Sick at Disneyland

[Rags13]

So I have been going to Disney World and Disneyland with my family every year. A week in the spring to the World and a long weekend to Disneyland in the Fall. On the past two trips to Disneyland, either my wife or myself has come down with a 24hr stomach bug. Is there something going on at Disneyland? We stay on property and eat only Disney meals.

 

[Mom2micayla]

I don't think it's anything that Disney is doing or not doing. I think it's more likely it's just that some people go into the parks when they are sick, and touch a guard rail, seat back, etc and spread the germs. You just happened to be unfortunate enough to pick up those germs. Stinks, for sure. I got the flu (first time ever) 3 years ago while at DLR and it was awful. But it's not anything Disney did, for sure. I have made sure to carry hand sanitizer with me from then on and use it frequently throughout the day. Haven't been sick since while at Disney (knock on wood!).

 

[Raindown]

I always carry hand sanitizer in my pocket in one of those travel sizes. I spent four days the last two weeks open to close and came out fine. I don't think it is the park per se, but just having lots of people in a smaller space.

 

[DizFan13]

I agree with PP's, and also would add that a lot of people have a decreased immune system when they travel, due to stress, keeping different hours, and the such. Also, I don't know if you fly, but airplanes are known as a great environment to breed those germs.

 

[tholczer]

Food is generally the more likely culprit in cases of the "stomach flu". Viruses that cause the illness aren't as common. Also, the fact that each of you alone were ill, and didn't pass it on to each other or your kids indicates the food variety more likely. There isn't much you can do to guard against it other than making sure your foods are all well cooked and kept well heated and that all fruits and veggies are washed. The only two times I've gotten food poisoning were after eating at a salad bar.

I'm sorry you were ill on vacation! Hope it goes better for you this time.

Tracy

 

[Diznygrl]

I'm thinking it was just bad luck. Or it could be the simple fact that you go to DL in the fall, when all those cold and flu bugs start circulating. Not as much of that happening in the spring.

 

[carebee21]

I'm going to go with bad luck as well. We've been to Disneyland several times over the past 6 months and haven't gotten sick one time.

Now when we went to Disneyworld in Jan/Feb 09 for 2 weeks I was starting to wonder what was going on there. Me and my son caught strep throat and then just as we were getting over that, my son got pink eye. It was not a fun trip!

 

[Monkey Monkey]

If you were only at Disneyland for a long weekend and got sick while there, you probably had already been exposed to the illness before you got there.

 

[MommiePrincess]

We go for 8 nights usually. I always keep my daughter home from school (shhh) two days prior to leaving on the trip. She just gets too many bugs at preschool and I don't want to risk her coming down with something as we are leaving. We also are hand santizier users by the bottle-full.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

We were at DL for the first time ever in January and I caught a 24-hour bug that made me sick as a dog. I spent a lot of time in the bathroom and in the bed and was just miserable. The hardest part was trying to find a "lite" bite to eat when I started feeling better. We were at the DL hotel, and there was nothing open where I could get something that wasn't heavy or fried. The coffee shop was closed, so that wasn't an option. We ended up ordering from room service, two bowls of soup, split one sandwich and nothing else, the bill was $45.00, which I thought was outrageous, even by Disney standards.

 

[Eeee-va]

I think it's probably bad luck more than any deficiency on your part. I was the only one in my party who used hand sanitizer on our trip in June 2009, and I was also the one who got sick (more like under the weather sick than violently ill). I'm sure part of the problem the heat (I'm from Phoenix but being outside in the heat really saps me) and part was lack of sleep (caused by getting to the parks at opening and staying until close). Being out in the summer night air (which I found too cold) probably did not help either.

I would tend to guess that yours was a food thing, but I don't know. It's too bad you can't narrow down what the problem is. Not having been there, I don't have any idea if your illness means the particular food you ate was a problem for everyone, or if it just didn't agree with you personally. (If you do get stomach bugs I would probably avoid buffets, if you haven't already been.)

When I was much younger (probably 15+ years ago) my brother and I both woke up with food poisoning from Millie's. We believe it was the ranch dressing since that's the only thing we both ate. Once we, er, got it all up we were mostly OK, though we didn't get to the parks until a few hours after opening the next morning.

 

[BecBennett]

I get sick every time I go on holidays. I don't blame the location, because it's usually a combination of eating different foods or drinking different water (even though I try and stick to bottled water) and I find that whatever's wrong with me, generally catches up with me when I slow down.

Happens every time. Even on quick weekends away.

 

[Rags13]

I am going to have to agree with Tracy. If it was a virus or cold my family would have gotten sick also. It was most likey the food. I think they need to do a better job in the kitchen on the food prep. I will probably avoid salads when I am there next, and use a ton of hand sanitizer just in case.

 

[MG3G]

We got REALLY sick on our last trip too. Well DH didn't but me and our 3 DS's did. We caught a virus - most likely from Disneyland. It had a 2 - 3 day incubation period (I know this for a fact because our littlest was in the hospital and they were able to tell us exactly what virus we had via testing) and we started showing symptoms on day 5 of our trip. I think it is fairly safe to guess that someone in every group will probably get sick - there is the stress of travel, the sugary food, the late nights, large crowded areas... It's gonna happen. When it does it SUCKS - but I don't think there is anything that Disney can do about it. They have a great First Aid station and the parks are SOOO clean. (It makes our local fair seem so dirty in comparison) We used hand sanitizer too, wiped down the hotel phone and remote etc - bugs just happen so the best thing you can do is plan for it. I always travel with tylenol for every age group, cough medicine, tums, pepto etc because they are often more expensive or harder to get on vacation.

eta- That being said we brought our baby on our trip. We have travelled with infants before but never to somewhere so crowded and I honestly don't think I would ever take that chance again. We aren't the type to leave one at home, so I think if we are blessed with more children there will just be no big trips until baby is older. I thought about everything before we left, carseats, rides, rental strollers but not about him getting sick. For me, because he was dangerously ill, although we had a good time (and HE LOVED the rides) it just isn't worth that kind of risk.