Whenever we talk about planning a Walt Disney World vacation, we always drive home the importance of drinking water and staying hydrated. As we know, Central Florida is insanely hot and humid, and often, people don’t realize just how bad it is until they arrive there. There are only a few months out of the year when the humidity is toned down a bit. During the nine years I lived in Florida, I found that the crazy humidity would go away from around November until April or sometimes May; the temperatures were still pretty toasty, though.
Regardless of the weather conditions during your visit, you will be doing a lot of walking and must stay hydrated. I’ve witnessed people in the parks walking one second and hitting the pavement the next. It’s awful, but it can quickly happen to you if you don’t take steps to prevent dehydration. Believe me, the last thing anyone wants during a Disney vacation is to be taken out of a theme park on a stretcher for an ambulance ride to the hospital.
If you’re anything like me, drinking a ton of water makes me feel bloated to the point that I can almost feel it sloshing around in my stomach. Drinking as much water as I’d need to drink to keep hydrated is uncomfortable.
It took me a bit to figure out that being dehydrated was the cause of my starting to feel awful right in the middle of a theme park. I would feel dizzy and lightheaded, and generally yucky. I always thought it was because of the attraction I’d just gotten off of. I started asking around online what others with similar issues did to stay feeling good when they were at a Disney theme park all day, and drinking unsweetened coconut water was the overwhelming response.
The best part about coconut water for most people is that you don’t have to drink a gallon of it to stay properly hydrated. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t love the taste of it, but the reward makes it worthwhile. I buy the individual ones from Trader Joe’s, but you can get them almost anywhere, even on Amazon, shipped to your Disney Resort. Four of the smaller cartons fit into my backpack, which seems to do the trick for me for an entire day. As with anything, your mileage may vary with how much you need to drink to keep from getting dehydrated. My recommendation is to start with what you think you might need and add one extra; you’ll be real glad you did! You can adjust accordingly the next day.
If you haven’t had the chance to read Zoë’s Disney Summer Series where she offers lots of great advice for traveling to Disney theme parks in the summer, be sure to check them out and be on the lookout for a new one Wednesday.
