Ants invaded our mimivan at Royal Pacific

[2kidz]

Hello, wasn't sure where to post this but, here goes. We stayed at Royal Pacific Resort at Universal last week. Nov. 21-28. We have always stayed at disney resorts but were traveling with our dear chichuahuas and needed a pet friendly hotel. We arrived late sat. night we left some of our stuff in the alamo rented minivan. On sunday evening we went outside to get a few other things and to our horror- The van was full of ants, they were everywhere.(this gives me goosebumps just thinking about it) I don't think I have ever saw that many ants in one place in my whole life and I live in a rural area in tn. The only food we had left in the van was a tablespoon full of pedigee dogfood in a bowl and some porkskins. There was so many ants in the dogdish, they just rolled out of it when I snatched it up and flung it out the door. Yuk!!! We were smashing ants like crazy with some paper towels we had when some guy from the parking area came down there and then left to get his boss who then said to bring it back up to the drop off area. I was almost panicky. They reassurred they would take care of it. We had to remove every single item from the van and shake the ants out of everthing. They said this happens sometimes"hey this is florida" they said. What happened over the next few days was them just giving us the "run around'" and some of ants were still there. We raised the hood and there were thick paths of ants all under it. On wed. we finally drove down to the hess station on turkey rd. and did 4 vaccums and an undercarraige wash. finally by our trip home on early fri. morning there was just a few left. We didn't load anything early, just slung it in there and got home 11 hrs. later. Had to wash everything, dogbedding and all. Has anyone else out there had these problems with ants? Did the hotel do what it should of done? We have stayed a disney 2 times before and have never had any problems. Wish disney had a motel that pets could stay with you in.

 

[FreshTressa]

Ewwww!!

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

I HATE ants.

I would have hauled my hiney to the nearest store and purchased about 18 cases of RAID. No ant would ever live inside that sucker again. Seriously, I doubt that any human would have been in there again, either, but at least there wouldn't have been any ants!

Holy crap. I've never been to WDW or Florida but had seriously thougt about going next year. The heck with that. I'll just keep my happy butt over here on the west coast and continue to go to Disneyland once a year. I sure haven't seen any ants there!

 

[GeorgeG]

We've been driving to WDW about the past 5 years and the only bug problem we've had was on the windshield from the highway.

I know Florida has more than it's share of bugs, but that many ants in a resort parking area seems a bit odd. It will be interesting to hear from some of the locals about this.

 

[Robinrs]

Somehow I knew this would turn into a Universal vs Disney thing...

Do you think the ants knew it was on Universal property????

I live in Geogia and ants are a BIG problem here. I have two sonic machines in my house to keep them out. Even with them if I leave just one cat food cat unwashed in the garbage, they will find it. A million will find a drip of cat food!

I remember asking an exterminator about ants and he told me that they want three things, warmth, water, and food. If it gets cool and they smell food or water they go after it. I don't think they care whose parking lot it is.

 

[laurenk]

That has been reported happenig at the DCL terminal too. We were "in the know"(thanks to these boards) as not to leave ANY kind of food in our car when we went on our cruise.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Ewww sounds like a horrible ordeal! Thanks for the info as I would never think about something like that happening. Good to know!

 

[tkyes]

sorry to hear that.

Not the hotels fault though.

Did they do the right thing? Sure, because they didn't have to do anything, it's not their responsibility.

Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!!

 

[sha_lyn]

I too live in GA and I've had my cars invaded by ants a few times. The worst was near Augusta. We set off bug bombs in the cars on more than one occasion. the last time was last yr at my sisters. Funny thing is every time it ihas happened to me it has been in areas where the soil is very sandy. I'm wondering if it is a certain type of ant that tends to do it more than others.

 

[FINFAN]

IT HAPPENED TO US AT ASMO!!!!!!!! July of 2000, rental car, never touched it as we loved WDW transportation. Went to load it up when we did hotel switch to CR, and just as you described, INVASION!!!!!!!! There were still tons of the nasty creatures in the car when we returned it. Luckily, CR gave ne HUGE garbage bags when I asked when we were leaving to protect oour luggage from any entering it on the drive from CR to MCO. It was a Dollar rental, but I agree, they are just a fact in Fl. Altho, my brother and parents all live in SW Fl and they have never had ants in their cars, so it is kinda weird.
You do get past it, but I was creeped out too. At least it wasn't spiders!

 

[DisneyHumbug]

We used to camp at Jetty Park, right next to the cruise terminals. One year we had a trailer full of red ants. I hated spraying Raid all over, but that was the only way we could get rid of them. They were all over !!!

 

[RitaZ.]

The only food we had left in the van was a tablespoon full of pedigee dogfood in a bowl and some porkskins.

That's MORE than plenty to attract ants. As unpleasant as your experience was, it wasn't the hotel's fault. It's not like they lured the ants over to you van. Next time, just make sure that there is no food left in the van.

BTW, we have been having a problem with ants lately. Last night I was sweeping the kitchen floor and I found a small piece of a Funyon in a corner which was loaded with ants! Removing all food is the only way to make sure they don't come back.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Yes food is the key. Never, ever, ever leave food in your car in Florida.

 

[Lorix2]

Wow, that's a major pain to have to deal with, especially on your vacation. Hope their all gone by now.

We've driven to Florida 2x with our Expedition and they only thing that was hard to get rid of was the sand from Daytona Beach We had a cooler and open soda cans, etc...but never had an ant problem.

One of the kids or the dog maybe had dropped something in or under one of the seats during your trip that you didn't know was there until the ants found it? Did you find out what made the ants want to invade your van?

Unless your hotel room was infested, I don't think the hotel should be responsible. Just like, if god forbid your van had been broken into and everything stolen, the hotel is not responsible for that.

Still a bummer either way, sorry it happend to you.

 

[momof2inPA]

I have never been to RPH but am planning a visit for next month. Did you park valet or self-park? Did you park ground level or is there only ground level parking for the hotels?

We will be driving and will probably take plenty of food. I would hate to contend with a bunch of ants on an 18 hour drive back to PA. Thanks for the warning.

 

[2kidz]

We arrived late at night and self parked on the far left hand side #182 was the spot. There seems to just be a very large parking area at one level. The hotel is beautiful. Everyone there was very nice and the water taxi is so peaceful. You won't believe the landscaping. From the time that you enter, you could easily believe that you are in a tropical paradise. We had a nice trip, it was a little more stressful due to fact we were traveling for the first time with our dogs. The ants was very irritating and added extra work and stress. We have decided next year, we will be sure to remove any food/water and spray ant killer around our tires when we get out. We are not going to take any chances.I would have never dreamed the ant problems there and I am in shock that disney cruise line has this problem. Thanks for all responses. Hope our bad experience can help some of you.