PIXAR-THEMED MINI GOLF SWINGS INTO TOWN
A new miniature golf course has opened at Discovery Green with holes that challenge players to maneuver friendly three-eyed monsters, tee off inside a dinosaur’s foot and launch a ball on the strings of a guitar.
At Pixar Putt, each of the 18 holes represents a different Disney-Pixar animated film, with more than one chance to putt alongside “Toy Story” characters.
The outdoor course, which has previously popped up in Australia and New York’s Battery Park City, is deceptively challenging for kids and adults alike, says Sydney Steele, who represents the production company behind the roving pop-up course.
Beginning with the first hole, players will recognize the bright turquoise motorcycle from “Luca.” It’s parked near the starting turf where they’ll attempt to launch their ball uphill then through miniature houses that mimic those in the Italian town where the movie is set.
At the “Inside Out” challenge, players stand atop a stool and choose an emotion by selecting from colors that represent the film’s characters: Disgust, Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear. After they drop their ball in the corresponding hole, they’ll watch it shoot through white tubes similar to Riley’s brain “pathways” in the film.
To play “Coco,” visitors launch their ball across the top of a large guitar, then over a papel picadotopped bridge covered with marigolds. The yellow flower is significant in Día de los Muertos, which is celebrated in the story.
At other holes, players launch their balls using a giant joystick or send them sailing by playing piano keys.
The fence that borders the new course is intentionally low, Steele says, so the park’s passersby might be lured in by recognizable characters.
With twinkly lights hanging overhead colorful umbrellas and speakers softly playing songs such as “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” she says, “It’s very inviting, it’s fun.”
“Kids run up to the fence and look inside and yell, ‘It’s the alien from ‘Toy Story’ or ‘That’s Ratatouille!’ ” she says.
Adults without children in tow sometimes identify the figures just as quickly, she adds.
“There is this nostalgia with Pixar,” Steele says. “If you’re in your 40s or late 30s, you’ve kind of grown up with Pixar coming of age” with movie releases including 1995’s “Toy Story.”
Speaking of ’95, at the “Cars” hole, players are asked to send their ball inside Lightning McQueen’s racing number.
“Adults can kind of hark back to their younger days and behold that joy that comes from each of these films,” she says.
Special programming on Thursday through Saturday nights is for adults only, with alcoholic beverages coming soon.
Other films represented in the 18-hole course include “Finding Nemo,” “WALL-E,” “Onward” and “Brave.”
Near the end of the course, players take an insect’s view at “A Bug’s Life,” where they hit their ball uphill on a giant leaf then play around an oversize golf tee, buttonhole and match.
At “Ratatouille,” they’ll slice it around a chef’s knife, then bounce it off a baguette and wheel of brie. The final hole, representing “Up,” involves an employee hand-cranking balloons to lift the player’s ball into the air.
The course takes about 90 minutes to complete.
“If you’re like me, it takes a little longer because I’m a terrible player,” laughs Steele.
Families pause for photo ops throughout to document their favorite movies, each of which “taps into the Disney magic,” Steele says of stories that “connect us to the world that we live in and … challenge us to leave it a better place.”