Pre-trip disasters

[mi*vida*loca]

I always seem to have such anxiety about these types of accidents before our trips. All these post have actually encouraged me that things happen but you can still get there and enjoy part/parts of your trip!

In 2010 I had my gall bladder removed 8 DAYS before we left. Then we get there and the first ride I go on is Dinosaur in AK....I was fine but it was not a smart move!

I have high anxiety about this too. I start with the Lysol and antibacterial stuff a week before we leave. I'm stalking the kids at all activities. *Please don't break a bone!* I become a nut case

 

[LoKiHB]

We planned our first SWW for May of 2013. It was the first trip for our little one who was about 15 months at the time

About 3 weeks before, he ended up in the ER and then admitted to the hospital because his blood oxygen level was in the low 80's. He spent a couple of days and was released.

A week and a half later, the week before we were to leave, he was back in the hospital with the same symptoms. The Dr's were unsure of what was causing him to have so much congestion and pneumonia. We went so far as to call DVC and add insurance to our upcoming trip. The Dr's even said that it was "iffy at best" if he would be out in time to leave the following Monday.

Fortunately, on the third day, they managed to find a plan of treatment that helped him clear the congestion and he was out of the hospital 3 days prior to our trip.

Needless to say, with all that was going on we neglected to do our pre-trip preparation, and with my wife working away from home the weekend before, we were up until almost midnight packing and preparing for our trip and our cab ride to the airport at 4 am.

 

[disney*mom*82]

The night before our trip to WDW this past March my husband got called into work at his side job, so I was left at home with the 4 kids doing the last bit of packing and what not. Our oldest, who was 16, wanted to go hang out with some friends, I said no at first, but then said he could for an hour or so but then back home to help me load the van. Well, he wasn't gone 5 minutes and I got a phone call, he had wrecked his car. I go there, it wasn't his fault but his car was bad, thankfully he and the other driver were fine. Anyways, the car got worked on while we were gone, it ended up being totaled, my husband worried about it and called about it most days while we were gone, especially worrying about insurance.

 

[ilikewarmhugs77]

We are supposed to be flying to WDW tomorrow. FIL is in the hospital on a ventilator. We had to postpone our trip until January.

 

[Jennasis]

we are supposed to be flying to wdw tomorrow. Fil is in the hospital on a ventilator. We had to postpone our trip until january.

hugs!!

 

[nkereina]

I had a little bit of a different kind of disaster last trip. Last July, my grandfather was diagnosed with stage 4 bone cancer. He was 85 and previously had prostate cancer, so it wasn't a huge shock. He was given a year to live.

Fast forward to November when we were preparing to leave for our trip. At about two weeks before we were leaving, we learned that my grandfather now had only weeks to live and was put on home hospice care. I struggled with whether we should cancel our trip, but decided to wait and see what happened. 4 days before we left, he passed away. The services were the day before we left. It was a very stressful time, but ultimately worked out ok - we were able to attend the services and didn't have to move the trip. Crazy time - seems like everything hits the fan at once!

 

[Miskey]

A day and a half before leaving, my daughter landed wrong after doing a full at cheerleading practice. She said she heard a pop, and was in severe pain. Luckily was able to get into ortho the next morning, and get a stabilizing brace. We were still able to leave the next morning, but I had to push her in a wheelchair that entire week. We were waiting on the afternoon parade in MK when the ortho office called with the MRI results. She had completely severed her ACL and torn her meniscus.

 

[Bummbok]

This thread made me snort a little, not because of everyone's stories but because a family friend commented to us yesterday about how we have bad luck with Disney and bones.

2 years ago my (then 6 years old) daughter stepped off the seats wrong on one of the WDW buses (we were in the back on the raised seats) 8 hrs later after a long evening at Celebration hospital, we had our diagnosis, broken elbow. We lost another day that trip for the cast to be put on as the ER would only splint her. Good news was her souvenir that trip was a pink cast signed by everyone we met.

Fast forward to yesterday (2 weeks before we head down) my son (age 3) fell while running to go outside and landed wrong...broken wrist.

OP, glad to hear it wasn't too bad.

 

[dtr_angel]

I can relate OP! In May 2013 my DH broke his foot 5 days before we left for Disney World with our then 9 month old.

 

[Satchmo128]

We have yet to have an issue come up pre-trip (KNOCK ON WOOD!! ), but during 4 out of our last 5 trips to WDW, at least one of us (if not both of us) have picked up either a super BAD head cold or a stomach bug. No bueno at all.

 

[chelseabun76]

I had a little bit of a different kind of disaster last trip. Last July, my grandfather was diagnosed with stage 4 bone cancer. He was 85 and previously had prostate cancer, so it wasn't a huge shock. He was given a year to live.

Fast forward to November when we were preparing to leave for our trip. At about two weeks before we were leaving, we learned that my grandfather now had only weeks to live and was put on home hospice care. I struggled with whether we should cancel our trip, but decided to wait and see what happened. 4 days before we left, he passed away. The services were the day before we left. It was a very stressful time, but ultimately worked out ok - we were able to attend the services and didn't have to move the trip. Crazy time - seems like everything hits the fan at once!

I can relate, sadly..... My sister was diagnosed in Feb/2013 with stage 4 cancer, and in July/August we were told to do one last thing she wanted... which of course was one last Disney trip with her kids. I was to go with them as well to look after the kids and wheel my sis around. We booked for October 7th as at first we were told we had until Christmas to travel (this was at the beginning of August), but the first weekend of September my sister was admitted to the hospital and passed away 3 weeks later. Her celebration of life (complete with a disney theme family dinner afterwards) was held on October 5th, the day before we were supposed to leave. Needless to say I just let the trip go, and they were nice enough to refund every penny.

Fast forward to this August, almost a year later, and my mom and I booked a trip to take my youngest dd on her 'one on one' (plus me) trip with Grandma.... I have everything planned, adr's in place for January. And my mom just received some not so great news yesterday of her own health, so we are holding our breath and hoping for the best.

 

[Sparkie]

Add me to the injured list. We leave in 1 week. I fell this morning as I was leaving for work. Missed a step and somersaulted onto the deck. Nothing broken but my ankle is swollen and I'm limping around...no way I could walk in Disney today, maybe it will be better in a week. If not, I'll be renting a scooter or DH can push me around in a wheelchair....Now come to think of it....I may go with that wheelchair idea...I could enjoy Food and LOTS of WINE ....and no Drunk Scooting

 

[acebatonfan]

My family and I have had some pretty bad pre-trip luck.

One trip, my aunt passed away the day before we left for Disney. DGM also was taken to the ER a few days before another trip. On our last trip, we ended up getting a flat tire while in SC and had to spend the night there.

 

[PlainJane]

We are leaving in 4 days and 10 days ago I spilled my entire cup of coffee between my legs leaving 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my inner thighs. They are healing slowly but will not be comfortable in the September heat with my pants rubbing on them
I never knew how dangerous my morning cup of coffee was!!!

Definitely rent an ECV. I've had a second degree (almost third degree) burn. You don't want to do anything that will jeopardize the burns healing properly. I'm so sorry that happened.

I've been in a fancy velcro boot now for over 6 weeks (trying to heal achilles tendon tear). The one piece of advice I would give is try to find a shoe with similar height b/c if not, knees, hips and back could start hurting. Hopefully it heals quickly and he won't have to use it on vacation. I leave 5 weeks from tomorrow and I am telling myself I will not be in a boot that long. Surely I can WILL myself better!

That is very good advice. I hope I never have to use it though

Maybe I can rent him one of those ECV's with a cow catcher on the front?

I'm glad he decided to go to the doctor. You really can still have a great vacation, just with some modifications. Unless he can walk without pain, I would advise renting the ECV.

 

[Tomh]

How about pre trip, during trip, and post trip, all in the same trip.

This August, first off, I hurt my right foot. Could barely walk on it, mad painful. We leave for Disney at 3:00 am from NY. By 7:00 am we are in Maryland on the beltway heading for DC when I hit a pot hole with the car, and it starts pulling hard to the right. I pull over, and discover that I've broken something in the right front suspension.

Turns out to be the steering knuckle. By the time AAA gets a new knuckle, and gets the car back together, I'm out a thousand dollars, and it is nearly 12:00 the NEXT day. While waiting in Glen Burnie Maryland for the car to be fixed, my wife passed out pretty early in the hotel, so I took the son out for a walk to keep him occupied and out of her hair. During said walk, I fell into a hole, with the sore foot, and managed to bang up the other foot pretty good. Had my 10 year old son not grabbed my arm, and pulled me, I think my head would have been taken off by a passing delivery truck that I nearly fell out in the road in front of.

We forge on, and I drive from Maryland straight through to Orlando, arriving at 2:00 am. I'm pretty exhausted, and my foot hurts more than ever, but we made it. Next morning, we go check in at POR, and head off to DTD. DS and I go to Quest where I manage to lose my sun glasses. Of course, no one ever turned them in.

Toward the end of our first week, my foot is finally starting to feel better. Our first day off from the parks, we are supposed to be going to Typhoon Lagoon, playing a round of mini golf, and ending the day at DTD with dinner at the Rainforest Cafe'. We decide to put off Typhoon lagoon since the wife and have both gotten sick as sick can be. We head out to Wal Mart to get medicine, and fill the gas tank. Once the tank is full, I go to start the car, and it won't start. After going through everything that I could possibly fix on my own, I finally come to the conclusion that the fuel pump has taken a dump, and call AAA again. 4 hours later I finally get a tow truck to take me over to the AAA at Disney. They drive us back to our resort. By this time, it is 8:00 at night, the whole day was a wash, we did nothing except take our medicine, and go back to bed.

For about two days, I had a killer sore throat, then one full day of sneezing non stop, followed by a nasty cough that lasted the remainder of the trip.

We went to the villains party at DHS and got caught outside for nearly 40 minutes in a torrential downpour. Unbelievably, they wouldn't let us in the park to take cover in a building. By the time the rain was over, I was wet in places that don't even get wet when I am swimming.

At some point, I managed to lose my 2nd (backup) pair of sun glasses. My wife also lost hers, and our can of sun screen, none of which turned up at lost and found.

The repair of the fuel pump cost us another thousand dollars. At this point, money was getting pretty tight. Due to being sick, and sleeping in, we missed our opportunities to use FP+ on Toy Story (never rode it), and Rock N Roller Coaster (also never rode it).

The rest of our stay in Disney went pretty smoothly, though for the first time in for ever, I didn't book bounceback, because I wasn't sure if I could afford the two hundred dollar down payment after all the car repairs.

On the way home, my mother calls me, and tells me that our dog died. That kinda stunk, but we pretty much knew it was coming, just not exactly when. Then, the next day she tells me "I think there might be something wrong with the refrigerator." I'll make this part short, there went another twelve hundred bucks.

I think that pretty much takes the cake for a disastrous trip. Somehow, even through all of that, we managed to have a good time!!!

 

[stasijane]

How about pre trip, during trip, and post trip, all in the same trip.

This August, first off, I hurt my right foot. Could barely walk on it, mad painful. We leave for Disney at 3:00 am from NY. By 7:00 am we are in Maryland on the beltway heading for DC when I hit a pot hole with the car, and it starts pulling hard to the right. I pull over, and discover that I've broken something in the right front suspension.

Turns out to be the steering knuckle. By the time AAA gets a new knuckle, and gets the car back together, I'm out a thousand dollars, and it is nearly 12:00 the NEXT day. While waiting in Glen Burnie Maryland for the car to be fixed, my wife passed out pretty early in the hotel, so I took the son out for a walk to keep him occupied and out of her hair. During said walk, I fell into a hole, with the sore foot, and managed to bang up the other foot pretty good. Had my 10 year old son not grabbed my arm, and pulled me, I think my head would have been taken off by a passing delivery truck that I nearly fell out in the road in front of.

We forge on, and I drive from Maryland straight through to Orlando, arriving at 2:00 am. I'm pretty exhausted, and my foot hurts more than ever, but we made it. Next morning, we go check in at POR, and head off to DTD. DS and I go to Quest where I manage to lose my sun glasses. Of course, no one ever turned them in.

Toward the end of our first week, my foot is finally starting to feel better. Our first day off from the parks, we are supposed to be going to Typhoon Lagoon, playing a round of mini golf, and ending the day at DTD with dinner at the Rainforest Cafe'. We decide to put off Typhoon lagoon since the wife and have both gotten sick as sick can be. We head out to Wal Mart to get medicine, and fill the gas tank. Once the tank is full, I go to start the car, and it won't start. After going through everything that I could possibly fix on my own, I finally come to the conclusion that the fuel pump has taken a dump, and call AAA again. 4 hours later I finally get a tow truck to take me over to the AAA at Disney. They drive us back to our resort. By this time, it is 8:00 at night, the whole day was a wash, we did nothing except take our medicine, and go back to bed.

For about two days, I had a killer sore throat, then one full day of sneezing non stop, followed by a nasty cough that lasted the remainder of the trip.

We went to the villains party at DHS and got caught outside for nearly 40 minutes in a torrential downpour. Unbelievably, they wouldn't let us in the park to take cover in a building. By the time the rain was over, I was wet in places that don't even get wet when I am swimming.

At some point, I managed to lose my 2nd (backup) pair of sun glasses. My wife also lost hers, and our can of sun screen, none of which turned up at lost and found.

The repair of the fuel pump cost us another thousand dollars. At this point, money was getting pretty tight. Due to being sick, and sleeping in, we missed our opportunities to use FP+ on Toy Story (never rode it), and Rock N Roller Coaster (also never rode it).

The rest of our stay in Disney went pretty smoothly, though for the first time in for ever, I didn't book bounceback, because I wasn't sure if I could afford the two hundred dollar down payment after all the car repairs.

On the way home, my mother calls me, and tells me that our dog died. That kinda stunk, but we pretty much knew it was coming, just not exactly when. Then, the next day she tells me "I think there might be something wrong with the refrigerator." I'll make this part short, there went another twelve hundred bucks.

I think that pretty much takes the cake for a disastrous trip. Somehow, even through all of that, we managed to have a good time!!!

I just read this whole thread and I think you win the cake. Only I am sorry, I have no cake you give you. But seriously glad you still managed to have a good time with the issues that happened during the trip.

 

[crostorfer]

How about pre trip, during trip, and post trip, all in the same trip.

This August, first off, I hurt my right foot. Could barely walk on it, mad painful. We leave for Disney at 3:00 am from NY. By 7:00 am we are in Maryland on the beltway heading for DC when I hit a pot hole with the car, and it starts pulling hard to the right. I pull over, and discover that I've broken something in the right front suspension.

Turns out to be the steering knuckle. By the time AAA gets a new knuckle, and gets the car back together, I'm out a thousand dollars, and it is nearly 12:00 the NEXT day. While waiting in Glen Burnie Maryland for the car to be fixed, my wife passed out pretty early in the hotel, so I took the son out for a walk to keep him occupied and out of her hair. During said walk, I fell into a hole, with the sore foot, and managed to bang up the other foot pretty good. Had my 10 year old son not grabbed my arm, and pulled me, I think my head would have been taken off by a passing delivery truck that I nearly fell out in the road in front of.

We forge on, and I drive from Maryland straight through to Orlando, arriving at 2:00 am. I'm pretty exhausted, and my foot hurts more than ever, but we made it. Next morning, we go check in at POR, and head off to DTD. DS and I go to Quest where I manage to lose my sun glasses. Of course, no one ever turned them in.

Toward the end of our first week, my foot is finally starting to feel better. Our first day off from the parks, we are supposed to be going to Typhoon Lagoon, playing a round of mini golf, and ending the day at DTD with dinner at the Rainforest Cafe'. We decide to put off Typhoon lagoon since the wife and have both gotten sick as sick can be. We head out to Wal Mart to get medicine, and fill the gas tank. Once the tank is full, I go to start the car, and it won't start. After going through everything that I could possibly fix on my own, I finally come to the conclusion that the fuel pump has taken a dump, and call AAA again. 4 hours later I finally get a tow truck to take me over to the AAA at Disney. They drive us back to our resort. By this time, it is 8:00 at night, the whole day was a wash, we did nothing except take our medicine, and go back to bed.

For about two days, I had a killer sore throat, then one full day of sneezing non stop, followed by a nasty cough that lasted the remainder of the trip.

We went to the villains party at DHS and got caught outside for nearly 40 minutes in a torrential downpour. Unbelievably, they wouldn't let us in the park to take cover in a building. By the time the rain was over, I was wet in places that don't even get wet when I am swimming.

At some point, I managed to lose my 2nd (backup) pair of sun glasses. My wife also lost hers, and our can of sun screen, none of which turned up at lost and found.

The repair of the fuel pump cost us another thousand dollars. At this point, money was getting pretty tight. Due to being sick, and sleeping in, we missed our opportunities to use FP+ on Toy Story (never rode it), and Rock N Roller Coaster (also never rode it).

The rest of our stay in Disney went pretty smoothly, though for the first time in for ever, I didn't book bounceback, because I wasn't sure if I could afford the two hundred dollar down payment after all the car repairs.

On the way home, my mother calls me, and tells me that our dog died. That kinda stunk, but we pretty much knew it was coming, just not exactly when. Then, the next day she tells me "I think there might be something wrong with the refrigerator." I'll make this part short, there went another twelve hundred bucks.

I think that pretty much takes the cake for a disastrous trip. Somehow, even through all of that, we managed to have a good time!!!

My jaw just dropped. WOW!

You deserve martyrdom. That was the true series of unfortunate events. You shall forever be deemed Lemony Snickets.

 

[delilah]

June, 2008, our trip was impacted by a series of natural disasters. Once we got to Florida, our area was in the news. A town about 10 miles of ours suffered tornadoes, severe enough that they were on the national news. All week, there were storms impacting our area. On the trip home, the turbulence was so bad that the seat belt light on the plane never turned off, and I prayed almost constantly. Thankfully, our plane landed safely. The next morning, a Saturday, I was doing the laundry from our trip. Earlier, the drain for the washing machine had slipped out of the sump pit, and we had to replace it before leaving on the trip. I noticed when I went downstairs, that there was water on the laundry room floor, and I thought the drain had slipped again. Then the power went off, and water started oozing up through the foundation. As the day went on, we learned that some other houses flooded up to 10 ft in the town where I work. People were using boats to get around the area. The hospital 20 miles south of ours flooded. The radiology department was on the ground floor there, and so the hospital was closed for about 6 mos or so after the flood. For us, the impact was that patients from that area were transferred to our hospital. We were fortunate that the worst of our flooding was about 4-6 inches, and not even our entire basement. It ruined the carpet, but that was it.
It wasn't the first time, though, that by coincidence, our area was on the news while we were in Florida. In Sept. 2002, a tornado passed within a mile of our house. It was so close, that I called the neighbor to make sure we had no damage to the house. Fortunately, we had none, although there was some tree limbs down.
And in 2004, Christmas time, there was a huge snow fall in the area, actually affecting the entire Ohio valley area. It was so bad that some people were stranded in their cars on the I-65 for more than 24 hours. We didn't come home until about 5 days later, and we still had 2-3 ft of snow in our driveway. We also had a very good neighbor who use a snow blower to clean out a path so we could get our car into the garage.

 

[dan-tot]

Looks like he will need to rent an electric wheelchair during your trip. Unless someone can push him all day in a regular wheelchair. That does require some physical exertion, though.

especially in thunder mountain area and haunted mansion area.

 

[PatMcDuck]

Update...

Broken pinky toe ( which isn't so bad in the grand scheme of things). They gave him one of those little hard soled shoes/boots thingies with Velcro straps , told him to buy some surgical tape to tape the toes together and to keep it iced over the next several days but otherwise will be fine.

That shoe will save him! I broke my pinky toe too, and the pain was so severe I fell to the ground and almost threw up. It hurt ALOT, my fracture was diagonal across the little bone. (I slammed toe into an ottoman/stool in my family room)

The other "shoe" that sort of worked after 5-7 days was Crocs, lol. They are wide at the pinky toe area.