The Resorts Gal Guide to Pool Changing Areas, Showers, and Amenities at the Disney Resort Hotels

Imagine it’s your travel day to Walt Disney World. You were up exceptionally early for your flight and arrived at the hotel just a little before lunchtime. Unfortunately, your room isn’t ready, and you don’t have any significant plans for the day. So you find yourself sitting at the resort’s food court for lunch, hoping to get the text that your room is ready sooner rather than later. It’s hotter than you anticipated, and you don’t feel like doing anything until you change into something more suitable. You realize it’s warm enough to swim, and spending the afternoon at the pool doesn’t sound so bad. The kids would enjoy that, and you could find a spot in the shade to relax and enjoy the warm weather. Anxiously, you look at your phone again, hoping the room notification will magically appear.

I say it all the time: You don’t know what you don’t know. In the example above, the busy mom worked hard to plan their family vacation. Their travel plans went smoothly, but that all stopped when they arrived. Had she known ahead of time, she could have packed a separate swim bag, stored their luggage with Bell Services, and headed straight to the changing area at the pool. Nearly every pool (feature and quiet pool) has changing areas with showers and other amenities. You’ll want to locate the pool restrooms, and you’ll find these areas inside.

a pool changing area with orange, grey, and black tile with a stack of metal lockers

When You Might Need a Pool Changing Area

We’ve already discussed one example of when you might need to use the changing areas at the pool. Here are a few more:

Check-Out Day (If you have a later flight, you can spend the day at the pool. If you’ve already checked out of your room, you can shower and change at the pool before you head to the airport.)
Before Dinner (Say you spent the afternoon at the pool and have two or more adults who need to shower. You don’t want to leave the pool so early, so one person might return to the room to shower, and the other might use the shower at the pool.)
You’ve been at the pool all day and want to shower and do a few things around the resort before you return to the room. Whether your kids need a quick rinse or you need to wash the chlorine out of your hair, you can do so at the pool showers.

Amenities: Most pool restrooms have a small curtain with a divider between the shower and changing areas. Each pool shower has built-in toiletries (body wash, shampoo, and conditioner). Fresh, complimentary towels are typically stacked near the shower. If you can’t find one, you can grab one from the towel bin at the pool.

Hairdryers: We get a lot of questions about hairdryers at the pools. In the past, every resort pool had a hair dryer available. Once, we got drenched in a downpour at Magic Kingdom before a dining reservation at the California Grill. So I went to the resort’s pool changing area to freshen up and dry my hair. It was a lifesaver. You couldn’t do that at every resort, but the Contemporary Resort’s changing area sits outside the fenced pool area in a public restroom. Anyway, I was once more confident about finding a hair dryer at the pool. But, in my experience, hairdryers have become more of a hit-or-miss item.

Lockers: Most resort pools have a locker area inside the pool restrooms. Some have an older key system, where you pin the key to your swimsuit until you’re finished. The newer lockers have a coded entry. They are all available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Accessible Showers: All the resort pool showers are either wheelchair accessible or have an accessible option.

Fitness Centers: Some of the pools at the deluxe resorts have nearby fitness centers. Often, the fitness centers have better shower areas than the pool. This especially goes for the Ship Shape Health Club at Stormalong Bay and the Zahanati Fitness Center at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Also, if you need the shower at Disney’s Boardwalk’s feature pool, use the one inside the Muscles and Bustles Health Club.

Here are a few photos of what to expect. We’ve labeled each photo with its location. We don’t have every changing room photographed, but as you can see below, they are all similar.

feature image that shows a set of lockers and walk in showers in a pool bath at a Disney Resort — **Disney’s Pop Century Resort Shower, Lockers, and Changing Area**

orange, grey, and black tile in the pool changing area at Art of Animation — **Disney’s Art of Animation Cars Section Pool Locker Room**

a regular shower stall and a handicapped shower stall at Art of Animation Resort Pool — **Pool Shower Stalls (Accessible and Regular)**

a walk-in shower with toiletries like shampoo. conditioner, and body wash at Disney's Caribbean Beach — **Disneys Caribbean Beach Pool Shower**

the pool changing area at Fort Wilderness — **Changing Area at the Swimmin’ Hole Pool at Fort Wilderness**

Walk-in Shower at Jambo House pool — **Pool showers are available in the restrooms and at the gym at Jambo House.**

sinks and a hair dryer at the Samawati Springs Pool at Kidani Village — **Kidani Village Sink and Hairdryers**

the shower and changing area at the Kidani Village Pool — **Pool Showers and Changing Areas at Kidani Village**

changing area at Stormalong Bay — **Showers and changing areas are available at the pool and fitness center at Stormalong Bay. (Disney’s Beach and Yacht Club)**

pool changing area at the Swan Hotel at Disney World — **Pool Shower at Disney’s Swan and Dolphin**

a hairdryer by the sink — **Hairdryer at the Swan and Dolphin Pool Changing Room**

the pool showers at the Lava Pool at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort — **Pool Showers at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort**

pool shower and changing area at Disney's Wilderness Lodge — **Pool Shower and Changing Area at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge**

the pool showers at Disney's Riviera Resort — **Pool Shower and Changing Area at Disney’s Riviera Resort**

Pool changing areas at Disney's Old Key West Resort — **Pool Shower at Disney’s Old Key West Resort**

hair dryer at Old Key West — **Hairdryer at Disney’s Old Key West**

lockers near the pool at Saratoga Springs — **Storage lockers are outside the changing area at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort.**

Final Thoughts

We hope you found this guide helpful to your planning process. If you missed it, we have a separate article with 12 Tips for Planning Your Arrival Day at Disney World. For more about the pools at Disney World, you might enjoy one of the following:

You might also enjoy our complete overview with FAQs for the pools at Disney World.

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In the Comments

Were you aware of these changing areas at the resort hotel pools? Do you have any other tips for when to use them? Let us know in the comments section below.