Pixar Putt-Putt
If there’s a Disney tie-in at an event outside of the Disney parks, rest assured that I’ll find it. Or rather, it will find me.
My manager at work shared a pop-up experience to try in Long Beach late last year, Pixar Putt! Excited to try something new and fun, I quickly bought tickets.
Pixar Putt is a limited-time mini-golf experience with the cutest Pixar-themed courses. Originally unveiled at the 2024 D23 Expo, it opened in Long Beach, CA, just a short drive away from me. How could I miss out on this experience?!
Editor’s note (aka Adriana’s note): When I first drafted this, Pixar Putt was closed, but it has since opened back up at the Pixar Place Hotel at the Disneyland Resort! Yipee! Some courses, rules, and policies may have changed.
Also, please note that the mini-golf course is called Pixar Putt. I am playfully calling it Pixar Putt-Putt due to my whimsical nature and childlike wonder.
I’m teeing up.
Thank you, wooden fence shadows. I couldn’t have captured a great photo with excellent lighting without you.
The courses are so cute and fun! Each course is themed to a different Disney•Pixar movie, such as Elemental, Monsters Inc., Cars, Luca, and more.
I purchased adult-only after-hours tickets, so I played without kids running around. Although this was an accident (I just chose a later time so I wouldn’t arrive late lol), it was nice to enjoy a date night without kids present. I can’t say that this resulted in every player around us performing better than if we were playing against kids, though.
The courses are small, so they may seem easy to breeze through, however, they were pretty hard. We were instructed to skip to the next course if we couldn’t make any progress after 3-4 attempts (although this might’ve been to move the line along since the lines would build up quite fast).
Perhaps it was that the courses were slightly unbalanced, the obstacles too obtuse, the pressure of everyone in line waiting for your turn to end so theirs could begin, or simply a skills issue— these courses were a bit of a challenge.
Golf balls flew across the room quite often, groans of defeat were shared, and the dreaded line grew for certain courses that were trickier than others.
Despite those challenges, the overall experience was so fun and exciting! Collective cheers of joy were shared, rounds of applause erupting to celebrate triumphs and hole-in-ones.
My favorite design out of all the courses was the Ratatouille-themed course and my least favorite was the Cars-themed course simply because it was so hard. I also loved the interactive courses that included movement and sound (the piano keys played notes as the golf ball rolled across them in the Soul-themed course, for example).
While Pixar Putt may appear to be targeted toward children and families, the courses are aptly designed to challenge adults as well and is the perfect place to host your next date night.
Are you teeing up for Pixar Putt?
Until next time, friends!
