Help solve a spouse debate on germs, sickness and Disney

[anniemae]

Flu shots every year.
Wipe down the airplane trays, remotes, buttons, armrests with Clorox Wipes upon boarding.
Purell as needed especially after rides.
Clorox Wipe the remote in the hotel, lightswitches and doorknobs.
Wash hands before eating.
Wet One for hands just before eating just as an extra layer of precaution.
We don't eat at the buffets anymore, enough said.
It sounds like a lot but it really only takes a few minutes out of each day. Well worth it if it prevents even one illness.

ETA this is what we do, not what I think everyone should do

This is what we do too. we always remind the kids not to touch railings also. I also use a 12 hour/10 hand washes hand sanitizer at Disney World. tummy bugs come on quick and spread fast, if we can avoid them we will try! Would not want to be out of commission on vaca.

 

[scrapquitler]

Please help solve a little debate for DH and I. We have very different approaches on germs and Disney.

DH approach: touch lots of things without concern, don't wash hands after rides or at all throughout the day, wash hands before meals if it is convenient, hope you don't get sick, but if you do it's just a part of life.

My approach: try not to needlessly run your hands along handrails, etc, use hand sanitizer/wipes after rides, wash with soap and water before eating, try to avoid sickness by doing what you can (while knowing that you can't avoid everything and want to have fun in the process).

We're truly curious your thoughts and experiences on this and if either approach really makes a difference... what approach do you/your family use and what have been the results on getting sick or not during or after your vacation? Thanks!

My approach is somewhere in between both of you. I wash my hands every time I use the bathroom, and I try to be conscious of what I'm touching and especially avoid touching my face or putting my hands in or near my mouth, but I don't get stressed out about it.

 

[GatorMama]

We almost never use hand sanitizer. It's not nearly as effective as properly washing with soap and water. The only time I use it is when Ive wanted to wash and couldn't. (Like if the bathroom was out of soap) but I would still wash as soon as possible after that, even. I just don't feel clean using hand sanitizer. We wash before eating (even snacks- we would use the bathroom right before snack time to make sure we had clean hands) and use utensils as often as possible. We also washed our kids hands on bathroom visits when they hadn't use the bathroom.

Now I don't touch gross things a lot either. I only touch a hand rail or door of necessary. I use elbows and feet to move things when possible. And we plan our vacations around sleeping and eating well. Cause there are two things I for sure don't want to be: tired and hungry. That makes everyone crabby and more likely to catch the crud.

And DS3 hit a record and washed his hands at least five times at our lunch at Yak and Yeti... But that had more to do with his desire to practically bathe in sweet and sour sauce than hygiene. Only two washings would have been normal. ;-)

 

[ArwenMarie]

This is what we do too. we always remind the kids not to touch railings also. I also use a 12 hour/10 hand washes hand sanitizer at Disney World. tummy bugs come on quick and spread fast, if we can avoid them we will try! Would not want to be out of commission on vaca.

We say that too. Don't drag your hands on "unnecessary" railings (versus walking down stairs where you need the balance, lap bars on roller coasters, etc) It's like they are trying to clean the handrails sometimes LOL.

 

[JZCubed]

Please help solve a little debate for DH and I. We have very different approaches on germs and Disney.

DH approach: touch lots of things without concern, don't wash hands after rides or at all throughout the day, wash hands before meals if it is convenient, hope you don't get sick, but if you do it's just a part of life.

My approach: try not to needlessly run your hands along handrails, etc, use hand sanitizer/wipes after rides, wash with soap and water before eating, try to avoid sickness by doing what you can (while knowing that you can't avoid everything and want to have fun in the process).

We're truly curious your thoughts and experiences on this and if either approach really makes a difference... what approach do you/your family use and what have been the results on getting sick or not during or after your vacation? Thanks!

I'll bet you avoid buffets.

Touching hand rails, etc. don't bother my family, but we use sanitizers when traveling.

We avoid buffets.

We have never returned home and been sick (but we have arrived sick from airplane travel).

 

[roselark]

I do just what I do at home. I wash my hands after using the restroom. In my case, that is actually fairly often. I don't worry about doing anything extra.

 

[disneysteve]

I swear my littlest one has licked half of the stationary surfaces in MK. I've tried to stop him, but he just likes to touch things with his mouth. And he hasn't been sick in months and months. He's actually sick much less frequently than my other kids. Maybe it's the germs building his immune system

Yep. That's exactly what it is. Like I said, let your immune system do its job. Throw out the hand sanitizer. Wash with soap and water when appropriate. And don't be afraid to interact with the world. Touch hand rails. That's what they're there for. If you want to wash up before eating, that's fine, but the folks who slather on hand sanitizer constantly are likely doing more harm than good.

Not long ago, I was having a conversation with someone while he was sitting in his private office at his personal desk. Over the course of our conversation, he used hand sanitizer 3 or 4 times. Everything he touched belonged to him and him alone - his phone, his computer, his pen, etc. Any germs that were in that space were his own germs. Why he possibly needed hand sanitizer is beyond me. I chalk this up to another marketing success, convincing people that they need something that in reality they actually have absolutely no use for. It's right up there with bottled water.

 

[madge]

We travel with individually packaged wet ones and use those between hand washing with soap. I much prefer the towelettes to hand santizers.

this is what we do. we wash our hands with soap & water when we can ... but periodically throughout the day, we do a wipe with these. I also use them on our cell phone covers. they seem to be the grossest to me. LOL

 

[CMNJ]

We don't worry about it or stress over it. In all the times we've been to WDW or on cruises, I am the only one who has ever gotten sick, and only once. A couple of years ago I caught the flu and spent the last 3 days in our resort hotel unable to even get out of bed. I'm certain I caught the flu from a guy at the airport who was hacking up a lung. I didn't move seats fast enough I guess

*And I cannot get a flu shot because I am allergic (for all those who love to preach about getting the flu shot).

Not sure if this helps but there is a new flu vaccine avail these days called Flublok.....
From the mfg website-"Flublok is a pure, safe and effective flu vaccine for people 18 and older. An egg-free flu vaccine, Flublok is made without antibiotics, thimerosal, latex or flu virus."-so if your allergy was to eggs or the preservative this might be an option for you

 

[ccudmore]

spotted at nearby campground. Apparently some people are using their feet to avoid the germs

 

[Aurora0427]

We wash our hands after going into the bathroom and before meals- but we do that at home too. At Disney I'll sometimes wash my daughters hands even more frequently, just because kids are bad about putting hands in their mouths etc. I bring wet wipes to wipe down lunch tables because they're not always the cleanest.

We never returned sick from Disney after ten trips until last December. But last trip we came home with strep and big time upper respiratory infections. However, I think that was more to do with it just being cold & flu season than anything else.

 

[Aurora0427]

Flu shots every year.
Wipe down the airplane trays, remotes, buttons, armrests with Clorox Wipes upon boarding.
Purell as needed especially after rides.
Clorox Wipe the remote in the hotel, lightswitches and doorknobs.
Wash hands before eating.
Wet One for hands just before eating just as an extra layer of precaution.
We don't eat at the buffets anymore, enough said.
It sounds like a lot but it really only takes a few minutes out of each day. Well worth it if it prevents even one illness.

ETA this is what we do, not what I think everyone should do

Buffets are seriously disgusting and we have two of them on our next trip. I'm wet wiping my hands after every trip to the buffet and making my husband and mom do the same. Luckily our daughter is too young to serve herself. I also wipe down the hotel room and airplane items you mebtioned. I'm paranoid this trip bc I'm pregnant.

 

[Meldev]

We have our sanitizers but my 2 year old put everything near his mouth last year - 6 year old wasn't much better - tried wash often - 6 got sick stomach flu on flight home, 3 had diarrhea and clearly kicked off this illness 2 days before we left (but just that day) - 8 year old and I caught it 2 days after getting home - it was awful, and I came home, read the boards to see many people had stomach bug at WDW that week.
Took our girls in 2010 - didn't do much special other than keeping up with hand washing and no one caught anything! (Girls were 2,4,6 at the time)

Partially luck of the draw I think.

 

[Aurora0427]

Everyone should wash their hands as much as they are comfortable with. But the #1 thing that you can to do avoid illness in crowded areas is stop touching your face. If you get germs on your hands, you don't get sick. If you get those germs in your eyes, nose or mouth, you get sick.

Stop touching your face.

THIS. My daughter is 4.5 and we've been working with her for over a year about keeping her hands out of her mouth, her nose, her eyes. It's sinking in, but when she does it I have to bite my lip to keep from screaming at her!!!!

 

[Tom P.]

We were at Disney last week and I had to go to the hospital with a kidney stone. Does that count? In truth, that happened because I'm prone to them and drank nothing but soda for a couple days. Bad idea.

With regards to the other... we have five young children. There is no way we're keeping all of them from touching tons of stuff in the parks, and no way we're dragging all five of them into a bathroom constantly to wash their hands. We all wash our hands after using the restrooms, and we use hand sanitizer before meals. And that's it. And so far, no serious illnesses during any of our park visits.

 

[famy27]

I am curious as to when hand sanitizer became a thing. When I was a kid, we just washed our hands and went about our business. I do the same thing with my DDs now. I actually don't even own any hand sanitizer, which horrifies my wonderful cousin. She brings paper plates with her when she travels, removes hotel bedspreads by holding them with her elbows, and wipes down almost every hard surface with sanitizer. She's constantly offering sanitizer to my kids when we go out to eat together. And I'll let you guess whose children are sick more often

 

[scrapquitler]

We wash our hands after going into the bathroom and before meals- but we do that at home too. At Disney I'll sometimes wash my daughters hands even more frequently, just because kids are bad about putting hands in their mouths etc. I bring wet wipes to wipe down lunch tables because they're not always the cleanest.

We never returned sick from Disney after ten trips until last December. But last trip we came home with strep and big time upper respiratory infections. However, I think that was more to do with it just being cold & flu season than anything else.

Serious question...does it matter if the table is not the cleanest? Does your food ever touch the table? I keep my food on the plate, not the table, and my utensils sit either on a napkin or the plate rather than the table, so I really never would think to clean the table unless I saw a liquid or sticky spill that I was worried would get on me.

 

[Karin1984]

OP, now you have 4 pages of opinions and about 75% agree with your husband, 25% agrees with you. What will you do now, change your mind and go with your husband's and the majority's opinion, try to find some inbetween solution, or follow your routine?

By the way, did anyone here ever wipe the hands/faces of the princesses or other characters before giving them a hug?

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Germs freak me out, but I try not to over sanitize because exposure to germs is good for immunity. I like the convenience of hand sanitizer for when you do feel the need to freshen up if there's not a bathroom nearby, but so many people overdo it.

I will tell you I've stopped touching and leaning on the handrails ever since someone else's blood got all over my arms and shirt while waiting for Peter Pan. Shudder. Ick.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I do most of the same things your DH does. I wash my hands after using the bathroom and before meals. I don't try to avoid touching handrails, etc. Let's be real, my hands will be on some part of the ride vehicle I'm in and that's just as germy as any handrail.