Go with the Flow....A Summer Trip to Remember! July 2012~ **Completed**

[ellajeansmom]

Caught up again! Back to your MK day...glad that the swim revived Nick, the heat can really hit you harder than you expect - I was like that as a kid and Ella seems to be that way too. And he made it through HM too, good for him

Good for you to keep ahead of those tour groups, we ran into a huge school group one day on our last trip and they can really slow the lines down. We have yet to try Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl, both look fun. Although PW makes me nervous since I don't do well with spinning

Love the Nemo show, I was sad that we didn't get to it last time. A friend at work brought her 4 yr old in for a visit today, they were at WDW in May, and he was telling me all about the show and how big the puppets are and that Bruce would not eat me if I was a fish because fish are friends not food! It was too cute

Looking forward to hearing about mini-golf

[Angies1274]

Originally Posted by TinksThree

I feel like a slacker! My recipe is still tacked on the fridge just waiting on me! Maybe you will inspire me to attempt it real soon!!

The MK tour group situation in Frontierland gets a focus in my TR!

I was the same way. I had that recipe hanging around just waiting on a couple ingredients. Finally, I just decided to make it one night and I'm so glad I did. (I think the boys were pretty happy too....since there isn't any left.) It was so yummy!! I took a picture so I'll try and post it really soon.

Originally Posted by mommytothreeboys

Oh man....I'm playing catch up again!

But..I'm back on track now and so excited that you were able to spend the whole day at AK!

WOW...this was a trip of firsts! I'm so glad you loved Tom Sawyer Island! It is one of my boys' favorite places at the MK and it always surprises me when people say they don't go there. It's a little boy's dream...and with all the princess and fairy themed stuff everywhere else, it's a no brainer for us to visit there each trip.

Good for Noah for riding HM and Dinosaur! He was quite the daredevil this trip.

Oh...and do I even need to comment about the Carousel of Progress!! LOL! My boys surprised me too and it is now a MUST do on any MK day.

Really looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

Hi Missy!

We accomplished a lot of firsts this trip and for the most part really enjoyed all the new stuff we tried. Of course, with Tom Sawyer Island being at the very top. The boys were just talking about it the other day. I don't know why it took us so long to get over there though. Well...actually I think it was the fact that I thought it would take a huge chunk of time out of our day and it really didn't. It was a nice break from the busy park.

Carousel of Progress is definitely a must-do for us from now on. I was so surprised that the boys enjoyed it so much especially Nick. He still says it was one of his favorites.

Originally Posted by Victoriasmom98

Hi Angie . I know I haven't posted any comments on your report, but I still am here, reading right along!! Love your safari pictures, but I also get frustrated with trying to take the best shots! I know exactly how your son feels and I, too, can pout with the best of them. I just wanted to let you know I'm still here!

Hi Ann!

I'm glad you're reading along. I love the safari ride but I completely understand about trying to get the best shot and some of those drivers rarely slow down so it's very difficult. Poor Noah...I felt so bad for him. He loves taking pictures so for him to hand the camera over to Nick meant he was pretty upset about the whole thing.

Yay! I see that you started a new PTR! I'll have to make my way over to check it out.

Originally Posted by eandesmom

great updates! What a wonderful time at Nemo, glad Noah didn't get eaten by Bruce!

Growly tummies make for cranky people and it's always worse when you are hot. Glad you found it and it had AC, and everyone liked their meal. Winner winner!

I didn't miss the little red storyline to be honest but didn't love seeing the construction, it was kind of an ugly end to the ride, visually. I"ll be curious to see how it looks in Oct. YAY for a double dip on EE!

I know! It was so funny to see Noah's reaction to Bruce coming towards him.

We always enjoyed the little red storyline especially the boys. However, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad for us if they had replaced it with something else. I agree on the construction! It really wasn't very pretty to look at.

So happy that I was able to ride EE twice in a row!!

[Angies1274]

Originally Posted by ellajeansmom

Caught up again! Back to your MK day...glad that the swim revived Nick, the heat can really hit you harder than you expect - I was like that as a kid and Ella seems to be that way too. And he made it through HM too, good for him

Good for you to keep ahead of those tour groups, we ran into a huge school group one day on our last trip and they can really slow the lines down. We have yet to try Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl, both look fun. Although PW makes me nervous since I don't do well with spinning

Love the Nemo show, I was sad that we didn't get to it last time. A friend at work brought her 4 yr old in for a visit today, they were at WDW in May, and he was telling me all about the show and how big the puppets are and that Bruce would not eat me if I was a fish because fish are friends not food! It was too cute

Looking forward to hearing about mini-golf

I'm so glad that Nick finally tried the HM. Although, I'm not sure he'll do it again...maybe? It just wasn't his thing. He'd rather take another ride on BTMRR if he had the choice.

The tour groups definitely made this trip a bit more stressful for us but we made it work.

I really don't do well with spinning rides either...especially the Mad Tea Cups. But, for some reason Primeval Whirl doesn't bother me too much. Well, except the fact that at some points it feels like you are going to go right off the track as you are turning around.

We missed Nemo too last trip which is why I wanted to make sure and catch it this time. Although, we love FOTLK as well. We never are able to hit both in the same visit. Too cute about the little boy at your work.

[DisMomAmy]

All caught up! Sounds like a fun night at MK (I love MK at night) and a nice morning at AK. Can't wait to hear about mini golf... that's something we've never done at Disney. Well... Tim & I did it back in 1997 but I can barely remember that!

[Angies1274]

Originally Posted by DisMomAmy

All caught up! Sounds like a fun night at MK (I love MK at night) and a nice morning at AK. Can't wait to hear about mini golf... that's something we've never done at Disney. Well... Tim & I did it back in 1997 but I can barely remember that!

It was such a fun night at MK! I'm so glad that we were able to try so many new things this trip!

Mini golf update coming up next!

[Angies1274]

“We wish you a sizzling Christmas!”
(sorry I couldn't think of Disney song for this update and this is the first thing that came to mind when I remembered this day!)




When I left off, we had just enjoyed Kilimanjaro Safari and explored the Oasis before leaving Animal Kingdom for the day. Although, the original plans were to hang around for the parade, we decided because of the heat and the crowds that we were going to do something completely different that afternoon. Well….at least for us, since we had never tried this at Disney before. Mini-Golf!

Let me start out by saying how much my family enjoys playing miniature golf. We usually find a course to play no matter where we vacation. We love it! It’s actually surprising that it took us 5 visits to Disney before we decided to try Winter Summerland.

After leaving Animal Kingdom, we made our way over to the bus stop and hopped on the first bus that pulled up which happened to be a POR bus.

A short bus ride later, we were pulling into Blizzard Beach/ Winter Summerland. Since we had never been here before I was a little worried about the walking distance between the two places but we were delighted to find that it was right next to it and so easy to find. We saw it as we got off the bus!


A little background information on the place from the Disney website.....

"Late one moonlit Christmas Eve, as Santa was flying over Florida on his way back to the North Pole, he glanced down and discovered snow in a place that is usually hot. After surveying the strange location, he decided to build a vacation destination for his off-duty elves—a Winter Summerland.

Seeing that the only thing Winter Summerland lacked was a golf course, the Santa Claus and his elves divided into two camps, one that enjoyed the warm Florida sun and another that preferred the snow and cold of the North Pole. The elves then built two distinctly different 18–hole golf experiences — a sand course and a snow course."

We had talked about it before the trip and decided that we wanted to do the summer course. Although, I’m sure the winter course was really cute as well. Being from the north, we try to avoid all mention of winter or snow during the summer months.

The castle on the winter side looked pretty cute though…..


Santa looks ready for some fun in the sun


We got our golf clubs and chose the color of our golf balls and made our way over to the course.
Noah was up first….

Followed by Nick….



There were different interactive features around the course that were so much fun.



Another castle….so cute!

It was about at this point that the heat was really starting to get to us. It was so hot that afternoon and although we got a little bit of rain when we first started playing (well…actually more like a sprinkle) it wasn’t enough to cool things down. At the park, you can always duck into an air-conditioned building but there was no place to go here and there was very little shade. But, we continued on…..








Overall, mini-golf was a lot of fun and I’m so glad we gave it try. However, if we decide to go again we’ll probably plan it for an evening activity because it was so hot in the afternoon. The one good thing about the afternoon though is that it wasn’t that busy. I think we were the only ones doing the summer course so we didn’t have to hurry.

If you are looking for something fun and inexpensive to do while at Disney, I would definitely recommend this course. After using the discount that came with our vacation package it was about $30-35 dollars for all of us.
After our game, we decided to grab something to drink and sit on one of the benches to relax a minute. The boys spotted a penny press and wanted to get one since we had started collecting them at the beginning of the trip. Our goal for this trip was to get one from every park we visited. Our plan is to keep adding to the collection each trip.

Anyway, after our short rest we made it back to the bus stop for Pop Century. The plan for the evening was to RELAX! Also, maybe do some shopping, let the boys play in the arcade and walk around the resort.


Up Next—My attempt at the 'Ohana bread pudding recipe (real life update) and a walk around Pop Century…..

[Mickey_Mom]

Yay for mini golf! Demetri remembers the fun he had mini golfing with Alex in 2010 and asked to go it again this trip, but we couldn't fit it in. I've never been (in Disney) and I'd love to squeeze it into next year's trip but DH wants to go in August so I'm really liking your evening suggestion.

[mickeystoontown]

I'm so glad that you posted this last installment! I've always wondered what the Winter Summerland mini-golf course looked like. In all of the years that we've gone to Disney, we've never played one of the Disney mini-golf courses. After looking at your pictures, I've decided we need to give it a try. It looks like fun!

[wdwgirl03]

Yay, glad you finally got over to Winter Summerland! I've always thought the winter course was easier-it seemed like they funnel your ball into the hole. LOL. So maybe it was good you did the summer one.

Collecting the pressed pennies is a lot of fun too. Did you get one of the little books to keep them in?

[solana131]

That course looks really fun! But I can see how it would be super hot in the afternoon. We are going next time in Nov, so maybe it will be cool enough then for us to try it out

[Angies1274]

Originally Posted by Mickey_Mom

Yay for mini golf! Demetri remembers the fun he had mini golfing with Alex in 2010 and asked to go it again this trip, but we couldn't fit it in. I've never been (in Disney) and I'd love to squeeze it into next year's trip but DH wants to go in August so I'm really liking your evening suggestion.

First of all....YAY for only 2 days until your trip!! So exciting!!!! I hope you have an amazing time!!

I definitely recommend going in the evening if you decide to play mini-golf next August. We had so much fun but it was hot in the afternoon!

Originally Posted by mickeystoontown

I'm so glad that you posted this last installment! I've always wondered what the Winter Summerland mini-golf course looked like. In all of the years that we've gone to Disney, we've never played one of the Disney mini-golf courses. After looking at your pictures, I've decided we need to give it a try. It looks like fun!

Hi Lisa!

Mini-golf was so much fun! You should definitely give it a try next trip!

Originally Posted by wdwgirl03

Yay, glad you finally got over to Winter Summerland! I've always thought the winter course was easier-it seemed like they funnel your ball into the hole. LOL. So maybe it was good you did the summer one.

Collecting the pressed pennies is a lot of fun too. Did you get one of the little books to keep them in?

We enjoyed the summer course. But, I think next time we may give the winter course a try just for something different. (Glad to hear it's easier...the boys may like that!)

We didn't buy a book to keep the pressed pennies in. I really wish we would have though since we are storing them in a jar. I think I may end up checking ebay to see if I can get one.

[Angies1274]

Originally Posted by solana131

That course looks really fun! But I can see how it would be super hot in the afternoon. We are going next time in Nov, so maybe it will be cool enough then for us to try it out

The course was really cute! The boys enjoyed all the interactive features. I'm sure that Nov. would probably be better to check it out though...especially in the afternoon.

[eandesmom]

Very cute course! It does look hot though. Someday we will make it to one of the courses, how fun to do something different!

[ellajeansmom]

The mini-golf course looks so fun! Glad you had a good time despite the heat, it did look like there was not a lot of cool shade.

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey Angie,

Subbing on...

Liked reading about WinterSummerland... I have a guy that would love that...

I'm starting coach 2 5k as well... so good luck... I'm looking forward to running my first 5k... (but I'm only just beginning...)

I've been to Disney in summer-August and it really gets very hot-(that's when lots of people vacation though so I guess managing the heat is part of the whole thing...) -it can be really hard... I'm a Autumn person... right now is bliss time-October starts in 2 days... Even still Disney is Disney so there are good times to be had...

I agree that Tom Sawyer's Island is awesome-it's almost like this treasure...that only a few people know about...(relatively speaking...)

Main Street is the best... A little part of me wants to live there...