That's Fit

I spent many of my summer vacations as a little girl visiting SeaWorld. I loved it so much that I almost pursued marine biology. The thought of riding Shamu was and still is more enticing to me than flying or any other magical act. So, bringing my family of four to SeaWorld last week was a no-brainer. This time, though, not only was I in search of fun ... I decided to dissect the park and find out how it fared in the healthy living department. Could we leave more fit than when we arrived?

I've done this experiment before at other major theme parks and vacation destinations and these are the things I look for.

• Is there an opportunity to be physically active?
• Is healthy food readily available?
• Will I and other guests be inspired to do and be better?
• Is the vacation fun?

Here, I focus on physical activity.

It's hard to say which day out of the six we spent a few weeks ago at the Walt Disney World Resort was my favorite, but day three really was special. It was jam packed with a variety of super fun activities that were both totally exciting and totally relaxing at the same time. The majority of day three was spent at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, where we were staying. We capped off a superb day with a glamorous evening at The California Grill, one of Disney's Signature Restaurants located on the top floor of The Contemporary Resort.

If you take your family to Disney, I highly recommend strategically placing at least one 'resort day' in the middle of your stay. The theme parks and water parks are amazing, but can be exhausting. Playing at your Disney resort still offers loads of fun, but doesn't drain. In fact, a 'resort day' is the perfect recharge for tired parents needed a break. The pools are wildly creative, the hot tubs....to die for, and the free organized activities are endless. Yes, you heard me right. Most of the Disney resorts offer planned activities for both children and adults.....FREE OF CHARGE! Whooohooooo!

As I've been leading you through the paces of enjoying the best Walt Disney World has to offer, without trashing your health and fitness habits, this is one of the easiest days to master. On our second day of vacation we headed to the holy land of wholesome family fun, The Magic Kingdom. Ahhh yes! This is the place where children squeal, Mommies well up with tears of joy on a regular basis, and Daddies shout like kids themselves on the roller coasters. It's also a place where every last visitor is likely to do a ton of physical work. In fact ... read on and you'll learn exactly how many calories we burned during this day. It's insane!

So! Our day consisted of pushing the kids in the double stroller, then watching the castle show. Did I mention each of my children weigh almost 40 pounds? Then we pushed the kids in the double stroller some more, and rode some rides in Fantasyland. In fact, before we even stopped for lunch, we pushed the double stroller again and rode rides in: Fantasyland, Tommorowland, back to Fantastyland, Mickey's Toontown Fair, Adventureland, back to Tommorowland and finally landed back in Adventureland for lunch. Then we ran circles in the water squirters at both Ariel's Grotto and Pooh's Corner to cool off for about an hour. The latter half of the day resembled the first half, except it seemed even busier.

In my expert opinion, yes! Disney World is the healthiest place on earth. I just returned from a five-night, six-day vacation with my husband and two children and was blown away by the amount of physical activity both offered and required of ourselves in order to indulge in the full Disney experience.

We pushed our double-stroller miles through two theme parks, climbed thousands of stairs and jumped an equal amount of waves at two water-parks, danced our tushies off to live bands at various Disney resorts, and played game after game with our children as we giggled, oohed and ahhed at all the Disney magic. As a fitness trainer, one of my biggest obstacles is convincing my clients not to trash their fitness efforts when they head out on vacation. Disney offers the perfect opportunity to not only maintain one's fitness level, but improve it.

The physical adventures are endless, and Disney World has made a deliberate effort to increase the availability of legitimately nutritious, low fat, and lower sugar foods. Fruit stands have popped up all over the theme parks, and children's dining has switched from burgers and fries to grilled chicken with carrots and grapes offered as side dishes. Soda has been dumped for low fat milk! I can't get food that "clean" in my own neighborhood, unless I cook it myself! Of course, the old junkie favorites like popcorn, fries, and ice cream are still available, but if you do care about your health and want to maintain it on vacation ... Disney makes it easy.

University of Central Florida freshman football player Ereck Plancher collapsed and died yesterday during an off-season workout intended to prepare his team for the opening of spring practice.

Plancher, a redshirt freshman receiver, was leaving the Knights' indoor practice facility when he collapsed. He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death will be determined by an autopsy.

Plancher's death has stunned students on UCF's Orlando campus.

Hooray! Once again, I get to go visit my favorite children's healthy heroes The Wiggles. I spent some time with the awesome foursome from Australia this summer and really enjoyed our visit. I originally chose to feature The Wiggles because of their dedication to teaching healthy habits to kids and parents alike. It's amazing how many mommies think to offer Cheetos as a snack over fruit salad. If those mommies only new how "yummy, yummy" that sweet concoction really is.

Anyway! Tomorrow I go to their concert yet again, but this time I'm taking my two little beans with me. Ginger and Parker are giddy with excitement. Ginger is actually worried she may be "too shy" when she greets them backstage. I told her to treat them like she does Jasmine and Aladdin at Disneyworld. This seemed to make perfect sense to her and calmed her little nerves.

Nonetheless. For those of you who enjoyed the spectacular pull-up video featuring Anthony Field available on the front page of Fitzness.com, you can look forward to more of the same after tomorrow. Hopefully Anthony and Paddy (Captain Feathersword) are prepared to work out with me before both of their incredibly physical evening performances. Aren't I sweet to torture them like that?