keeping little ones cool

[Dwarful]

We are going to DisneyWorld for ten days in May. Its already been 90 degrees every day this week here in Illinois with sweltering humidity. We are traveling with kids aged 2,5,8,12 & 15. Its the littlest ones I am most concerned about keeping comfy. I will be bringing along lots of Sunblock, and I will be making sure everyone drinks plenty. We are also going to hit the parks EARLY!!! Character B'fasts at 8am But I am wondering what others with little ones do during the heat of the day? What else do you suggest to keep everyone having fun and not having those "meltdowns" that 2yr olds can be famous for! Thanks so much for any ideas you can provide!

 

[2much2do]

Great ideas!!!! I will be sure to use them all for our upcoming trip (11 days!!!!). I just wanted to point something out about the fans with the water that were mentioned. We bought those on our last trip ($15!) and yes, they did have a tendancy to break. But, you know what we did when that happened? We took them right back, to any stand that sold similar bottles, even if it was not at the same park. The CMs were very nice, and exchanged them for new ones, every single time!! I figured we paid enough for them to last at least the two weeks we were there, and if they were really that cheap, Disney would surely upgrade them with all the damaged ones that kept coming back!!! My kids were not overly rambunctious with them. Just sprayed and fanned like you are supposed to. Seems some are just not as sturdy as others, as the AK ones never broke, and those are the ones they kept and used around town that summer! HTH!

 

[my2sweetums]

Little ones love Donald Ducks boat at MK. It is a great fun way to cool off on a hot day! We went in Oct 00 and it was in the 90's and the boat was the best thing ever for my 2 1/2 year old

 

[hadleybarth]

Doanld's boat and all of the jummping foutnatins are great! But, don't count on them; we have been twice in the last couple of years during drought conditions when for enviornmental reasons Disney turns these off.

 

[Dwarful]

do they also cut out those little fountains that spurt out of the ground in Epcot???I was sort of counting on having little cool down areas for the little ones...but maybe I shouldn't, never occured to me that they would shut those down.

 

[hadleybarth]

Yes, even those little ones were off when we were down last year during drought conditions. We can't remeber if the jumping fountains designed to go over your head (not the ones at ground level) at EPCOT were left on. But anything intended for kids to run around in was off for sure (Donal'd boat, Ariel's Grotto, the ones on the way to Wonders of Life, etc.). I don't know if this happens very frequently or not. Last year was a particularly dry year so this may be pretty uncommon.