Unfortunately, staying at one of the properties in Disneyland makes you trek through this shopping area before you can get to the park. (The Grand Californian hotel does allow you to enter directly into Adventure Park.)
We finished up as Disneyland early and wanted to find some lunch. We hit up the Ballast Point brewing. We couldn't be seated quickly in the restaurant so sat in the bar with no table service. The service was not friendly. We couldn't use our gift cards so we decided to just share an entree and try a tasting tray of beer. Initially we were brought the wrong food, but we got the fish and chips. They were fine but not worth the price. The beer was OK.
Some of the other stores were interesting but we just headed back to our hotel to spend less money.
There are lots of food and drink options. There is a location with a lot to offer. We love earl of sandwich. Great fast way to start or end the day. Kettle corn on the way past to eat all day. Massive Starbucks fix in the middle. You can go in and out of the park if you want a break and a feed. The massive Disney shop has everything that you would need. Lots of options to explore.
Expected Downtown Disney to be smaller than Disney Springs, but didn't expect how small. Downtown does contain several Disney shops like the art gallery, home store, and dedicated World of Disney store; but it's missing...something. The World of Disney store does not contain a lot of the small items I would expect at a Disney Parks location (no Duffy bears, no car antenna ornaments, etc). The pin trading locations were decent though and had friendly cast members. Visited Jazz Kitchen for dinner, and I would say, that dinner made the visit worth it. We did not visit Disneyland or Calif. Adventure, but I'd suggest making souvenir purchases and such inside the parks rather then Downtown. As far as a theme park shopping district, I'd suggest CityWalk over Downtown Disney.
After sixteen hours on a plane we dropped our luggage at the hotel and headed to Downtown Disney to stretch the legs. A wonderful place to begin the Disney experience.
