Today is outlet shopping day! Or it should have been. Outlet shopping is always one of my favourite activities when I visit Orlando! You can get amazing discounts on lots of top brands. So if you have your eye on anything the outlets are the place to come!
Before heading off for some serious shopping a good breakfast would be in order! So I had planned to dine at Topolino’s Terrace at the Riviera Resort.
Topolino’s Terrace for Breakfast
During my last Disney World trip I stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort and saw the construction of the Riviera Resort. In December 2019 this beautiful, new resort opened. I was so excited to visit and take a look around and couldn’t wait to dine at Topolino’s Terrace. The views from this restaurant look incredible! And the menu is amazing. Delicious gourmet foods and a beautiful view, what more could you ask for?
I had booked to have breakfast at Topolino’s Terrace as it had a new character dining experience that I was so excited to try.
TOP TIP!
Currently this is the only Disney Resort restaurant offering a character dining experience. It has been modified to maintain distancing but I love that you can still enjoy seeing characters with your breakfast!
The characters you get to see are Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck. I loved the artistic theme of the breakfast and that the characters were all dressed up as different types of artists!
Topolino’s Terrace is a fine dining location, meaning the food is gourmet and the service is at the highest standard. You can choose from options such as sour cream waffles and quiche gruyere. I was so excited to try the wild mushroom scramble as I have never been anywhere that serves a vegan omelette before!
The food sounds delicious, the theming is right up my street and the view is stunning so I know Topolino’s Terrace will be at the top of my list for my next trip to Walt Disney World!
Orlando Premium Outlets – Vineland Ave
The Orlando Premium Outlets at Vineland Avenue is super close to Disney. Only a few minutes’ drive! It has over 160 stores featuring a whole host of designer and premium brands. So this is the place to come for all your shopping needs! There is also another Orlando Premium Outlets on International Drive near Universal Studios.
The outlet mall also has a food court, food stands and a Starbucks so perfect to refuel after some serious shopping!
TOP TIP!
If you have any items in mind that you would like to purchase make sure you check out the Orlando Premium Outlets website before your trip to see what shops they have and you may just be able to get your desired item at a fabulously discounted price!
Disney’s Character Warehouse
The first shop I always go to, and the most exciting shop for me, is Disney’s Character Warehouse. Everything here is official Disney merchandise and everything is discounted!
You will find a whole treasure trove of items here, including Park merchandise, Resort merchandise, special event merchandise (like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party), Disney Cruise Line merchandise and merchandise from a range of different Disney stores. It is the perfect place to stock up on souvenirs and presents!
TOP TIP!
The most amazing thing is that some of the items inside Disney’s Character Warehouse are available to buy in the parks for full price! I bought an Evil Queen Christmas decoration that I had seen in the parks for $24 for just $6 in the Character Warehouse! So definitely make sure you visit here before making your park purchases.
Featuring everything from clothing, home wear, childrens costumes, ride, park and resort merchandise, jewellery (including Alex and Ani), bags and purses (including Danielle Nicole and Dooney & Bourke), plus much more there is so much on offer! Outside of the parks this is my number one place to visit as I love to buy Disney merch, so I can shop here and know I am getting some amazing bargains!
This Danielle Nicole Dr Facilier make up bag was seen in the Disney Character Warehouse! Dr Facilier is my favourite Disney villain and there is so little merchandise for him so this is just perfect!
TOP TIP!
Disney's Character Warehouse is rumoured to be reopening soon! In the coming months I would expect to see a lot of 2020 branded merchandise as well as Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party merchandise to appear in this outlet store. As Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party has been cancelled for this year it will be a great place to grab discounted merch that for an event that never happened! Anomalies like that are great collectors items.
1900 Park Fare
1900 Park Fare, at the Grand Floridian Resort, is another character dining experience and in the evening it features Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Drizella and Anastasia. We have dined here before and really enjoyed the total experience. The food is great, the setting of the Grand Floridian Resort is beautiful and the character interactions are fantastic!
TOP TIP!
I had one of my best character interactions at this restaurant. If you talk to the characters about the story line of their film, or anything else in the Disney world, you can have really fun conversations! The interactive elements is what really makes these moments memorable so thinking of some fun lines to say to the characters can make this such a special experience!
Lady Tremaine was the best character interaction I have ever had! We talked about her cat, Lucifer, where we quickly bonded and I was invited to join her to play crochet at a later date. As a big Disney villains fan this was just the best experience and to feel like you have been invited into the Villains club was so fun!
This character dining experience isn’t currently open to enjoy but I cannot wait for it to come back!
Fireworks at Magic Kingdom
After our meal at 1900 Park Fare I planned to end the day back in Magic Kingdom, soaking up the atmosphere and watching the night time shows. Ending the days relaxing in the parks is a great way of staying in the Disney bubble.
In tomorrows blogs I will be talking about Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney’s two water parks, and dining at our resort, Animal Kingdom Lodge, at the brilliant buffet, Boma!
If you want to know how much money you will need to save to buy all the amazing outlet purchases then Most Magical Guides has a Budgeting Guide that is perfect for you! To view or purchase this guide click here!
For the full range of Most Magical Guides and Planners click here!