Ashley's birthday trip to Disney World

Ashley and I enjoyed a relaxing trip to Disney World for her birthday.

We played mini-golf at Disney's Winter Summerland mini-golf course. The theme of the golf course was "Chistmas in Florida."

You had to putt through a snow-covered version of Cinderella's castle.

Mickey and Pluto dressed for Christmas.

Putting through a Christmas fireplace: Santa moved up and down the chimney to block your golf shot.

When your ball came out the other side successfully, you had to putt past the Christmas presents.

We always like to check out different Disney resort properties on our trips to Orlando. On this trip, we visited the Polynesian Resort (very old Disney resort) and the Animal Kingdom Lodge (very new resort).

Here are some pictures of the Polynesian Resort (located next to the Magic Kingdom):

A view from the Polynesian pool: you can see Cinderella's Castle in the distant background (center of the picture):

The Animal Kingdom Lodge is a much newer resort. It has a spectacular grand atrium filled with African artifacts:

The Animal Kingdom Lodge is located right next to the Animal Kingdom Park, and the animals (elephants, zebras, giraffes) can walk right up t0 the Lodge. Each room on the back side of the resort looks out over the Animal Kingdom serengeti, so the guests can wake up to the sounds of wild Africa:

This is the view from the back of the resort property. You can see various African animals in the background.