Tips for keeping cool???

[cinder1]

We (me, DH, DD12 in April, DD10, DS7, DD3 in May) will be at WDW in July. We normally go in Oct, Jan or March so this is the first time we will deal with extreme heat. We live in Richardson, Tx (a suburb of Dallas) so we deal with heat also, but we mostly do indoor things or swim in the summer. I'd love tips on keeping cool. I'm mostly worried about keeping DD who will be 3 hydrated and DD10 who is a true redhead and very fair. So I'd like tips for keeping cool while touring!!
Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Ariel8676]

Hats, sunscreen, water and those mister fans..are 4 things we never forget when going to WDW in the hotter months.
We also put ice and a washcloth in a ziploc bag before leaving the room in the morning...that way you always have a icey cold rag to wipe everyone down and cool off with. My girls wear crocs to WDW to their feet can breathe...better than socks and sneakers.

 

[okeydokey]

We always take in the indoor stuff during the heat, Micky's Philharmagic, Space ship Earth, The American Adventure etc. Nothing like a cool dark place to recharge!!

 

[cinder1]

Thanks for the replies. The 10 yr old has already told me to be sure to take the ice and wash rags to keep cool!! She's thinking ahead.

 

[Princess Roo]

We were there last July and except for finding Animal Kingdom way too hot and crowded, we really had a great time and didn't feel the weather affected us negatively. There are so many air-conditioned places to drop into! We also spent the middle part of the day back at the hotel taking naps and/or swimming. (We would have done this anyways, since DS was 15 months) Another piece of advice - bring two shirts for every day so that you can change into something fresh!
For hydration, you can bring a small cooler with drinks if you want. We just used a really small soft-sided one (that came with my breast-pump, actually) to put two sippy cups of water in for DS. If there are certain drinks your DD prefers, it's good to have them. For the adults, we brought bottled water from our room (one bottle per person) and some of the individual serving-size powder packets of lemonade to put in the yucky Florida water we refilled the bottles with to make it taste better.

 

[Kriii]

Hello there! My family had always traveled in cooler months so I too was nervous to travel in the summer to WDW but it did turn out fine (dd a red-head and burns EXTREMELY easily!) Our biggest trick was to get to the park when it opened and either go back to the hotel by mid-day to minimize the sun exposure or make an ADR for mid-day so we could get out of the sun for awhile. Swimming was reserved for later in the evenings and we avoided the water parks b/c dd would have definately fried there! BULLFROG was the very best sunscreen at keeping us from burning - it comes in a little mister bottle so we could reapply often. Fortunately at WDW , so many of the attractions have a covered area for you to wait in - we made sure to head for these ones whenever the sun was at it's peak. My job schedule will only permit our returning in the summer at this point but I am no longer nervous about it. I hope your trip is really great!

 

[cinder1]

Thanks. You guys made me feel better about the heat.

 

[dfarner]

There's a post about misters on the Tips board. Here's the link:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1388500

 

[MACfamily4]

There's a post about misters on the Tips board. Here's the link:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1388500

These misters are AWESOME, long-lasting, and far less cumbersome than most misters - especially the ones with the fans. We'll be there in July, too! Have fun!