Dan Burn went to Florida one week early with his family and says the Disney World trip helped him acclimatise to the heat before England's World Cup camp properly got going. The 34-year-old, whose route to the squad has included pushing trolleys at Asda and playing non-league football, said the early trip gave him a useful head start.
Why Burn thought the early trip helped
"I didn't notice (the heat) that much, if I am being honest. I have been here a week before, I did Disney with the kids because I wanted to get a bit of a head start. Honestly, I think that helped," Burn told independent.co.uk. "Don't get us wrong, it wasn't like a Saturday afternoon in Newcastle, but I felt a lot better than I was expecting to."
He also said, "It doesn't feel like the World Cup yet, but coming in and seeing the fans, the hype of it all and getting excited about it, so, yeah, I was happy with how it went."
Burn said about half the squad took the same early-travel route and half did not. That leaves some room for personal preference, but his own view is pretty clear: the Florida detour worked for him.
What the early travel says about England's build-up
England's preparation has been shaped by Thomas Tuchel's encouragement for players to take family holidays in the same time zone if they wanted a break before the tournament. Burn's experience fits that approach, with the holiday doing more than just filling time before camp.
His recent Newcastle numbers suggest he arrived in decent rhythm too. Burn averaged 6.52 across his last five Newcastle matches and 77 minutes per game, and he scored once in those five matches. England's listed fixtures are Croatia on 2026-06-17, Ghana on 2026-06-23 and Panama on 2026-06-27, so any help with heat and recovery is likely to matter again quickly.
Burn did not claim the Disney trip was some magic formula, and it does not need to be. He said he felt better for it, and on the evidence of his own comments, that is enough for England to view the Florida stopover as a sensible option rather than a novelty.
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