Just got back from WDW... How many people went and were sick with the flu??

[Disbug]

Just got back from WDW Dec 30th and my entire family (with exception of DD9) was sick with the flu at the Polynesian. No one felt sick before we got there and we were all struck pretty much at the same time. Just wondering, because all down the halls of the Polynesian I heard lots of coughing. The emergency room at Celebration Hospital was turning people away they were so packed.

The staff at the POLY was the BEST and I believe will offer us a come-back rate since we were not able to enjoy our stay.

Anybody else?

 

[tinawv]

We were at Walt Disney World 12/13-20/03, and came back ok with the exception of myself who had a kidney stone episode the day before we were to return home. After watching the news before we left, I was scared to death that someone would get sick. There were eight of us and no one in our party got sick. We hadn't received the flu shot either with the exception of my mother who is 73 years old. I mostly worried about my three year old grandaughter. Fortunately, we all came back healthy. We tried to be real careful about hand washing, but it was hard at times to keep the kids from touching their faces. I hope your family is all feeling better now. Sending some pixie dust.

 

[ez]

would you please explain the come-back rate and why you think you might get one? There is a thread on the debate board about how Disney should deal with sick guests, and I am interested. Thanks!

 

[DebbieB]

Sorry to hear about your illnesses.

My Mom and I were there in early December. We didn't hear about the flu outbreak countrywide before we left. She is on chemo and as soon as we got there we started hearing about it. We heard lots of people coughing (mostly kids) plus we walked into a restroom that smelled like vomit (Fantasyland). I was so scared she would pickup something, we tried to wash our hands frequently. I was also worried about catching something on the plane. Luckily, neither of us got sick. We frequently come back from WDW with colds, but this time were lucky.

 

[bunnyfoo]

We got sick half way through our stay 12/8-12/16. I don't think it was the flu though ... it might have been a mild cold/cough. We had the sniffles, congestion and a slight sore throat and noticed that lots of other people there had the same as well. It's pretty hard to keep from catching a cold when there are so many people who are sick at the same time.

Let us know if you're able to get a comeback rate. That would be awesome!

 

[2MuchOhana]

Denise,

How horrible! Loads of Pixie Dust and Prayers! I hope you get the come back rate. I know how much you were looking forward to staying at the Poly, too.

DD had a little cough; but that was because our heater was out for a night. Didn't realize it until the following evening that it wasn't working. They came in a bout an hour and had it fixed in five minutes.

However, there were a lot of people coughing when we were there. I thought one child was going to cough out a lung on the bus. We were grateful dd wasn't with us for that one.

Hope you are all feeling better soon! Hope you got your gift before you left. Sorry you probably couldn't enjoy it right away.

Take Care,
Jodi

 

[CamColt]

We were at the Swan from 12/20-12/24 and the Poly from 12/24-12/29. Both kids had coughs for most of the trip. DH felt like he was getting a cold at the beginning of the trip, but he fought that off. On 12/26 1 DS woke up with a slight fever. After some motrin and breakfast he was back to normal. On the night of 12/27 my other DS started getting very tired(not like him at all). He was this way 12/28 too. By 12/29, the day we were leaving he had a fever, and by the time we got home the fever spiked and he slept for the better part of 2 days.

 

[PartyOf5]

We were at AKL concierge last week. First, my husband came down with a stomach bug, then my daughter developed a bad cough and then a fever. We decided to leave two days early, just in case. I'm glad we did. The day after we got home, my daughter got the stomach bug, having it come out both ends. Anyway, we didn't have the flu but when we explained our situation to concierge and told them we wanted to leave early, they totally understood and refunded our money for the last two nights. They said there was a stomach and respiratory virus going around and others had left as well.

I hope you are all feeling better.

 

[goofy4tink]

My dd, 10, and I were at AllStarMusic from 12/12-12/17/03. She was fine on the 12th, but on the morning of the 13th at MGM, she really started to drag. She said she felt horrible at 'The Haunted Mansion' exhibit. I felt her head and she was burning up. Said she just wanted to go back to the room and sleep. She did, for 3 hrs!!! She also felt achy and had a sore throat. She had lots of nice hot baths (a first for us at WDW!!!) and ibu and fluids. She slept late in the mornings and got to bed earlier than we had planned. It took about 3 days before she felt more like herself. On the next to last day she was almost better. I did feel badly for the poor people on the plane with us. All she did was cough all the way home. When she got back to school, they sent home a notice saying there was Fifth's Disease at epidemic proportions in the schools. We think that's what she had; don't think it was the flu.

 

[4 Princess Morganne]

We were there Dec 6-11 and I got the flu. I can't remember being so sick! We were staying at YC Conc. and the second day I had them call in a Dr. The Dr. they sent was very nice - and surprisingly not that expensive ($239 for a 30 min in room visit + $35 for prescriptions). Yes, I did have a very bad case of the flu. She gave me some med's that helped me get over it sooner, but as it was, it still took me 4 days to get back on my feet.

Since we drive down, I was so afraid my husband would catch the bug and be unable to drive us home that I insisted on going home early. Sure enough - the day we had been scheduled to go home, my DH got the bug and was down hard. I got him to our local Dr. right away and he got the same prescription I had and he was only sick for about 36 hours. Wish I had called the Disney Dr. in earlier - maybe I could have salvaged my trip and celebrated my DD's 7th b-day with her.

Lessons learned.... Wash hands frequently (I had been doing this), use hand sanatizer all the time (I had not done this) and there IS something a Dr. can do for the flu!

The silver lining is that we are headed back much sooner than we expected to finish our interupted trip!

Morganne's Mommy

 

[CheshireVal]

I came down with a bad head cold the day we left for WDW (December 19). I was sneezy and REALLY coughy the whole time we were there but I tried very hard to be polite and not contaminate anyone else!

I noticed LOTS of other people walking around with similar symptoms. With everyone's immune system already weakened, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that lots of people caught the flu. I was lucky I didn't!

 

[SuBeat]

DS, DD, and I all had coughs while on our trip 12/20-27. DS seemed to have it the worst...I'm sure a lot of people thought he was going to cough up a lung. We all did our best to avoid being too close to others when a coughing spell hit. Luckily, we didn't have any fever or other symptoms.

It did seem like no matter where we were, there was someone else coughing too. Made me feel a little less self conscious to hear a dozen other people coughing along with me!

 

[Kay1]

Yes. December 25th - 31st. One son started getting sick so we went to Wa-Mart for Cold-eeze, echanacia, and Zicam. To make a long story short, we're all still sick, though we seemed to be getting better. Can the body pick up a second virus while fighting the first one, I wonder, because we were surrounded by lots of sick people at the World, and feel like we were hit with a one-two punch.

 

[Mamu]

I remember hearing about major problems during this same time at Disney last year. When you put thousands of people together whether it's inside or out your bound to have lots of sicknesses. Little children and adults who do not cover their mouths and just about everything you touch is germ laden. Hand wipes, hand wipes. I drive my family crazy.

Sorry to hear about your family being so sick. I know I had a terrible time with allergies last year. Hoping for a better trip this February. PS hope you get a great comeback rate.

 

[disney daft dad]

we stayed at the poly 12/8-12/28 and hubby came down with a severe cold around 12/22 and we took it 12/27 and all still have it, although I don't feel it is flu, it's certainly a yucky resp. cold...playing havoc with my asthma!!! I think it had a lot to do with the extreme cold air temps and the hot air con temps on the rides...breeding territory for the germs!!

Val
xx

 

[jaguar9748]

We were in WDW 12/24-12/28. Lots of people coughing and sneezing. I came down with a mild cold (so far) last week. So far the rest of the family is OK. It's true that winter is one of the worst times to travel because so many are sick. Still, Christmas at the world was magical!

 

[shelby2001]

Good luck with the comeback rate last year at this time we were in Disney Poly Conceirge for 10 nights which I paid alot of money for over $3,500 just for the room well my 5 yr old DD was very ill and in the hosptial for 5 out of the 10 days another bill of thousand of dollars lucky I was reinbursed by our health insurance company but I had to charge it while there. The conceirge staff was very nice but we were offered nothing like a come backrate as they have no control over people being sick and half the resort was ill and my other DD got it on the way home on the plane it was a great trip and I will never travel between Thanksgiving and February again with all of the illness that this time of year. We went back in July and although it was hot noone was sick.

 

[musicmom3]

Came down with the Florida flu on Dec. 14 (trip was 12/10-12/16). Got home and it was diagnosed as such even though I had had a flu shot! Our Tiffany driver warned us about the rampant sickness...one of my kids got sick right after me. WDW was a cough and sneeze fest! I was so glad to get out of there....never thought I'd say that, but there's no place like home when you don't feel good, not even Disney!

 

[caseylouandtyler2]

We were so very excited that we escaped Connecticut without getting sick, we didn't realize we were going into the sick zone. We stayed at the BCV 12/20-24, and BWV 12/28-1/2.

I would like to thank the very tall gentleman who thought it was a good idea to bend over and sneeze without covering his mouth right into the baby stroller and following up that incredible sneeze with a few good coughs. It was so incredibly nice of you to share your germs. The baby really enjoyed his first Christmas, and his visit to grandma's for Christmas was most memorable since the baby shared the germs with almost EVERYONE.

The only person who did not get sick was DD. I of course panicked after DS fever was still 102 after 2 days of tylenol and took him to a pediatrician. She said in her very sweet southern drawl, he's got the polk county crud, he should be fine by Monday. Unfortunately by Monday I had it, and DH had it. It was a vacation to remember.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

We are just back from what was supposed to be our WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS TRIP...it wasnt Three days before we left DD (12) had a fever, headache and sore throat we rushed off to Dr's and found out she had strep throat. Asked Dr if it was ok for her to still go and he said sure as long as she is on meds for 24 hours she is not contagious. We decided to see how she flet as I didnt want to take her if she was going to be run down and get sicker. Within 12 hours she was fine. We left for Disney with our antibiotics on Tues (Dec. 23) and had 2 wonderful days.....Friday DS (13 and a special needs child) just sort of layed on the bed in the hotel and didnt move) Yup...you guessed it high fever, cough, chills etc. were to follow. I stayed with him in the room and watched videos Friday and Sat and gave him tylenol and lots of hugs. I called my Dr at home and decided to call a DR in Orlando since DS can't talk and communicate his problems.. The Dr. came and he was EXCELLENT!! He did it all, blood pressure, temp, exam, etc.......DS had the flu..the real flu. He said unfortunatly he would probably get a little worse and then in a few days he would start to get better...slowly. DS was put on antibiotics (mostly because of his special physical problems), anti-viral meds, advil, saline spray for his nose and a perscription expectorant for the cough. The Dr. had all the perscriptions with him and the pharmacy delivered the over the counter ones to the hotel (Dolphin). While he was there we decided to have him look at our other DD (6months). She had been fussy and wasnt eating well or sleeping well but we had thought it was from the 2 teeth she was cutting...nope red throat, large tonsils. The Dr. talked to my Dr over the phone and they decided to not do a throat culture but to just put her on antibiotics to be on the safe side. I was so impressed with the DR we saw he was very good with the kids, very patient with my son and he had no problem talking to my DR. It was $$$$$ but I am hoping my insurance will cover it as we called before and they said we would just have to submit the bill to them. The Dr had seen 2 other kids in the Dolphin alone before seeing my son (it was 11:00). He said that there were lots of cases of colds and flu. I ended up staying in the hotel with the sick kids for 6 days out of our 10 day trip...oh well..I was a little sad but we had a great view of the fireworks at The MK from our window. I spoke to my Dr. and must have said something like I will never do that again and he said that yes the plane is a very good place to get sick but the kids are just as likely to get sick at school etc. so I didnt feel so guilty. We are home now and everyone is feeling better. We are going to see our DR tomorrow for a re-check. DS did recover slowly it took a long time. For those of you who are wondering we did all get our flu shots (except DD who is to small) I shutter to think about how sick DS would have gotten without it. Oh, Hubby and I didnt get sick at all...go figure. I shouldnt complain, we had a beautiful room at the Dolphin, we had beautiful weather and we had gret medical care when the children were sick. We also had 4 nice days in the parks so it wasnt all bad. Disney is beautiful and it is even more beautiful when "Dressed up" for the holidays!!!