Column: It takes a brave family – and lots of water -- to survive Disney in July

Visiting Disney during hot, sweaty July is not my first choice, but sometimes a Floridian has to make sacrifices for her family.

As a kid up North, a Disney trip was a big deal. My family didn't go until I was in junior high, and the plane ride, palm trees and hotels were all very exotic to me. I looked for alligators everywhere, bought a souvenir skull ring at the Haunted Mansion and saved every ticket stub for my scrapbook.

Now that I live less than 90 minutes away, I take the international tourist destination for granted. I go maybe once a year with minimal planning and effort. I wasn't in a rush to take my son – I wasn't sure how much he would get out of the parks since he isn't even 2 years old, and I worried about having him out all day in the heat.

Enter the grandparents.

My in-laws make an annual pilgrimage from Pennsylvania to the House of Mouse. My mother-in-law is a former "cast member," who has Disney décor throughout her home (when you turn on one of her lamps, Mickey says, "What a bright idea!"). At Christmas, she devotes a tree to Disney ornaments, complete with a mini-monorail running around the base.

How could I deprive her of the privilege of introducing her grandson to the World? Even if I was pretty sure we were going to melt in the process.

We picked Animal Kingdom for the Fourth of July visit, hoping its lack of fireworks would mean a light crowd. (It did). I made it my mission to prepare for the heat and hit the Disney guidebooks and websites for advice.

Here's what I learned.

Misting fans are a wonderful invention. I bought a handheld, battery operated fan at Wal-Mart that sprays water on you when you squeeze the trigger. My son was happy to carry it and cool off in his stroller for hours, and when he tired of it, I used it on myself and my husband. I propped it on his stroller while he napped, too.

If you want to avoid batteries, you can try the pressure-based "Misty Mate," or Evian spray bottles, as a co-worker suggested. I also considered a clip-on fan that attaches to the stroller and saw some children whose parents had planned better than I had enjoying the breeze.

Strollers do get hot, so I thought one mom's advice on AllEars.net was smart. She pins a white towel to the back of her child's stroller to deflect sun and absorb sweat. Another mom said she freezes a large ice pack, wraps it in a towel and puts that between her child's back and the stroller.

That was more effort than I was prepared to make, but I took the advice I read in a few places to freeze washcloths overnight in Ziploc bags. At the park, they gradually thawed in my diaper bag but remained cold enough to be refreshing when we draped them over our shoulders and foreheads. Freezing individually wrapped hand wipes would give a similar effect and make you feel less grungy.

Sporting goods stores sell Frogg Togg's "Chilly Pads," which I spotted some parkgoers wearing. It's a towel that you wet and it stays cool as it evaporates. Other parents equip their kids with bandannas, which can be soaked in water and tied around their necks.

Hydration is key, and I wish I had known that concession stands will give you free cups of ice water, which I could have poured into my son's sippy cup instead of sticking him with lukewarm water. You can also bring water bottles into the parks, and if you freeze one the night before, it will remain cold all day.

I have read about people wearing hydration packs, like CamelBak, too. These also come in child sizes.

If you can, several planning sites suggest taking a break from the park entirely and returning to your hotel midday for a swim or a nap. You can come back refreshed in the evening for dinner and fireworks. Or make reservations at a sit-down restaurant at your park of choice, so you know you'll have an indoor, cool lunch during the hottest part of the day.

You won't forget you're in steamy Florida, no matter how frosty Blizzard Beach or the Everest ride looks. But you can make yourself and your child a lot more comfortable than the rest of the tourists out there, which improves the experience for everyone. And if you need to escape to air conditioning, there are plenty of gift shops where I bet you, too, can find a mini-monorail for a Disney-themed Christmas tree.