If you’ve been to the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, I am sure you aware that it can be quite warm any time of the year, especially in the Summer. Here are my suggestions on 5 ways to beat the heat at the Walt Disney World Resort:

  1. Get an ice cream treat – There are many awesome ice cream delicacies to choose from in the parks. You can get the classic Mickey premium ice cream bar that is vanilla ice cream shaped like Mickey dipped in chocolate. One of my favorites is the Dole Whip! Now, the Dole Whip comes in many different varieties including plain, mixed with vanilla ice cream or in a float with pineapple juice. The flavors of Dole Whip have expanded to include a Raspberry Swirl Float and a Kakamora Float, which I happened to try the last time I was there. The Kakamora Float has coconut soft serve, pineapple juice and Blue Curacao! If you want a legendary ice cream treat, you can venture over to The Walt Disney World’s Beach Club Resort and go to Beaches and Cream Soda Shop and try the Kitchen Sink! This colossal ice cream sundae has five scoops of ice cream topped with every topping they offer including pineapple, cookies, hot fudge, caramel, cherries, peanut butter and more!
  2. Enjoy the coolness of an indoor ride! There are several indoor rides in each park where you can cool off while standing in line and while on the attraction. In EPCOT, you can go to the Land Pavilion, which is all indoors. This is where Soarin’ and the Living with the Land attraction are located. The building is nice and cool and you can enjoy the two attractions and get a snack at Sunshine Seasons or have a meal at the Garden Grill with Chip and Dale! You can head over to the Seas with Nemo and Friends! Once you get off the attraction, you can spend time in the aquarium and watch the Manatees get fed or watch the sharks and sting rays swim around! If you are in EPCOT’s World Showcase, take some time to enjoy the indoor attraction in the Mexican and Norway Pavillions! The Three Cabelleros in Mexico is one of my favorites and I enjoyed Frozen Ever After for the first time this year!  At Magic Kingdom, you can go on the Carousel of Progress, this indoor attraction takes 20 minutes and is nice and cool and is a part of Walt Disney history! At Hollywood Studios, challenge each other on Toy Story Mania. You could make it a challenge that the person with the lowest score has to buy ice cream for everyone in your group! (I should make this highest score since I am usually the lowest score.) In Animal Kingdom, you can adventure over to Dinosaur and while in the air conditioning once inside the building learn a lot of facts about Dinosaurs! The Avatar Flight of Passage line is nice and cool as you wind your way to the attraction where you climb atop a winged mountain banshee and take a flight over Pandora!
  2. Take time to enjoy the pool at your resort. Did you know that you can leave the park that you are at, go back to your resort during the heat of the day and then go back to the park? Why not take advantage of the cool water in the pools? Each resort has different themes and designs. Some resorts even have water play areas for kids! I even recommend taking a day and not scheduling a visit to a park and just enjoying the amenities at your Walt Disney World Resort. If your family enjoys “Finding Nemo,” book a stay at the Art of Animation and enjoy the Big Blue Pool, the Schoolyard Sprayground or Squirt’s Righteous Reef. Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort has the Fuentes del Morro Pool. The zero-entry pool has shooting water cannons and two water slides! The pool area has a huge wading area and an aqua play area for your little ones. For adults, there is the Banana Cabana Pool Bar!
  3. Tackle a water ride! There are several water rides at the Walt Disney World Resort. If you are in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you can ride the Kali River Rapids. The ride is located in Asia and is a thrilling white water rafting adventure through a jungle in the heart of Asia. At Disney’s Magic Kingdom, you can ride Splash Mountain. On this ride, you gently drift through a colorful Southern bayou with Br’er Rabbit as he is looking for his “Laughing Place.” Beware the end of the ride, you might get wet on a 5-story drop!
  4. Spend a day at one of the water parks! There are two water parks on Walt Disney World Resort Property, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park and Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park. Blizzard Beach’s 66-acre water park area is open. At Blizzard Beach, you can zip down Mount Gushmore on one of the world’s tallest and fastest free fall waterslides! You can also float down a tranquil river and sunbathe on the white sand beach!

 

BONUS TIP:  How about stopping in the shops in the parks or going over to the shops at Disney Springs to cool off? I love going to the parks for the attractions and shows and parades, etc., but I love (ok, I will make this a capital love) LOVE to shop in the stores! I know you can shop on-line, but I love seeing the different merchandise in person. The displays are always so fun and just draw me into the shops, kind of like a moth to a flame. So, you can go into the different stores, browse, pick up souvenirs and maybe one, two or five things for yourself! (Not that I’ve ever done that before.)

The next time that you are at the Walt Disney World Resort and want to escape the heat, I hope that the above suggestions come in handy!