Downtown Disney/Buena Vista Palace

So, it was advised that anyone going to Discovery Cove should take it easy the day before as you would be completely worn out. We decided to stay around the hotel to swim and rest and then head to Downtown Disney after it got dark and cooled down some.
We stayed at the Buena Vista Palace which is a Disney resort hotel. We were literally across the way from Downtown Disney and from our 20th floor room, we could see Epcot and Magic Kingdom. At night, it made for some spectacular fireworks shows.








After nap and dinner at Uno, we went to explore Downtown Disney. Basically, it's what the West End tried to be but failed in a major way. Divided into 3 sections—Downtown Disney West Side, Downtown Disney Marketplace and Pleasure Island, it's a very lively and interesting place to walk around.
Disney West Side is pretty much the entertainment part like Cirque, AMC, restaurants, and an indoor gaming park.
Disney Marketplace-toy stores etc. It's the one we spent the most time in. :)
Pleasure Island- is pretty much the part for grown ups. There's an Irish Pub that played U2 songs on repeat (woo!), a Harley-Davidson store, and a few outdoor venues for live music.
On our way in, we saw the boat "Jenny" from Forrest Gump outside of Planet Hollywood.
The boys stopped in the Harley store and had pictures taken on the motorcycle that belonged to Peter Fonda in Easy Rider. Brian loved that part.
We found a restaurant we wanted to get dessert in called T-Rex. Amazeballs place!! Only, the wait was 3 hours just to get in. Um, no. Just...no. But, the boys and I went inside and looked around anyway. Pretty cool place. I was bummed (probably moreso than the kids) about not getting to eat there. We walked a little further and I saw it. The place to rival all places. Ghiradelli chocolatier. Yes. And they even had a soda fountain on the other side of it. This place was awesome. I found a $30 sundae I wanted but I thought eating that much ice cream would result in a public viewing of my innerworkings being expelled. So, we got shakes instead. So. Good.
We walked a little further and spotted the Lego store. I love Legos. My kids love Legos. But, my husband LOOOOVES Legos. We saw some really cool Lego sculptures. The store itself is much like that one at North Park so the kids were kinda 'meh' about that part.
Walking further out, we found a toy store that had the ultimate end all, be all of toys. It was a create-your-own-personal-lightsaber. Yeah. Nerd heaven.
Other than it being waay crowded, Downtown Disney is definitely cool. It reminded me of Seaport Village in San Diego. Lots of restaurants, little shops, and entertainment. It was definitely fun but we cut our trip short as the evening storm was beginning to roll in. So, we left earlier than we wanted to. Boo.