Sunday, May 15th was the grand opening of Town Center at Disney Springs, which introduced 28 new shopping and dining locations along with new Lime Garage offering 2,000 more parking spaces. There is no doubt that the area is beautiful, but was it a smart move by Disney? Let’s dissect and start with the good things about Town Center.
The first thing to be excited about is the new quick service eatery D-Luxe Burger. This original Disney creation features gourmet burgers, hand-cut fries with six different dipping sauces and some great shakes made from gelato that can be plussed with a little alcohol. The burgers aren’t your average run-of-the-mill Disney burger, which is a good thing, and fills a void that Disney was desperately missing before. We were able to sample the El Diablo, Southern Classic and Cluck Burger and all three were unique and worth trying, with the El Diablo standing out as the clear winner in our group.
The next thing worth checking out is Amorette’s Patisserie. This is also a Disney original creation, but you might not guess that walking into the door. The dessert shop offers Disney’s take on classic confections from the Viennese Waltz (Sacher Torte) to the 49th and Broadway (N.Y. Cheesecake) and more unique creations like Sunrise Tokyo Bay (Yuzu Chiffon Cake). However, the main star is Amorette’s Signature Cake, an eleven-layer, $85 concoction that is also available in a miniature size for $15 dollars if you don’t have a deep wallet. That being said, most of the treats in the shop are $8, so this isn’t the most affordable place for a snack.
Finally, the storytelling that Disney is so well-known for runs throughout Town Center. When The Landing opened up, everything felt like it fell right into place with the whole idea behind Disney Springs. That same great storytelling is present in Town Center… at the original Disney locations. While a store like Sprinkles and its Cupcake ATM has a perfect home at Disney Springs, it does feel slightly out of place in regards to the theme.
So, that will lead us into the bad part… the one big, bad part. I’m not talking about B.B. Wolf’s Sausage Co. That’s not even a part of Town Center, but it did also open up on the same day. I’m talking about the rest of the new stores at Town Center. While some might find the idea of being able to do their luxury shopping without leaving Disney property a perk, I’m guessing the majority of Disney Springs patrons won’t find this as appealing. The beautiful Spanish style architecture that houses stores like MAC Cosmetics, Sephora and Zara is absolutely gorgeous. However, most people aren’t heading there to be impressed by the pretty buildings. In fact, you can just go to a luxury mall anywhere in the country and have an extremely similar shopping experience.
Again, I do love the architecture, but I hate the stores. They don’t appeal to me as a local and they wouldn’t appeal to me if I was coming on vacation, but here are some of the reactions on Twitter to prove that I’m not crazy:
First impressions of @DisneySprings when coming off the Lime garage: Is this a Prime Outlet mall?
— paintervision (@paintervision) May 15, 2016
Disney springs is a glorified outlet mall. It was likely designed to keep the brazilians from going to the outlets and staying on property. — clayton (@pineappIeprince) May 15, 2016
Town Center at @DisneySprings looks like a nondescript outlet mall; I am not enthused. #DisneySprings — Amy (@sowhatelse) May 16, 2016
Disney Springs: Recreating that smugly pretentious outlet mall experience you’ve avoided ever since you finally got Amazon Prime. — Repentant Orc (@AnotherVoiceDIS) May 16, 2016
So, what can be done to fix the overall Town Center at Disney Springs experience? Based on our YouTube comments, some are saying that adding Disney characters and touches will fix it, but that’s not a proper solution. Town Center is still far from finished. New stores and restaurants are still on the way, so it really is too early to tell if this is just a beautiful disaster. Regardless, it can’t be as bad as the Classic at The Daily Poutine. So bad, even Canadians can’t be completely nice about it.
A Canadian’s review of The Daily Poutine: Cheese curds are correct. Fries are passable. Gravy is unacceptable
— Rebecca DuBois (@beccamochi) May 15, 2016
