Don't Let This Disney World CLOSURE Catch You Off Guard

One of Disney World’s “best kept secret” offerings is going down for refurbishment… kind of!

Winter Summerland Miniature Golf

The Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course — an 18-hole mini golf course located in the Animal Kingdom resort area which opened in 1999 — is currently scheduled to undergo a phased refurbishment over the next several months.

According to Disney, the Winter Summerland Winter Course and Summer Course will undergo refurbishment from April 28th to June 16th, 2025.

©Disney

Furthermore, there will be no reservations during this refurbishment period. Instead, whichever course is open at a given time will accept walk-ups.

Summer Course

The Winter Summerland course is themed to Santa Claus, with two distinct Christmas-themed courses. According to the complex’s backstory, “Late one Christmas Eve, as Santa was flying back to the North Pole, he discovered snow in Florida. After surveying the strange sight, he decided to build a vacation destination for his off-duty elves, a Winter Summerland.”

Winter Summerland Miniature Golf

Seeing that the only thing Winter Summerland lacked was a golf course, Santa and his elves divided into 2 camps, one that enjoyed the warm Florida sun and another that preferred the snow and cold of the North Pole. The elves then built 2 distinctly different 18-hole golf experiences: a sand course named “Summer” and a snow course named “Winter.”

The Summer Course features “surfboards, sandcastles and ornaments hanging from palm trees” and obstacles including peppermint-striped inner tubes, snapping clamshells and a melting snowman. There’s even a sleeping Santa buried in the sand!
The Winter Course includes obstacles like giant peppermints, hockey sticks and the drawbridge of a “fantastical, melting castle.” Then there’s Squirty the Snowman, a “jolly, happy soul” who sprays water at golfers when golf balls pass beneath him.

The two courses combine for the last several holes, and the experience culminates with a “special message from Santa Claus” at the 18th hole!

Winter Summerland Mini Golf

Disney World’s Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course is beginning a refurbishment next month that will see the two course offerings alternating which is open between April and June. Stay tuned to AllEars for more on Disney World’s upcoming schedule.