rufio
Well-Known Member
We didn't go from open to close. We woke up around 8 or 9 and took a break in the afternoon and were still averaging 30,000 (15ish miles) per day.
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How Much Walking Per Day
- Thread starter zero creativity
- Start date
We didn't go from open to close. We woke up around 8 or 9 and took a break in the afternoon and were still averaging 30,000 (15ish miles) per day.
Are you familiar with I-4? Well, it's 14.3 miles from the Downtown Disney exit to... (wait for it...) DOWNTOWN ORLANDO! In other words, if you were to walk on I-4 from 535, you would pass Sea World, pass Universal Studios, pass Mall at Millenia, pass Kaley Ave, all the way to the 408 Interchange, and that's still not 15 miles. Trust me, the average person does not walk that far in one day at Disney. I can assure you. Especially after they've been there for 8 hours, it's more of a lumber than a walk lol. I think the only way you're going to even come close to that figure is if you just walk around non-stop for 10-12 hours, don't stop for anything, don't wait in any lines, don't watch any shows etc and MAYBE you'll approach it but that's being optimistic. And this was about the "average visitor" at Disney. The average visitor doesn't do that. They stop for things, sit to eat, watch the shows etc. The average person doesn't walk that many miles.
allgiggles
Well-Known Member
Just because I'm bored tonight, I went to geodistance.com to map out our routes in 2 of the parks based on my notes from our trip a few weeks ago (I keep track of what rides we do and what order we do them in along with when I left the group to be the FP runner). On our Epcot day, we were at the park by 8:25 and we got back to our hotel (AoA) at 6:15. I walked 6.5 miles that day including all of my FP runs, walking to the bus stops, walking back to our room, back to Landscape of Flavors to eat, etc.). We covered all of Epcot that day including walking all the way around World Showcase.
I also mapped out my day at MK because I did a lot of criss-crossing the park for FP's that day. We were at the park for rope drop, left the park around 3:00, returned to the park around 6:45, and left at midnight. Including all of my running back and forth for FP's and walking at the resort, I walked 7.25 miles. I'm sure there is a slight margin of error with my distances since I didn't keep track of exactly when and where I went to the bathroom but I don't think that would add up to more than a half a mile since we usually just stop at bathrooms that are on our route anyway. I also didn't record any walking around in a restaurant or gift shops -- again, those distances would be minimal.
I'm sure there are people who walk over 10 miles a day at Disney, I'm just glad I'm not one of them. I know I can walk at a 3.5mph pace for about an hour. After that, it drops steadily. And that's with no obstacles or people in my way (walking on a walking path at a park). It would probably take me 7+ hours of walking time just to cover 15 miles at Disney and then I'd still need time for riding the attractions and watching shows...not enough hours in the day for me to do it. But kudos to those of you who can cover those miles day after day on vacation. My feet, knees, hips, and back would never let me do it (and I work out with a personal trainer twice a week and walk 3 miles a day two or three other times each week.)
I also mapped out my day at MK because I did a lot of criss-crossing the park for FP's that day. We were at the park for rope drop, left the park around 3:00, returned to the park around 6:45, and left at midnight. Including all of my running back and forth for FP's and walking at the resort, I walked 7.25 miles. I'm sure there is a slight margin of error with my distances since I didn't keep track of exactly when and where I went to the bathroom but I don't think that would add up to more than a half a mile since we usually just stop at bathrooms that are on our route anyway. I also didn't record any walking around in a restaurant or gift shops -- again, those distances would be minimal.
I'm sure there are people who walk over 10 miles a day at Disney, I'm just glad I'm not one of them. I know I can walk at a 3.5mph pace for about an hour. After that, it drops steadily. And that's with no obstacles or people in my way (walking on a walking path at a park). It would probably take me 7+ hours of walking time just to cover 15 miles at Disney and then I'd still need time for riding the attractions and watching shows...not enough hours in the day for me to do it. But kudos to those of you who can cover those miles day after day on vacation. My feet, knees, hips, and back would never let me do it (and I work out with a personal trainer twice a week and walk 3 miles a day two or three other times each week.)
Just because I'm bored tonight, I went to geodistance.com to map out our routes in 2 of the parks based on my notes from our trip a few weeks ago (I keep track of what rides we do and what order we do them in along with when I left the group to be the FP runner). On our Epcot day, we were at the park by 8:25 and we got back to our hotel (AoA) at 6:15. I walked 6.5 miles that day including all of my FP runs, walking to the bus stops, walking back to our room, back to Landscape of Flavors to eat, etc.). We covered all of Epcot that day including walking all the way around World Showcase.
I also mapped out my day at MK because I did a lot of criss-crossing the park for FP's that day. We were at the park for rope drop, left the park around 3:00, returned to the park around 6:45, and left at midnight. Including all of my running back and forth for FP's and walking at the resort, I walked 7.25 miles. I'm sure there is a slight margin of error with my distances since I didn't keep track of exactly when and where I went to the bathroom but I don't think that would add up to more than a half a mile since we usually just stop at bathrooms that are on our route anyway. I also didn't record any walking around in a restaurant or gift shops -- again, those distances would be minimal.
I'm sure there are people who walk over 10 miles a day at Disney, I'm just glad I'm not one of them. I know I can walk at a 3.5mph pace for about an hour. After that, it drops steadily. And that's with no obstacles or people in my way (walking on a walking path at a park). It would probably take me 7+ hours of walking time just to cover 15 miles at Disney and then I'd still need time for riding the attractions and watching shows...not enough hours in the day for me to do it. But kudos to those of you who can cover those miles day after day on vacation. My feet, knees, hips, and back would never let me do it (and I work out with a personal trainer twice a week and walk 3 miles a day two or three other times each week.)
yes this would be a much more accurate way of figuring out distance in the parks. I think a lot of people are using the pedometer method which just doesn't work because pedometes count steps, which isn't very accurate for theme park walking considering you're not always taking normal size steps, lots of stopping, lots of small steps. Pedometers count all steps the same, no matter how big or small.
rufio
Well-Known Member
Actually, they don't. I have a fitbit and it's calibrated to my step. I'm sure there is discrepancy at a theme park because of the stop and go, but I'd say it's fairly accurate.
The people getting 15 mile results are getting that from their step total, not actual distance, so they are not using a calibrated one. Again, a normal visit to the parks is not going to be a 15 mile walk.
rufio
Well-Known Member
I am getting a 30,000+ step per day result using a calibrated fitbit. I don't know what else to say...
Yes but does it tell you if it's a 30 inch step versus a 10 inch step? That's a big difference.
I think for a more scientific, more accurate read on distance, one should use a GPS based pedometer. Then it doesn't matter how big or small your steps are. Just gotta make sure you disable it during rides. If you use a GPS based tracker, no way you're going 15 miles with a normal visit (i.e. stopping for shows, lines, dinner, etc).
rufio
Well-Known Member
It is calibrated... It is calibrated to my stride.
Susan Savia
Well-Known Member
I wore a pedometer on our last trip in January 2013 and it averaged about 5 miles a day with Epcot being more like 6 miles.
allgiggles
Well-Known Member
I believe what retroeric is trying to point out is that people are not always using that calibrated stride in the parks. The strides one takes while shuffling through a queue for an attraction with hundreds of other people are not the same length as the strides one takes while racing across the park to get to a ride before a FP expires. Fifty steps in a crowded queue will not cover anywhere close to the same distance that fifty steps in a wide open space will cover. Yet they're all counted as an equal step/stride. Any device that measures simply by stride is always going to have an inaccurate distance result -- usually giving one a higher/longer distance than they actually walked/ran. A calibrated stride can be fairly accurate if you're just walking on a trail or a sidewalk, but not in an amusement park where one can't possibly do a consistent sized stride for every step.
allgiggles
Well-Known Member
I agree. I've seen several threads on this topic on this and other Disney message boards over the last 2 years. Any time someone has reported their findings using a GPS based tracker that they turned off for rides always posted results in the 7-8 mile range (on average) for Epcot. Lower for other parks.
rufio
Well-Known Member
I highly doubt standing in a queue could account for a 10 mile discrepancy.
I've read that a single lap around World Showcase is 1.2 miles. I don't think the average person walks around World Showcase more than two full times in a single visit. That's 2.4 miles. Add in the entering and exiting of specific countries, the"back and forth" walking, maneuvering around the shops, etc and you're probably looking at a total 4 miles for World Showcase. Add in Future World, and my guess is an extra 2 miles there. Then add in any extra walking like bathrooms, gate entrance and exit etc, and that's probably an extra mila or so. So 7 miles would be my best estimate. I think I'll go to Epcot in the next couple days to try this out with the GPS app.
copcarguyp71
Well-Known Member
We have clocked our walking between five and seven miles daily depending on park hopping and taking advantage of EMH's.
allgiggles
Well-Known Member
You're missing the point. No one said it was a 10 mile discrepancy. (My guess is it's about a 5 mile discrepancy.) Your personal stride according to your device indicates that 10,000 of your normal steps equals 5 miles. For the sake of simplicity (and because I'm too lazy to do the actual calculation right now), lets say that your calibrated stride according to your device is 2.5 ft. Your device can accurately tell you that your took 30,000 strides in a period of time. Based on what it calibrated for you as a *NORMAL* uninhibited, unfatigued stride, the device calculates that you have walked 15 miles using that 2.5 ft. "ideal" stride measurement. What your device can't tell you is how many of those 30,000 strides were actually at 2.5 ft and how many were 12". Unless you're walking through an empty park with no one in any of the queues and everyone of those queues is a straight line that doesn't require you to take smaller steps to navigate the switchbacks/corners, and there is no fatigue involved, there's no way a person can take 100% normal (2.5 ft.) strides in a day at Disney World. Walking around a track or down a sidewalk, maybe (assuming there's no other traffic, but fatigue would probably reduce the size of the strides before the end of 15 miles); walking through thousands of people -- never. Based on my experiences and observations over the years at Disney, most people do not walk at a full stride at the parks all day. The days are filled with walking behind groups of people and walking through queues. So while I'm sure your device accurately counted your steps, it did not measure each individual step so it can not give you an accurate distance that you walked. If you want to do that, you need to use a GPS device or go to a mapping website and map out your walk for the day. You need to measure actual distance and not number of steps. Measuring only the number of steps taken involves too many variables to get an accurate distance calculation.