Are pools really heated 82 degrees?

[Nabas]

If it's 95 degrees and your body temperature is 99, an 80 degree pool will indeed feel cool.

We do lots of spilt stays, so we can compare pools under similar weather conditions. For example, since July 2020, we have done split stays involving a variety of WDW and non-WDW hotels such as the Hard Rock, Royal Pacific, Disney’s Vero Beach, the Swan, Disney’s Boardwalk, Beach Club, Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Old Key West, and Wilderness Lodge. (Yes, we go to Orlando 5-6 times a year.)

The pools at Universal have consistently been warmer than WDW pools under identical weather conditions.

The pool at Vero Beach, where DVC members pay all expenses, have been very good too.

The Swan and Dolphin grotto pool has been pleasant.

It’s the Walt Disney World hotel pools that have been noticeably cooler than other pools.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Yes always heated unless something is broken. We have done resort only trips in December just to swim.

 

[jerseygal]

We do lots of spilt stays, so we can compare pools under similar weather conditions. For example, since July 2020, we have done split stays involving a variety of WDW and non-WDW hotels such as the Hard Rock, Royal Pacific, Disney’s Vero Beach, the Swan, Disney’s Boardwalk, Beach Club, Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Old Key West, and Wilderness Lodge. (Yes, we go to Orlando 5-6 times a year.)

The pools at Universal have consistently been warmer than WDW pools under identical weather conditions.

The pool at Vero Beach, where DVC members pay all expenses, have been very good too.

The Swan and Dolphin grotto pool has been pleasant.

It’s the Walt Disney World hotel pools that have been noticeably cooler than other pools.

Very interesting, travel to Vero a lot but never in the “winter months” of Fl.. will have to try it!

 

[MickeyMouse3!]

I'll add as someone who has kayaked in Lake Superior in mid-summer, you'd know unheated. That the pools are tolerable at all when the temperature starts dipping is a factor of them being heated. None of the Disney pools are big enough to retain the day's heat for significant periods with water recirculation.

Being from the mitten state, I can honestly say that no matter how hot it is outside, anyone swimming in Lake Superior should automatically qualify for the Polar Bear Club. Brrrr!

 

[Nabas]

Here's an interesting list from the National Center for Cold Water Safety:

• 98.6F(37C) Normal body temperature measured with an oral thermometer.
• 99.6F(37.5C) Deep body or core temperature measured with a rectal thermometer.
• 95F(35C) For medical purposes, this is the clinical point at which hypothermia begins.
• 91F(32.7C) The temperature of your skin.
• 85F(29.4C) Water feels pleasantly cool rather than warm.
• 77-82F(25-28C) Swimming pool temperature range for Olympic competition.
• 70F(21C) Water feels quite cold to most people. Treat any water temperature below 70F (21C) with caution.
• 40F(4.4C) or lower Water is painfully cold.

Having once been a competitive swimmer, water in the 77-82F range feels somewhat uncomfortably cool when first entering but is required to avoid overheating when swimming vigorously. (My college coach told me swimmers sweat but don't notice it because the water immediately washes off the sweat. See Do swimmers sweat? You might be surprised.)

So it seems that a pool needs to be around 85F to feel "pleasantly cool." I recall seeing signs at Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon stating this was the water temperature of the wave pool. But if Disney is heating its hotel pools to only 80-82F, it's going to feel cool.

Even in the hottest summer months, Orlando drops well into the 70s at night, meaning pools will cool down to below a "pleasantly cool" temperature for most of the year if not heated.




We were at BWV for the 50th anniversary at the end of September. Daytime highs were in the mid to uppers 80s that week.



But nighttime temperatures dropped into the low 70s.

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and Boardwalk Villas that week. The pool temperature was very nice at the Hard Rock (and you could feel in the pool where they were pumping in hot water) but we shivered at the Boardwalk. If the BWV's Cast Member's comment to me was accurate ("The pool is not being heated."), then this would explain why the BWV pools felt so cool.

 

[peabody58]

In the Navy as a submariner, I would often train in a Damage Control Tank at Groton, CT. Small confined area with lots of pipes, valves, etc. They would create leaks and flood the tank with us in it so we could learn how to patch and fix leaks under real world conditions and duress. They used water from an outside storage tank which was not heated. Getting flooded with near freezing water in the winter was not fun at all! But the training was useful as I experienced 2 flooding/major leaks during my 8 years in the Submarine force. A pool at 82 deg F is like an ocean swim call off the subs sail planes in the Bahamas.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Another Pool Gate!

A decade or so ago people started noting that the pool temps were dropping. There were some that brought thermometers until Disney corrected.

 

[Aussie RJ]

I bet it's another cost cutting exercise!

 

[brazzledazzler]

We were at the Poly last week and the pools were nice and warm!