Tuesday, March 25, 2014

My Favorite Places to Run at Disney World

It's spring break season--that week off from school that gives you just a taste of the freedom summer will bring. Since vacations are on everyone's mind--and my favorite vacation spot is Disney World--I thought I'd share my favorite places to run while at Disney World. Many of the resorts have running paths and most of the deluxe resorts have gyms, but these are the places I've enjoyed running the best. I ran them all with my jogging stroller--with mixed results.

First off is the Magic Kingdom area. Bay Lake Towers and The Contemporary have great running paths throughout the resort, labeled with these cute little signs. Fun, right?




The Bay Lake Tower/Contemporary paths are a breeze with the stroller, as they're entirely paved and quite wide.

I also love running from Bay Lake past the Magic Kingdom--it has the best views. The path leads from the resort, past the Magic Kingdom entrance and underneath the monorail track before it dead ends with a beautiful view of the Grand Floridian.








While the views are great, it's not the path to take if you're going for a steady pace. Depending on the time of day, the path can get crowded and it offers little shade, and it's best to run it early morning or in the evening. It is about one mile from the door of Bay Lake Towers to the end of the path.

The only part of this path that gave me problems with my stroller was the section with the commemorative bricks--it made for a very bumpy ride for Little Man. Luckily, he's a bit of a thrill seeker so he was fine with it.

If nature is your thing, be sure to check out the fitness/jogging paths at The Wilderness Lodge. The sandy soil path that leads to Ft. Wilderness is my favorite, as it makes you feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere, not smack in the middle of Orlando. All the noise of the resort melts away and you can be one with the trees, the fresh air, and...whatever made this paw print.


Some of the paths also offer great views across the lake to The Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower.



The stroller was a little challenging on this route--it's doable but it made for slow going. I also have a pretty heavy duty stroller, so that made it easier.

The last route I'm going to talk about at the Boardwalk resort--my favorite path heads down the boardwalk and then past The Beach and Yacht Club. There's some little hills, which seem bigger when you're doing it with a stroller, but the scenery is a nice distraction. There's also some signage that tells you about the routes and the distances. They are placed on a couple of different places around the path. I also really like to walk this path at night--there are some great spots to take in the fireworks from Epcot.



I know sometimes you don't want to think about running and exercising on vacation, but I always seem to be preparing for a race while I'm at WDW--and I've learned the hard way what a week or two skipping runs can lead to. Plus, if you exercise while you're on vacation, you get to eat more things like this:



And isn't that what vacationing is all about, anyway?

A penny for your thoughts: do you exercise on vacation? Where is your favorite place to run at Disney World?



8 comments:

  1. Great tips! I would love to take the route you described that goes past the MK to the Grand Floridian!

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  2. Oh my goodness what a beautiful place to run in! I'm jealous. =)

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    1. It's so much fun to run there--even when there's not an actual run!

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  3. I try my best to exercise on vacation...but I cut myself some slack if it doesn't happen! I'm hoping to do quite a few runs in Europe this summer, though! It'll be a nice break from the scorching Florida heat and smothering humidity, plus a great way to see new things! My favorite place to run at WDW is through the parks ... ;)

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    1. I bet you'll see some great views on your Europe runs!

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  4. I've been wanting to try more and more of these routes but I am usually visiting WDW during a race weekend and too exhausted to actually do a run on my own. I do however enjoy the path from OKW to either SSR or DTD. It's a nice path to run or ride bike!

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    1. I've never tried that one! I'll have to put it on my list.

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