Hope you didn't lose much money canceling your plans for a trip to Orlando for a leisurely bike ride and dining in "dowtown disney." I'm sure the kiddies were looking forward to that ride and dining event, your family is making a heck of of a sacrifice.

I searched it and bike riding is considered an alternate activity. I'd say, unless you work there, don't bring your bike. Guess you'll have to save your riding for the real world.

It's been a few years since we were at Disney World with our kids. We stayed on site and I remember waiting for buses to take you from one theme park to another and then back to where you were staying. I don't remember how far apart things are and if it would be practical for a family to bike from one part of the property to another.

I know it's not designed for bikes but lets say there were bike paths connecting all the on-site hotels with the theme parks and downtown disney, would the distances be manageable?

Would certainly be preferable to having to rent a car or wait for shuttles all the time.

FWIW I think going to Disney can be a very enjoyable experience if you know what to expect and avoid the busy times of year. It is one place where kids feel like first class citizens. They get their own personalized key cards to the rooms. My daughter got made up as princess Ariel in one of the stores and when she returned to the hotel, the entire staff bowed as she entered the lobby. She'll never forget it.

It's also not hard to find a lot wrong with Disney as a company and even with the images they promote.

We divorced ourselves from Disney after they searched our daypacks (before terror concerns) and triumphantly pulled out a couple of apples and sandwiches. We were told to leave these in a locker and if we wanted to eat them, we had to do it right by the locker - there was one grim table there for the whole LA park! As we were reentering the park, the original gate attendant rushed in, to make sure that our packs were searched again.

Sure they wanted to be certain that the only food we were having inside was that purchased from them, but the paradox was that the only food they were offering inside were sugar bars and really bad fast food - no fruit, no nothing I'd want to put in my mouth. The divorce was sealed when we were visiting a safari a day later and our kid asked whether the animals we were watching were real - he was suspecting moving Disney mannequins.

I know you weren't trying to be sarcastic or anything, so I won't respond in kind; you may not know this, but "dowtown Disney" can be a destination for many other things besides the theme park. From dining, to shopping, the dowtown disney here in Anaheim can be quite a popular destination as a "night out on the town." So, no, Orlando is not even a blip on our radar screen, being as close as we are to AnaCrime, er, I mean, Anaheim...

You are right, I didn't know that a complaint about bicycle parking at an Orlando theme park also applied to the dining and shopping opportunities in "dowtown Disney", California.

My wife has a very particular diet and after telling the security folks that they let her bring her food in without any fuss. She told them right away so no searching was required and it probably didn't hurt that it was clearly only enough food for her and the rest of us would obviously be buying food from them. You may have run across one of the more zealous attendants.

A local theme park doesn't allow food past the gates either but they do have a large and attractive picnic area complete with grills.

The fake animal bit is funny. I found the safari to be one of the lamest attractions we visited at Disney but my then 6 year old liked it. When I was a kid, Disney parks seemed so far ahead of everyone else in terms of what you could find there. Now, not so much.

Well, there you go--we learn something new everyday...

Ok so to clarify this this was Orlando Florida, downtown Disney which is NOT DISNEY WORLD the THEME PARK....it would be impossible to get a bicycle to the actual theme park since the only way there is by ferry or sky tram....when I called and asked about bike racks they said it was at the very end of the property near the circus de soleil tent, but none could be found....anyways....word to the wise coming from a Florida resident....Parking at Downtown disney on the weekends is free but hard to find a spot...the commuting from the hotel to downtown disney was a good idea but terrible in reality...

Where in Orlando is "downtown Disney"? I've been in Orlando and don't remember ever even hearing about downtown Disney. But then I was not staying at a Disney Hotel at the Disney Resorts.

I am glad somebody brought this up. My cousin is the marketing buyer or purchaser for Disney and I am going to bring this up when I see here next month. I live in Palm Coast but don't consider any of the roads around Downtown Disney to favor bicycles at all since most coming from their own hotels don't even have a 3 foot median. We go there probably once a month with our annual passes for the kids but I never remember seeing bike racks anywhere. But all the blame can't go to Disney since I do think that bicycles as a mode of transportation is just not accepted in the US as in other country's. This I see everyday as I ride my bike to work and everybody stares at me on the median like I don't belong there. Kind of like your experience with Disney.

The address is

The bike racks are at the West end of Downtown Disney, near Cirque du Soleil.

As I recall it's on Disney property but open to the public. We spent some time there when the hotel got old. We were staying at the "French Quarter" and you could take a water taxi to downtown Disney.


Near our local University is an area called "Dinkytown" which has a bunch of shops and restaurants. Downtown Disney struck me as sort of the same thing but targeted at Disney visitors rather than college students. I think Dinkytown just sort of happened rather than being planned.

If you look it up there's some interesting history. Disney was intended to be more than a theme park. It was also a planned community and the area now called Downtown Disney was supposed to serve as a shopping village for those that lived there. Kind of creepy in a way.

A friend and I were kicked out of the national zoo for wearing roller blades, which we were using as transportation to and from the house we were staying in as well as the various exhibits, it wasn't a big deal.

It's not just a "plan" anymore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida

It is creepy, in an overly manufactured "Stepford Wives" kind of way.

I Googled the satellite image of Downtown Disney.
A massive parking lot surrounding a narrow strip of commercial development next to a lake.
Not bike friendly? Who could have imagined?

I only visited the Anaheim one shortly after it opened , it was still surrounded by Orange trees,
in Producing Orchards, back then.. [Used to have Oranges] County, LA Cal.

The Disney corportion does not like bikes because they lose parking revenue and they want people to use their transport system. This way they have a "captive audience" for more upselling of Disney products.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go to Disney for free. I never went.

Boo on Disney in general. I just do not get how people still flock to the place that grabs you by the throat - "Have fun, dammit!"

And don't even get me started on those mothers in rented minivans that change three lanes across I-4!

My wife and I went to Disneyworld on our honeymoon just a couple years ago, and we drove exactly twice: to get to the resort where we were staying, and to leave. For the other five days, we rode Disney's buses and monorail. I don't think we paid a dime extra for ANY transportation while we were there.

As much as we would like to ride bikes all over Buena Vista, I don't think it would be a good idea. You'll have families show up and expect to have a spankin' good time riding from the hotel to the Magic Kingdom, but their kids are going to be so worn out by mid-afternoon that they won't have the energy to finish the day -- never mind ride all the way back to the hotel.

I know, I know, all of our BF families are super-active and would climb K2 together if given the chance. Sure, I get it. I might enjoy a little 30-40 minute ride in the early morning before hitting Space Mountain. But we also all know that there are plenty of inexperienced families that would throw a fit if they had to ride more than fifteen minutes to get somewhere. I see them every time I go out on the National Mall, slogging their way to their final museum of the day, learning what it's like to walk more than a hundred yards at a time.

Anyway, that's all assuming that there was actually a bike-friendly infrastructure down there. There isn't. Cars, buses, and monorails, plus water taxis for some places. I don't even remember any shoulders along most of the roads.

So, do this: ride to your resort hotel, park your bike in the room, and don't bother touching it again for the duration of your stay. Let someone else chauffeur you around. You'll have plenty of time on your feet anyway.

even though Disney World is only two hours away I never go, nor do I particularly like Orlando. After reading that I really don't want to go. Hell I don't think I even want to buy a ticket to a Disney movie. I guess next time there is a Disney film I want to see ill check the time it's playing that is most convenient for me and go for a two hour ride instead.

OK, Disney is off my list. How about a thread on very bike friendly places?


https://thefrugalhamstercyclist.blogspot.com/
Twitter @jdfry3

I can top that. I read somewhere that somebody once could not find a convenient bicycle parking space in Los Angeles. Not only that, the same somebody said he was hassled by a security guard about parking his bicycle.

From now on I'm not going to watch any movie made in Hollywood; or go to any amusement park in California.

That'll teach 'em.

my doctor's office doesn't have a bike rack. Last time I was there I locked to a stair railing out back. Then they called me fat. So I'm not going back