Wednesday, October 16th - Fixing the costumes, Winter Summerland Mini-Golf, AKL Arcade #2
So back to groceries, everyone returned with their haul. In all they spent about $700 on all the groceries. From memory, they had gotten enough for all the breakfasts (5), lunches (5), and dinners (5) for our stay in Saratoga Springs. So in total 15 meals for 7 people is about 105 meals, or about a little less than $7 per meal per person. Which is easily less than what we would have spent on meals purchased from quick service or sit down.
After groceries were settled, I'm pretty sure I was still working on the costumes, and everyone else when to the hot tub at the smaller pool. Despite it being mid-day there wasn't much competition for pool seats. Which is abnormal. It was our first sign that there just didn't seem to be many people at the resort. About the time I finished working on the costumes, is when everyone was done with the pool and ready to head to some minigolf. So everyone got dressed and we headed out.
Last year we golfed at the Swan and Dolphin Fantasia Fairways golf course. Which is a pretty difficult mini-golf course that has holes of 40-75 feet. It's less of a classic mini-golf with weird fun things going on. And more so sand pits and challenging curves to navigate. So this year, we decided to head to the Blizzard Beach Winter Summerland mini-golf course. Steph and I did this course on our honeymoon in 2010. So it's been a while. I can't say I remember it at all at this point.
It was a quick and easy drive from Saratoga Springs in the rental and we were there around 2:30pm.
We ended up choosing to do the Winter wonderland course. You could tell it was a little old, but it had some nice holes with little tricks in them. The holes were really forgiving with the cups that were concave. So it would suck up your ball if you got it close enough. Of the 18 holes, 17 weren't overly challenging, and nothing like the Fantasia course. That's all but the toboggan hole. That particular hole (#6) is a par three. The initial putt is uphill, with a small opening (maybe 9-15 inches) that you absolutely have to get through. On other side of the opening is a toboggan loop that spits your ball back at you. Additionally, the uphill isn't completely flat. It seems to aim right down to left. So it's not even a matter of hitting a straight putt at the right pace, but reading that slight curve correctly. Suffice to say, we all struggled with that particular hole. The 7 of us on the par 3 shot 5, 8, 12, 5, 4, 3, and 8. And between you and me, I think there was some stroke shaving on the 3 and 4 scores.
The game wasn't without a friendly wager. G and bet her uncle that she would lose by less than 20 strokes. If she did, then he would buy her a new stuffed animal ($25 or less), and if he won, then she would buy him a sleeve of golf balls at $25 or less.
Gigi's final score was 46 and her uncle was 41. So she won the wager. I ended up with 47, Steph at 56, SIL at 61, FIL at 45, and MIL at 56. I'm just saying, I wasn't a part of G's group, but I found it highly suspicious that she scored a 46 and beat me by one stroke. But that's a discussion for a different day.
After mini-golfing, it was 3:30pm and we decided to head to the Disney Outlet store at the premium outlets. Last year we went to the Disney outlet that was further away and found some decent deals. I'd say the selection at the Disney outlet was underwhelming. Nothing that I saw that was a great deal or a must have. There was some generic runDisney stuff. G did find a fun Mei Mei hat from Turning Red.
After the outlet we headed over to Disney Springs to do some shopping. We wanted to park at the green lot, but the driving from the outlet forced us into the orange lot. There was lots of confusion and some heated words exchanged between driver and everyone else. Ended up the only way to get to the orange lot was to drive back towards Saratoga Springs and do a U-turn. So there was some discussion about bailing on going to DS, but I convinced everyone it was maybe a 10 min diversion, and was still worth doing. Eventually we made it.
I think we just headed to the World of
Disney store. Did some laps with G, but I don't think we found any must haves. We went to the Marketplace Co-op with the multiple stores. G found a new Stitch/Angel with snacks (churro or dole whip) and really wanted it. Thought that might be the stuffie she'd get for the mini-golf wager, but G ended up buying it herself. I also really liked the Halloween knit sweater for G, but we didn't end up getting it. We left DS and headed back to the room.
I think we had burgers on the grill that evening. Then we headed over to AKL to do some resort hopping. We went into the store at Jambo house, and found a perfect stuffie. It was a sloth backpack that makes it look like he's hanging on your back. So I convinced G to get it and to make BIL pay for it as part of the wager. It was $30 instead of $25, but she sealed the deal.
They had some games setup in the lobby that G played.
Then we headed towards the outside area to see if we could find any animals. It was around 9pm, so it was hard to see anything, but there was a night time safari going on, and they spotted a zebra. We headed back inside. BIL and FIL were still working on some drinks at the bar, so G and I headed to the AKL arcade.
I'm not sure if we've ever been to the AKL arcade. G really wanted to do a vlog of every arcade in Disney property. She had been talking about it for weeks. So as a compromise, we would go to the arcades and then rate them ourselves. From most of our trips, the Yacht and Beach club arcade ranks near the top from memory. The AKL arcade is a definite contender. It had vehicle games, it had the nice air hockey table with multiple pucks, and a Dance Dance Revolution type machine. From memory the only thing it was missing was a pinball machine. So I think we ended up rating it as a 4.25/5.
After the arcade, we headed back to the car, and then back to the SS resort to call it a night.
In bed at 10:40pm according to my Garmin.
Body Battery - 79 -> 28
Steps - 9,626 (5.0 mi)
Sleep that night - 10:00 hrs
Resting HR - 45bpm
Next - Thursday, October 17th - Disney Springs,
MNSSHP!
Few clouds, Wind 9mph to ?
)
Because Sprig's body is pink, and he wears black shorts. But apparently Steph was cosplaying a naked Sprig... Whoops!
