PLEASE check for bed bugs before accepting your room.

[Craigdarroch]

They go where they smell potential DNA (ie: a meal) so anyplace a human has been is fair game to them.

I think the risk of getting them from the tub is slim, but I would still leave the cases out of the room until your complete your initial inspection.

I'm sure you'll be just fine (especially since Disney is so aware of the problem now).

Do the basics and then enjoy a wonderful holiday

 

[bearzabout]

I bought Luna mattress and pillow covers to keep the buggers from ever making my expensive new mattress and down pillows their home.

I just wish they made down comforter protectors. I am afraid to carry my comforter with me after my last exposure to the dreaded bugs. I steamed the comforter when I got home and had all kinds of critters surface from the heat.

http://www.lunamattress.com/?gclid=CPv2sdmvq6QCFUcz5wodxg2YbQ


I am quite confident that the Cedarcide (cedar oil) I sprayed on and in my luggage with deter them from climbing into a bag while on vacation. Luckily, I love the scent of cedar and don't have any adverse reactions like I do with other bug sprays.

I read the article that said that 2 out of three homes will have bedbugs within a few years. I'm not willing to give up travel so I guess it is just a matter of time before I get exposed again.

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

The fact is, you could have a completely bedbug free room and then someone from housekeeping could bring the bedbugs or eggs in from another room on a cart, the towels, or even the bottom of their shoes.

My point being, you could walk in there with your family looking like Ghostbusters and scour every inch of the room and still not be 100% secure, so just be reasonable and enjoy your holiday

Or you could actually be the one who brings the bed bugs into the room on luggage that got some bed bug hitchhikers from the other luggage on the plane on your flight to FL!

 

[Craigdarroch]

Or you could actually be the one who brings the bed bugs into the room on luggage that got some bed bug hitchhikers from the other luggage on the plane on your flight to FL!

Well... that's why I only do carry-on. They say your chances are a bit better than if you check your bags.
Still, there's never a guarantee is there.

 

[ldvcshop]

Whenever we book rooms now I check bedbugregistry.com where people report their problems by room and hotel. Also I check trip rerport and read all the reviews. I've found some reports there that were not on the registry site. My heart goes out to those who have experienced this, I am constantly paranoid about this and we spray our luggage, briefcases, backpacks with Permethrin before we travel anywhere. Don't know if it works, but it makes me feel better.

 

[lilaclily]

I don't know why they dont use the sponge matresses. That helps a lot and are very comfortable. Many expensive hotels are changing their beds this way.

 

[powellrj]

Since this thread is 5 years old, they may be using them now.

 

[Binni]

I always check bedbugregistry.com before I travel. Unfortunately, ALL of the WDW resorts have had them at one time or another, some worse (value resorts) than others. Upon entering a room, all luggage goes on a rack, beds are disassembled and given a thorough inspection. My husband used to think I was nuts until he read about what peaopple had to go through at Disney when bugs WERE detected. Not a great way to spend your vacation. As they say, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

 

[JulieAlane80]

You are so right.....check anywhere. I guess I said Orlando because most people on this board are headed there. I hope we can remedy our problem quickly....because it is really taking a toll on me. I've barely slept in two weeks, am stressed, anxious, worried (that my kids will get bitten), and just grossed out by the whole thing. My husband wants to take a long weekend trip for the 4th but I refuse because that would mean staying in another hotel potentially bringing more of these things home with us. I don't wish this on anyone.

I've dealt with this and it is truly the worst! I'm not sure I'll ever recover fully with the trauma of dealing with this.

 

[Ametista]

We brought them home once in our daughter's pack-n-play. The worst was that only my son and I reacted to the bites, as only about 50% of people are allergic. So even though the infestation started in my daughter's stuff, she never reacted to a single bite so we kept thinking my son and I were allergic to something. Once I suspected bed bugs I checked her pack-n-play and it was completely infested, but they hide so well you don't see it unless you are looking. We had stayed at Cypress Harbour. This was 8 years ago, so that was when the re-infestation of America was just starting. Prior to that I thought bed bugs were a myth from nursery rhymes. We spent about 4K, including replacing carpet and treatments, mattresses, etc. What a nightmare. I never, ever stay anywhere now without checking all the mattress seams, looking behind the painting over the bed for those little round specks of poop. And check the sheets for stains because bed bug poop doesn't wash out. If you see what looks like perfect little circles of black stain on your sheets, that's bed bug poop stains.

 

[Carrol]

I travel with my own pillow all the time - I have never thought of this.... Thank-you for bringing this to my attention!!! This thread has been very helpful!

As a precaution I always throw my clothes in the dryer when I get home. The heat kills them.

 

[Fairygodaunt]

rule of thumb is to pull the sheets up off the corners and look for any thing on the mattress creases... like small spots (black/brownish) could be the bugs...also look for blood droplets.

I was bitten in Pop Century. Disney tied saying it was fleas & I must have had an allergic reaction. I know they weren't flea bites... they had to call 911 because my legs swelled so much from the bites. They did change my room but still insisted not bed bugs.. What gets me is, why would they say "fleas" since that is just as bad.. either way there were bugs on that bed. I figured if it were fleas, they would have been in the carpet & others in the room (my DD's) would have been bitten too.. I was the only one & I slept in the bed alone...

The

rule of thumb is to pull the sheets up off the corners and look for any thing on the mattress creases... like small spots (black/brownish) could be the bugs...also look for blood droplets.

I was bitten in Pop Century. Disney tied saying it was fleas & I must have had an allergic reaction. I know they weren't flea bites... they had to call 911 because my legs swelled so much from the bites. They did change my room but still insisted not bed bugs.. What gets me is, why would they say "fleas" since that is just as bad.. either way there were bugs on that bed. I figured if it were fleas, they would have been in the carpet & others in the room (my DD's) would have been bitten too.. I was the only one & I slept in the bed alone...

 

[icydog]

This is what you are looking for. Bed bug poop.

I plan on looking for this at every timeshare I visit. Besides Disney Vacation Club I own Marriott's and a RCI Grandview at Las Vegas. I'm so grossed out by this. I worry about them every time I travel.

 

[bankr63]

I'd be more likely to check at a hotel than at a timeshare. In a timeshare, in most cases no more than 50 people will have slept in that bed in the past year. In a hotel, it could easily be 360 different people per year. Figure I'm much more likely to come across this in a hotel.

Interesting how this thread that was started in 2010 perks back to the top every 2-3 months; certainly a hot button topic for lots of travellers...

 

[Wonder05]

This is absolutely NOT true (or at least, not "always" true). 2 years ago we were staying at POP and our friends stayed in the room right beside ours. We had a knock on our door in the middle of the night and it was our friends letting us know they were being moved to another area of the resort because they had found their bed infested with bed-bugs and they had both been bitten.

We were never moved from the adjacent room (they said the resort was at capacity) and less than a full 24 hours later, there were new guests in the bed-bug room. We knocked on their door and told them about our friends finding the bugs and they went to look at the beds and sure enough, we saw the little buggers! They packed up everything and headed for the front desk to be moved. They were upgraded to Saratoga and before they left, came to thank us for alerting them.
Once again, in about 24 hours, the room beside us had guests. We went to talk to the front desk about the fact that this room was not being quarantined and they said they had sealed the room and turned the heat up for 12 hours to kill the bugs. Sorry, but that won't work.
We asked to be moved because we were terrified they would migrate to our room via the adjoining door but the manager said there was no evidence of a problem in our room therefore, they wouldn't move us.

We were lucky enough to escape the bed-bug problem, but Disney certainly didn't take it seriously.

On a side note. We also found 3 different live cockroaches in our room at the CBR a few years back and they were just as nonchalant as with the bed bugs. In fact, the CM's exact words were "so?"
I guess they felt that cockroaches were just part of the resort "theming".

While I realize Disney is far from the only hotel with these problems, their customer service when dealing with this (at least in our case) was appalling.


I'm so sorry this happened to you TNDISLVR, I really and truly feel for you and I pray your troubles will be over very soon and you will never again have to worry about these critters. Many blessings to you and your family and thanks for reminding us we can never be too careful.

One more note.... bed-bugs come from people carrying them into hotel rooms.
Please, please, please.... if you know you have an infestation of these critters in your home or elsewhere, and you are heading to a hotel while your place is being treated, make sure your clothes and luggage and "bodies" are free of these pests before bringing them into a hotel room and passing on the problem. You would only be perpetuating the problem which may come back to haunt you on another occassion.

This is horrible! I hope everyone who had to deal with this has come out the other end alright.

Disney was ignoring Anyone who didn't catch the proof and the additudes on top of this.


Anyone know if they have improved?

 

[Wonder05]

So is this Not as Bad as it was or are people just ignoring it and putting up with this YUCK?

 

[marcyleecorgan]

So is this Not as Bad as it was or are people just ignoring it and putting up with this YUCK?

You do kind of have to put up with it.
Avoidance is key, aggressive treatment works if you have an infestation, but at the end of the day, you have to remember that we share the planet with BA-TRILLIONS of insects.
Unless you live in a hermetically-sealed bubble suit!

 

[Wonder05]

You do kind of have to put up with it.
Avoidance is key, aggressive treatment works if you have an infestation, but at the end of the day, you have to remember that we share the planet with BA-TRILLIONS of insects.
Unless you live in a hermetically-sealed bubble suit!

How do you avoid them?
I'm serious I'd really like to know. We have got three little ones and I just got cleared from a very rare blood clot found in my Inferior vena cava and We didn't know if it would get loose and travel to my lungs, brain or heart. So, this is Not something I want to bring back home to battle them now as well.


If I sound on edge my apologies as I've just finished going through these extreamly scary months that started 2 days after our son was born.