Outlet shopping
 

Forgive me if this has been posted. If it is, can you forward me to it? I tried to search for "outlet" and "shopping" and didn't find anything.

My brother will be running the marathon at Disneyworld and my sister in law, nephew and I plan on going shopping that day. He's pretty useless after the marathon, can't go anywhere. Anyway, so we wanted to go outlet shopping. We were thinking of hitting the Belz outlet which i heard was ok. We won't have a car. But question is where do I get a shuttle from Disneyworld to Belz? Is it in downtown disney? i found a website that said taht but i don't remember where it is.

Also someone toldm e that the Premium Outlets is better than Belz. Is there a shuttle to get there? Or what is the easiest way to get there? Taxi may probably not work since we've got a 2 year old and not sure the laws on child seats. Also may be expensive as some taxis jack up the prices for tourists. Can anyone help me?

I've been to both and actually prefer Belz - which is now called Prime. However, it's currently under construction. There's a chance they may be done or near done. This is one very large & spread out outlet :)

The premium outlets are right off the Disney property and have many of the shops people want to get to, such as Coach & Dooney & Bourke.

If you're staying on Disney property, there is no shuttle off the property to anywhere that's not owned by Disney :)

You might want to consider renting a car for the day and hitting both outlets. One of the major car rentals are on property and you could get the car from them. They may even deliver to your resort.

Here are some links to the outlets

http://www.orlandotouristinformation...belzoutlet.htm

http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=17

I would check out Premium Outlets. They have most of the higher end brand outlets. They also have an outlet store operated by Disney that is the only one around that I am aware of. This is not an outlet for the Disney stores that you see in local malls. This outlet is actually operated by Disney World and carriers a lot of merchandise at pretty good prices. Most merchandise appears to be discontinued styles (you won't see them in the parks), or dated merchandise from earlier in the year or the previous year.

Prime Outlets have almost the exact same stores as Premium, plus a many more. Also, the stores are larger and have more merchandise. Premium is really quite a bit smaller than Prime, and it's because it's right off Disney property with limited land to build a big outlet mall :) That's why if I'm only going to go to one, I'll drive to Prime.

Prime also has a Character Warehouse (disney outlet), which is bigger and has more merchandise than the one at Premium which is closer to Disney.

It would help if you can expand a little bit about what brands you prefer. As rwsatl has pointed out, Premium outlets offer higher end brands (read expensive) while Belz generally offer less expensive brands with the exception of Off Sak Fifth and Nieman Marcus Last Call.

If there was only one choice, I would go with the Premium Outlets since they have brands that most outlets do not have (Armani, Zegna, Diesel, Ferragomo, etc.).

If renting a car is not an option, a taxi ride to Premium Outlets would be cheaper than the Belz as well.

Drew

I've been to both many times and tend to like Prime for the reason Mary2e stated. The stores are larger and have more merchandise. I've always found the Coach store to have a much better selection.

Not anymore. The Prime Outlets have changed quite a bit. I was amazed when I was there in Sept. While there may be a few higher tiered company stores (they are not outlets) in Premium, most of those stores are also now in Prime. The only true outlet I ran into was Lauren Couture, and they sell mostly last seasons high end clothing that did not sell in their regular stores.

I think you're incorrect about less expensive brands. Perhaps you missed the larger Coach & Cole Hahn stores or the new TravelPro store. A Nordstrom rack was getting set to open to go along with Saks off Fifth & Neiman.

It really is quite different down there now. And I was pleasantly surprised.

As for the brands... I usually end up buying in Coach, Dooney & Bourke, Cole Haan, and bought so much new luggage at Travel Pro, I had to check it :)

That said, I don't do all that much shopping when I am there, and I defintely am not interested in high end designer clothing made specifically to sell to the outlet mall shopper in the US. When I want higher end clothing, I will go to Neiman or Saks outlets, which are selling true closeouts.

Another reason I don't shop there very much... I live in NJ - some of the largest outlet malls in the country are in the NY/NJ/PA area. I only go to them for specific stores because I am in the area and they're closer than at home.

We arrived in Orlando yesterday evening and we're planning to hit Prime and Premium tomorrow using the I-Ride as we're staying on I-Drive and have no need for a car. Will let you know what we find.

Rent a car if at all possible. That place is not as small as you think it is. A car is a good thing to have even if you only stay on property. And having a car will suddenly open up all sorts of possibilities for dining and shopping.

ok seems like the prime outlets is where to go. all this prime and premium outlets are confusing me. but prime outlets is belz... so i think we should go there. i would like to try the premium outlets but i doubt my sister in law would want to take a taxi. we're definitely not renting a car.

we just want a banana republic outlet and a samsonite one. others, not sure. we're just going for the excitment of shopping but would still like to find deals. i don't go to kmart or any of those discount stores. i do shop at the higher end stores.



i heard about the i-ride but have no idea as to get there. someone told me to take a cab to the i-ride. and if we do take the cab, do i just say take me to the iride?

i think the iride takes you to the premium outlets...c orrect me if i'm wrong.

You may want Samsonite, but TravelPro just opened their first outlet in the country in Prime. :)

Keep in mind that while the Prime Outlets are part of a chain of outlet malls, this particular one is pretty spread out. They're remodeling and are making it more pedestrian friendly, but IIRC, Coach & Cole Haan, while part of Prime, are definitely not a walking distance from the rest of them.

Premium is a self contained outlet mall and is considerably smaller and easily done on foot. I really do think you need a car if you want to spend the day shopping at the outlets.

I'm not sure about the I-Drive shuttles. I believe they stop at the major hotels along International Drive.

Where are you staying? There are no shuttles from Disney owned hotels. It sounds like you might be staying on site.

we're staying at the carribbean resort at disneyworld. so i think i can go to downtown disney and hop on a shuttle there. i think there's a hilton down there or something like that. i'm only guessing. i'm trying my best to figure out what's going on since my sister in law isn't helping at all.

Yes, they do make it intentionally difficult to use public transportation between Disney and I Drive. But that is for another discussion.

In any case, Lynx buses (the Orlando area bus service) does run through Walt Disney World. The best place to pick them up is at Pleasure Island. There is one morning bus, I think, that goes right to Belz or whatever it is now. But in the afternoon you have to use two buses, and change at International Drive and Sand Lake Road. The bus drivers will be able to help you out there.

Do you really want to spend over 1 hour and probably 2 getting yourself to the outlets?

This is what you'll have to do:

• Get a bus from the Caribbean Beach resort (CBR) to downtown disney (DD)/pleasure island. These do not run as often as the park buses, so you will either have to wait, or take a bus to an intermediate point to get to DD.
• Walk from the outer edge of DD to the Hilton and hope you can get a shuttle from there
• Hope there isn't much traffic, because if there is, well, you're going to be on that shuttle for a while. Prime is just beyond Universal.
• Do it all in reverse.

I have to tell you, if I had to do all that just to go shopping, well, I wouldn't.

You may have decent luck calling the CBR, asking for guest services and tell them what you want to do and see what the best options offered are. You never know.

Keep in mind that even the valets at disney resorts don't have maps to the outlets nor will you find a brochure on site anywhere. If you want to go, they'll tell you how to get there, but they're not offering the information.

Disney wants you onsite. Period.

It's a 15 minute drive if there's no traffic. Jumping through hoops to get there may not be worth it.