It’s getting’ hot out herre , so take off all your – WAIT A MINUTE! This is Disney! You can’t do that here!! What are you thinking?!? Jeesh, calm down a bit I know it’s hot but come on now. Whether you’re headed to Disneyland or Disney World it gets hot, up to 90 degrees sometimes! Not only is it wildly uncomfortable, it can be downright dangerous – especially for little ones. As your go-to source for all things Disney, I figured it was about time I let you guys in on some of my tricks and tips to stay cool when the temperature rises.

STAY HYDRATED

I cannot say this enough: HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE. Staying hydrated is your best defense against the heat. Not only will it help to keep you more comfortable it will help fight heat exhaustion. If you don’t think heat exhaustion is a real issue, I welcome you to consider the following side effects/symptoms: faintness, shortness of breath, heavy sweating, rapid pulse, death. You’re call, but I’d rather just drink some water.

Bring Your Own Frozen Water Bottle

Oh you hate the thought of hot water you say? Me too! Gross. When you think about your options to stay hydrated you really have 2 options: buy water in the parks at $5 a pop, or bring a water bottle and re-fill it at the water fountains. Now if you are rich by all means live it up and go bottled water crazy! However, if you would rather save your green for things like souvenirs or dinner reservations than you’re probably amongst the group of us refilling our bottles at the fountain. And fountain water is not top notch, especially when it gets hot. The trick to making the best of this is to fill a plain old plastic water bottle the night before and place it in the freezer on it’s side, that way you can fill it the rest of the way with water and the ice will keep it cool most of the day! It’s genius I know, you’re welcome.

Spray Bottles are You’re New Best Friend

Sure, you can buy one of those fancy misters in the park. They’re really nice actually, there’s a large reservoir to hold the water and a battery operated fan. It’s heaven. It’s also $20, which is reasonable unless you consider the alternative. You can visit nearly any dollar store and buy a standard spray bottle, like you use for cleaning products, for…. You got it – a dollar. Ummm Ya, I think I’ll take that option.

The Cooling Towel

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some magic fabric that you could get wet and it’s just magically cold? It’d be amazing! Think of how easy it would be to cool off when it got hot out! You could kick back and watch everyone sweat while you relax and leisurely enjoy your vacation. Well my friend, I have some good news for you! They DO exist! And they’re less than $10. Boom. You can buy one of these Cooling Towels from Amazon!

Wear Loose Fitting Clothing

This should be a bit of a no brainer, but what you wear will certainly impact the amount of heat you endure. Obviously, you’re not going out in the heat wearing a hoodie. But that polyester shirt you got on sale might be just as bad. Stick to natural fabrics, such as cotton, that are breathable in warm weather. Think about layering, as it may be cooler in the morning or late evening. Wearing loose fitting clothing allows a breeze to pass through, as well.

Use the Water Park Play Areas

Especially true in Florida, there are mini water play areas sprinkled throughout the parks. You’ll have to check the maps but I can tell you that at the Magic Kingdom there is one in New Fantasyland, in Epcot there are TWO between World Showcase and Futureworld, and in California Adventure there is one in Bugsland. Take full advantage of these, and let your kids play around too! A little bit of water never hurt anyone, and you can absolutely pack a change of clothes, just in case, if you need to!

Give Yourself a Break

If it get’s to be too unbearable don’t be afraid to take a break. There is no shame in leaving the parks to enjoy the AC in your room, or spending some time at your hotel’s pool. If you really can’t tear yourself away from the action completely, there are plenty of rides well suited for a break. Look for long indoor rides with short lines, like Ellen’s Universe of Energy!

Be Nice!!

Above all else don’t forget to be kind, polite, and courteous to the people around you – as well as your own family. Temperaments seem to rise along with the temperature sometimes, and people can get downright mean. It’s just unnecessary guys, we’re all here to have a good time so don’t stand in the way of anyone else being able to do so. I’ve seen (and am guilty of) being super polite to strangers and a total witch to the family when it gets hot (or I’m hungry. Or when people don’t listen to me. Or my plans don’t work out – wow maybe I’m just not a nice person?), but your family is who you came to spend time with so be nice!

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Get Up Early

This is by far my #1 tip to making the most of your Disney trip. Whether you’re visiting Disneyland, Disney World, or DisneySea getting up earlier will give you more hours in your day – that’s just simple math. What’s even better is most people aren’t willing to do it. You can get more down in the few hours between rope drop and lunch than you will in the rest of your day. This is especially important at Disneyworld where it can take 30 minutes to an hour just to get from your hotel to the park.

Bring Snacks

It’s all fun and games until the crowd gets hangry (when you get hungry and start being agitated by everything). There’s nothing worse than getting half way through an hours long line and having someone say they’re hungry (well except maybe “I need to use the bathroom” but we’ll get to that). You’re probably far enough into the queue that’s it’s a lot more effort than just popping in and out of the line, plus the people behind you aren’t really going to appreciate that anyway. I will always fill my park bag with apples, small bags of chips, beef jerky – anything that won’t spoil and doesn’t require silverware really. That way we can all have a quick snack while in line and wait to grab real food until it’s convenient.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

The average temperatures in Florida and California can reach 80 degrees most of the year, and heat stroke is a legitimate concern. Even mild cases of heat exhaustion can bring down an otherwise perfect day. Being hot is plain uncomfortable and the most important thing you can do to combat the heat is to stay hydrated.

Wear Appropriate Shoes

It drives me crazy to see people walking around the parks in flip-flops or…believe or not…heels. How in the world are you walking around for 10+ miles (yes 10, I always wear my fitbit) and not breaking your ankle or getting blisters? To me it’s just a completely unnecessary accessory that is going to drag down your whole party. If you’re worried about pictures, keep in mind that most will be from the waist up anyway. Forego the influence of the fashion runway and stick to tennis or running shoes. You can check out some super cute Disney inspired outfits that don’t use heels HERE

Take a Break

Your Disney vacation is not a marathon (unless it is actually a RunDisney marathon, and then I’m super jelly). There is so much to see and you can’t help but want to do it all. But if you try to go full speed ahead for the length of your trip you and your party are going to burn out – fast. Plan to take a short break every day that gets you out of the heat and away from the crowds. There are even some great rides that offer a break without having to leave the parks.

Take Tons of Pictures

This is kind of a given, but be sure to take pictures of everything. Even if you aren’t planning on using the pictures for any specific project, you may change your mind after the fact. Disney Scrapbooks exist in their own realm of DIY and the results of them are beautiful. I made one for our first trip and gave it to my father the following Christmas (they take some time). I wasn’t planning on doing one from our most recent trip and didn’t take as many pictures, now dad’s asking for another one and I’m sort of at a loss. There are plenty more projects you can use the pictures for or even *gasp* just to look back on your memories.

Plan Your Day

Creating a daily itinerary is easily the #1 thing my family most makes fun of me for when preparing for a trip (there’s tons of others, but this is the worst). They laugh all the way up until we get there and they have no idea what to do. Hell, they don’t even really have any idea of what’s there! Let alone how to get it all done. You don’t need to schedule everything down to the minute, but have a general outline of your day will save you many headache inducing scenes of “what do you wanna do? “I don’t know, what do you wanna do?” You can click HERE to learn more about how to create your own itinerary.

Extra Magic/Early Morning Hours

If you are staying on sight at any Disney hotel, either in Disneyland or Disneyworld, you are able to enter certain parks before or after close on specific days. I did already mention that getting up early is the best thing you can do, but it’s worth a little reinforcement. Disney World also has late night hours, and in my experience the parks are next to empty during this time. My first trip we rode Space Mountain back to back to back in less than 30 minutes during the nighttime extra magic hours.

Whether you are on vacation for a week or a day, remember the 5P’s my grandmother taught me: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Results. Okay, that’s only 4P’s my grandmas version has a bit more colorful language that I’ll just leave to your imagination.

Let me know what tricks you use to keep your crowd from getting restless and check out these other great posts about even more park hacks!

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