Disney Bed Bug Problem

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

This thread is completely freaking me out. I have always checked our rooms every time we have stayed anywhere, and I have never found any bed bugs. However, now that everyone is talking about it, it got me to thinking, when we stayed at ASMU last year, my hubbie had bites on his ankles one day and they were in a row and they really bothered him and were very itchy. I never thought anything about it until now. He was the only one that had bites on him though, and like I said, I saw no evidence of bed bugs in our room. Has every hotel at Disney had reports of bed bugs?

Actually that sounds more like chigger bites, in a line on the ankles. Generally with bed bugs you'll get bit the worst in the head, neck, shoulders, & arms. The bugs don't usually live down in the sheets but in the mattress, headboard etc. They will crawl on you from those points so the exposed areas are bitten first. It would be odd to have bed bug bites ont he ankles without anywhere else first.

 

[mommyaof2]

Actually that sounds more like chigger bites, in a line on the ankles. Generally with bed bugs you'll get bit the worst in the head, neck, shoulders, & arms. The bugs don't usually live down in the sheets but in the mattress, headboard etc. They will crawl on you from those points so the exposed areas are bitten first. It would be odd to have bed bug bites ont he ankles without anywhere else first.

You are probably right about it being something else that bit him. I am not in anyway saying that we had bedbugs there. Like, I said, I saw no signs of them. This thread just got me to thinking about the bites he had. I know there is a chance at any hotel, not just Disney that bedbugs could be found. I just totally don't like bugs and the thought of it makes me freak out!

 

[Goofy442]

I am reading this and scratching all over. Will be checking my bed when we arrive in August.

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

I just watched something on Nightline about getting rid of bedbugs.
They showed someone heating there infected room to 120 degrees.
They say it roast the bugs to death.
Maybe disney could try this!!

i second that disney does this. last october at movies we had a bb scare. i pulled back our sheets on our second nite and saw red spots on the sheets. we called the front desk and all they offered to do was change the bedding! their suggestion was for us to strip it and then toss it outside, sending someone with bedding for us. thank god for that cast member who brought the new linens! she thought someone had gotten sick and i told her what it was and she offered to have someone check it out.

a large gentleman came in to do a check for us. he also called back up who was leaving the gf after another bb check/infestation. from the time the first guy was there and the second one arrived to do an even more throuhg check, was probably an hr. so we spoke to the first guy a lot. he gave us the lowdown on how the stuff is all treated to kill them off, and all at disneys expense. he was great. he did tell us of one couple that had them and didnt tell anyone til check out. they wanted nothing done for them, meaning theyd be taking it home! he had to do due dilliagence and call the airline on these people. both gentlemen were very thorough and checked the walls, headboards, mattresses, bedding, carpets and nite stand. nothing turned up. they presumed the spots or flecks i had seen and were indeed also on dd's bed too were probably from the sheets being on carts outside and the stuff that blows around from the trees/plants.

this is certainly one thing disney takes seriously.

 

[thesupermcclains]

yuck...this thread has completely made me itchy all over! I am going to be a nervous wreck next time am at a hotel, until i can check over all my bedding. EWWWW!

 

[TREB]

s!

 

[tiki23]

My family and I just returned home last week to find in our horror that we brought back bed bugs from the All Star Movies resort. >< We have already spent $1000+ on costs of ridding our house of these bugs. If this treatment doesn't work we are going to be forced to do a ThermaPureHeat treatment which is going to cost around $3000. We will NEVER stay in this resort again. It was dirty to begin with but we chalked it up to "you get what you pay for". In this case we did not pay for bed bugs!

I am truly sorry you are having to go through all of that.

I've had to help find resources for several people going through this same thing. So expensive and so STRESSFUL! The sources of their infestations were traveling (!), buying used furniture and working on a fishing harvester boat where people from all over the world live and work.

There's no excuse for dirty hotel rooms but just a gentle reminder for everyone that dirt has very little to do with bed bugs. You could have very easily been infested with bed bugs from the cleanest and most expensive room at the Grand Floridian - which to me makes the nasty things even more creepy and disgusting.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

It is also possible you picked up the bugs on the airline: your bags may have been on or under infested bags.

 

[diamondpixienc]

This thread has got me itchy too! Now, I have a freind of mine who never travel to hotels w/o her portable Shark steamer w/ the matress/carpet attachment. As soon as she gets checked in she strips the beds & toss the current linen in the hall sanitize the mattresses then request new linen as a precaution. Now, I used to think this was overkill but after reading this she may be onto something. BTW will all of that prevent them?

 

[maxiesmom]

My family and I just returned home last week to find in our horror that we brought back bed bugs from the All Star Movies resort. We have already had an exterminator dust our entire house in hopes of eliminating the problem quickly. I have contacted Disney and was given a case manager last Tuesday. She called me back on Wednesday and said that they would have the room checked out and that I would know something by Friday but I received no phone call. I called back today (Monday) and was told that she didn't know anything yet and that she should hear something today. It's almost the end of their business hours and I still haven't received a return call. I'm very concerned about the families that have stayed in the room after we did and maybe even currently staying there. We have already spent $1000+ on costs of ridding our house of these bugs. If this treatment doesn't work we are going to be forced to do a ThermaPureHeat treatment which is going to cost around $3000. We will NEVER stay in this resort again. It was dirty to begin with but we chalked it up to "you get what you pay for". In this case we did not pay for bed bugs!

You did not pay for bed bugs by staying at a Value resort. Disney does not spend less time cleaning them than the more pricey resorts, therefore you get bugs. Thank the fact that all the good chemicals used to kill bed bugs are now banned, and they have yet to find anything that is environmentaly safe that is as effective.

I would be upset too, but as another poster pointed out, you could have got them on the plane. If your family wasn't bit at all in the room, that is probably what happened.

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

This thread has got me itchy too! Now, I have a freind of mine who never travel to hotels w/o her portable Shark steamer w/ the matress/carpet attachment. As soon as she gets checked in she strips the beds & toss the current linen in the hall sanitize the mattresses then request new linen as a precaution. Now, I used to think this was overkill but after reading this she may be onto something. BTW will all of that prevent them?

No! Bed bugs don't live in the sheets. They live in the crevices of the mattresses, in the headboards, along floorboards, in the dressers, basically in nice small, dark, nook and crannies. They come out at night to feed. They are attracted to the CO2 that is let off of a food source and they go for it! If the hotel room has bed bugs what your friend is doing won't stop them.

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

I would be upset too, but as another poster pointed out, you could have got them on the plane. If your family wasn't bit at all in the room, that is probably what happened.

Not necessarily. bed bug bites can take up to 7 days to appear and not everyone even gets them after being bitten. You only get the itchy bump if you are allergic to the bed bug saliva and not everyone is. When it happened to us. My Mom never ended up with bites, my YDS's bites appeared almost a week later, the rest of us the bites showed up pretty quickly. In our case we knew we had the bugs in the room vs. the plane because we found them there!

 

[TREB]

It is also possible you picked up the bugs on the airline: your bags may have been on or under infested bags.

We drove so we know that we picked them up in the hotel.

 

[TREB]

Not necessarily. bed bug bites can take up to 7 days to appear and not everyone even gets them after being bitten. You only get the itchy bump if you are allergic to the bed bug saliva and not everyone is. When it happened to us. My Mom never ended up with bites, my YDS's bites appeared almost a week later, the rest of us the bites showed up pretty quickly. In our case we knew we had the bugs in the room vs. the plane because we found them there!

This is right. I'm not allergic so I have no bite marks but from what I've been told does not mean that I haven't been bitten. My kids and hubby have been eaten alive though.

 

[TREB]

You did not pay for bed bugs by staying at a Value resort. Disney does not spend less time cleaning them than the more pricey resorts, therefore you get bugs. Thank the fact that all the good chemicals used to kill bed bugs are now banned, and they have yet to find anything that is environmentaly safe that is as effective.

I would be upset too, but as another poster pointed out, you could have got them on the plane. If your family wasn't bit at all in the room, that is probably what happened.

There is an environmentally safe way to get rid of the bugs. The problem is that it's VERY EXPENSIVE! We're talking $1.50 per sq. ft for a 2200 sq. ft. home plus basement. The treatment is called ThermaPureHeat. And if you didn't see it above we drove so there is no chance of it being from an airline.

 

[maxiesmom]

There is an environmentally safe way to get rid of the bugs. The problem is that it's VERY EXPENSIVE! We're talking $1.50 per sq. ft for a 2200 sq. ft. home plus basement. The treatment is called ThermaPureHeat. And if you didn't see it above we drove so there is no chance of it being from an airline.

Yep, I saw you just added that bit of info. No matter how you got them, getting them sucks. But as others have pointed out, you can get them at any resort. Staying at a Value resort does not equal getting poor service and getting bedbugs. So don't kick yourself for staying at a Value.

 

[mickey&minniealways]

Now all of you have me scratching. Bed, Bath and Beyond has special sheets you can buy to ward off bed bugs. I may just have to get a set before our trip next spring.

 

[ntsammy5]

The ugliest bed bug I've ever seen:

 

[goodfaerie]

The ugliest bed bug I've ever seen:

 

[Arielle22]

Absolutely this can happen. I work in property managment and we've had several instances where residents have come home with bugs but had never been bothered by them while they were in their hotel.

There have also been instances of residents' belongings being infested after being in a moving truck (U-Haul that they borrowed locally and a big semi rig that was moving several households across country.) Those poor people had to have all of their belongings sent to the "extermination vault" and then also had to pay to have the vehicles in which they transported the belongings exterminated plus the actual apartment.

Being in this business, I've learned way more than I ever wanted to know about bed bugs...and cockroaches, too!

I am in the corporate office of a property management firm. We have one site that had a bed bug problem. It is a hassle because you can't exterminate just one apartment but the adjoining ones as well (including above and below). However we rented a new piece of equipment which raises the temperature in the apartment to high levels for a certain amount of time. Apparently it works great and we have been able to get the problem under control. You do need to take every living thing out of the apartment along with anything which might melt (makeup, candles etc).

Our issues were tracked back to residents who visited oversees and then brought the bed bugs back with them.

During a previous stint as a retail manager I found out the hard way that cockroaches can swim!