On September 21, 2022, I was in Disneyland Paris for a full-day event. It was a pretty busy day with lots of walking, and at the end of the night, I had taken 20.000 steps according to my Apple Watch, which was a bit over the 15.000 steps I normally take when visiting the parks.
So how many calories did I burn in Disneyland Paris during that day? Let me say it was less than I hoped!
The calories I burned in Disneyland Paris on a full day
My day started at 6:30 am and lasted until 11 pm, when I hardly took any breaks. A pretty active day, to say the least. How many calories did you think I burned? Since I did a lot of walking, it was a pretty long day…
Well, I was hoping for at least 1000, maybe even more. I did have multiple sturdy meals, so I needed to burn some calories.
However, the 20.000 steps I took only resulted in 966 calories burned… That was disappointing! In a previous post, I calculated how many calories I eat at Disneyland Paris, and let’s say the 966 covered breakfast. Not the hamburgers, pizza, and other things I ate at the Downtown restaurant.
No wonder I keep gaining weight when visiting theme parks.
To give a little background, I am a female in my thirties with a BMI of 20. My calories burned might not reflect yours but know that you are probably burning less than you think when visiting theme parks.
My weight does fluctuate a bit, though, and I’m currently on my lower end, coming from being overweight.
How to burn the extra calories at Disneyland Paris?
There are a few things you can do to burn extra calories for your snacks and desserts or to grab another Mickey pizza.
- Go to the gym. Most Disney Hotels have a gym that is open daily for hotel guests. The equipment is pretty high-end, and when I went to the gym, nobody was there.
- Take a morning run. If you stay in a Disney Hotel, you can do a nice morning on the way to the hotel. This will give you a nice 3km/1.8 miles run, which is perfect to start the day, and if you need a bit more, you can run to the Partner Hotels across the street and back. Remember that when you leave the hotel, you need a MagicPass to get back in.
- Go swimming. Almost all Disney Hotels have a pool where you can have some water fun and burn calories. The pools are open from 7 am until 10 pm and only for hotel guests.
- Take a brisk walk around the park. In the morning, I love to take photos and videos of the parks when the crowds are low. This means a lot of walking in a short time frame. From 8 am to 12 pm, I burned over 600 calories just walking through both parks.
