My COOLING secret

[IowaGirl]

I think I have a secret to help keep your cool at Disney! I could hardly wait to share this! I was at WDW 5/3-5/13 HOT! HOT! HOT!! 92-95 degree highs--anyway I brought misting fans since I read about them here, but I poked around Wal-Mart to see what I could find(I was actually looking for something similar to the Sharper Image personal cooler thing) when I stumbled upon something called "Aqua Cool" The reusable body cooler and it was in the sporting goods section in several places(fishing, baseball and bicycle extras)
They were $2.88 !!!!!They are like a bandana, or neckerchief, and they have little beads in them, and you soak them in cold water and they swell. We soaked them in the sink, then added a bunch of ice to make them really cold, loaded them into a plastic bag and hooked it on our stroller handle until we were ready to wear them (which didn't take long).
We hung them up to dry each night, and re-soaked them every morning.
I did have to re-place them after three days because my DH tried to freeze them, and that made the gel go bad, so we went to the Super Wal-Mart on Osceola and bought more.
People asked me all the time about them, and the very last day I brought the ones the rest of my family weren't wearing(they were at Discovery Cove)pre-soaked and gave them away. Gave away the last two at our last breakfast before we caught our plane home.

 

[jennymouse]

Explain more! How do they work and what do they look like? You just wear them around your neck? Does it get your clothes wet? Work well? Sounds great!

 

[RweTHEREyet]

The Wal-Mart price sounds great. If they are the item I am thinking about, I originally found mine in a luggage store, and they were called Cobbers. They originated in Australia. They are like a long snake like tube with a tie thing on each end. You wrap it around your neck and they look like a bandana. I stuck mine in one of the bags I am packing for next week and hubby asked why, I explained that everyone says it is really hot there right now and I would rather have them with me and not need them than leave at home and wish I had taken them with me. When dried out, they don't take up much room at all. Mine however, do not dry out for days, so I am surprised you had to refresh yours each morning.

They are great for using outside when doing yardwork, also when playing golf.

 

[RobinLyn]

"Thanks so Much" for the great tip, these look like they would be prefect for WDW or any other park in the hot summer. I'm going to my local Wal-Mart today to buy them for up coming trip in August. Jennymouse, you can look at these here: karstsports.com/aqcoolban.html
Don't forget to add the www to the url.


RobinLyn

 

[campingcorgi]

I saw someone with one of these several years ago at SeaWorld and it looked really 'cool', pardon the pun! I've always wondered about it--I am shopping today!!

Thanks for the info!!!

 

[IowaGirl]

They must work by dehydrating on you over the time you are wearing them. They swell to a tubular shape after you soak them in water and you wear them around your neck.
I re-wet them everyday just to refresh them and make them cold, they were still swollen everytime I re-freshed them in a water fountain during the day, or when I re-soaked them each morning, but it was so hot that it just felt better to run them through cold water as often as I could.
Important, don't try to freeze, the Gel seeped out of the bandana then.
They come in many different colors and prints. Camoflage, plain red, royal blue, western bandana, sports themes, plain black, etc.
After you wet them, and before you want to wear them, just let them drip dry a bit, or pat off excess water if you don't want it to drip on you.
Like I said, it felt great to have them on after they were in ice water!!!!
Note of caution--my son tried to wear one that my DH tried to freeze, then he got a few raised bumps on the back of his neck. We bought new ones, and after he got suncreen on, I put some vaseline just on the back of his neck, and he never got the bumps again. He was the only one affected, and he does have very sensitive skin. He did fine after we bought new ones.

 

[annsteere]

We carried these for a work trek I took to the Phillipines during hot weather. Unfortunately, a number of our team members got sick whenever they wore them. I suggest that you buy one and let family members try it out before investing in one per person. (About half of our group got nauseated, apparently from the high contrast between the cool beads and the 100 degree temperatures).

 

[jennymouse]

I'll certainly have to get some of those! Thanks very much for sharing this with us!

 

[lynniepooh]

Sounds great....I'll have to try them!

 

[sandyt67]

These things are great! We first saw these at a soccer tournament. Now, instead of buying them, we make them. They are fairly simple...just a tube of fabric with a couple seams to keep the beads in the center. Then you just sew off the ends to make the part you tie around your neck. You can get the polymer beads at a nursery or hardware store...they are the beads that keep plant soil moist. I have found them under the name "Soil Mist." Since we make them we can use any fabric prints we want. For our Disney trip we are going to make Disney themed ones.

 

[ckocot]

Hi Sandy, I tried to make some of these for my mom to wear on the golf course but never was able to get the amount of crystals right. They seemed to just about explode when soaked. How much do you put in? I had forgotten about these and I know I have a jar of that soil moist still. Thanks

 

[sandyt67]

I usually use somewhere between 1-2 teaspoons. I use a little more if the wrap is longer or the tube is wider. I would rather have too little than too much. If there is too much you can hardly wrap the thing around your neck!!

 

[ByJiminy]

These sound perfect for us, we are worried about how we'll handle the heat this summer. I want to try and make some, what a great idea to use Disney material. Sandy, is there any type of fabric that would be more suited to this? And the filling just goes in the part that will be right around your neck, and then there is a bit of extra for tying it? Thank you for posting about this, I'm really excited about trying this! Sorry for the questions, I'm having a hard time really visualizing it, I looked at the one on the link but couldn't really tell much.

 

[tink2dw]

Here is a better picture of the Cool Neck Bandanas. These are so inexpensive you may not need to make them!!

http://www.worknplaygear.com/Mercha...tore_Code=wnpg&Category_Code=personal_cooling


Here is another way to keep cool! It's a personal misty pack.

HydraMistPack Sport

http://www.worknplaygear.com/Mercha...Code=hydramistpacksport&Category_Code=misting

 

[ByJiminy]

Thanks for posting that site, that is very helpful. We may try making some since the kids get a kick out of little sewing projects, but if it doesn't work out I think that's a good price. Misty Mate looks neat also!

 

[Poohbear123]

Great idea! I got mine at the Mall for 10.00 each! (Should have ordered at the web site, but oh well).

 

[Maleficent2]

All the Parks now sell these and they are $5.00 and some change
not a bad deal for disney they also sell the hats at the Store across from Tuskers facing the safari ride.Sorry did not check the price.


We bought some at Walmart befor we left and although they are made by the same company that makes the disney ones they disney ones are better quality. We did accidently freeze ours and the walmart ones got a little oozee but the Disney ones did not.
Go figure

these ARE GREAT!!!!we hardly used our fans and with these Bandana's we were much cooler that usual. A small personal fan and a few bandana work great.

We also kept them in a ziploc bag (we had about 6- 2 a piece)with ice in it.So we could change them out when our body heat warmed them up.

After buying and using both the Disney ones and the walmart ones I like the Disney ones best.

I highly recommend these





Mal

 

[IowaGirl]

I agree, we did not really use our misting fans much while we were wearing these things. But, we went in May when there was not hardly any lines, but it was still real hot!!!

They must have just started to sell these at the parks because I never saw them.

I was just going to try to market these to Disney and make my millions!!!! Now I have to win the lottery!!