney. Hello Disney Springs.
Walt Disney World’s shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, which had been known as Downtown Disney for a couple of decades, has been undergoing a major expansion and transformation. Now dubbed Disney Springs, visitors have about twice as many locations to browse, nosh, and drop their vacation dollars.
Disney recently put the finishing touches on a new area, Town Center. It is located on a former surface parking lot (which has been replaced by new parking structures). Chic shops such as the Japanese clothing store, Uniqlo, the Spanish fashion brand, Zara, and the boutique, kate spade new york (which is so chic, it shuns upper case letters) opened its doors in the new area. A Coca-Cola store is crammed with items based on the iconic beverage. There is also a rooftop bar that serves Coke-infused cocktails, soda floats, and other beverages.
Town Center is home to new eateries, including Frontera Cocina. Presided over by noted chef, Rick Bayless, it serves sophisticated Mexican fare. D-Luxe Burger is Disney’s take on the gourmet burger craze. Choices include the Barbecue Classic, which is topped with a humongous friend onion ring, smoked Gouda, and bacon.
Chef Art Smith’s Homecoming also recently opened at Disney Springs. It features Florida-centric flavors from another celebrity restaurateur. With comfort dishes such as Art’s Famous Fried Chicken (which can be served with sugar doughnuts), Shrimp and Grits, and a Bunch of Puppies (hushpuppies slathered in pimento cheese and red jalapeño jelly), anyone counting calories would probably need a few extra digits to keep track. Better yet, forget the diet and leave room for Homecoming’s signature dessert, Shine Cake. It is a sinfully rich and buttery Bundt cake infused with moonshine.
The rebranding is the latest in a series of makeovers for Disney’s complex. It began in the mid-1970s as Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village and later became known as Disney Village Marketplace. In the late 1980s, Disney added Pleasure Island. At night, visitors initially paid a cover charge to enter the nightclub-filled playground. In the mid-1990s, The Mouse gave the whole shebang the generic-sounding name, Downtown Disney. A couple of years later it expanded with the introduction of Downtown Disney West Side and welcomed flashy tenants such as House of Bluesand Planet Hollywood (a revamped Planet Hollywood, now known as Planet Hollywood Observatory, features menu items from TV personality Guy Fieri as well as over-the-top milkshakes).
Inspired by real Florida coastal towns like Coral Gables and St. Augustine, the new Town Center has given Disney the opportunity to weave together the mishmash of areas at the expansive Disney Springs into a more cohesive whole. As with everything else at the theme park resort, it comes with a fanciful backstory.
The Mouse-made “natural” springs are the heart of the town and the inspiration for its name, noted Dave Hoffman, a creative director at Walt Disney Imagineering. “Each neighborhood reflects its function and its [fictitious] time period when it was developed.”
According to the narrative, a cattle rancher discovered the water source in the mid-1800s and settled there. The springs, which Hoffman’s team has carefully crafted, include cypress trees and palmettos lining its banks. Lights flickering in the trees at night represent fireflies. Also in the evening hours, floating lanterns glow, and colorful boils of water illuminate the springs.
Sticking with the story, the Town Center that grew around the springs features architecture reminiscent of the 1920s. There are stucco facades, terra cotta tile roofs, coral stone, lovely fountains, and other Mediterranean touches typical of the era. Remnants of the old town remain. Ancient machinery sits unused next to a weathered sign, which indicates that the apparatus was used for a spring water ice works operation. The original settler’s cabin now serves as the site of D-Luxe Burger.
A few years ago, Disney shut down the Pleasure Island nightclubs and bulldozed them. The re-imagined area is now known as The Landing. Located next to the Town Center, Hoffman says that, according to the storyline, it serves as the community’s transportation hub and has more of an industrial feel.
An old billboard advertises the passenger train that used to stop in the town. There are some stray rails still embedded in the pathways. The former train station now serves as an upscale chophouse, STK (which is so upscale, it has no need for vowels). Diners at The Boathouse get nice views of the amphibious cars that offer tours of Lake Buena Vista. Another recent addition, Vivoli Il Gelato, is the second location of the 85-year-old Italian gelateria.
The resort’s original shopping area is now known simply as Marketplace. Per the story that the Imagineers have concocted about Disney Springs, it was developed in the 1930s and displays the American Craftsman style of architecture that was in vogue then. It is home to an expanded World of Disney Store (which already was the world’s largest shop selling Mickey Mouse and other Disney-themed tchotchkes).
According to Hoffman’s spin, the leaders of Disney Springs developed The West Side as a town expo in the 1950s. A pedestrian bridge connects the outlying area to the rest of the town. A circus tent (which serves as the theater for Cirque du Soleil’s resident production, La Nouba) and hot air balloon remain. The expo buildings now house Splitsville bowling lanes and an AMC movie theater among other venues.
More places are on the way. The elegant paddlewheel riverboat that used to beFulton’s Crab House (and The Empress Lilly before that) is getting a makeover and will reemerge as Paddlefish. Among its specialties will be lobster rolls and lobster guacamole. And The Edison will serve retro-chic American fare and cocktails in a steampunk-inspired setting.
Are visitors even aware of the intricate story thread that the Imagineers have developed about the pseudo-community? Most probably are not. But, they do get the sense that it’s not your average suburban mall. And, even if it is on a largely subconscious level, it’s likely that they appreciate the more harmonious vibe at Disney Springs. That would make the town’s early settlers proud.