Downtown Disney is a great place to eat and shop, however there is one store that stands out form the rest: World of Disney. This is a massive store dedicated to everything Disney. Although they don’t carry everything that you can find in the park they do carry a majority. The list of items that they have is endless: shirts, T-shirts, hats, pins, beads, jewelry, toys, pictures frames, mugs, jackets, movies, toys, slippers, and more. The store is divided up so each section has a theme. For example one section is set up like Pirates of the Caribbean, another is dedicated to Peter Pan. I did my entire gift shopping here and even got my Mickey Ears before I went into the park.

Besides the World of Disney there is a plethora of things to do and see here. Sephora is always a favorite of mine. This shop is dedicated to makeup, but that’s not why it is fun. What makes it great is that they have samples of everything that sell in the store for you to try on. You can spend as much time as you want trying on makeup and no one will bother you. The Disney Vault 28 is interesting to look in only if you are into fashion or have a lot of money to buy. I found a basic empire waist shirt that was selling for a mere $180. That was more then I was paying for my hotel and tickets. Just to get an idea of the expense of the store they sell brands like Toki Doki and Betsey Johnson.
The Build-A-Bear Workshop is fun for everyone. In the store you can actually make your own teddy bear, dress it, and name it.

Other stores that you can find here include Lego Imagination Center, Fossil, Sunglass Icon, and more. There is even a pin trading spot where you can choose from a ton of pins. The tables that you see off to the side of the stand is for pin trading. This is amazing to watch serious pin traders pull out their suitcases, yes suitcase, full of pins and trade with others. After a full day of shopping it’s time to kick back and eat. Downtown Disney has a variety of places to choose from each offering its own type of cuisine. For sports fans there is the ESPN Zone. If you want dinner and a show hit up the House of Blues, if you are into a different type of show, an animal show head over to the Rainforest Café.

If it’s a snack you want Downtown Disney has got that too. From the Hagen-Dazs Shops to Jamba Juice there is something for everyone. If its sweats you want head over the Marceline’s Confectionery. They have every overprice sweet that you could ever want. My favorite is the La Brea Bakery. They have some of the best coffee ever.

Downtown Disney is your one stop shopping and entertainment mecca located within the Disneyland area. Here you can take in all things Disney after a harried day of running around the park.

There are dining options here for everyone in your group. You can grab a quick snack, dine with some of the Disney characters, or enjoy fine dining at several restaurants. There are several theme restaurants on the premises. Snack stops include Haagen-Dazs ice cream, Jamba Juice, and Wetzel’s Pretzels. You can catch a character meal at PCH Grill. For a casual meal you can try Granville’s Steak House, or Hook’s Point. For a more upscale environment head over to Napa Rose, Catal Restaurant, or Ralph Brennans. Theme restaurants include ESPN Zone, the Rainforest Café, and House of the Blues. For reservation, call 714/781-DINE.

There is no shortage of places to shop here. There is something for everyone in your party or on your gift list. Anne Geddes Flagship store is now here, create a new friend at Build-A-Bear, add to your Department 56 collection, Sephora offers some of the best cosmetics around, and little girls love Club Libby Lu. Something Silver has some amazing silver jewelry and their storefront is beautiful. Even if you’re not on a leggo hunt, make sure to stop in the Leggoland Store. I am always amazed what they come up with in this place. This one hosts Darth Vader and R2D2 from Star Wars, a bigger than life giraffe, the Empire State Building, and King Kong. Even if you don’t stop by the House of the Blues or the Rainforest Café for dinner, make sure you stop by for some great souvenirs. And no trip is complete without a stop in at the Disney Store. This place is huge. You will find everything imaginable here from Disney.

There are several places to keep you entertained until the wee hours of the morning. Catch the latest releases at the AMC Theater. Catch your favorite team at the ESPN Zone or have fun with the numerous video and interactive games. The Lost Bar, Tortilla Jo’s, and Ralph Brennan’s all have live music. The House of the Blues host acts from the current hottest acts out there to all time favorites. Check out www.hob.com to see who is playing when you’re in town.

There is not an admission charge to get into Downtown Disney. Hours run from 8am to 2am and vary by season. Most stores open from about 9 am until about 9 pm depending on the season. Of course restaurants and clubs keep later hours. They do have free parking. There is a Disney trolley that runs to most of the nearby hotels and is $3 per day and you can ride as often as you like. For more information just head over to www.downtowndisney/anaheim.com.

Clothing: Island Charter offers Hawaiian, tropical, and other vacation-type wear. Mixed in with the clothing are boat reproductions and collectibles. QuikSilver also sells vacation clothes, such as men's board shorts for the beach and other casual shirts, shorts, and pants.

Jewelry: The district's one jewelry store is called Something Silver, and, as you can imagine, sells silver jewelry. In addition to traditional things like necklaces and earrings, you can find silver key chains and money clips, and even a small selection of baby items.

Bath and Beauty: At Basin, you'll find chemical-free bath products. They offer fizzy "bath bombs," massage bars, shampoo bars, and fresh soaps that they'll cut-to-order for you. Sephora sells rather expensive skin-care products, fragrances, makeup, shower products, and hair treatments.

Home decor: At Illuminations, you'll find hundreds of hand-crafted candles. It smells good in there! Hoypoloi sells a variety of decor items: fountains, wind chimes, handcrafted glass, and sculptures. At Department 56, you'll find artfully crafted figurines, miniature village sets, and holiday trims and accessories.

Other: Compass Books is a full-service book store that features periodicals from around the world. At Starabilias, you can find both inexpensive trinkets as well as pricey, serious collectibles within the theme of TV, movie, and music stars. It's a fun store in which to browse. You can also drop some serious cash here if you buy an autographed guitar or movie poster!

The House of Blues offers a busy schedule of concerts, which spans various musical styles and ranges from familiar names to unknown local groups. The ticket prices, of course, vary depending on who's playing, but generally run from $25 to $32, less for unknown groups and occasionally more for big-name performers. Groups scheduled for the rest of 2005 are too numerous to list, but some of the more familiar names are the Gin Blossoms, Foreigner, Three Dog Night, Blues Travelers, The Bangles, and the Marshall Tucker Band.

If you have a great time during your House of Blues visit, you can pick up a souvenir of your good time at the adjacent House of Blues Store. There, you'll find HOB-themed clothing for the whole family, such as tees, hats, and trinkets, such as drumsticks, harmonicas, and guitar picks.

Not far from the House of Blues is the upscale Mediterranean-style restaurant Catal. Expect to spend around $25 for your entrée of grilled seafood, poultry, or vegetables. They also feature various salads and pastas. Children, of course, are allowed into the restaurant, but the experience is meant for adults to enjoy. The restaurant is decorated in beige tones and features fine-china place settings. You won't see any animated animals or TV sets tuned to sports programs here!

Other Downtown Disney snack stops include Haagen Dazs, the ice-cream shop famous for its super-rich and creamy dairy treats. They offer shakes, frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato, brownies, and specialty coffees in addition to the more usual cones and sundaes. At Jamba Juice, you'll find all-natural juices and ice-cold smoothies, which are blends of your favorite fruits, frozen yogurt, ice, and even "additives" of your choice, like various vitamin combos. The La Brea Bakery Cafe features pastries and desserts, and also tasty sandwiches that you can eat in their patio dining area. At the Compass Books Cafe, you can find coffees, teas, smoothies, pastries, and desserts, plus sandwiches and salads if you want a quick lunch. Wetzel's Pretzels offers the large, soft pretzels, the kind you'll find in most malls. They come in various flavors, e.g. cheese, garlic, or cinnamon. Lastly, Marceline's Confectionery is a candy-lover's paradise, and the store itself is sheer eye candy, too!

I like the AMC Theaters personally. For one thing, the theater features all-stadium seating, so you don't have to worry that you won't see the movie due to people's heads in front of you. Each row of seats is higher up than the row in front of it. For another thing, I enjoy just getting out to Downtown Disney to see what's going on without spending any more money than going to any other theater. Admission prices are the same as other theaters--and offer matinee prices, just like any other theater, too! Plus, the parking is free for the first 3 hours (and the theater will put a validation sticker on your parking ticket, in case you've stayed longer. I have visited Downtown Disney a number of times, but only during the daytime. During the day, there's always plenty of adjacent parking. At night, the closest lot may fill up, I don't know, but there are other lots they can open nearby if that happens.) Other features of the theater include "love seat"-style chairs. This simply means that all of the armrests lift up, so that no matter where you sit, you can raise the armrest between you and your date (or your child) and snuggle up. The theater's sound system is awesome, featuring THX Surround Sound and Sony Dynamic Digital Sound. Like any other cinema, you'll find the daily schedule in the newspaper and on the Internet.

Now, let's talk about the World of Disney Store. This Disney store isn't related to the Disney stores you've been to at your local mall. (Once, I was looking for an item that my mall's Disney Store had run out of, only to find out that World of Disney didn't have the item, either. That's when they told me that they were ONLY related to the World of Disney in Orlando, not to the chain of mall stores.) Though I was disappointed not to find my desired item, finding a totally new and different Disney store opened up a whole NEW world of unique Disney products for me to enjoy browsing through! The World of Disney Store gives a LOT of browsing opportunities, too, because it's a very large store! It's departments are fairly well defined--all the stuffed animals and toys are in one area, food products and kitchen items in another, children's clothing and costumes elsewhere, another spot for serious collectibles, and still another for the adult clothing. There's something for everyone in here!

Across the sidewalk, you'll find the ESPN Zone, which is a restaurant and entertainment venue combined. Unless there's a line to get inside, its exterior looks so tranquil, but step inside and you'll get an entirely different picture! There are enough TV's going to make a big-box electronics store look inadequate! I couldn't stand looking at them all. A sports lover, on the other hand, would probably try to keep up with them all! To me, the fascinating room is the video game room. You can swing a special golf club and it takes what you've done into consideration, then shows you what your shot looks like onscreen. You can don special boxing gloves, and your moves translate into hits onto your video opponent’s body. Really cool! The rest of the room is filled with sports-themed video games of all types. Who could think of eating with all this stuff to do? Yet, they offer a large selection on their American-food menu. There's appetizers, soups, salads, pastas, sandwiches, burgers, chicken, pork, ribs, salmon, steaks... in other words, you'll find SOMETHING you like! Then, you can stop by the ESPN store for your logo clothing and souvenirs. But don't leave without hitting the restrooms first! Surprise, there are even TV's in the privy!

My granddaughter, aged 5, wasn't along with us. Had she been there, I would have taken her to Build-A-Bear Workshop, a darling "teddy bear factory." Children (or adults!) can choose the bear, or other animal, that they like, then stuff it (being sure to put his heart inside him!), and dress it. They claim that the animals start at $10, but if you want your animal smartly dressed and accessorized, it's actually going to come to $35 to $50--or more! Luckily, there are mini-animals starting at just $5. Another girl's "heaven" is Club Libby Lu. It's a MAKEOVER salon for little girls! My granddaughter would LOVE it! But, who thinks up these things? Do some people really have so much extra cash that they send their tots to a day spa? But, someday, for some really SPECIAL occasion, I just may take my granddaughter there. She can get her hair done up with a princess crown, get some sparkles applied to her face, custom-concoct herself a little fragrant bath powder, and she'll be smiling from ear to ear. And me--I'll take a zillion photos of it all!