Another bed bug warning! (OKW)

mules0308

Go Sox!!
Joined
Mar 14, 2008
Messages
9
Hi everyone,

I have been a long time lurker of disboards and do not usually write in forums like this, but I want to remind you all to check for bed bugs when staying at WDW, even in the DVC resorts, where you might be surprised to find them.

My family has been a member of DVC (OKW is home resort) since the '90s, and I have been going to WDW since I was a little kid. We have had many wonderful stays at OKW over the years....and we continue to love it! However, we were just there during the first week of March (just got back last weekend), and I, kind of being the odd ball out, had to sleep on the sleeper sofa in our two bedroom room in building 41 near the Turtle Pond pool. It wasn't until after I got home that I realized that my room most likely had bed bugs in the sofa bed/couch.

I was aware of the bed bug problems in this country before our trip, but I was still ignorant and I did not think to inspect my mattress/couch at OKW. In hindsight, I remember seeing little black dots on the arm of the sleeper sofa during the trip, but at the time, I just figured they were from a child playing with a pen or something and I didn't think much of it. Also, I did see two bugs on two evenings while watching tv, but I just thought they were some benign, Florida bug. I did not notice anything else unusual until the last couple days of the trip, when little black "ink-like" spots appeared on the sheets and i got three little, itchy bites on my feet. I became a little suspicious, but due to my previous ignorance regarding bed bugs, I did not suspect them.

I got home the next day and started thinking about it...My suitcase was on the floor next to the sleeper sofa all week, and it was sitting on my bedroom floor for most of the day when I got home. I did some research online and began to freak out when I saw photos of the bugs and sheets. I immediately searched my suitcase and found a bug in a crease on the outside of the bag that looks exactly like the bed bug photos online!!!!! I threw all my clothes from the suitcase into trash bags and washed them in hot water, but now I am left paranoid wondering if there are any more bugs crawling around my apartment!! It's not a good feeling, and I'm definitely keeping my eyes open.

My parents stayed at the resort a few extra days, but switched to a one-bedroom after the rest of us left. They contacted the front desk the day after I got home, and the lady they spoke with said she'd tell her manager...I sure hope she did and that they took a look at our room! I don't want to scare anyone about their upcoming visits to OKW, I just want to remind everyone to check their beds/couches first thing. Oh, and to not put your luggage on the floor like I did! (Sorry for the long post).

Enjoy your trips...I know I always look forward to our visits each year!
 
Thanks for the heads up.. I will be looking when I go in june.. I wonder how they get rid of them(now that I am itching all over!) That is so nasty! Thanks again
 
Thanks for that heads up. We usually feel quite comfortable and I suppose naive at DVC.

FYI, bedbugs take mass extermination efforts and can take weeks or months to eradicate!
 
All I can say is :scared:

Hope they haven't spread to your home and your bites heal!
 

Thanks so much for the info. I think I will learn from you and check every motel out from now on (even DVC). Do you have a link to the picture of a bed bug? Not sure if I know what they look like.

By the way, how are your bites healing? Are you putting anything on them that works?
 
My reaction to the bites is not as extreme as some of the photos you can find online. You can do a google image search for bed bugs, and Harvard and U of Kentucky have good sites. I guess each individual reacts differently, and some do not react at all, which is a little scary since then you won't know if they are around! I initially put hydrocortisone ointment on them for the itching, and they don't really itch too much anymore. It's tough though, I have noticed some more random red bumps on my skin, but I don't know for sure if I got those at OKW too or if they are related to something here.

I really hope I don't have them at my apartment. I notified my landlord that it could potentially be an issue, but we were not sure if it would be worth doing anything too extreme yet just because I found one bug on my suitcase. I have no idea if there were more in there, but I sealed the whole thing shut in a trash bag. I also got a mattress and boxspring cover for my bed.
 
I look at bed bugs as a possibility at ANY hotel or resort... that is why we always wash all the clothing we took on vacation immediately apon arriving at home.
They get into walls, under carpeting pretty much anywhere..... that's why the are close to impossible to get rid of. I used to work at a homeless shelter and they seemed to move from room to room even though the exterminators were diligent in their efforts to get rid of them.
 
OK....how do you check for bedbugs....

If I pull the bed apart....am I looking for anything else but little black
bugs?
thanks
kerri
 
Wow
What a coincidence....there was a special about bed bugs on TV on the 13th.
Normally I would recommend not to pay to much attention to negative posts from someone who has never posted before.
 
I was not trying to make a "negative" comment about Disney - like I said, I've been a WDW fan my whole life and I will definitely go back to OKW next year. :) However, since I know there are many OKW fans on this board from reading for a while, I just wanted to make people aware of the possibility of bed bugs and to remind them to check their beds at hotels. I never thought I would find them at a Disney hotel, and it shocked me enough to feel compelled to put up a post on this website.

About checking the bed: from what I've read online, if you see small black, "ink-like" spots on the sheets, that is possibly bed bug excrement. You should also lift up the sheet that is on the mattress and check for bugs in the seams, creases, bindings of the mattress, especially the edges.

Oh, and my parents notified the castmembers at the front desk of OKW the day after we realized the sofa bed likely had the bugs. We would not let that go unreported to them.
 
That's terrible. From what I've heard you can look for a white "sawdust type" residual in drawer corners and headboards. Did Disney offer to move you to another room?
 
Katallo,

I did not realize there was a possible problem until the day I got home from my trip, when I started putting all the signs together and found a bug on my suitcase that matches photos online. (I did not think about it down there due to ignorance about bed bugs and probably also the denial that I would find them at Disney). I freaked out and called my parents, who were staying at OKW a few extra days, but in a different room. So, we were all out of the room when the problem was identified. I really hope I'm not speaking too soon, but I have not seen any signs other than the bug i caught on my suitcase since I got home.

I just want to say that other than this issue, we had an awesome trip. The weather was great for the most part. It rained a couple nights, including our pirates and princess party night, but overall it was a nice change from the winter we're having in the northeast. The crowds were quite light, and we filled up on too much good food too! :laughing:
 
Yuck. I'm sure glad in all my trips to OKW over the past 14 years, I have never had that problem. I'm used to the giant Florida bugs, but bedbugs are just disgusting.:scared1:
 
Sorry to hear about your bad experience at OKW. I am going down in a few weeks. Can you tell me what room in building 41 you stayed in?
 
Sorry to hear about your bad experience at OKW. I am going down in a few weeks. Can you tell me what room in building 41 you stayed in?

Don't worry too much about it. We were in building 38 in March (about the time this thread came out), and didn't see a bed bug.
 
I believe I read something that says to put a hairdryer on the mattress and see if they come to the surface (they like body heat) but I don't know how that would be possible whereas the dryers are attached in the bathroom but it could certainly work once you get home.

We were in bldg 18 last week (2 bdrm) and I didn't see any bugs thank god!
 
Sorry to hear about your bad experience at OKW. I am going down in a few weeks. Can you tell me what room in building 41 you stayed in?

This is thread from March, and the posters 1st post is bringing back an issue that no one else responded to as having a similar problem.

Are we strirring the pot or trying to start something?
 

















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