Goofy’s Sports Simulator golf on the Disney Fantasy: a review

All about the Goofy’s Sports Simulator golf experience:

Did you know that you can play golf on a cruise ship? Well, you can get pretty darn close with the Goofy’s Sports Simulator golf experience! Read on for the basics of this experience, and a review from guest writer Eric K.

Basic info on Goofy’s Sports Simulator golf

Ships: Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream
Cost: $28 for 30 minutes
Duration: 30 or 60 minute sessions
Reservations: Recommended

Tips

• There are two sports simulator experiences available – one is exclusively golf, and one is other sports. Make sure you book the correct one, and be aware that your booking is for one of the two (they are in separate areas).
• Although the booking is under one person, other guests you are with can try it out or take turns if you’d like.
• The golf simulator area has a variety of clubs for you to use.
• Reservations are recommended, and can be made on the app prior to your cruise. Reservations do pop up later though, so keep checking on board or even day-of.
• You can cancel free of charge up to 1 day before your session is booked. If you cancel day-of or are a no-show, there is a 50% cancellation fee.

Goofy’s Sports Simulator golf review

One of the most amazing parts about a Disney vacation is when a specific moment or memory makes you realize that the “Disney Magic” you always hear about is very real. For my daughters, I would bet money that their “magical” experience happened when they met Cinderella and Belle for the first time. For my son, it was probably when he realized he wouldn’t get in trouble for eating ice-cream and cotton candy while watching Mickey and the gang dancing with the Christmas parade down Main Street. For myself, well, I had a slightly different “magical” experience with my most recent Disney trip…but magical nonetheless. And it happened aboard the wonderful Disney Fantasy cruise ship.  

In hindsight, my recent 5 day Disney cruise to Nassau and Lookout Cay had numerous magical experiences that I will never forget. But the one that really stood out to me was an event I didn’t realize could be possible aboard a cruise ship at all. And if your guess was – “did Eric really play a full round of golf at TPC Sawgrass while on his cruise” – well, you’d be lying if you actually thought of that but also completely correct!

Yes, you did read that. I somehow managed to play a full round of golf on one of the best golf courses in the world without ever stepping foot off of the boat. Seems too good to be true, doesn’t it?  Well, that’s the Disney Magic for ya!

Obviously it would be impossible for me, or anyone for that matter, to play anything other than mini-golf (not to mention a round of REAL golf at TPC Sawgrass) while on a boat in the middle of the ocean…unless that Disney magic somehow makes it possible.  

Allow me to introduce to you, and highly recommend, one of my favorite on-board cruise activities – “Goofy’s Sports Simulator.” While other people were spending their day at the pool or on an excursion, I decided to test out something I’ve never done before…virtual golf!  

Even though I wasn’t actually able to walk onto the world-famous Island Green on the 17th hole at Sawgrass, the golf simulator on the Disney Fantasy made it as close to real as one could expect. During my 30 minute reservation, I had individual access to one of the two sports simulators on the ship…one exclusively for golf and the other had a variety of other sports options.  

Once inside the golf bay, I was shown the sets of golf clubs standing against the wall, given a bucket of golf balls and tees, and then introduced to the main computer controlling the simulator. At this point the Cast Member walked me through the basics of the computer system and got me setup to look through all of the available courses I could play.  

I was very impressed at the number of amazing courses I could choose from. Bethpage Black?  Augusta National? The Old Course at St. Andrews? I had so many choices and probably spent too much time trying to figure out where to play. After a lot of internal debate, I decided to play TPC Sawgrass. 

Once my choice was locked in, the real fun began. Hole 1 – a 423 yard par 4. Water and sand to the right, more sand to the front and left of the green, and a super narrow fairway. A few years back I had the opportunity to play this course in real life and I’ll never forget the pressure I felt teeing off on this exact hole. For whatever reason, I felt just as much pressure setting up my shot in the golf bay, aiming left to adjust for my natural slice, and swinging my driver admittedly much harder than I should have to launch my ball into the screen in front of me.  

Once the golf ball hit the screen, the technology behind the scenes created a virtual flight path visible on the screen that would represent the direction and distance warranted by how the real ball hit the screen. And just like my real life experience on this hole, I watched my first (virtual) shot sail wayyyyy right and out of bounds. Typical!

It took me a few holes to get used to the actual mechanics of the simulator…things like figuring out basic pre-shot factors like distance to the hole, what club to use, wind speed, slope of the green, etc. What impressed me the most about the simulation was how the technology was able to very accurately account for where my ball should actually land based on how I hit the screen.  

I will admit I had the most trouble figuring out how to putt into this huge screen. But I can’t putt well in real life either so I just tried to get the ball close enough to the hole to award myself a “gimme.”    

My only regret with this entire experience is that I didn’t budget enough time with my reservation to actually play the 17th island green.  I needed a full hour instead of the 30 minutes I had scheduled. But since I actually really truly did shoot a bogey on this hole in real life, I didn’t feel so bad when my time was up after the front 9 at Sawgrass.

I would very much recommend this cruise experience for anyone who enjoys golf, but also for anyone who wants to experience this super unique representation of Disney magic. When else will you ever be able to play a full round of golf while sailing in the middle of the ocean?