My wife uses a fan similar to this, only it connects to a USB charging pack. She won't visit WDW without it. She also uses a cooling scarf and swears by it. I have many pictures of her joyfully entering one of many fan/water mist stations at Disney.
The cooling scarfs or a piece of light weight cotton cloth ( not a towel) wetted with water around the neck makes a big difference. I worked construction for 32 years, the evaporative effect helps keep you cool as the cloth is in contact with your neck and the carotid arteries pick that up and make a noticeable difference. You can rewet it anytime with cool water. My shirt will get wet but that just adds more cooling affect. And (as mentioned) wear a hat the combination of these two items really helps. This may not make much of a fashion statement but it does go a long way toward comfort on a hot day. Did this often when working to get through days when no other relief was available in direct all day sun.
This, in a nutshell. I lived in a cold climate for 20+ years before living in Central Florida for another 20. Unless you're a toddler, elderly, or have health issues, the heat is more about being a little uncomfortable than anything else. The temps rarely get that high. The biggest two factors are the humidity (not too much to be done about that) and the angle of the sun (blistering vs higher latitudes). The best thing you can do is to cover your head and exposed skin with clothing specifically designed for that purpose (ie Under Armour, Columbia, etc.) It's definitely important to stay hydrated, but that's not all that difficult here because it's so humid that evaporation is really limited. Be careful with alcohol consumption and large, heavy meals. One of the biggest factors is that many people (including myself) aren't accustomed to walking 10+ miles per day in any weather. Taking up that activity when the heat index is 120 degrees can be challenging. As indicated in the quote above, exercising and getting in shape before your trip will help far more than anything else, IMO.
Just be careful of going in and out of air conditioning too often or too fast, or you may get nauseous. If you can, "acclimate" yourself by lowering the a/c in your home so your body is more used to warmer temperatures, and don't just walk into and out of a/c regularly. Maybe go sit in the shade somewhere and have a cool water then keep going, or hang out in an air conditioned spot for a few minutes then head back out for a while. I learned the nauseous part from experience!
Thanks for sharing. I looked at the US site and they have them too. We have a Disney one that we have had for over 5 years, so I am thinking it is going to not work one day. I like that it is rechargeable and folds up.
I used to do that, but not by choice. My classroom wasn't air-conditioned and sometimes I would walk into it in the morning and the temperature would be 90 degrees in the morning. It did get me prepared for Florida weather.
