My sister just checked into Pop Century and ....

[Sammie]

Thank goodness I'm an exception! In all my trips to WDW and Universal hotels, I've never seen a roach. I think the roaches at WDW hotels are mainly there because the previous guests brought them from home by accident in their luggage. Just like the pubic hair in the bathroom, just an unwanted, unintentional gift from the other occupants. Yuk ! They should spray each room after every guest.

That much spray would be much more dangerous than the occassional bugs. Disney does an excellent job of pest control considering the vast number of bugs natural to Florida. However they can and do get in, not often but it does happen.

We who live here just find it amusing it warrants such distress.

 

[grad_dis_nut]

I'm among those lucky ones who's never seen a roach/palmetto bug in WDW. However, as a new arrival to life in Florida, I'm so glad to see that we are not the only ones living with "palmetto bugs" in the house. Sooooo gross, and I have been telling myself that it's not that our house is filthy....

 

[paulmc80]

If you don't care for roaches, then you'll need to very, very careful if ever visiting Hawaii. They are all around you here. But, they are great at hiding in the sand. Think Hawaii has won the world's largest roach contest for 10 years running. lol

Even the military can't be rid of 'em here. And, we all know they have high sanitary standards for their facilities.

 

[mareemouse]

I love Disney as much as anyone but I am always amazed at how forgiving people are here.
Disney is wonderful but there is no reason we should make excuses for them.
C'mon guys, you're paying plenty to stay there.
I wonder if so many excuses would be made to defend other resorts in the world, and I don't mean Disney.
It's great to see so much positive attitude, but let's be realistic too......

 

[peter11435]

I love Disney as much as anyone but I am always amazed at how forgiving people are here.
Disney is wonderful but there is no reason we should make excuses for them.
C'mon guys, you're paying plenty to stay there.
I wonder if so many excuses would be made to defend other resorts in the world, and I don't mean Disney.
It's great to see so much positive attitude, but let's be realistic too......

Wow, some people are still missing the point. The only thing unrealistic would be to expect any resort in Florida to be completely roach free. It’s just not possible. Get up any morning at sunrise and you will see Disney Pest Management out spraying the grounds. They also spray the rooms often. However all it takes is one open door for just 30 seconds and a roach can enter the room. There is no way anyone could prevent a roach from getting into a room with a door that opens to the outside. They can walk or fly in without anyone noticing. I can't believe people still don't understand this.

Its not making an excuse its fact. It would be like expecting Disney to prevent rain in Florida because of how much you pay, there is no way they can do that either.

 

[Sammie]

Peter is right and actually we are being very realistic. The ones that think Disney can prevent every single bug from getting into a room are unrealistic.

Or for that matter any hotel in Florida or any other state that has year round warm weather.

 

[Pkdcoastrs]

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Wow I didn't really expect a 5 PAGE THREAD when I made this post. I kind of feel bad, I wasn't posting this to make Pop Century seem like the worst place ever or that this incident was the end of the world.

But I guess any discussion/arguement that stays friendly is always a good thing.

 

[RescueRanger]

I live in Texas and roaches are a part of life. A wood roach ( the ones that can fly) can get in just about any crack. You can spray insecticides all day long, but they will still find their way in. Like others have said, roach free in Forida is unrealistic. Either learn to live with it or vacation somewhere else.

 

[Nuts4Disney]

I love Disney as much as anyone but I am always amazed at how forgiving people are here.
Disney is wonderful but there is no reason we should make excuses for them.
C'mon guys, you're paying plenty to stay there.
I wonder if so many excuses would be made to defend other resorts in the world, and I don't mean Disney.
It's great to see so much positive attitude, but let's be realistic too......

Wow, some people are still missing the point. The only thing unrealistic would be to expect any resort in Florida to be completely roach free. It’s just not possible. Get up any morning at sunrise and you will see Disney Pest Management out spraying the grounds. They also spray the rooms often. However all it takes is one open door for just 30 seconds and a roach can enter the room. There is no way anyone could prevent a roach from getting into a room with a door that opens to the outside. They can walk or fly in without anyone noticing. I can't believe people still don't understand this.

Its not making an excuse its fact. It would be like expecting Disney to prevent rain in Florida because of how much you pay, there is no way they can do that either.

Perhaps it isn't the people who are distressed by the bugs who are missing the point!

If this is such an inherent problem in an area so dependent on tourism $$$$, then perhaps WDW [& Florida, in general] needs to be more proactive w/this problem. Why should tourists be expected to tolerate this situation, especially when paying such a premium for on-site resorts?


Here's a thought...

Get up any morning at sunrise and you will see Disney Pest Management out spraying the grounds. They also spray the rooms often.

If they spray the grounds "every morning at sunrise" & only "the rooms often", perhaps the pests are running from the grounds into the rooms to avoid the bug spray.


I agree with the others who posted that no matter how many wonderful things are posted about Disney, any negative criticism about Disney seem to be frowned upon, and Disney defended. It is unfortunate, because it makes some people shy away from posting their negative experiences, which would help keep the info here more balanced.

 

[safetymom]

I think some posters are missing the point that spraying and other methods are used all over Florida to get rid of the roaches. If they spray too much the chemicals would be more of a hazard than the roaches.

It is a fact of life in Florida. It happens at all the hotels and homes. It isn't a reflection of the cleanliness of the facility. No one is making excuses for anyone.

 

[peter11435]

Perhaps it isn't the people who are distressed by the bugs who are missing the point!

If this is such an inherent problem in an area so dependent on tourism $$$$, then perhaps WDW [& Florida, in general] needs to be more proactive w/this problem. Why should tourists be expected to tolerate this situation, especially when paying such a premium for on-site resorts?

The thing is that the fact that so few of us have ever seen a roach at WDW shows that while it is an inherent problem in Florida. WDW does an excellent job of controlling the problem. This is not something that happens to many WDW guests. However there is NOTHING they could do to prevent the possibility that it may happen every now and then.

Here's a thought...

If they spray the grounds "every morning at sunrise" & only "the rooms often", perhaps the pests are running from the grounds into the rooms to avoid the bug spray.

First of all I never said how often they spray the rooms. As others have pointed out it would be unhealthy to spray the rooms every day. Disney knows what they are doing with this. Obviously if you have been to Disney and also elsewhere in Florida you know just how good Disney does in the area of Pest Management.

I agree with the others who posted that no matter how many wonderful things are posted about Disney, any negative criticism about Disney seem to be frowned upon, and Disney defended. It is unfortunate, because it makes some people shy away from posting their negative experiences, which would help keep the info here more balanced.

See I really don't agree with that. In my experience on these boards if someone posted about a terrible stay where their room was dirty and not cleaned everyday people agree that that is wrong. Disney is at fault for that and should have done something about it. However people shouldn't blame Disney for situations like this one that are beyond their control.

 

[Hodder]

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Wow I didn't really expect a 5 PAGE THREAD when I made this post. I kind of feel bad, I wasn't posting this to make Pop Century seem like the worst place ever or that this incident was the end of the world.

But I guess any discussion/arguement that stays friendly is always a good thing.

No need to feel bad as I am laughing sooooo hard at some of the posts. (my skin feels a little creepy though...LOL).

I am staying at POP in Oct & you haven't turned me off...

 

[thunderbird1]

We saw two when we stayed at the POP last December. The first time I was on the phone, and I sat and watched as the little guy walked around the room then squeezed under the corner of the door through a gap in the weatherstripping and went back outside. My dd and dh were at the pool at the time, and she was bummed that she'd missed it. A couple of days later there was another one under a wet towel in the bathroom, and she was thrilled that she got to see that one. She even picked him up and put him back outside so he could return to his Ohana.

And I have to agree with some of the pp's, I'd much rather stay in a room with a bug or two than one that's been soaked in pesticides--especially with little kids.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news thunderbird1, but if you could catch that roach it's not going back to it's O'hana - it's going to the big guy in the sky.

Generally, if a roach is moving that slowly (i.e not scampering quickly) it's dying.

(the reason it was probably under that wet towel was it was looking for water because of the poisons it had injested or come in contact with.)

 

[ironz]

well, you can't forget about all the other rodents around there....mice...and those chipmunks...I keep seeing two of them all the time!! and they're huge! can't they set a trap or something?!



really...the bugs just happen. It's a southern thing. The only one that made me feel yucky was the one I saw in Narcoosee's one time.

and it's not like they are encouraged to hang around... that is just the environment. Don't think we really want all of WDW wrapped in a plastic bubble, do we?

cheers...

 

[mommyoeo]

When we moved to TX, I was constantly calling the "bug man" to come get rid of roaches. My landloard must have thought I was crazy-- finally the man told me that these huge bugs make their way into a house by accident and they will surely die if they cannot find thier way out. They do not wish to live in houses and are not finding a cozy nest to lay millions of eggs. He said they'd be dead within 24 hours if left indoors. As a yankee, I was mortified and couldn't sleep. I had never been in a culture who acepted any kind of bugs in the house before! I did get used to them (about every other week or so, I'd see one and scream like I had never seen one before, even if I were in a parkinglot of something) and finally believed it has nothing to do with having a clean house or not. I would not be happy if I saw one in POP but I wouldn't move out either. I slept with one eye open for 3 years in TX so I guess I can do the same at WDW. I have to admit though, if these bugs are in FL too, I'm hoping that they'll be gone by October. They are not a pretty site!

 

[CinRell]

My cousin used to do floor/carpet cleaning in restraunts and unfortunately, he told me even 5 stars.. top of the town restraunts... have roaches. ANYWHERE there is food there are roaches. It's unavoidable.

And places with new people coming in and out daily... to realistically keep all bugs out at all times they'd have to continuously spray rooms when new guests arrive/visit/new products come in for restraunts and shops... which isn't realistic.

I'm a bug-a-phobic.. trust me.. and I will scream.. loudly .. if I am welcomed by a resident of "joe's apartment" in 2 weeks.... but I know it's just the way things are at any resort the size of WDW.

 

[DonnaDavid]

I think this is a funny thread - it must be a function of who has spent a lot of time in the South or not. I grew up in Coastal Mississippi and then spent 8 years in TX. I have lots of roach stories - I have no fondness for roaches, but I would rather not spend my vacation in chemicals either.

For those of you who are getting upset about this thread, I have a somewhat off-topic story for you all. Someone I work with just returned from the Bahamas. He was at a resort hotel near Atlantis. He and his wife flew home on the weekend. It has been very hot here in the Portland, OR area. On Thurs, his wife smelled something horrible in the car. She looked under the car seat and saw a dead snake; it was an appoximately 2 1/2 ft. long python! They are speculating that somehow it got into their luggage and crawled out on the way back from the airport. I don't think that is a native, but apparently there is a problem with those snakes being dumped by people who like to collect exotics (until they start getting too big!) or perhaps it was being smuggled and got away. They are in the process of contacting airport officials.

So anyway, this is your thought for the day. Roaches are normal when you visit the South. If you find a python in your hotel room, change resorts.

 

[RescueRanger]

So anyway, this is your thought for the day. Roaches are normal when you visit the South. If you find a python in your hotel room, change resorts.

Thanks for the laugh. I needed that today.

Nuts4Disney: I can assure you that I am not one to look at WDW through Mickey colored glasses. I never make excuses for WDW for legitimate gripes. In fact, I have been the one griping quite a few times. However, as I and others have stated, roaches are just part of the south. To think that they can be completely eliminated is totally unrealistic. You might as well ask WDW to eliminate mosquitos. Heck, mosquitos pose much more of a health risk than some stray roach looking for a place to crash.

 

[thunderbird1]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news thunderbird1, but if you could catch that roach it's not going back to it's O'hana - it's going to the big guy in the sky.

Generally, if a roach is moving that slowly (i.e not scampering quickly) it's dying.

(the reason it was probably under that wet towel was it was looking for water because of the poisons it had injested or come in contact with.)

Oh man! I better not tell my dd or it will wreck one of her "special Disney moments." Next you'll be telling me I have to explain to her why the dragonflies and beetles are sometimes "stuck together."