There’s no better way to spend World Mini Golf Day than by visiting Walt Disney World Resort to play a few rounds at Fantasia Gardens and Fairways.

Today, World Mini Golf Day is being celebrated around the globe! If you find yourself at Walt Disney World Resort, there are two mini golf locations (and four courses!) for your family to choose from: Disney’s Winter Summerland Miniature Golf and Fantasia Gardens and Fairways Miniature Golf. Each offers a different experience and different types of fun to be found on themed courses. 

Over at Winter Summerland, mini golfers can challenge each other to a round on either the winter, or summer-themed courses. Fantasia Gardens and Fairways, which is where I had the pleasure of celebrating World Mini Golf Day this year, is located on Epcot Resorts Boulevard and offers centrally-located courses. Playing mini golf at Fantasia Gardens offers an immersive and extremely unique experience that not only encourages a family-friendly challenge, but also allows your party to enjoy sweeping views of the Swan Reserve and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror while they putt! 

The passionate Cast Members at Fantasia Gardens and Fairways are geared up and ready to welcome your family on World Mini Golf Day (and any other day!), where they will help equip every member of your party with a club of proper height and weight, plus a ball in your favorite color. Now, let’s dive into the whimsical world of Fantasia Gardens and Fairways courses!

Photo by Maria Salerno

What You’ll Find at the Fantasia Gardens Course

Fantasia Gardens and Fairways isn’t just a cute name for this quirky mini golf location; it actually indicates the titles of two completely different courses! Fantasia Gardens is the course that’s most famous among Disney fans. This long-standing, highly themed mini golf course is packed with larger-than-life statues, automated elements, and even musical features that pay homage to the Walt Disney Pictures classic film Fantasia.

Fantasia was groundbreaking for its unyielding commitment to marrying music with animation, paving the way for the countless Disney animated classics we have all come to love. The mini golf course takes those iconic animated characters from the screen and marries them to area music in a completely unexpected and unique way! 

Photo by Maria Salerno

Each uniquely themed hole along the course requires you to tee off into a new adventure. These twisting, turning, obstacle course-like holes had me laughing with joy – and even jumping with surprise – as multiple sound and water effects delighted me as I putted. For example, one hole features a very large, very real xylophone that actually plays notes as your ball bounces down the bars! Another hole requires you to evade an animatronic mushroom from the “The Mushroom Dance” sequence in Fantasia!

Checking Out the Fairways Course

If you’re looking for a more naturally scenic (and slightly more challenging!) course, the Fairways is the course for you. Featuring bunkers, sand traps, and strategically pitched greens, the Fairways course has challenged pro golfers… and even boasts the fact that it once played host to golf legend Tiger Woods himself! 

The 18-hole Fairways course is a more traditional golfer-friendly set up- without all of the Disney animated figures and music – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t perfect for a friendly family round, too! 

Photo by Maria Salerno

Disney World Mini Golf Fun Facts and Tips 

While visiting Fantasia Gardens and Fairways, I learned some surprising facts – and got a few expert tips – about the courses and mini golf across Walt Disney World Resort. Check them out below!

Fantasia Gardens and Fairways and Winter Summerland together play host to over 450,000 rounds of mini golf per year. That makes these some of the top competing mini golf courses in the entire country! After all, mini golf at Walt Disney World Resort is as challenging – or fun – as your family makes it!

Look for the Hidden Mickey in the waters below this hole on the Fantasia Gardens course! Photo by Maria Salerno

The designers had true Disney fans in mind when creating the Fantasia Gardens course. Multiple Hidden Mickeys are strategically placed throughout the course, waiting for you to find them! My favorite Hidden Mickey on the course is just to the left of the (not-so-hidden) Sorcerer Mickey-themed hole. Look down into the water feature to spot the Mickey head in the rocks!

Tiger Woods isn’t the only pro golfer who’s teed off at Fantasia Gardens and Fairways. Rickie Fowler is featured on the PGA Tour’s YouTube channel, highlighting him four putting at the Fairways course! 

And of course, don’t forget that you can visit Fantasia Gardens and Fairways beyond World Mini Golf Day. It’s the perfect place to take a theme park break on your next visit, with opportunities for the whole family to get involved in the fun! For more information about playing mini golf – or traditional golf – at Disney World, keep reading:

The Happiest Place on Turf: Your Guide to Golfing at Walt Disney World