Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - Springs Squared - Walking From Disney Springs To Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort

Episode Date: April 2, 2023

Hello Travelers! This week, we're going to get our steps in! Join host Jeremy for a real-time walk from the Lime Garage at Disney Springs, over and through Marketplace, and then around the lake to Disney's Saratoga Springs resort, ending up at the High Rock Springs pool. Almost no editing of this one, and so it includes quiet spots, but we left it this way so you can walk 'with us' this week on your own. Grab your headphones, lace up the walking shoes, and hit the trail with us and join us for a virtual walk ... about the World.   As always, use good listening devices as we always record in 4 channel surround sound. We hope you enjoy the episode and thanks so much for following along!    Look us up at @WalkaboutWDW on Instagram and drop us a note to say hi! Find our producer Josh also on Instagram at @TheSteele. Say hi to our west coast correspondent Ric at @opticaljedi. Lastly give a shout to our Orlando correspondent Pete at @neverlandlocal.   You can now also drop us at line at [e-mail]. Say hi, tell us how you found us, and give us some suggestions on things you'd love to hear.   Walkabout The World is a weekly Disney podcast, always recorded on property at Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort with the simple goal of making you feel like you are in the middle of the magic. 

Hello travelers and welcome back to Walk About The World from Disney Springs on a bright clear morning. I know it's kind of odd to be back here so soon but this is just the launching point today because i'm clever i think i'm going to call this episode spring squared i know don't beat me to it but we're starting off here we just got off the escalators at the lime garage currently standing by the fountain at the Daily Poutine right next to the entrance to the world of Disney and this is our launching point today we're going to put some steps in i thought you know what let's walk from the springs to Saratoga Springs i haven't done this in a while it's a beautiful walk so what we're going to do we're going to head to the west side

from here and we're going to go out of the springs over there, and then go around the lake over towards Saratoga, pop into Saratoga, maybe look around, see what we can see with our ears, and have some fun. I don't know what we're going to encounter, but we'll find out together. Let's do it. it Kampung Kampung Kampung Other side of the, well, actually not the other side, but the next entrance to the world of Disney here. Right next to the Waterside Stage. Just past the Starbucks location over here, and it is a bustling. I got mine before I got here because I'm smart.

And I couldn't wait. Kampung Kampung Passing Ghirardelli. Okay Rick, did I get it right this time? Ghirardelli? We're here early. It's kind of strange to have the place to ourselves. A lot of places here not even open yet. Passing dockside margaritas. Still not open. Marketplace Co-op in Trendy. There are certain times when The springs just

Just hits And this is one of them Beautiful morning So currently I turned around Dockside is now On our left I'm looking across the way to the Lego store, looking across the way towards

Paddlefish. In front of us is the Springs Lake. Whatever it is. With the fountains and it's beautiful. The water smells kind of

tepid and terrible But Super comfortable It won't be It's going to be roasting here today That's why we're early Okay let's walk past the Star Wars trading post Toward our eventual exit Storbritannia Earl's Sandwich and the Spice and Tea Exchange

across the way. We ate at Earl's last week. I love it. Horrible for you, but I love it. Christmas Shop. Or the Days of Christmas, I should should say coming up on your right and then the rainforest cafe sign with the waterfall straight ahead you can probably hear already Rainforest alligators angry to the left. Rainforest for me is one of those places where, like, I never go there, but I have great memories of there. Art of Disney on your left, Christmas Shop to your right, and our exit straight ahead. I'm going to go to the other side. Kampung Kampung All right, we've exited the springs itself, and now we're on the boardwalk over towards the walkway that

goes around the lake to Saratoga To your left is the boat launch. Doesn't look like they're running yet. What is running is I see the amphicars from the boathouse tooling around over there. All right, now we're reaching the end of the boardwalk. We're on tail left. Sign says to Saratoga. And what a beautiful walk walk we'll talk about it Now, instantly, the soundscape changes. I'm not sure what of this will be picked up, but I don't know if you've done this walk, but now there is a, I don't know, five feet wide, really nice, flat, easy to walk concrete trail that goes around kind of through the woods, through the trees and around the lake edge and so to our left you can see paddlefish and where we were you can see world of disney entrance across the way and starbucks that we

walked past in front of us just beautiful trees and to the right the very beginning of the Saratoga Springs billets. Also, the jasmine is blooming, guys. If you're not a plant person, many versions of jasmine, but they grow the ground cover version here and it's blooming, smells like honey. We used to own at Saratoga DVC back in the day.

We've since sold, but we loved it. I know sometimes Saratoga gets a little bit of a bad rap, and some of it is deserved because it is sprawling, and you have to walk forever, but I'm telling you, we loved it. Coming down here from the frozen north to our lovely Saratoga Villa. Now back then you couldn't walk to the spring so it's even better now but great resort. color palette of this resort I think is really beautiful fits in well with everything everything is kind of pastel like light pastel blue light pastel green. You have kind of a salmon color here and there. Along with cream trim.

And all of the hedging here. The lawns. The plantings. Are immaculate. So right now I'm standing under a little grouping of pines. And looking right across the lake. You could almost throw a rock, I wouldn't do it, and hit boathouse. So we're right by the lake edge. Some Florida birdies out at the water's edge trying to catch their morning fish.

Very peaceful. edge trying to catch their morning fish very peaceful did you hear that that's an amphicar clearly see the balloon now so we're coming up on a one of my favorite little places, a little picturesque area here. But there is a little courtyard. It's actually on this path, and it's right in front of us. You come through this little copse of trees, and then it opens up into a wider courtyard area with a lovely fountain and some seats and it is directly across from the balloon the uh i don't know what the official name for it is but the uh the balloon that you see here at the springs and kind of uh kind of, uh, kind of directly across from Haleo, a little bit off center from Haleo. Okay. I'm going to describe something here because I have no idea what this is.

Out in the lake today is a little boat. It looks like you took like one of the, um, fishing boats that you would see on a movie from the northeast, like a fishing boat taking off from a harbor at Maine, and you just hit it with a shrink ray, and it's insanely tiny but looks exactly like one of those boats, and I have no idea what it is. I don't know if it's one of the boathouse things or what. Anyway, here is this courtyard and the fountain is one of the many pools that they have here in this courtyard

area that overlooks the lake has a collection of benches adirondack chairs. Gorgeous area. The area just continues to smell more and more like a candy factory thanks to the jasmine. Just passed under a gorgeous live oak tree. It's one of the huge, gnarly trees that you see here in Florida in the deep south that has a Spanish moss growing on it. Okay. I haven't taken any breaks here. Auditorily. Is that a thing? Auditorily? No auditory breaks. So you're

getting this in real time and we're almost to the end of the path. Norske Norske The the number of travelers on our path has increased i think people are waking up and so where we are now is the very end of this path. Now we have more to go, but the end of the path around the lake. And so directly across from us is House of Blues. So just to locate you. Directly across the lake, House of Blues. By the way, the lake is gorgeous this morning. I'm looking at the tall reeds, grass, whatever it is, and it just makes me want to grab my bass rod. I can't do that here. I'd be kicked out, but it makes me want to.

By the way, here comes a water taxi down from further up the river. So to our right is the, so the lake comes to an end here, and then the waterway that goes on upwards towards um the port orleans resorts begins here or ends here however you want to say and at the very end of this path i normally don't go down here because I take a right. We're going to go back. I just scared a little Florida birdie. There is, I'm not sure if you can hear an echo in here, probably, there is a little gazebo right at the end. I love discovering things for the first time, even though they've been here forever. And so just to put you in my place here, there's a gazebo here with a lovely bench on which you can sit.

And you have a great view of the lake over towards Cirque du Soleil, House of Blues. You can see, you can hear the water taxis coming and going. It has a beautiful little plant arrangement here in a stone container surrounded by yellow flowering hedges. And there's a slight breeze. It just feels like vacation right now. Trying to refrain from all the deep sighs that I normally do. So what we're going to do now is we are going to retrace our steps just maybe 100 feet. And we're going to take a left on a sidewalk that's going to go over towards the bridge. So there's a little, there's a little waterway here that bisects these two pieces of the resort, but we're going to take a left and we're going to go across the bridge and then we'll be

in the main area of Saratoga Springs. It has the, the High Rock Springs pool and the stores and all that good stuff. Here we go. Can you hear my steps, I wonder? Golf cart, watch out. lots of pines over here and if you're from an area that has pine forests you know what i mean but i love that smell This is probably going to be one of those episodes where you actually take a walk and plug in and just go with me

now that I think about it because I was just thinking, wow, there's not a lot of ambient noise over here, but you do get to walk from one place to the other here at Disney in real time. I know it doesn't sound like it, but we actually do quite a bit of editing, so normally I would take all of these quiet pieces out, but I'm not doing that today. Okay, so for those of you that have been to Saratoga, when you come in, the main road that leads you in here, you normally take a right to go check in. But if you don't, you come straight down the roadway that is now to our right, and we're going across the bridge. Ahead of us All that good stuff. The city is a city of The The Starting to see the Disney Vacation Club signs now.

The preview center is just to our left. Magnolia trees are flowering. These smell like citrus. Kind of like a sweet citrus. Now some of the signs coming into view. Guest laundry. Community hall.

Horsing around, rentals, where you can get your surrey bikes and other assorted goodies. You guys can hear the buses and the golf carts going and coming. Also starting to smell the pool chlorine. The High Rock Springs pool is now directly to your left.

And we're going to take a left up here and go up and around the pool towards the top where the stores are. As I've said before, there is something to be said here about the fact that the Saratoga Springs Resort is sprawling and you have to walk over everywhere, but because of that, it is gorgeous. And it offers vistas, views that you're not going to find at some of the tinier resorts where everything is closer together and easier to get to. Alright, let's walk up to the path towards the top of the high springs, high rock springs? Cool. I love this area. This pool is amazing.

Huge, natural-looking rock wall with waterfalls coming down towards the pool. Enormous water water slide and it's calm they do have the normal like competitions and music and stuff from time to time but overall this area exudes calm one of my favorite places to be just as uh i was gonna say a local, but if you're coming here on a vacay, you could stop by here, grab yourself a treat, sit outside at one of the tables right above the pool here, and just relax. And we often do. So to our right is the check-in, and here is where you have the bronze statue of the horse and rider, winner's circle area.

And here we are at the top of the pool and the entrance to the artist's palette, directly to your right. Ik ga ernaar. hiccup so we made it that was a lovely walk and it is so peaceful up here still being kind of early morning there's a few people at the pool, a few people milling around, getting breakfast and coffee and whatnot.

But overall, not a lot of people here and incredibly pleasant. Thanks for hanging out with me today, this morning, on this kind of unusual walkabout. But it is what we do. We walk about. And if you are a walker, or... that sounds weird, right? If you are one who walks, or jogs, or runs, I invite you to take this episode and plug it into your ear holes and go with us on a real-time walk from the springs to the springs.

Spring squared. This is fun. I might do more of this. But for now, look us up on Instagram, as you always do, at walkaboutwdw, our one and only place on the internets where we interact with you guys. Find all of our hosts on Instagram as well. Sorry, cough, cough. You can find me, Jeremy, at jeremy__hunt__fl.

You can find Josh at TheSteel with an E. Pete at Neverland Local. And Rick at Optical Jedi. You can also contact us via email at contact at walkabouttheworld.com. Send us an email. Send us a message on Instagram. We love to hear from you all. We always respond. We enjoy hearing where and how and when you listen and what you enjoy and what you would like us to cover.

And give us some ideas. And if you don't mind, we'll mention you if we end up going where you tell us to go. Man, I'm just soaking this up right now. Okay, one sigh. Okay, ready? Appreciate you guys and as always remember that there is a great big beautiful tomorrow out there for all of us we will see you in one of those tomorrows on another episode of walk about the world bye everybody Thank you. you