Reality check: Amount you walk at WDW

[RBrooksC]

I know it is said over and over again how much one walks when in WDW, I have never really seen any details other than it's "a lot." When my wife and I spent a couple of days in WDW a few weeks ago I had on my Fitbit and tracked everything.

On Friday, we did nothing but explore the WDW property. We did no theme parks. We had breakfast in the morning at Kona, then explore the Poly, GF, and Art of Animation where we stayed. We went to the pool, then saw AKL, went to the outlets and walked around DTD. We spent time sitting in the car, while eating, at the pool, and while watching a movie. Then we went to the BW, walked to Beaches & Cream, then back to the BW for our car. How much did we walk that day?
11.89 miles, 25001 steps, with a duration of 7:15 total.

The next day we were able to get a one day park-hopper and went to the MK in the morning and were there until 2 PM. We did as many attractions as we could and we sat down to eat at Be Our Guest. Then we went back to the car and went to DHS. We stayed there until about 6. We then went back to the hotel, ate dinner and were in bed by 9 due to our flight being really early the next day. How much did we walk that day?
11.59 miles, 24279 steps, with a duration of 7:39

The amount of walking you do on a vacation like this is incredible. You don't realize it until you track it. Make sure you are ready with comfortable shoes and, if you can, acclimate yourself to it by walking or running before you go.

[mickeys_princess_mom]

Wow! This interesting! Have often wondered, too! Worth every step!

[disneymom15]

WOW, would have never thought it would be much.

[VWL Mom]

Just curious, did you put it in sleep mode while driving and on the rides? I know though time I tried a pedometer it was giving me steps on the bus and rides.

I always though we were doing about 5 miles a day, 11 is awesome!

[RBrooksC]

No, the Fitbit is pretty good about not counting the car rides. It also counts how many climbs you have. And when you ride an escalator it knows not to count that.

So, while maybe, there is some adjustments that need to be made for erroneous steps, I think they would be statistically insignificant.

[DonaldDuckUSA]

Thanks for posting!

Now I feel better about when I eat around the world. Good to know I'm working off calories!

[hoop de do]

Wow. Only 11. miles.
It always feels like 40 or 50 miles to me at the end of a day at the WORLD.
Thanks for the informative post.

[RBrooksC]

"only 11" but one has to realize that, for me, a normal day is between 2.5 and 5.5 miles. I strive to do at least five miles per day but that doesn't always happen.

But when you realize that on a normal day one is usually walking about 4-5 miles, and at Disney that is doubled, it can really throw people for a loop, especially if they are not ready for it.

I wore sandals the first day. Very nice, expensive ones and my feet were destroyed. I wore my sneakers the next day and fared much better.

[Gregandmel]

We took my parents on our last trip and I told them to start "training'" about 3 months before we left due to the amount of walking you do while there. The prior trip we took (without them) my legs and feet were killing me every night before bed!! And I do a lot of walking anyways!! So yes...I totally agree that you have no idea how much walking you do! Great information though

[RBrooksC]

What one doesn't take into account and does not show up when you track how much you walk is how much you STAND.

You may not be walking all the time but you sure do stand a lot. And that coupled with the distance walking can do a number on your legs and feet.

[Butters]

We tracked one of our trips and it came to 11-14 miles per day depending on the park and the days activities... It feels good to know your getting the extra exercise

[WDWgoofy]

In February, I wore a pedometer and the distances most days were close to 14 miles, but we walk a lot, such as Boardwalk to Epcot and back, also when we arrive early morning we walk from our car to the pack and back,forgoing the tram.

Given how our middled-aged bodies felt following the trip we have got to cut this back

[ANG]

Thanks for posting!

Now I feel better about when I eat around the world. Good to know I'm working off calories!

Ditto!

[mickeys_princess_mom]

My DD and I always joke about "training" for Disney by parking farther and farther from the store entrances, to get in some extra walking before a trip. Sounds like we're doing the right thing...

[MargaretMessler]

I cannot stress enough how right the above posters are about "training" yourself for the amount of walking. I walk a LOT, so I'm pretty used to it but the standing would sometimes bother me. Anyway...mother (65+) does not walk or exercise nearly as much as she should and it really knocked her for a loop. I would say especially for older adults, or those who are pretty sedentary in their daily lives, getting in some daily walking (even if just a few laps around the block every day) is essential.
<end rant>

[MarkC]

I also use a Fitbit and our work has a walking program that pays us for hitting certain goals. I try to average 15,000 steps per day, even at my ripe old age of 53.

Anyway, we were at Disney this January and had perfect weather. I felt great and kept walking around Epcot even after my wife had went back to the room. I hit my all time high of 33,000 steps. I've had a couple of other 30,000+ step days at WDW. Only one time did I do that anywhere else.

[MargaretMessler]

This has all got me thinking I should pick up an inexpensive pedometer and see just how many steps I average per day in September. Since I'm going to my BFF, and we are both of the "parks from morning till night" type. Or we were when we were in our 20s...we'll see how well that translates into the 30s

[Main Street Jim]

When my wife and I were working at the Tomorrowland Speedway, we started wearing pedometers.

We found that in a good 8-hour day, we'd walk *12-15* miles JUST working the attraction - just loading/unloading guests and walking out to the backside of the track. There were days where we'd put in 12-16 hours. Imagine how much more walking *that* was...

[honeybear]

I must get myself into "Disney" Shape!

[Ms. Mode]

The past few years I've "trained" before a DWD trip too; now I just walk everyday regardless. My DD however is going for one day next week and I told her she better get used to walking soon!

It's interesting to find out what the average person will walk in a day at DWD; I know I can eat all I want and I've never gained any weight while I'm there....after I get home is another story.