Disney World 2023: Winter Summerland mini-golf, Disney Springs, and Magic Kingdom day 1

On day 3 we took a break from the main theme parks though we did mini-golf at Disney's Winter Summerland course. The mini-golf had a bit of a wait, but Jenny had brought us beignets from her hotel, so we had a nice little treat while we waited. Allison played in the Santa sleigh with a little boy who hid for the picture (his parents said he hates having his picture taken). 

The kids had a lot of fun here than on the Fairways Course we'd done a couple days earlier. It had fun characters and was much more in line with the difficulty we're used to from mini-golf. They wanted to do the winter course too, but the wait was 45 minutes. Too bad Blizzard Beach, which was right next to it, wasn't open. It would have been so nice to be able to just walk over there to swim. Instead we went swimming at "The Big Blue Pool" back at our hotel. 

That evening we went to Disney Springs for dinner. It was massively packed. We had no idea it would be so ridiculously crowded. Jenny had been there a couple days earlier, and she and I went the next Sunday afternoon and following Monday evening. None of those were anywhere near this bad. Apparently it's the hip place to be on a Sunday evening. We got on the list for T-Rex cafe, but we were told there'd be an hour wait. Everything else was also super busy, so we decided to just wait it out. T-Rex Cafe is owned by the same company as Rainforest Cafe, so it's similar but dinosaur themed. The food is mediocre but the ambiance is really impressive with monsoons happening every so often. 

 

To keep ourselves busy we walked around seeing the giant Lego structures and got some FroYo at Swirls on the Water. We were just finishing our FroYo when our table was called 20 minutes early.

It really is a super neat atmosphere. Apparently there's a fossil dig area here too, but I didn't learn about it until after this trip. We did walk around and see all the various decorations and dinosaurs. We were in the aquatic area close to that giant octopus.

After dinner we got some fun photos taken at the photopass studio there.

They had a hitchiking ghost background and a green screen with several other backgrounds. 

The next morning was our Magic Kingdom day. Tyler had been really struggling with crowds, and this day was no better. After a long wait for the bus, we got on, but there was no room for us to sit. He started having a panic attack, and a kind lady gave him her seat. 

Jenny arrived in the park before us and got in line so we could get this picture with the Disney 100 sign. Once she got to the front she let groups go in front of her until we arrived. I thought we were getting there in time for early entry, but apparently the park opened an hour earlier than what I'd seen in the calendar last I'd checked. Even if I'd known, I'm not sure we would have made it. It was hard enough as it was to drag the kids out of bed. Resort guests get early entrance, but you're so exhausted from late nights in the parks that you're often too tired to get to the parks early, not to mention your travel time from your room to the park entrance. 

We got a return time for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. That and Tron were my priorities since they were new from when I was here last. We rode the teacups and Journey of the Little Mermaid and got a cinnamon roll at Gaston's Tavern while waiting for our return time. 

Seven Dwarf's Mine Train is a cute coaster, but again, there's no way it would have been worth the long standby line. Thank goodness for Jenny's DAS pass!

We then went over to Tomorrowland where we watched the hilarious Monster's Inc Laugh Floor show. After lunch our virtual queue came up for Tron. 

I love these shots of me on Tron! 

Tron is a good coaster (though it's over a bit too fast), and they take really neat photos and video while you ride. Jenny needed to use the lap bar seat, and Allison went with Jenny because her Disney pins made it difficult for her to lay forward. Rather than trying to take them all off and making everyone else wait, I just sent her to the back. 

We finished up the first part of the day with Space Mountain then Oscar and the kids took a bus back to the hotel for a break. This Space Mountain wasn't as good as the one at Disneyland. I don't like these kinds of vehicles where you ride behind each other. Matterhorn at Disneyland is the same way. Both bang me around too much. Space Mountain at Disneyland has you sit side by side and makes for a smoother ride. 

Jenny and I had return times for Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, and Big Thunder Mountain, so we hung around Tomorrowland doing the Carousel of Progress and the People Mover before working our way over to Adventureland. 

We caught some of Mickey's Magical Friendship Faire along the way and got photos in front of the Cinderella castle. 

We found a decent spot for the Festival of Fantasy parade, though it was in the sun. 

I loved all those beautiful floats and the impressive fire-breathing Maleficent dragon.

I loved this guy's castle hat!

After doing Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean we got a great spot for the Adventure Friends Cavalcade. It's a shorter parade with more modern Disney characters. 

We then went over to Big Thunder Mountain and then back to Fantasyland. 

We watched Mickey's Philharmagic while we waited for Oscar and the kids to return for Peter Pan. I enjoyed the famed "grey stuff" cupcake! 

After Peter Pan everyone was getting hungry. Oscar and Jenny went and got seafood at Columbia Harbor House while the kids and I went to Pinocchio's Village House. Allison enjoyed watching the people doing "it's a small world" go right by our window. Unfortunately it took FOREVER for us to get our food while Jenny and Oscar got theirs relatively quickly. Plus the kids are slow eaters, so we got out of the restaurant much later than I wanted to. 

By the time we tried to find Jenny, who'd staked out a good spot for fireworks, they'd shut down main street 30 minutes before the show even started. All but the picture on the top left are her pictures. The top left was our view. The kids and I ended up getting stuck in the crowds between the castle and Tomorrowland. Oscar, Jenny, and I were all within 20 feet of each other but couldn't get to each other. I had a decent view of the castle projections, but the kids didn't since there were too many adults standing in front of them. Our fireworks were partially obstructed by a tree as well. They were being shot off further to the right than usual due to strong winds in the area. Jenny told me even if we had made it to her, the kids still wouldn't have been able to see the projections. There were too many adults packed too tight. If I'd realized there was no way for the kids to see the projections, I would have let them stay in Fantasyland and watch the fireworks from there. I also found out later that they put the same projections on the small Beauty and the Beast castle in Fantasyland. If we ever go back, we'll definitely take that option. 

The kids at least got a great view of Tinkerbell as she flew across, but I'm not sure that was worth the 50 minutes of standing around in a crowd to them. That's the only part I would change if I could go back and do it again. 

I knew they wouldn't want to be in this crowd again, so later that week we took them to the Polynesian hotel to watch the fireworks show from the hotel beach. 

 

We didn't want to leave right after the fireworks when everyone else is leaving since that would be a mad house at the busses and we'd just be waiting in line for a long time, so we rode Buzz Lightyear, Dumbo, Goofy's Barnstormer, and Winnie the Pooh then decided to call it a day. We were wiped out!