How We Survived the September Heat at Walt Disney World ☀️🐭

Our family recently returned from a week long trip to Walt Disney World in the mid September heat. We were warned it was going to be hot, but to quote Mickey himself, “Boy oh boy” was it HOT! Unseasonably high temperatures and plenty of sun and humidity left us sweating.

Here’s what actually worked to help our New England–born-and-raised bodies cool down and how we survived the September heat at Walt Disney World.

Cooling towels

I read about cooling towels before our trip, watched YouTube videos with influencers shouting their praises and laughed at how unnecessary they seemed.  I most certainly stopped laughing once we arrived in Florida in mid September. The cooling towel was by far the easiest and most effective tool we used to cool ourselves down the entire trip. It was easy to wet at water fountains throughout the park and wear around our necks all day. 

Misting fans

I purchased two of these for the kids when they went on sale at Amazon but was skeptical about their value. I didn’t even bring them with us for the first park day.

By day three they were glued to each of our children’s hands all day long. 

Enough said.

Hats

Light-colored hats were essential for keeping the sun off our faces and heads. Everyone had a style they preferred:

Anika: bucket hat

Jake: baseball cap

Jamie and I: baseball cap or sun hat, depending on the day

Keeping the sun off your head makes a huge difference.

Hydration Supplies

Hydration Supplies (Non-Negotiable!)

I cannot stress enough how important hydration is at Disney in September. It’s so hot that you’re sweating just by existing.

Powerade is something I never drink at home, yet every afternoon at Disney I craved it and chose it as my resort-mug beverage of choice. Looking back, I think my body was telling me I was dehydrated.

A Good Water Bottle

We made the mistake of packing only plastic water bottles, which became warm almost immediately. We should have brought our go-to Owala FreeSip Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottles from home to keep our water cold longer.

CamelBak

Jamie absolutely swore by his CamelBak and loved having it on this trip.

A good water bottle

We made the mistake of just packing plastic water bottles that got hot quickly. Should have brought our go to Owalla’s from home to keep our water nice and cold. 

CamelBak

Jamie swore by his CamelBak and absolutely loved it on this trip. 

Electrolytes 

With how much we were sweating, water alone wasn’t enough. One electrolyte drink per day made a huge difference.

• Liquid I.V.
• Powerade
• BodyArmor

Any of these paired with lots of water was truly life-giving.

Mid Day Breaks

One of the best strategies we used was starting our days early, staying late, and taking a midday break.

Mornings and evenings were manageable. 1–4 p.m. was brutal.

We either returned to the hotel to rest, hydrate, and enjoy air conditioning—or, if we stayed in the park, we prioritized:

Snacks indoors 

Air-conditioned shows

Gift shops

Athletic Clothing

After a strong recommendation from a friend, I bought several pieces from 32 Degrees looking for lightweight, moisture-wicking clothing that wouldn’t break the bank—and it delivered.

At first, I worried everything was too short (I even exchanged an athletic skirt for a larger size… which I regret). Extra fabric in Disney in September is miserable.

My athletic dress had built-in shorts and a bra, which meant fewer layers and way more comfort. If I could do it over again, I’d buy four of those dresses and wear them like a uniform all week.

They were:

• Lightweight
• Breathable
• Sweat-friendly
• Incredibly convenient

The athletic skirt and tank were fine, but the skirt was too long. Shorter is better in this heat.

If dresses or skirts aren’t your thing, athletic shorts are the way to go. I wore them with a 32 Degrees athletic tank (with a built-in bra!) at Animal Kingdom and was way more comfortable than I would’ve been in jean shorts.

Pull your Hair Back!

Long hair is brutal in the heat. My daughter and I both braided our hair to keep it off of our necks.

Sunglasses

Cheap sunglasses that I didn’t have to worry about losing or breaking (fun story my husband in fact did break them 😂) were a necessity. I got some polarized ones from amazon. I would recommend going with something even cheaper from Target or Walmart. Something you can throw in a purse or bag quickly and not have to worry about scratching, breaking or losing, but good enough quality to shield your eyes from the Florida sun.

Embrace it!

The last thing we did was to just embrace the heat! There were some benefits to it being hot that we didn’t get to experience when going to Disney in January. We got so much pool time this trip. We could swim morning, noon and night and that was incredible. Water rides were great when it was hot too, also something I have zero interest in in January! Also, September has the lowest crowds we’ve ever experienced at Disney. This was a nice trade off the amount of sweating we did. 🤣 Also, we were in Disney World on an amazing trip, feeling so much gratitude that we were fortunate enough to be able to go on this vacation. How lucky were we? Thinking like that cools you down real quick!

Amazon List

Here’s an Amazon list I put together of some of our favorite things we used to help us with the heat at Disney in September.