Our POP Stay and Black Mold in room.....

[bumbershoot]

They certainly do apologize. While SOME CMs might think they aren't supposed to, others do apologize and smooth over situations nicely by doing so.


OP I'm so sorry that happened to you. Some people are more sensitive than others, and I start to what feels like dying within a VERY short amount of time with mold and even mildew. My mom was the same way; she was horribly sick inside of hours of checking into a room once (not at Disney), and when my stepdad started looking around the room, he found black mold INSIDE the air conditioner.

During our February trip this year we had a few nights at SSR in a 2 bedroom. The 3 of us got there first, and family was following hours later. The instant I stepped in the room I was in a mold spore. It stank SO badly. Within a very very short amount of time I was so sick and weak that I collapsed on the bed and could barely even speak. DH didn't know about the front desk/calling situation, and called. He was persistent and did ultimately have someone call him back who was at the resort.

We have since learned that when such things happen, no one is to listen to me, because I decided that I was too tired to move that night. DH went along with that. Silly DH. So I slept inside of a place that was poison to me.

The easiest solution offered to us was that Housekeeping would come in and put up a bunch of air fresheners. Wow, how helpful to a person with sensitivities! So we'd have mold AND chemicals. Oh and have I mentioned that I'm allergic to bleach, too?

The next day they continued to work on a resolution, and they got us into a different 2 bedroom unit. They had offered us a Grand Villa, but I (again, no one should listen to me when I'm sick like that) said no because I just wanted what we were supposed to have.

As we were packing to go, very slowly (my cousin and her daughter have similar sensitivities as I do, so both of them had suddenly come down with what appeared to be colds over the night), the Housekeeping manager came by. I know he was ready to scoff, but the instant he stepped in the door he was physically taken aback at how BAD it was in that space. Instead of just doing whatever he was going to have done, he took the room out of inventory to have it truly cleaned.

Hours after I was physically out of that villa I started getting better. It is THAT immediate with some of us. Getting sick and getting better CAN be quick. If I had stayed in that room for more than a day I would have ended up in the hospital. I'm so glad this "only" became a long-lasting illness for the OP's family.


OP, keep on working on this. It's totally WRONG that all they did was scrub it away, when they should know they have to do more than that to actually get rid of it. They should have moved you, absolutely.


With SSR, and note that we were only there for one nighttime, we also got a $200 credit on our account. Of course, that ended up even less fun because to get to that credit we had to set up charging. And that process took over 2 hours of DH at the front desk while we all were at the pool for the few hours of sunlight that day. No one could get it worked out for that long, it was awful for him. (they ended up bumping up the compensation to make up for the time involved to give us the compensation for the mold problem)

 

[SDTeaGirl]

They certainly do apologize. While SOME CMs might think they aren't supposed to, others do apologize and smooth over situations nicely by doing so.


OP I'm so sorry that happened to you. Some people are more sensitive than others, and I start to what feels like dying within a VERY short amount of time with mold and even mildew. My mom was the same way; she was horribly sick inside of hours of checking into a room once (not at Disney), and when my stepdad started looking around the room, he found black mold INSIDE the air conditioner.

During our February trip this year we had a few nights at SSR in a 2 bedroom. The 3 of us got there first, and family was following hours later. The instant I stepped in the room I was in a mold spore. It stank SO badly. Within a very very short amount of time I was so sick and weak that I collapsed on the bed and could barely even speak. DH didn't know about the front desk/calling situation, and called. He was persistent and did ultimately have someone call him back who was at the resort.

We have since learned that when such things happen, no one is to listen to me, because I decided that I was too tired to move that night. DH went along with that. Silly DH. So I slept inside of a place that was poison to me.

The easiest solution offered to us was that Housekeeping would come in and put up a bunch of air fresheners. Wow, how helpful to a person with sensitivities! So we'd have mold AND chemicals. Oh and have I mentioned that I'm allergic to bleach, too?

The next day they continued to work on a resolution, and they got us into a different 2 bedroom unit. They had offered us a Grand Villa, but I (again, no one should listen to me when I'm sick like that) said no because I just wanted what we were supposed to have.

As we were packing to go, very slowly (my cousin and her daughter have similar sensitivities as I do, so both of them had suddenly come down with what appeared to be colds over the night), the Housekeeping manager came by. I know he was ready to scoff, but the instant he stepped in the door he was physically taken aback at how BAD it was in that space. Instead of just doing whatever he was going to have done, he took the room out of inventory to have it truly cleaned.

Hours after I was physically out of that villa I started getting better. It is THAT immediate with some of us. Getting sick and getting better CAN be quick. If I had stayed in that room for more than a day I would have ended up in the hospital. I'm so glad this "only" became a long-lasting illness for the OP's family.


OP, keep on working on this. It's totally WRONG that all they did was scrub it away, when they should know they have to do more than that to actually get rid of it. They should have moved you, absolutely.


With SSR, and note that we were only there for one nighttime, we also got a $200 credit on our account. Of course, that ended up even less fun because to get to that credit we had to set up charging. And that process took over 2 hours of DH at the front desk while we all were at the pool for the few hours of sunlight that day. No one could get it worked out for that long, it was awful for him. (they ended up bumping up the compensation to make up for the time involved to give us the compensation for the mold problem)

This is what was happening to us- The longer we were in there the worse we got- by the end I could barely walk and lost my voice from coughing so much. I could just stand there and sweet would run off my hair. I was really to weak to walk down to the front desk and try to explain what was going on and I assumed we wouldn't get anything done since they didn't help us the first time. I was thinking I could die least I felt that way. It was bad. Trying to leave and go to the airport- we would actually like run away from where I was because of the coughing and my family was coughing and we were sweating like it was 190 degrees out side. Still have really bad sweating episodes and still coughing out my lungs after 2 weeks!
Thanks for the kinds words and thinking of not letting me give up on all hope.

 

[bumbershoot]

This is what was happening to us- The longer we were in there the worse we got- by the end I could barely walk and lost my voice from coughing so much. I could just stand there and sweet would run off my hair. I was really to weak to walk down to the front desk and try to explain what was going on and I assumed we wouldn't get anything done since they didn't help us the first time. I was thinking I could die least I felt that way. It was bad. Trying to leave and go to the airport- we would actually like run away from where I was because of the coughing and my family was coughing and we were sweating like it was 190 degrees out side. Still have really bad sweating episodes and still coughing out my lungs after 2 weeks!
Thanks for the kinds words and thinking of not letting me give up on all hope.

The only good thing that came out of my experience last February was this moment, that I could help you a little bit.

Some people are just mystified by the reactions people like us have to mold! They think it just doesn't or can't happen like that. DH believes me but his own body doesn't react like that, nor did our son react like that. But DH has seen me get just as sick and delirious at a BRAND NEW hotel, where it must have been the offgassing of the new everything there. Things were OK, I went to take a warm bath, and while I was in the bath it was like I started losing my mind. The whole rest of the night I was shaking and shivering and talking up a storm, just really weird. And too sick to pack up and go home.

Anyway, when someone hasn't seen it happen or hasn't had it happen to them (and I hope that they never do! it really really really SUCKS!), they just think really linearly, that it doesn't happen like that. But it absolutely CAN.


I'm so sorry that it was your whole family. Especially since I assume there was a non-blood-related adult in the family group (meaning it's not all inherited traits in the immune system), it must have been a horrific amount of mold.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

That is absolutely horrible. If this ever happens to you again, either demand a room change right away or call housekeeping immediately.

 

[ArwenMarie]

The timing and symptoms sound like influenza to me. The way you were at the parks for 4 days before it set in, and yep, you can all get it at the same time. (The typical incubation period for influenza is 1-4 days.) The symptoms also sound like classic influenza. Did you get flu shots before you went? That would make it less likely that it was the flu, but still not impossible as they don't always work.

I feel your pain either way...last year we went in November and we ALL GOT influenza at WDW, we barely made it home. It was awful. Then the kids developed pneumonia afterwards. We were sick for a week afterwards and coughed for much longer than that.

The housekeeping issues...that is just atrocious.

I think you were right to write them about the housekeeping issues, but I'm not sure you can blame them for the illness...hard to prove. I wouldn't expect anything back though unfortunately, but at least you told them.

Sorry you had such a crummy time. It's horrible. Hopefully it doesn't put you off of WDW forever! If you go back, maybe try a totally different hotel, maybe one of the newer buildings like AoA, and try a different time of the year when it isn't sick season. Sometimes it takes a new trip to erase the bad memories. Sorry this happened to you!!!

 

[Mousemommy1]

OP, I am sorry you experienced this! Sounds like a nightmare. I'm not a complainer but poor housekeeping is something that I would not tolerate. Luckily in 8 on site visits (including a stay at POP) I have not experienced any issues like you have, so I would say what you experienced is not the norm.

I hope you're all feeling better soon!

 

[mickeyfor5]

OMG! We had a similar experience of the rooms not being cleaned properly at the AS Movies. Nothing like lifting a blanket to find a moldy half eaten McDonald's feast waiting for you! Gross! I'm thinking that the Values aren't cleaned as carefully as the others...

 

[Sue M]

So sorry you had this experience I'm sure they will get back to you. I would ask for a partial refund on lost dining, dessert party, and horrible room. They will get back to you, but with the amount of email they get, it takes awhile to get sorted and to the appropriate person.

I've never in all my trips experienced such horrible housekeeping. I would have been down at the front desk with photos, and asked to speak with a manager about a different room, in a nice way of course . And if they were booked up, then at another resort.

As you found out, you get nothing on the phone. Hard lesson learned.

I would also write a physical letter to Pop century attn. head of housekeeping and explain the details of your experience as you did here.

I had to do this my last stay, because our last day early morning we went downstairs to drop off our luggage at airline desk. Put do not disturb sign on our door. We were gone 20 min and returned to an empty room all our personal belongings were gone, either in trash or lost & found. This was well before our 11:00 check out time. I found our housekeeper, and he had to scurry around to retrieve our jackets, food was in garbage, so that was lost, and other stuff we were bringing on plane. Other food was gone and toiletries we were going to leave for my friend who was staying a few more days. Not a great way to end our stay. Otherwise our housekeeping was great!

We got comped a dinner anywhere we wanted for our next trip, which is coming up. So I picked Yachtsman Steak House. Head of housekeeping did get back to me.

I hope you give wdw another chance. Yours isn't the typical experience.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I found this site http://moldsymptoms.org/ which provides exactly what the URL indicates. Based on the symptoms provided, it doesn't at all sound like they were affected by black mold. Bleach wouldnt cause the fevers, either.

But the housekeeping issues are definitely issues - although it's possible nothing was done because they were alwaysin the room? Anyway, if there's no response, she should try contacting Disney agin about just the housekeeping. The illnesses sound like a contagious condition caught from other guests.

 

[disnut8]

They are not going to apologize because that would be admitting guilt. Considering your illness claim, they are backing off because they are worried about being sued. Not that you want to do that, but that is their concern.

Not really. A note that says "We are sorry you had a difficult time at our resort." does not place "blame". Disney never says they did anything wrong and the guest doesn't know what caused the problem.

From what I read here, there is no "blame" for anything. As of today, there is not a definite answer for what the OP and her family came down with. Her doctor said 1-2 months for determination.

Was the mold there? Yes. Did Disney clean it up? Yes. Did the clean up affect the OP and her family? Yes. Was the housekeeping not good at all? Yes. Should the OP have been moved to a different room? Yes.

I know the OP is still going through a lot with her family and the aftermath and she's been made aware of calling versus going down to the front desk. But she did wait 3 days to call about the problem. Would that be enough time for the symptoms to rise?

 

[maxiesmom]

OMG! We had a similar experience of the rooms not being cleaned properly at the AS Movies. Nothing like lifting a blanket to find a moldy half eaten McDonald's feast waiting for you! Gross! I'm thinking that the Values aren't cleaned as carefully as the others...

That is not true. In many stays my only poorly cleaned room was at POFQ. You can get a lazy housekeeper at any level Disney resort.

 

[MisterGoofy1]

We stayed From Dec 4-15 at POP- we got in our room and I noticed that there was a black "stain" on the floor by the edge of the sink. I was assuming it was just a stain and no big deal. Well 3-4 days later the "stain" was bigger than a basketball in size and was black on the outside and fuzzy whitish in the middle- I called and was telling them about this and they said they would have a manager come up to see it and to "fix" this problem. We waited over 1-2 hrs- I finally called back to say we had to leave to make a Dining Reservation. We got back and the room smelled like bleach and a lot of it. The "stain" was still kind of there yet. Well that stain I believe made us sick- my whole family (the 3 of us) all got sick and we started coughing and I have never coughed as hard as this before- we all were running a fever and could barely pick our heads off the bed for 2-3 days. We missed out on park days, tickets with left over days we didn't use because of being so sick, Dessert Party I prepaid for, Dining quick service meals that they would not let us turn into snacks( we didn't use because we were so sick), missed days of work when we finally got back home because we were still so sick, doctors visits.

I work in a field where mold is a hot topic. I have had to take classes and attend seminars to the point it is becoming obnoxious. The symptoms you are complaining of are generally not symptoms of mold sickness.

Black Mold, AKA Stachybotrys, is black or grey. However, there are thousands of different types of molds that are black. Many of them that are not black mold can turn color(white in the middle as you indicated) and change textures, (fuzzy as you indicated.) So it does not sound like you had black mold. This is a very common misconception.

Having never stayed at POP, I don't know what the room layouts are like. You said the stain was by the sink. I'm guessing in the bathroom? How close to the sink was the bed? Did you stay in your room all the time? I'm guessing you were not in your room all day and that the stain was in the bathroom. With the exception of people who are hyper sensitive to mold, being exposed to a "stain" by a sink for only a few days would not cause mold sickness.

Mold is everywhere. It is floating around in the air in your house right now. Walk outside and there are millions of mold spores. Disney used bleach, which is common to kill mold to take care of the problem. I do not think Disney should be blamed for you missing out on park days or DDP credits for something that sounds like you contracted the flu or some other virus that is out of their control.

 

[tcherjen]

Wow that stinks! I have always had great rooms at Disney. I am highly allergic to mold, all forms so that would have been scary to me.