Walt Disney World With Kids (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [102]
Golf
There are six courses on WDW grounds with twilight fees starting at $59 on weekdays for Disney World resort guests. The rates go straight up from there, topping out as high as $169. If you’re beginning golfers who just want to give it a try, the Oak Trail, a nine-hole walking course costs a mere $38 for adults and $20 for kids 3–9. Visit disneyworld.disney.go.com or call 407/939–4653 (407/WDW–GOLF) to reserve tee times and confirm rates.
Health Clubs and Spas
The Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Swan, Dolphin, Yacht and Beach Clubs, BoardWalk, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Coronado Springs, Old Key West, and Saratoga Springs resorts all have health clubs. The rates average about $18 a day for guests of the resort, with reduced family or length-of-stay rates. The most complete workout facility is at Saratoga Springs.
There are full-service spas at the Grand Floridian, Saratoga Springs, and Animal Kingdom Lodge. “My 7-year-old daughter had her first manicure at the Grand Floridian spa and was in heaven,” a mom from New York wrote. “She felt very grown-up, and the manicurist was the sweetest cast member I’ve ever met—even at Disney World, where everybody is nice!”
Horseback Riding
Guided trail rides leave the Fort Wilderness grounds four times a day. Children must be at least 9 to ride; the horses are gentle and the pace is slow. Trail rides start at $23.
Younger kids can ride ponies ($3) at the Fort Wilderness Petting Farm while older siblings are on the trail ride. Children 2 and over and up to 80 pounds are welcome. Fort Wilderness also offers horse-drawn wagon rides that depart from Pioneer Hall at 7 and 9:30 PM nightly. The price is $6 for adults, $4 for kids.
Miniature Golf
Fantasia Gardens, just across from Disney’s Hollywood Studios, is real eye candy—an 18-hole mini golf tribute to the movie Fantasia with dancing hippos, orchestrated fountains, and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice running the whole show. A second course, Fantasia Fairways, is a miniature version of a real golf course, with sand traps, water hazards, and roughs. Although you play with a putter, the holes are 100 feet long and difficult enough to drive a veteran golfer to curses.
The second miniature golf complex at Disney World is Winter Summerland (beside Blizzard Beach), where you’re greeted with the question “Would you like to play in snow or sand?” Your first clue that there’s strange weather ahead is that Santa, his sleigh pulled by flamingos, has crash-landed on the roof and skidded through a snowbank–sandbank into the wackiest campground on earth. You can opt to play either the icy white “greens” of the winter course, where you can find a hockey rink, a snow castle, and slalom ski runs, or the sandy shores of the summer course, where the Beach Boys serenade you amid pools, waves, and barbecue pits. While both of the Winter Summerland courses are child friendly, the summer course is the harder of the two. Must be all those sand traps.
Rates at Fantasia Gardens, Fantasia Fairways, and Winter Summerland are $12 for adults and $10 for kids ages 3 to 9. Reservations aren’t necessary.
Helpful Hint
Fantasia Fairways is too tough for golfers under 10, and even Fantasia Gardens is a fairly difficult course. Winter Summerland is a better choice for the preschool and grade-school set.
Running
Trails cut through the grounds of nearly every Disney resort. Consult Guest Relations for ideas on the best route around your particular hotel. Wilderness Lodge, with its invitingly shady trails, is an especially good choice if you’re visiting in summer when even morning runs can be steamy.
Tennis
Several on-site resorts (the Contemporary, the Grand Floridian, the Yacht and Beach Clubs, BoardWalk, Old Key West, Saratoga Springs, the Swan, and the Dolphin) have tennis courts, and the Contemporary also offers clinics for guests 10 and older. There’s considerable variation in rental rates and reservation policies, so call 407/939–7529 (407/WDW–PLAY) for details.
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