Inspired... Not washing blankets at resorts??

[ihearttink]

I am reading this thread in my daughter's room and getting grossed out. Than I realize, my daughter has friends over all the time in her room, using the bathrooms, sitting on her bed using the computer keyboards. I know I am a clean person, but I don't clean everytime my daughters friends come over or for that fact don't wash her comforter after every sleep over.


Just trying to put it in perspective for myself.

 

[BettyCv]

ftr - I didn't say anyone was hysterical!

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you said it ( I read it in an earlier reply from someone else) - but it did look that way when I attached your quote to my post. I apologize!

Betty

 

[nikki]

I purchased "dream sacks" from Travelsmith for the whole family. They are really just a satiny type of sleeping bag you put right down on the sheets. It encases your pillow too, which we bring from home also, and it keeps your body from touching anything you may not want it to touch. We never travel without them. It makes us all feel very comfortable when away from home. It folds up to be about the size of your hand. I think it does help to have a fresh sheet on top of the blanket also, "blanket Sandwich". When we stayed at the Poly last year, the room was so clean, the white tub blinded you every morning. Tahiti lagoon view. Oh yes, no bed spreads touched. ever. Enjoy!

 

[Luigi's Girl]

At the parks people do not have certain bodily fluids on railings or the logs besides saliva maybe. But in your room thats an entirely different story. We all teach our kids to be careful in public restrooms yes? This is the same thing. We all get too comfortable in our rooms b/c it becomes our home for the week, and many forget to keep in perspective that were staying in yet another public restroom.

I have stayed in a lot of hotel rooms, and I have never gotten lice, bedbugs or an STD from the sheets and comforters. Germs are everywhere, especially computer keyboards. At the buffets, you use the same utensils as everyone else to serve yourself. Do you think everyone washes their hands? With all the diapers getting changed at Disneyworld, I guarantee that there is feces on every surface in Walt Disney World. Lots of vomit all over also. Children everywhere not covering their mouths when they cough, picking their noses nad running their hands along the rail.... You cannot get away from it.

The key is to keep your hands out of your mouth. Don't bite your nails, chew your cuticles, etc. Use hand sanitizer before you eat.

I think the real issue people are worried about is sexual body fluids. Being that it is DisneyWorld, probably only newlyweds are doing the nasty. you probably would run into those fluids more often in an offsite hotel than a Disney Resort (just my uneducated guess).

OT: People are actually having chicken pox parties to expose their children to germs that are more dangerous in adulthood.

LOL!!! Really Loud!!!

 

[Luigi's Girl]

We're going for 10 days in November, DH is not going to be happy to hear this

Still LOL!!!

 

[lclark0621]

I don't think I am nuts for not wanting to sit or use those comforters.

I mean lets face it, besides the "normal" yuck that could be on those things, there could be so much more. People have sex on those beds & frankly, I dont want to sit in any "left overs". Also infants are changed on those beds, and anyone who has had a baby knows how many times a baby goes the second you get that diaper off. People get hurt & can bleed on those things.

Sorry but it is just gross!

When we check into hotels, the first thing we do is remove the comforters. We call house keeping & request brand new "clean" blankets & pillows. I can't stress asking for "clean" stuff. So many times I have actually seen hotel employees just go into another room & grab the bedding from there & bring to me when I ask for fresh stuff!

It is not about exposing ourselves to germs. It is about PROTECTING ourselves from the ick that is in hotel rooms.

I always carry cleaning products with me when I travel. I wipe down everything in the hotel room & clean the bathtubs as well as using bleech in and around toliets & stuff.

Call me nuts if you want, but I am not letting my family, especially my toddler DS, touch the "left overs" you can find in hotel rooms.

Oh & on a simalar note, not to gross anyone one out. But one time AT DISNEY (POR when it was the Dixie Landings) we opened one of the draws & found a porn magazine in there. At first DH & I laughed about it. But then later we found condom wrappers under the bed, a USED condom in the trash in our bathroom & there was WITHOUT A DOUBT something yellow & crusty on the bedspread.

I was so disgusted! We packed our stuff & marched right down to the front desk & demanded to see a manager. I refused to go back to the room. But DH walked back to the room with the manager to show him the "left overs". The manager seemed shocked but not as shocked as you would expect in a situation like that.

He offered us another room which we refused. I was never staying there again. He was kind of like "Oh well then have a nice time finding a room".

We called a cab & from our cell phones called the other Disney resorts to find a room. We got one at the Poly. When we told the front desk CM what had happened at the POR (we gave her the managers name at the POR), they gave us an upgraded room to Concierge (I had just booked a regular room over the phone) & gave it to us FOR FREE for the rest of our stay! Now THAT is taking care of a guest who had such a disgusting room!

I would have expected something like that at a cheap motel (why I dont stay in cheap hotels) but never at a Disney resort.

Needless to say, I completely check & wipe down ALL my hotel rooms now!

 

[goofy4tink]

You know...I always think how yucky this all is and how I will wipe stuff down and not sit on that comforter when I get to WDW. Then I get there and I forget. That's one reason I'm glad we have DVC also. I do wipe the bathroom areas down when we check in. And I do take the comforter off. But, that's it. I hadn't really thought about the whole issue of mousekeeping coming in daily and reusing the same cloth they had been using all morning on my bathroom area. Now that grosses me out. Good thing I don't have to worry about that more than once a week at DVC.

 

[ryan840]

I would just like to say that I didn't start this thread out of paranoia, but out of disgust. I am fully aware that we are constantly exposed to bad germs and that we need to be to build our immune systems. My point was that we shouldn't have to be exposed to bodily fluids, lice, scabies, and other nasty things that, while they aren't all over the news or causing an epidemic, do get spread this way. I only brought the health issue into it because I feel they should do something about that, and I really really really wanted someone to tell me that there were regulations. (just hopeful thinking). As far as the bathroom cleaningand glove issue goes, I never thought about that until I heard it mentioned, and that is disgusting and while it is no more dangerous then a public restroom, we all take precautions in public restrooms, don't we? I will smply do the same in my hotel room, although since we will (hopefully) be the only ones using it, I will clean it myself when I arrive to make things easier on us. I think people are taking this too personally- we are who we are. We're not nuts if we are afraid of germs, if we don't worry about them, or if we go out of our way to find them. (ok, maybe that is nuts ) Why do we need to make each other feel bad for being ourselves?

 

[ms.ojo]

What you all think about water parks??? (and not nec. Disney ones) Up until now, I've avoided them completely! Seeing the signs that warn: "if you have Aids, Hepititis, venereal disease, open wounds, etc, etc, please do not use these facilities". You know the signs I mean. Anyway, my thought was always, the people who have some of these things just might not know...and/or might not care!! Or perhaps they do not want to be embarrased in a group situation and just go forward anyway.

Soooooooooooo...I know they chlorinate....and the germ life cycle is short....and the signs are probably mostly to protect the water park from liability....but stillllllllllllllllllllllllllll. anyone grossed out by them? Don't even get me started on public hot tubs!!

Why I say up until now...is that now I have children who in a few yrs are going to be so eager to go to these themed water parks....and I guess if it's a Disney type super clean park...I'll probably let them IF THEY don't have any open cuts that might contract something. Of course if splashing water gets in their mouth I guess it's just as bad. What do you think???

 

[GoofyinNY]

DH and DS have been laughing at me for years because I always clean the bathroom in our hotel room. Now, instead of making a grocery stop when I arrive in WDW, I'm going to make a stop at a store that sells inexpensive blankets. Eeewww to hotel room blankets!

 

[GEM]

For ya'll who want to have some gross out fun on your next trip, go to your local PetsMart store.

In the aisle where they sell the housebreaking stuff for dogs, they also sell a $20 portable blacklight thing that is designed to pick up all manner of nasty stuff that the human eye can not see.

Oooh, cool! I think I'll get one. (Not because I'm worried about yuk in the hotel room or anything. I honestly don't give it much thought.)

I just think it would be fun to play CSI with!

 

[kdtwiss]

I was not trying to make anyone feel bad - I just feel bad if people are spending time worrying about stuff like this - when we just don't live in bubbles!

As for all of you wonderful people who are so careful and clean - would you please come stay at my place for a day or two? My place could really use your touch! God I wish I were so clean!!


ps - betty - no offense taken - just did not want anyone to get the impression I thought they were hysterical!

 

[zagafi]

Wake up in the middle of the night and find something on the blanket with an unruly odor and I bet you will.

I have a feeling I'd notice an "unruly" odor (how can an odor be unruly?) well before the middle of the night. But no, I wouldn't understand hysterics even then. I'm well aware Disney doesn't hermetically seal blankets in anticipation of my arrival.

Would I expect the problem to be resolved? You betcha. Will I whip out the Clorox wipes and disinfect the room from top to bottom? Uh, no.

 

[mamapajama]

ok first let me say this...."EWWW!" okay. Well, i've seen the 20/20 reports before but I'm pretty grossed out now! SO only the sheets are washed? Get rid of the bespread AND the velour-y blanket.....ask for 2 CLEAN blankets. How will I know if they are actually clean? Are they wrapped in plastic or something? I usually bring my pillow but we have so much stuff lately, I haven't had room. I will definitely bring our pillowcases though. What about that Febreze anti-microbial stuff, that can be sprayed on fabrics maybe it would help a little.

Thanks

Elise

 

[DAWGPOUNDAJ]

Why I say up until now...is that now I have children who in a few yrs are going to be so eager to go to these themed water parks....and I guess if it's a Disney type super clean park...I'll probably let them IF THEY don't have any open cuts that might contract something. Of course if splashing water gets in their mouth I guess it's just as bad. What do you think???.

Chlorine kills just about everything, even AIDS so I wouldn't worry. Thats exactly why the chemicals are so carefully regulated in public pools and hot tubs. One of the biggest problems in 3rd world countries is the local watering holes being hot zones for microbial diseases and parasites, and the lack of things like chlorine in the water allows that to happen. B/c of the chemicals we have at public pools it is perfectly safe for them.

I have stayed in a lot of hotel rooms, and I have never gotten lice, bedbugs or an STD from the sheets and comforters. Germs are everywhere, especially computer keyboards. At the buffets, you use the same utensils as everyone else to serve yourself. Do you think everyone washes their hands? With all the diapers getting changed at Disneyworld, I guarantee that there is feces on every surface in Walt Disney World. Lots of vomit all over also. Children everywhere not covering their mouths when they cough, picking their noses nad running their hands along the rail.... You cannot get away from it.

The key is to keep your hands out of your mouth. Don't bite your nails, chew your cuticles, etc. Use hand sanitizer before you eat.

Lol I saw that you quoted me but wanted to say, 'Trust me I'm well aware.' This is what I study so I'm very well versed in this. I'm not a big fan of antimicrobial hand lotions for this very reason, and I try to stay away from antibiotics whenever I am sick. I just let my body fight things off naturally, and volunteer in the ICU at a hospital. I purposely expose myself to all sorts of things because of the career path I am taking. However, I don't think people want to be exposed to things on vacation, so I was just getting that out there b/c I had worked in hotels before and my biology and chemistry backgrounds allow me to understand the risks of such practices rather well.

 

[papopup]

This is one of the reasons we got a camper.It is very comforting to go back to your own bedding, but we still do a hotel once in a while.

 

[ms.ojo]

Chlorine kills just about everything, even AIDS so I wouldn't worry. Thats exactly why the chemicals are so carefully regulated in public pools and hot tubs. QUOTE]

Actually...it's the Regulating of the chlorine I am concerned about! They recently shut down a private health club pool in a nearby community for lack of adequate chlorination monitoring. I'm willing to give an organization like Disney the benefit of the doubt that they do indeed try to closely monitor the chlorine levels in all their pools, water parks and hot tubs. But it is SO easy for the chlorine levels to get out of whack. The hot sun depletes it very quickly. And we're talking about thousands of gallons of water. Guess you must feel the warning signs they post are mostly CYA and there is no real danger... I'd like to believe that, but I'm still uncomfortable w/ it all. so...if anyone in my family has an open cut...we don't go in a public pool.

 

[njchris]

I have a feeling I'd notice an "unruly" odor (how can an odor be unruly?)

That is too funny.

 

[DAWGPOUNDAJ]

There have been studies that children exposed to germs actually had better immune systems and less likelihood of asthma than those with less exposure. Should you deliberately expose your child to something gross - no , but gross is EVERYWHERE!!!

And I have to disagree a bit with the idea that germs are becoming more deadly and resistant to antibiotics just because people are exposed to them. I would say a vast majority of the increase in antibiotic resistant "bugs" is due to the overuse of antibiotics for every little thing. THIS is what causes a germ, bacteria whatever to mutate, not simply from passing from one person to another.

And - before you all get worked up about Hep B, keep in mind that this is a BLOOD or BODILY FLUIDS transmitted disease, similar in fact to the AIDS virus. For HepB to spread to someone by casual contact with a bathroom counter is just not going to happen. It would have to be a huge coincidence like you rubbing an open wound on a counter top with freshly deposited Hep B.

In short I guess as gross as the blanket thing sounds, if living in a bubble is ut - welcome to reality, I would think Disney is not exactly a germ free enviornment.

I am not saying don't clean, or don't ask for a fresh blanket or whatever - just lighten up a bit - the world is chock full of germs viruses and bacteria - and not only can you not avoid it - but it is not good in the long run to do so.

It is very true that children need to be exposed to bacteria and viruses to develop immunities. However when I have been pointing out a lot of this my main concern is contracting STDs, NOT germs. A hotel should be treated like a public bathroom in a way.

You see I volunteer in an ICU, but also at a clinic. You would be AMAZED at the number of teenagers who come in, claim to have never had sexual relations of any sort, yet still test positive for Hepatitis. Coud they be lying? Sure, but there would be no point for them to b/c their information is closed to even their parents. My point is, they obviously picked it up accidentally from somewhere.

So yes, the heptatis would have to make it INTO an open wound. But this also includes eyes, mouth, nose, etc. Kids do gross things. Kids pick their noses. Kids put their fingers in their mouths. Kids have skinned knees. Kids dont always wash their hands. Heck, stats say most adults dont even wash their hands! My point is, that these teenagers are getting the diseases from somewhere, and there are simply too many of them getting it and not knowing how for there to be nothing to worry about.

Parents would be idiots to not take precautions for their childrens when they have the ability to. I'm not saying they shouldn't let their kids go swimming, play in the mud, or that they should follow their kids around with bleach. Let the kids do what they want, but in public places where you could get a disease that stays with you for your entire life its wise to take precautions until a chid is old enough to know how to do it automaticaly. So do I take out the bleach when my husband and I take my litte cousin on vacation with us? Yes, because I love her and don't want her getting anything. It takes 5 minutes tops and I fee better for it. People can call it paranoia if they would like to but it's really being cautious. I don't want her to be the one visiting me in the clinic one day in tears from getting hepatitis and having no idea HOW she got it. It's not living in an anti-bacterial bubble b/c I actually encourage her to be exposed to things outdoors, but where there coud be STDS lying in wait? Never.

Also, the comment about "A vast majority of the increase in antibiotic resistant "bugs" is due to the overuse of antibiotics for every little thing. THIS is what causes a germ, bacteria whatever to mutate." That is also true. But since you disagreed with the idea of mutations being helped along by the rapid passage of disease from person to person I'l explain that as simpy as I can. The phenomena you described above is true. When bacteria is killed off in large amounts by ANYTHING it has a chance for beneficial mutations to accumulate in the bacterial popuation. Sometimes these mutations are more deadly and cause more severe illnesses. But it is NOT just antibacterial lotions or antibiotics that cause this effect.

Immune systems cause this effect as well. Which is why it is not a good idea for a disease to be exposed to numerous immune systems. You never know when a mutation has occured that will be able to resist someones immune system defenses. When that happens guess what? That poor soul becomes very ill, gets hospitalized, and passes the mutated bacteria on. Would that bacteria (with that specific mutation) have had a chance to increase in population had it not been for it being exposed to that persons particular immune system? No, it would not have. So the phenomena you described is the exact same thing as what I was referring to. You simply described it taking place in the external environment rather than the internal.

Basically I don't think anyone is being paranoid. Bodily fluids are what bother most people, and they rightly should.

 

[MickeyFlirt]

Chlorine kills just about everything, even AIDS so I wouldn't worry. Thats exactly why the chemicals are so carefully regulated in public pools and hot tubs. QUOTE]

Actually...it's the Regulating of the chlorine I am concerned about! They recently shut down a private health club pool in a nearby community for lack of adequate chlorination monitoring. I'm willing to give an organization like Disney the benefit of the doubt that they do indeed try to closely monitor the chlorine levels in all their pools, water parks and hot tubs. But it is SO easy for the chlorine levels to get out of whack. The hot sun depletes it very quickly. And we're talking about thousands of gallons of water. Guess you must feel the warning signs they post are mostly CYA and there is no real danger... I'd like to believe that, but I'm still uncomfortable w/ it all. so...if anyone in my family has an open cut...we don't go in a public pool.

Actually avoiding pools with open cuts will not help b/c these diseases can be absorbed through your eyes or in the mouth if you have a mouth sore, cut, etc and if the water gets into the mouth but a bigger concern is the eyes.