So I’m spending next week in Disney World with my (extended, large, and boisterous) family. We’ll be camping in Fort Wilderness, and be there without a car. I’ve never been to Disney Wolrd, but am under the impression they have pretty good mass transit running all around it.
Do I bring my swim kit, and if so, where do I swim? I checked Google Earth and saw a large lake with what appears to be a beach near the campground. That got me excited about getting in some open water swimming, until I googled “open water” “disney world.” The first article to pop up (from ST) was about a Florida triathlete being attacked by a gator while swimming in a lake. So maybe not.
They will not klet you in that lake. For all of the races at Disney,you can only swim during the race. You can not even warmup in that lake. I am sure there are logistical reason that Tom Zeibart can explain but no swimming in that lake.
Sorry, but absolutely NO swimming in any Disney World lake. They will hunt you down and kick you out. Pretty much limited to resort pools which are far from ideal. I have no other recommendations. I get up early and swim long laps in the abnormally shaped pools.
I believe “Clermont, FL” is like 10 minutes or something away from Disney World. They have a big training facility, I think it might USAT. Might want to see what they offer.
Not sure if taking a Taxi to go swim is in your plans though.
Are you stuck on open water swimming? I was just there, and like you, had hoped to swim in a lake. We went to dinner in the town of Celebration nearby and there was a pretty lake right near the restaurant. As I stood on the steps leading into the water, a gator poked his head up. There were no warning signs.
A local told me that in Florida, you have to assume that every lake has gators in it.
We stayed at the Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort, which has a great pool setup. There are two lap pools (each an honest 25 yards long and several lanes wide), plus a large pool complex that is essentially four shaped pools joined end to end. I swam the length of the complex repeatedly and it’s probably around 100 yards. You might have to dodge kids and jostle your way through, but it’s good practice for a mass swim start, isn’t it?
The pools are wide open. Nobody was checking room keys - you need them only when getting towels, but you can bring your own.
There’s a water slide and waterfall so your family can hang out while you swim. I actually ended up in the lap pool because the middle lane is narrow and roped off so floaters don’t hang out in it.
not much help if you don’t have car, but the town of celebration has a decent indoor pool that visitors can use…maybe there is ground transportation from disney to celebration
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That Swan and Dolphine pool is very nice (largest salt water chlorinated pool in the world) and is w/i walking distance of Epcot. The Disney marathon runs right by it.
But, its has room key activated gates on it and attracts families and kids at all hours. The gate is only about 4 feet tall, but as an adult, do you really want to get caught hopping a fence in a family environment? Also has lifeguards on duty that might careless about gate hoppers, but you never know.
Here’s a sure thing. Go to the Orange Lake resort. Its a time share type resort recently purchased by Holiday Inn’s resort company.
They have a 50 meter pool that no one uses. No lifeguards and really no staff around would be aware of who accesses the pool. I’ve swam there numerous times and I’m typically the only one in the pool. There are kid/family pools all around and a free river island park all w/i the time share complex that attract the families and kids. So, absolutely no one uses this 50 meter pool. Check it out on google earth. Its actually lined for lap swimming. There is no key access gate. I’ve stayed at this resort numerous times and while swimming there often wondered why anyone that lived locally would ever join a club pool with this pool so easy to access. Looks like it would be about a 3 mile jog from Fort Wilderness to Orange Lake Resort. Run 3 miles, swim an hour, run back.
Last time I stayed there, it was owned by Mariott and all roads were public access. Not sure what, if anything, Holiday Inn Resorts might of changed when they bought it.
BTW, many of the large timeshare type resorts in the area have Oly or SCY pools. The issue is typically having to swim around kids and fat dudes floating on a tube. They are on vacation and that’s what they want to do, which if fine. That pool at Orange Lake Resort looks like it was built specifically for competition events, but was never used for that reason. So, it now wide open. Take advantage of it.
Several other people mentioned a taxi ride or rental car options, if that is possible for you there is a Y on international drive that honors the away program if you are a Y member @ home. Great facility, 50M x 25M pool (sometimes it’s laned off in the 25M direction so there are a lot of lanes available). The roof retracts as well so it’s kind of like open water…
There are a few options, as long as you have some transportation. Right across I-4 towards Orlando is the YM Aquatic center which has beautiful pools and a lot of open time, and has the away program. The best option, though is this!!!
Thanks for all the tips. Since I will not have a car I will route my first morning run by the Swan & Dolphin and the Orange Lake resort, so I can check out current access and decide which to head to for swims on later days. Both sound far better than the usual resort pool. If both have gotten wise and locked up, I should be able to find a way to get to the Y or Clermont once, so I don’t go 8 solid days without a swim (I don’t mind missing the bike for a week since it’s my strongest event, but I need all the time I can get in the water . . .).
Good luck. I’d do Lucky’s before Clermont, though. It’s just around Universal and much better swimming, as Clermont is a bit further away, and much more pricey. Enjoy!
Last summer in early june I stayed at the Dolphin - Swan Resort. They have two nice lap polls, that are wide open in the am…swam there everyday. These are very nice resorts. Staying at Wilderness may get you access to Swan - Dolphin pools, but there might be a lap pool at Wilderness Resort as well. However, they are the only (or among the few) resorts within Disney World that are not owned by Disney, so that access may not be true.
You can easily get to swan dolphin by the bus system.
for what it is worth, the swan - dolphin location is great - walking distance to both epocot and hollywood and the boardwalk with all its tourist amenities, easy bus ride to other resorts. It is not on the monorail system.