Flu bug going around at Disney?

[Gorechick]

I got sick our first night with stomach issues, I think from dinner. Then me and the kids got head colds and minor cough at the tail end of our trip and once we were home. Colds did not last long though.

 

[Satchmo128]

I'm sorry your DH is sick, but I hope he is on the mend in no time!

Each of our past three WDW trips (we usually stay for 8-9 days) has had either DH or I (or both of us, ew..... ) sick with a stomach bug at some point during our trip.

Most recently, when we were there last November, I was the gal who had the joy of tossing her cookies in the middle of the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot. (My apologies if anyone was there to witness this VERY embarrassing event)

Lots of germs + run down immune system + exhausting/dehydration + eating different foods = stomach bugs

We are going to try to remember Emergen-C on our next trip (which we drink every day at home).

 

[hokie98]

I think it's the time of the year. 1/3 of DD's classmates have been sick this week. She is on the couch now with a fever. Flu, strep, and other nasty germs (she tested neg for flu & strep, so she has the "other") are running rampant here in AL. So I can imagine WDW is crawling with germs. Hopefully our immunity will be strong by the time we arrive in a couple of weeks!

 

[LuckyGirl777]

We just got back from WDW and my DH and I are sick with the flu (regular flu not stomach).

Somehow our kids seem ok (knock wood)

It was my first trip there, and my last. Even though we had fun until we got sick, I will never go back there. This flu has just ruined WDW in my eyes. There are just too many people, it's too crowded, too many people touching the same things. The chance of contracting something is just too high IMO.

 

[Peace Mickey Lovers]

I hope everyone feels better. planning on bringing lots of antibacterial wipes, purel and wiping hotels room down. Pray for a good trip and leave the rest to fate.

 

[disneygal55]

We just got back from WDW and my DH and I are sick with the flu (regular flu not stomach).

Somehow our kids seem ok (knock wood)

It was my first trip there, and my last. Even though we had fun until we got sick, I will never go back there. This flu has just ruined WDW in my eyes. There are just too many people, it's too crowded, too many people touching the same things. The chance of contracting something is just too high IMO.

I am so sorry that you feel this way. My DH and I started coming to WDW 26 years ago (on our honeymoon) and have visited at least yearly if not twice a year since then. We have brought our children...who are now adults...nearly every time. In all those visits we have caught a couple of colds and once my older son did get some kind of stomach thing. But we have also come down with illnesses back home too. The malls, schools, even doctor's ofices can make you sick. I don't know if it helps but for the last couple of years, I use lysol wipes in the resort rooms and clean off the TV remote, phone (and the phone buttons), door knobs, light switches etc. My DH thinks I'm crazy but it makes me feel better. We also try to wash our hands a lot. Don't give up on WDW! It's given my family more happy memories than we could have imagined and we will keep going back again and again.

 

[disneygal55]

I forgot to say that my DH and I just got back from WDW last week and neither of us is sick.

 

[Michaelasmommy]

We ended our last two Disney trips with stomach bugs. It hit my son in the middle of Epcot two years ago. He vomited in almost every country as we tried to make our way out of the park. This past summer, I felt ill in the Magic Kingdom and vomited on the bus on the way back to our hotel. We have another trip scheduled in January and I am just praying that we stay healthy for the entire trip.

 

[tiki23]

We were at WDW 9/24-10/1. I came down with a nasty sore throat, head and chest thing on the 4th day of the trip, and wasn't sure if I was going to be up to running the 5K on the 29, but I made it.

On the 5th night, DH came down with a severe 24-hour gastro thing; took him a couple of days to feel better.

Thankfully we didn't infect each other!

 

[pfalcioni]

It was my first trip there, and my last. Even though we had fun until we got sick, I will never go back there. This flu has just ruined WDW in my eyes. There are just too many people, it's too crowded, too many people touching the same things. The chance of contracting something is just too high IMO.

If you are from a very small community, homeschool your kids, and your and/or your husband works at a home or in a small business with no customer contact, I can see this being a valid reason to not vacation at places where people congregate.

But do you go to church? How about sporting events? Concerts? Shopping at the mall? Visit the zoo? Local public pool?

All of these will put you in contact with a large amount of people in a small area.

I agree that being sick on vacation sucks, but it's a possibility wherever you go. I had a migraine on our most recent vacation (not Disney, motorcycling through New Mexico) - left me stuck in a dark hotel room for 2 days. Sure messed with our touring plan, but that's life. Stuff happens.

 

[KJMAX1]

So far at Disney, we have caught 3 illness' in the 8 times we have gone. One being a really BAD stomach flu, this time of year. In Aug one year we all caught H1N1. This last time my 1 yr old broke out the last day of our trip all over the place, with a high fever as well. Yeah, came home and it was Hand Foot Mouth.....all of these were near the end of our two week trip, so we knew it had to come from WDW.

 

[minnie mum]

If you are from a very small community, homeschool your kids, and your and/or your husband works at a home or in a small business with no customer contact, I can see this being a valid reason to not vacation at places where people congregate.

But do you go to church? How about sporting events? Concerts? Shopping at the mall? Visit the zoo? Local public pool?

All of these will put you in contact with a large amount of people in a small area.

I agree that being sick on vacation sucks, but it's a possibility wherever you go. I had a migraine on our most recent vacation (not Disney, motorcycling through New Mexico) - left me stuck in a dark hotel room for 2 days. Sure messed with our touring plan, but that's life. Stuff happens.

Pretty much what I was going to say. It's always unfortunate when someone falls ill on a vacation, but this is hardly unique to WDW. Any time you have a large, diverse, and transient population you will be fair game for whatever virus other people bring with them and spread about with such generosity. Prudent preventive actions like trying to maintain some semblance of personal space, frequent handwashing, and not touching your face with your hands can go a long way to boosting your chances of staying healthy. But nothing is guaranteed. Anywhere.

I just returned from a 2 week vacation in Japan- one of the cleanest countries in the world. On our last day I came down with a nasty GI bug. Not what you want to have when facing a 14 hour plane ride. Thank God for Lomotil.

 

[LuckyGirl777]

If you are from a very small community, homeschool your kids, and your and/or your husband works at a home or in a small business with no customer contact, I can see this being a valid reason to not vacation at places where people congregate.

But do you go to church? How about sporting events? Concerts? Shopping at the mall? Visit the zoo? Local public pool?

All of these will put you in contact with a large amount of people in a small area.

I agree that being sick on vacation sucks, but it's a possibility wherever you go. I had a migraine on our most recent vacation (not Disney, motorcycling through New Mexico) - left me stuck in a dark hotel room for 2 days. Sure messed with our touring plan, but that's life. Stuff happens.

Wait what? Where did I say that we homeschool and we are recluses? We are normal people with normal lives, jobs, school and we have never all been this sick ever. And we live in a major metro area.

For me, WDW was not worth this, so I will not be going back again. Perhaps for other people it is worth it.

My SIL is down there this week and they are all sick too, five days into their trip. Coincidence? Maybe.

There are many factors that do make WDW a more likely place to contract an infectious disease. No matter how much one loves the place or not, I don't think you can deny that. So many people, crowds, all riding rides etc, touching bars and rails, being exposed to bugs from all around the country and the world. It's nothing like a normal life at home.

Again, some people may think it is worth the risk, and that's fine. We did have fun, but in the end, I don't think it was worth this and I would never expose my family again.

ETA: And now my two kids have it : (

 

[auralia]

I'm in Georgia and my DD started a fever Wednesday night and it was in the 102-103 range for 4 days and then finally down to 99 on Monday. The doctor said to send her to school even with the 99 and refused to write a doctors note for another day off school. She is on antibiotics with an upper respiratory infection

 

[sephorachick]

I went to WDW 1st week in Oct & I was sick for 3-3.5 weeks with Disney Flu. I feel SOOOOOO much better now but now it is cold outside GL all!!!!!

 

[kandb]

We have gone down yearly for the last 6 years. Three times (50%) someone in our family has come down with the stomach bug. I do believe disney has more germs that most other places and I have to say, that I think they should have more sanitizer stations near the rides/around the park. I don't know why they refuse to put up sanitizing stations, probably because it doesn't "look" pretty.

 

[AlohaAnnie]

We have had a stomach virus during 4 different trips to WDW over the years. It happens.

I agree it is germ infested. So many people from different states & international.

I agree most people will not cancel due to illness.

We had a neighbor take their kids that had head lice. This still freaks me out to this day. I can barely fly thinking about this & I no longer let my kids try on hats at WDW in stores.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[beansmom]

\

For me, WDW was not worth this, so I will not be going back again. Perhaps for other people it is worth it.

\ (

you are joking, right?

you're going to stop 'living' (so to speak) because you are afraid you will run across a germ? I just returned from my first trip to Hawaii with some delightful lil creature incubating in my tract but I will certainly go back. (ok, if it happens a second time, then i'd have to re-think)

germs are everywhere and it's our phobia of them that has in part created this mess. We wash and sanitize and purify until our bodies can't fight back against the unknown any more.

I'm not going to deny myself going someplace because i might get an upset stomach around the trip.

 

[electricsoup]

We left on 10/31, and I spent the night of 11/2 (and almost all of 11/3) sick. Then my daughter, and my son got it. It could be Disney, it could not be. We always look at Disney as a great way to improve our immune system.

Either way, to never go back because of it? Good golly, just lock yourself up in a room and plastic wrap the windows shut. Make sure you never visit a large metro area either. That sort of thinking will make you sicker in the long term.

I've been to Disney 9 times in my life and this was a first. And there's no way it'll keep me from going back!

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

We usually go to Disney in the Summer, and we've been very lucky to not have caught anything. But, we've also gone in Dec. We've seen people be sick while they were there, and one time DD got sick in the middle of the night after we got home, but no one else got sick. She ate a burger from Burger King at MCO and she said it tasted weird after she ate it, so it may have been that.

We are going this year in Dec. for the first time in 3 years, we will use hand sanitizer (and yes I know everyone says it doesn't work, but I work in many schools with many germs and I've been lucky using it, so we will use it there), and we will wash our hands frequently too. We always do in line, and exiting a ride. My hands get a good workout with sanitizer at Disney, and we will hope and pray we don't get sick this time too. But when you get a large group of people together, germs are likely; just like malls, churches, and schools. Disney is not impervious to germs, they don't breed the germs, people do and if you go to Disney sick and walk around the parks, you are spreading the wealth (so to speak!!!). So, if you don't want germs stay away from places with crowds and stay home, but not me ~ I'm going to Disney!!!!