You do need to be careful not to OVERhydrate - which is where electrolyte replacement helps, but you still have to be careful. A quart an hour is not necessarily accurate for everyone - for a tiny person that is likely going to over hydrate them and for someone larger it may not be enough.
The scariest thing about overhydration (hyponatremia) is that the symptoms are virtually identical to dehydration.
A good friend of mine -who is pretty tiny - got hyponatremia at the 2020 WDW Marathon and was hospitalized for a while - partly because they had to reverse the hydration they had started thinking she was dehydrated because of those mirroring symptoms when her boyfriend got to the tent and said she had been drinking a LOT over the course, matching his hydration and he’s about twice her size. She had been too out of it to say that herself.
Misting fans were big for us. In addition to all of the above great tips, we always tried to get from point A to Point B by traveling through an A/C building. For example, in MK, you have the shops on Main Street, and the Trading Post. In HS, you have the shops on Hollywood and Sunset Blvd., In AK, there is Island Mercantile. Epcot is tough with all of the construction, but we still tried to cut through A/C when possible. It helps just to get out of the heat for a short time.
Also, I know you are planning to break mid-day, but if you happen to be in the parks at all in the afternoons, we tried to schedule a TS meal or some A/C shows for the hottest part of the day. Even B&B has nice huge fans blowing.
I don’t think I would want a MISTING fan, because humidity is already so high and I am usually already sweaty. Our neck fan didn’t have a mister, and it was quite pleasant.
My biggest issue with the misting fans is kids who are left unsupervised (either no adult around or adults not paying attention or who half-heartedly say “Oh, stop that…” but don’t do anything) with them who start spraying each other and inevitably get those around them - who may not WANT to be sprayed - wet.
Adding to the list of items to pull out for security…last trip I had one of the rechargeable dual cooling fans that sit around your neck and we determined that was what kept setting off security even though I had taken out our umbrellas, phone and charger. We always hold up the metal water bottles separately also if we have them.
You’re welcome! It seems to be mostly heard of around running. But back when some radio stations were doing “who can drink the most water” there were some serious illnesses and maybe a death due to over drinking.
Something else to think about …hydrating starts before you even arrive at WDW. Make sure you are drinking what you need in the days before spending all day every day out in the heat & humidity, … and then during those days as well.
My younger brother ended up in the ER from heat exhaustion at 16yo when he was marching drum corps. He was drinking what he thought was enough water, but he is a big guy (6’2") and it wasn’t. The hospital said he was very close to heat stroke. They stripped him down, covered him with cool towels, had fans blowing over him, and he sucked in 2.5 bags of saline/IV fluids!
From what I remember from school, it’s difficult to overhydrate if you have normal kidneys. You would have to drink a lot (think 1+ L) of water per hour to overwhelm your kidneys. I’d worry more about dehydration, but yeah, we shouldn’t overdo it and force ourselves to drink if we are not thirsty
It can be very serious and difficult to manage once admitted to the hospital. They can’t just give you a sodium bolus, it needs to be administered slowly over several hours and you need to have your labs checked hourly after each bolus.
We always drink lots of water but try to get a salty snack or bring chips.
