Safest and most effective hand sanitizer?

[Tigpooh]

i have three kiddos and hoping to stay healthy while in the World. There are SO many people coming and going through and my kids will touch everything. I am a total germaphobe and other than keeping them from licking things, I want to do my best preventing illness while on vacation....esp. the flu. What is the best, safest and most effective hand sanitizer? I know there are some with not very safe ingredients out there, plus alcohol can't be great to use all the time.

Please don't yell at me for being a germaphobe, just help me keep my family healthy! And yes we will wash hands with soap and water, but i'm looking for something in between, or when we specifically get around someone who is sick.

 

[tmh43]

I haven't used it, but Honest has a hand sanitizer that has 62% alcohol, and the rest of the ingredients are aloe and oils.

Germs aren't all bad, but in Disney it's probably a good idea to be prepared lol

 

[Dinohood]

i have never seen anybody with the flu at any them park so you should be fine.

 

[loves to dive]

I wouldn't use one at all, seriously are you going to wipe their hands every time they touch anything, if so their little hands are going to be ripped to pieces. If you are really worried about it, some sort of wet wipe might be a better option. In over 30 years of going to WDW, me nor my DS has ever gotten sick. DS was 3 when we started going, other than washing hands after the bathroom and before eating, it has never been a problem. A few germs are actually good for them.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Wet Ones sells boxes of individually packaged wipes, I love those! The wipes not only wipe off the surface dirt, but they kill the germs too. Not sure about ingredients though, we use them when we are out at places where we can't easily wash hands before snacking/eating, especially when my kids have been playing with toys or things that other kids are playing with (a pediatrician once told me that kids are walking germ factories).

 

[staceyrhood]

I use the travel wet wipes for hands and tables .... and the travel clorox wipes to wipe down hotel stuff.

 

[Tigpooh]

Thank you for all of your answers! I will check them all out. I know some germs are good, I only get this way in late fall/winter because of flu and cold season....otherwise it doesn't bother me much. I would prefer to enjoy Disney and not end up with flu or pneumonia when we get back home!

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

7th generation wipes. They are natural and do not have alcohol or harsh chemicals. They protect against viruses in addition to bacteria.

 

[Tigpooh]

Does7th generation make hand wipes like Wet Ones, or do you mean baby wipes?

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

Not diaper wipes. They are in the cleaning section of the grocery stores. You can use for cleaning and hands.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

[QUOTE="Tigpooh, post: 54580179, member: 368954] I would prefer to enjoy Disney and not end up with flu or pneumonia when we get back home![/QUOTE]

Do you have time to get a flu shot before your trip? That would provide some good protection against the most common flu strains. Might put your mind at ease a bit.

 

[blackpearl77]

[QUOTE="Tigpooh, post: 54580179, member: 368954] I would prefer to enjoy Disney and not end up with flu or pneumonia when we get back home!

Do you have time to get a flu shot before your trip? That would provide some good protection against the most common flu strains. Might put your mind at ease a bit.[/QUOTE]

Good idea to get the flu shot before you go! just in case! We did - and remember it takes about 2 weeks to start working after you get it.

We use the wet ones wet wipes for hands too!

 

[englishteacha]

I'm not a germaphobe, but I do my best to keep our hands clean to avoid illness. I don't like hand sanitizer much. I usually use a regular baby wipe (Huggies unscented) to wipe away/wash off at least some of the germs. I figure it will get her hands pretty darn clean if it will clean a baby's bum! I do use an occasional squirt of Purell, but it's rare.

 

[quakechicago]

A family horrifically sick with the flu boarded the packed monorail with us at the GF and we sat there in traffic for over 20 minutes while their parents and kids puked and coughed because the brain surgeons wanted to show their kids Disney once before they left. People screamed at them. So that was fun. But we did not get sick (even though I have tons of autoimmune junk) because we are fully vaccinated.

We also use hibistat wipes and hibiclens which last on the skin for up to 6 hours. It gives me some peace of mind because my kid will touch everything. Especially if I tell her not to haha

 

[Thing 1]

We are very far from germaphobics but we have learned to try very hard to keep germs at bay at WDW. One year when DS was a preschooler, he had gotten into the habit of putting his hands in his mouth when he was anxious.......like in the Haunted Mansion line and waiting for his first ride on the mountains etc!!!! He caught a nasty bug that we all ended up getting.....one after the other! We don't like the hand sanitizer but we do use them at WDW. We use the small sample size that we seem to collect. As for sick people, there are everywhere at WDW!!! I have seen many sick kids being drug around by parents not willing to sacrifice even one minute of the trip. Ill never forget the child throwing up outside the gate at MK before rope drop one morning. The kid was crying and throwing up and the dad was yelling that he could not be sick that the park opened in 15 minutes!!!! I have seen more that one parent asking for children's tylenol because their child had a fever! There are also tons of people from all over the world that may not have the same level of immunizations that the US has. We don't worry, but we do try our best to protect ourselves.