She said WHAT?? TRAINING FOR MY VACATION? Is she INSANE? Well, yes, but that’s beside the point 😉 Seriously, I said training for your vacation and I meant it!
My goal in writing for this site is primarily to help you have a better Disney vacation. I want you to do a little up-front planning to make your trip go smoother. I want to tell you about new attractions or restaurants to help make sure you don’t miss out on something you’ll really enjoy. I want to offer tips and tricks to help you maximize your time and fun at the parks. I want to help you prepare for the best possible, most enjoyable vacation for you and your family.
How much good would all that do if, at the end of the first day, you are EXHAUSTED and your feet and legs hurt so much that you can’t even sleep that night? Or worse, if you end up with terrible blisters on your feet that significantly curtail your vacation activities as your trip wears on? Your vacation will definitely be much LESS enjoyable if you end up spending 2/3 of it in pain, trust me. I’ve been there. Which is precisely why I want to make sure you DON’T make the same mistakes.
Listen, these days, most people lead relatively sedentary lives. We drive to work, we spend the day sitting at our desks, we drive home and we sit down to eat dinner and then sit down at the computer or on the couch to watch TV. Obviously, there are many exceptions to this…If you work out most days and you routinely get 12,000 steps or more on your FitBit or pedometer, this article isn’t for you. You are in terrific shape for your vacation, go off and do something active 😉.
But if you’re part of the majority of us who DON’T routinely get more than 12,000 steps per day, you may want to consider training for your vacation.
A Disney vacation is wonderful and fun, and a great chance to let go of your worries and play together and drink in the magic and adventure. What it is not, as a rule, is relaxing. A Disney vacation is an active vacation. Now, I need to point out that it is possible to have a relaxing vacation at Disney…every resort has a pool, and there are golf courses and lots of other relaxing leisure activities you can take advantage of. Or if you are able to spend 2-3 weeks at Disney, it’s much easier to have a relaxing vacation, because you can spread out your park days and have more down time, and you can be much more leisurely about visiting attractions. Or if you have the means and time to visit multiple times per year. Or the means to hire a VIP tour guide that can help you get around behind the scenes and avoid many of the worst lines. There are definitely ways to have a relaxing vacation at Disney, if you have time and means. I don’t happen to have any of these ways or means, though…😉
I’m talking more about the average Disney vacation that most families or individuals take—3-7 days, time off work, trying to maximize your time in the parks and seeing and doing as much as humanly possible, maximizing your “return on investment”. Let’s face it, for most of us, a Disney vacation is a BIG expenditure, and you want to feel like you’ve squeezed every drop of fun out of that darn trip so you feel that spending was worth it. (There are lots of ways to do Disney more economically, and there are tons of budget travel tips out there—I’ll do an article on that in the future…but again, I’m talking mainly about the “average” trip right now).
First thing to think about: Disney resorts are LARGE. Some are VERY LARGE. In other words, just to get from your room to breakfast or the bus stop, you may walk a half mile (or more). Add to that: each Disney park is LARGE. Some are VERY LARGE. (Are you sensing a trend here?). It is not unusual to walk five miles or more in a single day, visiting only one park and not really pushing yourself. If you park hop, or really push to see EVERYTHING in a particular park, criss-crossing and revisiting favorites?? You could do more like 7-10 miles. In a single day. On a particularly adventurous day a few years ago, a friend and I set a goal to visit all four parks in a single day, and then ended up back at MK for fireworks at the end of the night…technically visiting four parks with five visits. We each logged more than 14 miles that day. That’s a half marathon, baby!
My point is, if you are NOT accustomed to spending long periods of time standing and walking 5-7 miles per day, multiple days per week, your Disney vacation is going to be physically more demanding than what you are used to. If you don’t prepare, you will be in serious pain after a day or two. Ideally, you have 2-3 months before your trip, and can ramp up slowly and without too much effort. Basically, your goal is to get to walking 5 miles per day, 4-6 days a week by about a week before your vacation. Note, I’ve tried getting ready using biking instead of walking, and that didn’t help as much. You really need weight bearing, low impact exercise. Part of it is time based too. Unless you walk really fast, 5 miles is going to take you around an hour and a half. That doesn’t compare in any way shape or form to 10 -12 hours on your feet, but it helps to get some decent time in as well as mileage on your feet. I’m a pretty heavy person, so my issues may be more challenging than yours if you are in better shape than I am, but even if you’re tiny, you’re still going to be putting a lot more pressure than you are used to on your legs and feet, walking and standing on hard surfaces all day long.
If you wear a FitBit or pedometer, take a look at your current average steps per day. If you are habitually below 12,000, start by trying to add 500 or 1000 steps per day for a week or so, and then try and add another 1,000 steps per day the next week. For example, I’ve been hanging around the 8,000 steps per day neighborhood for a few weeks now, so this week, I’m trying average 9,000 steps per day. Next week, I’ll work on 10,000 and 11,000 the following week. Make sense? For me personally, It takes about 2,300 steps for me to reach one mile. So my goal is to be closer to 15-16,000 steps by the time we leave for vacation. Everyone is a little different, and based on your height or stride length, you may need more or less steps than me to hit a mile. I found this helpful article that talks about this: How Many Steps in a Mile?
If you don’t have a pedometer, that’s ok. Just take a look at what you are currently doing and, if you’re not spending a lot of time on your feet and/or walking, add more! If you are completely sedentary, try walking for 20 – 30 minutes a day for a week or so. Then add another 10-20 minutes after that. Or take a separate 10-20-minute walk, later in the day. Whatever works for you, however you can fit it in.
Use what you have: if you can, take a walk outside on the sidewalk or street. Don’t worry too much about speed, unless you are also working on weight loss or training for a race. Just walk and try and enjoy yourself. Some days, I’m able to take a short walk on my lunch break at work. I always find my energy and mood lifted in the afternoon on those days. If you can’t walk outside, walk inside. Do you have a treadmill or elliptical? Great, use those. Just try and mix some outside, on the pavement time too. Your legs and feet need to build up a little endurance on those surfaces. If you are dealing with snow and ice or torrential rains and can’t walk outside and don’t have access to a treadmill or elliptical, DON’T GIVE UP! You can walk around your house. Turn on some music and dance around your house. March in place, jog in place, go up and down stairs. Just stay on your feet, and try and get those miles in. I also sometimes will use YouTube walking videos to help me get some variety in my walking inside routine: I really like Jessica Smith. Check her YouTube page out here: Jessica Smith TV She has a TON of free walking workout videos, as well as lots of other types of workouts, including stretching, yoga, kickboxing…all kinds of good stuff there.
Trust me on this: I know we are all busy, and finding time to exercise is something that everyone struggles with…but you are spending a lot of money on this vacation and you do not want to spend it miserable. And if your feet, legs, hips and back are killing you by the end of day 1, you will be miserable! I’ve been there, and it really impacted my enjoyment of the trip. Sometimes, it’s easier to motivate yourself to be more active when it’s in pursuit of VACATION rather than for the sake of being more active for it’s own sake. *Yes, I know, we should ALL be working on being more active because it’s good for our bodies and our brains. That is a fact. I KNOW. BUT…I’m still a work in progress. If thinking about vacation gets me moving when nothing else will? I’ll think about vacation!
Think about the rest of your travel group, too. You may not be able to get your kids to walk five miles 4 days a week with you, but can you get them to do more walking than they do normally? If you will be pushing a stroller with a 30-pound kid in it all over Disney, guess what? You should probably be pushing that stroller on at least some of your long walks before your trip. Try and get your spouse to do more walking too. It’s great if you can do this together, and spend time talking and getting excited about your trip. For my husband and I, our work schedules make it pretty tough to walk together most days BUT I’ve already started pushing him to walk every day in preparation for our November trip. He doesn’t want sore feet and legs any more than I do, so fortunately, he’s listening to me. We make a game out of it, teasing each other over who got more miles in each day or week.
Another thing to train: Your vacation footwear. Do NOT buy brand new shoes for vacation and not wear them for several days and miles before you go! I have done this in the past and my feet were NOT happy! Just like wearing heels at your wedding, you need to break in your shoes before you go on vacation. If you follow through and are walking a lot in the weeks leading up to your trip, try to have your ”vacation” shoes at least two weeks before your trip, and start wearing them on your walks.
There are a lot of different opinions out there on the “best” shoes for Disney vacation. I’ve seen everything from flip flops to high heels (really? Are you crazy, lady? All I can think is OUCH.) I tend to wear comfortable athletic shoes—not too old, I want lots of good cushion and shock absorption left in them. But wear what is comfortable for you, keeping in mind that you will be walking on hard surfaces for many hours and miles per day.
How are you planning to “train” for your Disney vacation? I’d love to hear from you!
Happy Dreaming!
Brooke