SHOE nighmare stories ~ let's share!

[SandraC]

I used these boards to help plan our April trip ~ THANK YOU ~ I read that one of the BIGGEST mistakes folks make is NOT BREAKING IN GOOD WALKING SHOES!

So I WISELY bought NEW sandals (very pretty) BUT I DID NOT HAVE TIME TO BREAK THEM IN! OOPPPPSSS!

Not problem, I thought, I'll just bring bandaids and wear them on my heels before I put the NEW shoes on and walk 4000 miles around WDW. (I actually thought I was pretty brillant about that one).

WELL! The bandaids curled up and vanished in 4 seconds and I thought I'd need my baby toe ambutated from the pain.

My second shoe story was during our 1998 trip. I brought BROKEN IN sandals, but they BROKE on our first day at WDW. I ended up buying new sandals (which were very good actually), so the moral of that story is BRING TWO PAIR OF SHOE!

Please submit YOUR WDW shoe story! Love to get your opinions on the NEXT pair of shoes I should buy. We'll be at WDW in 269 days and I'd like to start breaking in shoes NOW!

[Melika77]

HI! Last July, we went to WDW and my sandles got wet on our first day in Magic Kingdom. I ended up with a blister on the bottom of my baby toes for the entire trip. It made walking miserable. even when I wore my sneakers, my feet were uncomfortable. So, I will be more careful next week!

Melissa

PS I have bought Moleskin for this trip!

[SandraC]

Same here with the blister on the baby toe. It was a water blister and when it opened it was like Niagara Falls. Sorry so yucky.

What is moleskin, I've read that mentioned.

[Melika77]

Moleskin is like an adhesive for Blisters, Cuts, etc. You can buy it at Walmart, I believe....Perhaps you can post a question about it's many uses, where to buy it etc... I bought it at a local store and not a chain...

Melissa

[MaryT]

My shoe horror story is the day the heavens opened up at Epcot during Illuminations and I was in the back of the park by America. My sneakers were getting soaked, and it was the only pair of shoes I'd brought with me (lesson learned). So I took off my shoes and walked barefoot to the front of Epcot. The sidewalk in that place is very slippery without shoes (no idea why!) - so I ended up slipping and falling and getting completely soaked. However, no blisters, but a few bruises!

[Disney Family]

okay, does this shoe nightmare have to be Disney related? If so, oops, just ignore..

When I was 8 mos pregnant with 1st DD I had a nightmare that delivery was progressing fine until it came time for the feet, at which time this yet unseen child became stuck as she had been "blessed" with her father's feet (Size 15!!!:eek: ). Needless to say at the next ultrasound I had the tech zoom in on those feet!

[BethC1952]

My shoe nightmare seems to be the same as so many other people--wet sandals!

When we were there in May, I decided that sandals just wouldn't do it for me this time. I bought the most comfortable walking sneakers I could find, cushioned everywhere they could be (at a J.C. Penney outlet). Then I wore two pairs of socks, cushioned cotton socks inside and others outside. Moral of this story?

My feet got so hot and sweaty that I got blisters anyway! AND, the wonderful shoes have a very high collar at the ankle, which strained the muscles in my ankle and I spent three weeks walking with a cane and I'm still wearing an ankle brace two months after my trip. I think when I go in November I'll try the barefoot method!

Beth

[sdubose99]

Moleskin is a thick (relatively) adhesive fabric (like flannel I guess). It's been great to use when hiking -- it usually sticks well and doesn't curl nearly as easily as bandaids. Don't know what it's like after getting wet, but I recommend taking it along. Be sure to bring a swiss army knife with scissors so you can trim an appropriate size, and make sure to round the edges so it stays stuck longer!

Scott

[MaryAnnDVC]

Last year, the day before our WDW trip, I decided that everyone's sneakers were too dirty for WDW and needed to be washed. (I get fanatical about everything being "just right" for vacation.) So I tossed them all in the wash, then the dryer, with some towels. Well, they kept banging against the door and the door would be ajar, so the dryer would shut off. At one point, DH taped the little thing down to fake out the dryer, and it would keep running.

One time I checked on them, the door was open, and all the sneakers were sitting on the door...dryer still running. :rolleyes:

But the clincher was...I found one of my sneakers...my favorite, best pair...wedged in part of the dryer barrel (what's it called??), twisted and bent in half. I took it out, and it stayed like that! I ended up heating it up a bit in the dryer, and then wearing it all night to get the shape back! It took DAYS of wearing it before it recovered completely.

I still have that pair, and they're still my favorites. :D

[doombuggy]

In the fall of 1999 I went to DL with some co-workers. I bought my relatively new pair of sneakers, but was in misery the entire time (I have a bad knee). My knee hurt the entire trip. In March of last year, I went to WDW and my foot started to hurt (same leg). I finally determined that it was the shoe, so I threw it out. I kept the left one, believe it or not, as we changed our uniforms at the DS, so I have an extra shoe, just in case!

[peedeejones]

OMG!:eek: I've been back a week and a half and I am just now to the point where I think my badly blisered baby toe can be saved! I had the worst blisters of my life on this trip. I wore walking/tennis shoes that I thought were well worn in. Was I ever wrong. I had a blister the size of a walnut on the ball of my foot, plus a blister that completely encased my baby toe, plus heel blisters!. All I did was keep applying moleskin pads and bandages and gauze.
The last day we walked from MK to the Contemporary. I almost didn't make it through the parking lot. My feet are better now. My advice is just bring alot of moleskin and gauze and bandaids. Then wear open heel and open toe sandals.
Good Luck!

Jennifer

[Timon]

Well my shoe story is about a friend of a friend(Sheri) who went with us in Oct '99.

I had planned the trip since January and told both my friend and her friend OVER and OVER and OVER for months and months:
THE most IMPORTANT thing is COMFORTABLE shoes....whatever else you do...BRING COMFORTABLE, WORN-IN SHOES!!!!!

I must have said this about 40-50 times from Jan-Oct...they got sick of hearing it from me!
soooooo
what did they BOTH do?
They bought brand NEW sandals the WEEK before we left.

Poor Sheri, after two days her feet were in VERY BAD SHAPE! Now I had huge sympathy for her at first, ( I know what it's like to have blisters) but after a few days of her going about as fast as a snail, it got very frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!:rolleyes:

We had all decided together, that since we are so far from WDW and it's such an expense, we would do the commando thing and see as much as humanly possible. Well things didn't quite work out that way :) 2 year old kids were passing us :)


I honestly really tried to be patient....I did :) but it was HARD! She sat down every second she found the opportunity and even when she didn't! Our whole video is of Sheri sitting down....it became a joke by the end, "oh look...there's Sheri sitting down again, shocking!"

We went to Wal Mart and bought some comfy running shoes but it didn't help that much.

SO............
if someone tells you to bring COMFY WORN-IN SHOES........DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You will be thankful!!!!!!!!!
:D :D

[Poohbear123]

I have to admit it: I USED TO DO THE SAME THING! Buy NEW shoes that is! 2 years ago, I learned my lesson. #1. NEVER BUY Nike's! They KILL my knees. #2. ONLY buy Easy Spirits! They are the best for me and my knees! I am on my second pair in 1 year and I am breaking them in for NOV! (Actually, they are already broken in after 1 month). I wore the OLD ones in Feb. and had NO problem with my feet! ALSO: Go in Winter time, as the pavement is NOT that hot!;)

[dancergirl]

I was on my way to Planet Hollywood with my family and some friends. About half way there on the bus my strap on my flipflops broke!!!! They were from Old Navy and were not to old but very worn! I was not having a good night and nothing I could think of would work!! Finially I got to the top of P.H. and inside. We had about an hour wait for our table so my sister and dad went to look in some stores to see if they could find any shoes for me. They couldn't find any so we asked the people in the P.H. shop if they had anything I could use. I tried a staple and that didnt work then I decided to get a stick pin to use, that finally worked! I still was worried about it all night! It stayed untill I got back to the hotel! I guess it was the night for shoes to mess up because another girl next to us on the bus said she had to go back to the hotel once already because her flipflops broke too!! I learned to make sure your shoes are reliable!!!:)

[melk]

A girl I worked with said that when her husband was a kid they took a family trip to WDW (probably only MK back then). Anyway, the kid ended up getting blisters and was wearing dark socks. When the blisters broke, the dye went into his system and he ended up with some type of infection or poisoning or something (I think the red line going up his leg that your mother always warned you about). He spent the rest of the vacation being pushed around in a wheelchair!:(

[piglet33]

I got horrible blisters when we went in November. The funny thing is I read on the boards about Moleskin and stuff. I brought it with me, but didn't use it until I HAD to. I really like the Band Aid Blister Relief pads. You can put them right over blisters and they won't rip them when you take them off. I wound up getting blisters on the bottom of my pinky toes, on the side of my big toes and on the heels of both feet. I had 3 Band Aid Blister things on each foot. Boy did I look a site. I think the ones that hurt the worst were the ones on my pinky toes. I too thought my sneakers were broken in since I bought them 2 months before. This time, I started wearing my new sneakers last month for my trip in January. Hope this does the trick. This time I also bought walking sneakers. I already have my Band Aid Blister pads too.

[idontknow]

2 years ago we stayed at the WL. I took 2 pairs of shoes and a pair of "nice" flip-flops. (they are so cute....lime green and they matched my bathing suite perfectly. ;) ) The 2 pairs of shoes were tennies that were broken in. One was a pair of imitation keds and the other a good pair of Avia tennies. After 2 days in the parks, my feet were sooo swollen I could not get them in either of the tennies! I had to wear my flip-flops everywhere! LOL Imagine a grown woman schlepping around in a pair of lime green flip-flops into a places like 1900 park fare. It was a hoot! They did not match anything except my bathing suit. If they would have matched my other clothes I would not have minded so much. LOL

For the record, I see nothing wrong with wearing "flip-flops" in public outside of the pools. It's just these are obviously pool shoes and they didn't match anything.;)

[Poohbear123]

idontknow: At least you were comfortable!:D And thats probably what everyone thought when they saw them Lime Green flippies!:D

[Limmer]

SandraC, I was able to get Moleskin at my local Zehrs in the Dr. Scholl's display. This was the only place I could find it in Canada. I even looked at WalMart and Shoppers Drug Mart.

[elgerber]

I bought some more moleskin for my next trip at K-Mart last week. I used to buy it at Target, but they seemed to stop carrying it. Just make sure you get the moleskin and not the moleskin-foam! That stuff is way too thick and does not stick nearly we well as the moleskin.

Erika

[musical2]

Every trip I took to WDW in the past has always ended in blisters somewhere on my feet. I used to put bandaids on my sensitive spots, but still got blisters. Then I started putting sports tape on the back of my ankles, and around the toes that were prone to blistering. That sort of worked, but wasn't as comfortable. Last May I tried something different that worked like a charm. First I bought some Thorlo walking socks from The Sports Authority. Before I put my socks on I sprayed a light coating of anti-perspirant to the bottoms of my feet and between my toes, put on a pair of Thorlo socks, and my Reebok DMX Walking shoes. I did this every day I went to a park. The result was not one blister all week. My feet didn't even have any red sensitive areas. The only problem I noticed was that my feet got a little hot on the bottom after walking all day since they couldn't sweat due to the anti-perspirant. But, better hot feet than sore feet.

I had two pairs of the Reebok DMX Walking shoes. One a year old and the other just 3 months old. I wore the 3 month old shoes to the park (I had broken them in), and the one year old shoes on the days we didn't go to the park.

Bart

[Jenn]

When Keds first came out - I was thinking fashion vs. utility and wore a pair of Keds all day with no socks in the parks - big mistake. I was covered in blisters.

[VelvetGloves]

This isn't about a nightmare; I'm posting in hopes of stopping the nightmare before it happens. My mother and I went shopping yesterday to get the last few things we needed for the trip. Moleskin was on the top of our list. Well, we found it at K-Mart and Wal-Mart. We got the stuff that said Moleskin Foam because we thought it would be more padding. Should we go back and get moleskin, elgerber?

VelvetGloves

[elgerber]

VelvetGloves,

I personally would go back for the moleskin. My husband and I have both been using moleskin for years and once, when I couldn't find it, I bought molefoam. We ended up throwing it away after a couple of uses. It's so thick that it doesn't conform to your foot, and one half of it usually ends up coming unstuck. It's also so thick that it can make your shoes tight. The moleskin you end up forgetting is there. Good luck to you!

Erika

[Tarheel Tink]

Moleskin is my best friend (repeat as needed!).

After a few trips of blisters from Hades saved by moleskin, I decided to bring my VERY broken in tennis shoes to wear, no matter how battered they looked. This are the sneakers you save to mow the lawn in, clean out stables in, etc. So I looked like a hobo but was walking fine UNTIL I started to feel a tender spot. Experience made me plop down immediately and investigate. Well, long story short; my shoes were TOO broken in and some worn areas along with too thin socks was rubbing painfully.

Lesson: one can go too far in the broken in area of shoes and good socks are worth their weight in gold. As much as we plan and pay for these trips, it is a shame to let something so "minor" to ruin the day! Luckily for me (the overpacker) I had back up shoes galore but had to purchase some Mickey socks with thick bottoms that along with my ever-present moleskin saved the day!

[CarolynK]

I took my relatively new Keds with on our last trip and was sorry after the first day. I didn't get blisters, but I knew I needed a solution, fast. I called my parents back home and had them FedEx my comfy, old Nikes next day. It cost $46 but was worth every penny!!

[Dee & Greg]

Yesterday was the BrickYard Nascar race in Indianapolis. For those of you who watched on tv, the weather looked very nice. Wrong! It was almost 90degrees yesterday, and probably 105 in the stands with no breeze. And what do I see? A lady (early 60's) wearing a sequined tank top and shorts (blue) with matching blue high heeled pumps! No socks or hose. To get to any parking lot is at least one mile on hot asphalt. I almost fainted just thinking about her blisters. Scary!:eek:

[Mouser]

I once bought these special walking shoes, thought they would help my feet with all the blisters I got all the time.....did not know I had arthritis at the time in my feet which was part of the problem. Well, after first day there my feet were killing me even though they were broken in...blisters on my little toes, the ball of my foot and heel..Expensive does not mean better when it comes to shoes let me tell you...I found Reebok Classic Sneakers, have not had a blister wearing them ever...tired feet yes and sore muscles in my feet..but never a blister.

I like to soak in a hot tub when we get back to our room to loosen up the muscles in my feet as they get very tight..If i do that at night and in the mornng before I get dressed my feet seem to be better....

[Ted and Holly]

I broke in new Birkenstocks when we were there last December! I got them for Christmas (asked Santa for them) and we left for WDW the next day. I wore them all around the house Christmas Day to break them in, and even out in the 10 degree below zero temperatures on the way back from my parent's house. I got a sore on the top of my foot from one of the straps on the first day. It even bled! I pulled out the moleskin and realized we had no scissors!! I was desperate, so I put the whole big rectangle of moleskin on the top of my foot. I walked around like that all week... The moleskin got dirty and wet and looked disgusting! Later on in the week, I put on a pair of dress shoes for dinner and they were the most comfortable things (well broken in from work). I wore dress shoes around for the rest of the week.

Holly P