Heehee! I predicted you'd say that

I did notice that this time I didn't notice as much about DTD, if that makes sense. The storefronts seemed more samey-samey. Easy to ignore.

It was the store that sold nautical and airplane stuff along with tropical style clothing. They had some cool things in there.

Nope, wrong store. It's the one that sold a lot of glass decorative type stuff. Big shiny plates and the like. I believe the one you're thinking of is Island Charters

I like how even those of us who see these store almost weekly can't keep them straight.

Irvine anyone?

What's sad is that I *do* remember Island Charters, but not for good reasons.

Yep, Island Charters is an even bigger rip-off than HoiPaloi was. It too had interesting stuff to look at ... once! H.P. was good for a visit every 30th time thru DTD.

I think I've made 2 purchases at WoD, one at HoiPaloi, and one at Compass Books. That's the extent of my non-food&beverage DownTown Disney buys. For a guy who's at the resort 2 or 3 times a month, I don't think they're getting the bang from my buck that Disney envisioned.

Oh, but I am sooo stuck buying grub at their restaurants and booze at their bars, so that should make up for it. I wonder if making all the food at the parks inedible was part of the restaurant contracts for DTD?

Downtown Disney has quite the turnover rate when it comes to its tennants. Lets see...

Arriba y Arriba... GONE
Tin Pan Alley... GONE
Mainspring... GONE
Petals... GONE
Hoipoloi... GONE

There was that sunglass shop that used to be connected to Mainspring, but I have since forgotten the name of that place. I could also lump Avalon Cove by Wolfgang Puck, Lucky Fortune Cookery, and Mondavi's little restaurant in DCA, but that is only by association (some still think DCA is just the pay per view version of Downtown Disney!:rolleyes: ).

Did I miss any of them? Not really. I think Downtown Disney needs to be retooled to be more hip. Maybe just a little more like Citywalk, but not like the Block. As it is right now, it's just not worth my time to shop or dine there. The only reason some of the shops get any business there at all is the captive audience staying at the hotels, and they often choose Downtown Disney as a last resort, so to speak.

I never bought anything at HP in DLR, but we bought several items at the HP in WDW. It was a nice place to pick up an "upscale" non-Disney gift or two for my parents. I think the last time we were in Orlando we got my Mom a cool glass cat-head thingie there (and of course some good Diz-branded stuff from the parks).

It must be tough to build a shopping area that is at once cool enough for folks like us and still attract the hoi polloi and their money.