How to Prep for Walking at Disney
Ah, Walt Disney World, the most magical place on earth. (Well, Magic Kingdom is anyway.) Also the site of multiple 5k, 10k, half and full marathons each year. It’s hard to believe Disney World is that big, but it truly is - the entire resort spans nearly 40 square miles, which is only 10 square miles smaller than the city of San Francisco, CA!
To give you an idea of how many miles per day you can expect to walk, here’s a breakdown of my steps from a recent 3-day trip according to my Apple Watch:
Day 0: Driving day, Pop Century, Disney’s Boardwalk, Atlantic Dance Hall: 21,808 steps / 9.5 miles (I almost didn’t even include this since it wasn’t a park day, and we didn’t even get to our hotel until around 3PM after driving all night from Massachusetts.)
Day 1: Magic Kingdom & Hollywood Studios: 34,047 steps / 13.8 miles (This included walking from Magic Kingdom to the Ticket and Transportation Center via the walking path through the Grand Floridian and Polynesian Resort Hotels which, according to my Apple Watch, was 2.01 miles from the beginning of the path to my car in the Magic Kingdom parking lot.)
Day 2: Epcot & Magic Kingdom: 28,359 steps / 11.3 miles
Day 3: Animal Kingdom, Epcot & Magic Kingdom: 34,847 steps / 14.3 miles (This included walking from Magic Kingdom to the Grand Floridian via the walking path.)
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What Not to Wear
It’s important to me that I say this first. I love my Crocs but really I do not recommend wearing them to walk around the World Showcase more than once. Or even once, actually. I’m only including this photo to show off all my off-brand charms that I got online.
So if you’re planning on being in the parks from rope drop to the kiss goodnight, don’t wear your Crocs, or your thong flip flops, or your high heels. Take it from me and my poor feet.
Tips on How to Prep (From Someone Who Did it but is Not a Professional Anything)
Start early! Get moving and grooving as soon as you can. Like, today. Give yourself plenty of time to work up to walking at least 10,000 steps a day.
Wear a fitness tracker. I have an Apple Watch but a $20 pedometer will do. You’ll need this to keep track of how many steps you’re walking every day.
Break in your shoes. The last thing you want is to be wearing a brand new pair of shoes on your trip! You don’t want to be getting blisters on your first day. And on that note…
Buy the right shoes (and wear them on your trip). When I lived in Orlando and could pop in to Magic Kingdom for a corn dog whenever I felt like it, I could wear whatever shoes I wanted. Not anymore! I get sympathy foot pain whenever I see someone walking around in flip flops. If you’re going to be on your feet all day, invest in a good, supportive pair of shoes if you can - I love my Saucony Omni Walker 3’s and Hoka One One Bondi 7’s. (Not sponsored, but I wouldn’t mind.) I also love my Converse All-Stars, and they’re so much more comfortable now that I’m well acquainted with Dr. Scholl. And, listen, if you’ve got a wide foot just give in and get a wide shoe. Your feet will thank you.
Make it fun. Make a playlist of your favorite music. Here’s a Spotify playlist with some of my favorite songs to exercise to. (Lots of Stray Kids, iKon, Aespa, Twice, Mamamoo, etc! This playlist is, like, 6 hours long right now I’m sorry or you’re welcome.) There are also tons of FREE indoor walking exercise videos on YouTube. Some of my favorites are Walk at Home with Leslie Sansone, Grow With Jo, Reps to the Rhythm, and Joanna Soh.
Don’t forget to stretch. Especially if you’re not used to walking this much, you’ll definitely want to stretch before and after your walking workouts.
Make it a group effort. It’s SO much more fun doing this with your friends or family, and it definitely helped us stay on track even when we were tired or it was 90 degrees outside. If you all have Apple Watches, connect with each other and spy on everyone to see how many steps they have throughout the day.
Most importantly, don’t give up! We started this challenge in March, which meant our longest days were in the hottest months. I don’t recommend this because it seriously sucks, but so does Florida heat, so… There were days when it was 90 degrees with 80% humidity, it was raining, I was tired from work, you name it. But every day we did our steps whether we walked outside or at the gym or in place in our living room.
The Challenge (Or Training Plan. Tomayto, Tomahto.)
The training plan we chose comes courtesy of Pixie Dust Savings. This 24-week plan has you begin by walking 5,000 steps per day for one week, increasing by 650 steps each week until you reach 20,000 steps per day. That’s A LOT of steps, but you can do it! You can adjust this number to suit what works for you but I don’t recommend increasing too much week over week just in case life gets in the way. By the end we were spending about 4 hours per day walking! When we were doing 5,000 steps, I couldn’t imagine doing 10, let alone 20. But as walks became part of our daily routine, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it and how much easier it became over time. My overall step total was 2,595,941 steps! That’s about 1,298 miles total or an average of 54 miles per week. And, while it wasn’t my goal, I definitely noticed a change in how my legs look and I FEEL so much stronger and capable!
My friends and I used a shared spreadsheet to log how many steps we took every day. I’ve created a similar one in Google Sheets that you can download and edit so that it works best for you!
The best day to start walking is yesterday. The second best day is today! Make it fun and don’t feel too much pressure. Good luck and enjoy your trip :)
