If you spend time at a theme park you know it can be a lot of walking. In some cases it’s 5-10 miles in a day complete with stairs and hills at some parks. That can be a serious workout and a new article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that it could actually be incredibly good for your health. The study showed that older adults who got 150 minutes of aerobic activity every week lessened their mortality risk by 31% compared to those who do not exercise. This means that the weekend trip to your local park with your season pass is “healthcare” if it gets you off the couch and away from screens.

If you use an Apple Watch or other health tracker, your graph might look a lot like mine with big spikes of activity on the weekend, often correlated with a theme park visit. Most health experts would recommend you break that 150 minutes up over at least 3 days, but getting 150 minutes per week by any means necessary is better than not getting it. Aerobic activity in theme park world would be a brisk walk between attractions, probably not as brisk as your rope drop walk to your first attraction, and faster than a slow queue line crawl. In addition to physical health and longer life there are other benefits to aerobic activity such as improved cognition, mental health and quality of life. You may also get some vitamin D which is great for your immune system, but be sure to use sunscreen to avoid sunburn and skin cancer!

I’m also a huge fan of the LogRide App. LogRide can track your rides and parks visited (4,000+ parks and 72,000+ attractions), but it can also track your mileage and steps inside of theme parks. I was shocked at my first year end review of 2023 where I walked 174 miles in theme parks. If you add it all up from 2022-2025 I’m approaching 500 miles! I’d highly recommend LogRide for both tracking your credit count, finding new places to visit and tracking health related stats.

We’re probably not at the point yet where you can use your HSA to buy your theme park season pass, but the health effects could be real, especially if it’s an easy way for you to get physical activity. Rides can have some big physical forces too as Big Thunder Mountain at Disney was rumored to help pass kidney stones! There was even a design of a flat ride turned into a “centrifugal birthing machine” to help in childbirth. Theme parks can also help your mental health in that time with friends and family standing in a queue line can make for great conversation. Pulse quickening fear and adrenaline rushes aside, experiencing a wide array of emotions through story can positively impact mental health too. So the next time you’re at your local park, perhaps just pick up the speed of your walk a little and view it as a combination of fun and a workout, your future self may thank you!