1st trip home was a disaster!

[jadejazzkayla]

Orlando has an outbreak of Strep and Rotavirus at the moment
Tiger

so glad to hear your child is better! but as a mother whose baby once caught rotavius AFTER already being hospitalized, i can tell you they are very germy places (as any public place is!) btw, two weeks ago we we're delighted to see two beautiful ducks swimming around in the bwv pool...until one of them pooped! no wonder so many people get sick.

 

[momsully]

btw, two weeks ago we we're delighted to see two beautiful ducks swimming around in the bwv pool...until one of them pooped! no wonder so many people get sick.

Our entire family was at BCV for a reunion last March and each and every one of us got sick and continued to have problems for almost a month. The pediatrician said it was most likely from the ducks swimming in the pool and contaminating the water. Since then we have not been back to BCV, while the pool is nice it is not worth getting sick. From what I understand there are always ducks in that pool.

 

[Alexander]

Our entire family was at BCV for a reunion last March and each and every one of us got sick and continued to have problems for almost a month. The pediatrician said it was most likely from the ducks swimming in the pool and contaminating the water. Since then we have not been back to BCV, while the pool is nice it is not worth getting sick. From what I understand there are always ducks in that pool.

Well, you better stay away from WDW then. Because the ducks in are in all of the pools! I've seen them at OKW, BCV, and VWL. I find it hard to believe that the chlorine in the pools doesn't take care of that! It seems like more people would be sick and if so they would take more measures to keep them out of the pools.

 

[Melrosgirl]

UGH! So sorry to hear this!

In Dec. 2003, my dd came down with strep throat at WDW (it was our 5th day there). Doc came to our room at VWL and said she had already seen 5 patients that day at our hotel, lol. It was horrible for her and I'm crossing my fingers the kids (and us) are okay for our next trip.

 

[Melrosgirl]

so glad to hear your child is better! but as a mother whose baby once caught rotavius AFTER already being hospitalized, i can tell you they are very germy places (as any public place is!) btw, two weeks ago we we're delighted to see two beautiful ducks swimming around in the bwv pool...until one of them pooped! no wonder so many people get sick.

Well watch out then b/c for every duck that poops in the pool, there are 2 kids who pee or poop in the pool also (do you really think the pull ups diaper bathing suits hold it all in?)

 

[lllovell]

Well watch out then b/c for every duck that poops in the pool, there are 2 kids who pee or poop in the pool also (do you really think the pull ups diaper bathing suits hold it all in?)

Those are only to hold in the "big jobs". So you are right!!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Now, I know it's been a long time since I have had little kids, but I have never understood why ANYONE would take a diaper wearing child into a public pool!

 

[lenshanem]

That's nothing.

Does anyone remember my trip report from BWV last June?

Hubby and I saw a GROWN MAN pee in the pool and then swim away. A nice yellow blob surrounded him. The lifeguard must have saw it from his chair, cause he walked over and looked in the pool.

YUCK!!! I would rather swim in baby pee, than old man pee!

 

[lllovell]

Now, I know it's been a long time since I have had little kids, but I have never understood why ANYONE would take a diaper wearing child into a public pool!

My sons are potty trained now, but our experience last weekend would go far towards explaining why. We were at Coronado Springs swimming with my 3 year old. He went right for the kiddie pool (which had fountains) and it was FREEZING!!! The main pool was heated, the kiddie pool was not.

I guess I dont really understand your concerns in some ways and I do in others. I don't have a problem with small children in pools, but then, mine aren't that far from the times when we went swimming when they were NOT potty trained yet and I would not want to take those experiences away from them or hubby and I.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Well, you better stay away from WDW then. Because the ducks in are in all of the pools! I've seen them at OKW, BCV, and VWL. [...]

Hey, I see no mention of SSR! Woo-hoo, a positive about my home! How's this sound? "Saratoga Springs: too big & too small, but no duck poop in our pool!"

 

[lllovell]

 

[chris1gill]

I just wanted to mention first, that I'm glad your DD is better now that you are home, that is great news... But, our last trip down to Disney in October, we were the last people of the day to check in & of course we got a smoking room when I'd requested non-smoking due to medical... this wasn't any smoking room, I could smell it down the hall as we approached it & it's door was closed It was a true nightmare, my plan from that moment on was to never check in late, it's not the first time we've gotten really lousy placement checking in late... it happened to us before at Coronado.... anyhow, just wanted to say I know how it feels...

We went for a number of visits where every single time ONE of us was sick & had to go to the hospital, my & DD's illnesses had nothing to do with germs, but perhaps DS's did, we'll never know... but you raise good points about washing hands and keeping everyone clean.

Anyhow, here's hoping for a magical trip next time!

 

[MinnieGi]

So sorry to hear about your baby having to be admitted to the hospital. I hope she is doing better now.

 

[Dean]

Just wanted to mention something....

My pediatrician swears that kids tend to go in yearly cycles in which they are sick. One year, he'll see his patients over and over for one thing after another, and the following year not see them at all. He attributes this to the body's natural way of developing immunity. A kid will get sick with, say, strep throat, and while their body fights the strep, it becomes susceptable to other viruses and is easily infected. This will go on for a while until the body becomes immune, and the following year the kid will tend to be super immune and barely get sick.

I've watched my kids the last four years, and he seems to be right. The do go in yearly cycles, and we are in a "not sick" cycle this year.

I guess where I'm going with this is to urge you to not get down on going again.... your child's immunity might be much better when you go again.

Sorry to hear about the worry and stress!

I'd concur that seems to happen. Some kids seem to get ill more than others for some reason. And then there are the kids that get complications like asthma, allergies, ear infections, etc. And there is a large group of kids that just seem to over react to illness and instead of being sick for a few days will be sick for 2-3 weeks with minor viruses. These kids immune system basically over react to anything. Some of those will develop sinus infections, asthma and the like.

What do you think of hand sanitizing products?

The hospital studies suggest they are far better than hand washing but the individual products require opening a cap or something where it's easy to transfer germs. And nothing is perfect by any means.

 

[WOW]

Soooooorry about your poor little baby. That must have been terrifying for you and your hubby. But, thank God that she is better now. We have been going to WDW since our kids were 5 & 6 and never did they pick up anything there. But something interesting happened one year. Our son had a very bad cut on his foot just about a week before we were going to Disney, he had stitches and our DR suggested that we get them taken out in Florida. So the Doctor and his nurse came to our condo. The DR was a little hesitant to take the stitches out because he told us that because there are soooo many people from different parts of the world visiting Disney, that there are just a multitude of germs. He decided not to take the stitches out (was afraid that he would get an infection) and we had them removed when we returned home. I don't want to inflame anyone here, but that is what we were told. So we are extra cautious regarding cleanliness when we are there. We go 2 to 3 times a years, so it has never stopped us from ejoying Disney. We love it more and more each year.

 

[Tiger926]

Good point Dean about caps on hand sanitizing products. We actually squirt a bit of gel into our hands to wipe off the caps first, and then we use the clean cap to dispense gel into our hands. What do you think of this practice? I'm actually going to email Disney regarding the fact that they should have hand sanitizing products all over Disney world, but especially at the biometric scanners. As well, they need to have spray sanitizers or gels available in the Baby Care Centres as well. Each and every time our Montessori teachers change a diaper, they spray down the diaper change area with a special spray, as well as wipe down the area with an antibacterial wipe and we believe that this really has helped in keeping my daughter's class of 9 preschool children healthy this year.

Great discussion here - good points about the non-smoking issues as well. My DH and I really believe that all rooms should be non-smoking for various reasons: medical reasons as well as the fact that we are sure that these rooms use up a bigger chunk of the maintenance budget for things like: cleaning drapes & upholstery, as well as repainting of walls, etc... I'm sure smoking rooms require more maintenance than non-smoking rooms. Not to mention the fact that when we purchased, our guide did not tell us that we would ever have a problem with getting our non-smoking room, if I had known that I had to check in by a certain time just to see if my 'request' could be honored, I'm not so sure I would have purchased into DVC, since the smoking issue is a big deal for my daughter and I. Hopefully we won't have problems at SSR in July.

Again, I thank all of you for your well wishes. My DD had a fabulous day at school today, and is feeling much better. It's hard to believe that one week ago we were so worried about her health - God has truly watched over us this past week!

Tiger

 

[plamp]

We had a similar experience 8 years ago when my daughter was one. A few days before we were leaving we found she had an ear infection. I figured a few days on antibiotics would clear it up as usual and we did not want to cancel the trip. That was a terrible mistake.
She got much worse at Disney, wouldn't hold anything down and became dehydrated and lethargic. We vistited the clinic and we were considering a hospital admission, but she started coming around. It was very scary being so far from home with our baby so sick.
Then my wife ended up getting strep. My son (almost 7 at the time) was OK until on the plane home he threw up.
That was our last trip to WDW.
We decided no more long trips till the kids got a little older and then we had another baby boy in 1996. Besides the illness issues, with 2 pre-schoolers it is just a lot of work to take our show on the road. We spent the last several years taking shorter vacations within 4-5 hours driving distance of home. Fortunately there are a lot of vacation places not too far away but we have pretty much exhausted our local options and we started looking at DVC last year.
Now that our youngest is 6 we are finally making our way back to WDW in 4 weeks, our first trip home as DVC members.

 

[greenban]

Well add internet boards to fomites as a source of strep as well. Since I posted by brief Strep BIO, my DD (12) just came down with atypically presenting Strep. Low grade fever, + cough, no sore throat, no tonsilar exudate, no anterior cervical nodes, but a rip-roaring + rapid Strep!

-Tony

 

[rinkwide]

Sounds like there should be fine print on the back of annual passes warning of the increased risk of contracting hemorrhagic fever everytime you enter a park.

This thread is making me want to go live in a cave in Outer Mongolia.

 

[Tiger926]

I'm confused - are you guys (greenban & rinkwide) making fun of the fact that I as well as many other posters have had horrible sick experiences with our families at WDW? I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume not, but if so, that is extremely rude considering how scary our (and many others') experiences have been!

Tiger