Sick in WDW? How to cope?

[tinkerbellmagic]

In Dec 2003, I took my then 5 yo DGS to Disney. It was just the two of us. I knew when we had gotten off the plane in Orlando to start our vacation, that he needed to see a doctor. Poor thing had a cough and the start of a fever. I had a signed note from my daughter authorizing medical treatment, so I thought we were well prepared.

As soon as we arrived at the Poly, I arranged for a medi van to take us to a clinic nearby. The clinic refused to even look at DGS because my note was not notarized. The kind van driver took us to Celebration Hospital where we stayed from noon until 10:30 pm.

Celebration was not at all crowded, but we waited forever to be seen. DGS just laid in my arms with a fever, sleeping on and off. I have to say our experience with this hospital was a very bad one. I won't bring it up again here, but it was in my trip report from 2003 (link to that below in case anyone is interested). I hope we never see that hospital again.

Long about 8 pm, I developed a migraine and poor DGS ended up on IV's with Bronchial Asthma. When it was time to finally get sprung, they told us to make sure he was not around any cigarette smoke.

Our discharge at 10:30 pm left us stranded at the hospital with no way to get back to the POLY. I found a taxi # taped to a table in the waiting room. Our ride back to the POLY in a cigarette smoke filled broken down van with a hippy driver who had his arm in a sling was the perfect way to end our day. If my head didn't hurt so bad, I could have laughed ...or cried. To top it off, hippy driver lied and told us that he has a contract with Disney and they will reimburse me for the cab fare (thus, he'd get a bigger tip from me if I think I will get a free taxi ride). So I pay my $22 plus tip and we flee from the smoke filled van (I won't get into the details here, but he had no such contract with Disney - the rip off taxi is HART).

We never saw the inside of the Magic Kingdom that day. DGS kept holding out hope that we still had time to see Mickey. It was a sad, sad day in the most magical place on earth.

Well, a day passes and DGS is getting worse. At 5 am, I call the DOCS that come to your resort (which is what I should have done in the first place). The doc takes care of DGS and I started holding out hope that everything would be ok. I would recommend this service to anyone.

A few days later, DGS is recovering nicely. This is turning out ok afterall? NOT! The day before we were to go home, I came down with a killer flu. Not the bathroom kind, it's the other one where you can't get out of bed. I remember laying there in bed at the Polynesian watching the monorail whiz by our room wondering how the heck I can take care of DGS and also make it home on that plane.

By some miracle, we made it. I was sick for two weeks with Bronchitis when we got home.

DGS and I have taken two great trips since then (with notarized notes, I might add). Before each of those trips I was so riddled with anxiety that one of us would get sick again. That trip forever changed the way I handle our Disney trips, but it will never stop us from going again.

Tink

Here are links to the 2003 trip reports, but let me warn you, it aint pretty.
Pre-trip: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=477683
Bad Day 1: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=477698
Day 2: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=477944
Day 3 and 4: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=477976
I always meant to finish that report. Who knows, maybe I will for prosperity sake.

 

[MomofKatie]

Oh, how awful, Tink! Did you ever get to the parks on that trip? sounds like my worst nightmare- a WDW trip at a Deluxe resort, and you never get to vist the parks.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Oh, how awful, Tink! Did you ever get to the parks on that trip? sounds like my worst nightmare- a WDW trip at a Deluxe resort, and you never get to vist the parks.

Thanks for asking. We did actually get to visit the parks, thanks to the prescription he was on, so it was not a total loss. I do remember one evening, we hopped the monorail to MK for the 6 pm Spectromagic. As soon as we entered the park and I got DGS into a stroller, he fell asleep. Then it started to drizzle and I worried about the damp air. I tried to wake him up to try to walk to the monorail, but he was sound asleep. I carried him up the ramp ok, but when it was time to get off the monorail and walk to our long house... wow, a 5 year old can be very heavy. I had to keep resting along the way. Then I realized that I had given him the cough syrup the DOC gave us and it makes you very drowzy. That's why the poor little guy couldn't stay awake. Not even for Spectromagic.

Tink

 

[Alice42]

I get sick a lot right before vacation. I think it's the stress to get my work cleaned up in the week before, and my immune system goes down.

The same thing happened to me last year. I was so stressed the week before we left because of work. So, the night before we left I was achy, had the chills, etc. I ended up with a horrible head cold that lasted the duration of our trip. I ended up taking Advil Cold and Sinus the whole trip and I think that saved me! The medicine and the sun really helped me feel better. Any day (well or ill) at WDW is a better day at home, IMHO!!!!

 

[maxiesmom]

I got sunstroke at the Magic Kingdom last year. I was feeling fine until we went for dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern. By the time we were seated I was shaking so hard that I put on a t-shirt I had bought over the shirt I already had on. I was sooooo cold! We finished dinner and went back outside. We got only as far as Peter Pan when I had to sprint to the restroom. Where I stayed for 20 minutes. My mom said I had no color left in my face at all. We ended up leaving the park to go back to our resort, POFQ. Of course we just missed the bus and I had to sit on the park bench for 20 minutes thinking, well, if I puke I guess these bushes will work nice. My parents waited in line for the bus. When it pulled up I went to join them and I think this person was going to say something to me about cutting, but the new, lovely, green shade of my skin must have tipped them off that I wasn't well and they kept quiet. Made it back to the hotel without mishap and went to bed.

 

[FigmentGuy]

I came down sick with earaches/infections/sinus drainage about 3 weeks before we left for Disney this past fall. I faught tooth and nail. Two days before my trip doc said I looked "great" and to have a wonderful Vacation. Just as we are getting ready to head to the airport... I felt it start coming back. I packed everything in the suitcases. Vicks Rub, Thera-flu, Guiafsen pills, Vitamin-C. (the only thing I was lacking was a voodoo witch doctor) Needless to say, I gave it to sis. lol By the 5th day of our vacation I went a walk in clinic and was loaded up on meds. Still faught this problem for two months once we got home! We took lots of naps, lots of resting in the parks, and tried to enjoy our selves. Life gave us Lemons/Limes and we had Margaritas! The one thing we had on our side is that we had two weeks to do this. With this 'handicap' what we acheived in the two weeks could of been done in one comando week. Good luck!

(we are due to be at Disney in 55 days... and currently I'm fighting a nasty head/upper chest cold! Maybe I'm getting it out of the way now so I can have a wonderful vacation in June!) Wish me luck.

 

[Minky]

DH was diagnosed with Bells Paulsy (sp?) 2 weeks before our trip last December, it has something to do with nerves and paralyzed half of his face, they said its usually not permanent but could take up to a year for recovery and sometimes rehab is needed....

So we decided to go on our trip anyway, 3 days into it we attend the taping of the Xmas parade and he sees the Incredibles in the park for the first time (Loves the Incredibles) ANYWAY!!
I didnt realize it at the time, but he was smiling from EAR TO EAR in the pictures with them!! It was later that day we realized his face was back to normal, but when I looked at the pictures it was at that moment with all the excitement he got better!

Now that was pixie dust!!!

 

[hookedup]

This thread is depressing!
I had the bad stomach flu during our Xmas trip and I spent 2 days in the bathroom at the Comtemporary! I barfed fall night and day it was awful. My dh and ds went to the parks without me. I really could not have gotten out of bed if I had wanted to. It was bad. I remember being so bummed to be missing out but not really caring cause I felt so icky I just wanted to lie in bed. Thank goodness no one else got sick cause that would have ruined the trip for sure.

Managing to do the parks with a headcold is one thing, with a fever or flu is another story! I would not want to spread my germs either.

 

[mushumadness]

I had walking phnumonia (sp) once when I was at wdw as a child, I didnt have the energy to walk around so got pushed in a chair instead, they were long but good days. and being at disney helps you stay happy

 

[sierramist]

Wow--I never would have guessed that a doc would show up at your hotel room!! Is this covered by your health insurance?? How about the Celebration Hospital(which I didn't know existed either)? If you had a really sick child, would you choose to go to the hospital, or call a dr. to come to the room? I am amazed that dr.'s will still do 'house calls'!!

 

[Disneyrsh]

Another tip-always, always, wash your hands at Disney before you eat anything, and don't put your fingers in your eyes or nose (c'mon, you know we all do it!). There are a lot, lot more varieties of germs there than in your normal circle of living.

We've found that clipping hand santizer to our belt helps a lot. Just do a good squirt of it.

You can buy the sanitizer with the clip on it at walmart.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Wow--I never would have guessed that a doc would show up at your hotel room!! Is this covered by your health insurance?? How about the Celebration Hospital(which I didn't know existed either)? If you had a really sick child, would you choose to go to the hospital, or call a dr. to come to the room? I am amazed that dr.'s will still do 'house calls'!!

I would have never guessed a doc would come to the resort either, but was so happy to discover that DOCS (Docs on Call) goes to WDW. Our DOCS visit was covered by health insurance. The doctor filled out the form right there at the Poly and we sent it in when we got home. The visit at Celebration was also covered by insurance as well as all meds delivered to our resort from Turner Drugs. All this was of course after the deductible was met.

DOCS will examine your child and give them their first dose of meds at the resort. Then he/she will call in the prescription at Turner Drugs. If my child or grandchild had an illness that required the attention of an emergency room hospital, I would not hesitate to go there, but for anything else, I would call DOCS.

When I go to WDW, I make sure to have the phone number of DOCS and also Turner Drugs.

Tink

 

[youngdizluva18]

My whole family caught the stomach flu on our last trip. I was only sick for one day, but I threw up and was so dizzy, I couldn't stand up. I stayed in the hotel room for the day and met up with the rest of my family at MK. The day off really helped me to regain my strength and made me able to enjoy the rest of my trip.

 

[kstinw19]

On our last trip to Disney in Oct 05, we made three trips to the walk-in clinic! First our 5 month old was wheezing and had to be put on steroid medicine. The next day my 5 year old daughter had a sore throat and was put on antibiotics, and the third day I developed severe poison oak from my daughter's school leaf project and had to take 2 weeks of steroids. We were a mess!

But the good news is that we all got over it in the first part of the trip and thanks to good planning on my part, we used our "days off" to recuperate. All in all, it was a very good trip!

 

[jwfla422]

DD has a knack for getting sick just before each of our trips. I must say 1 out of 2 trips she always ends up on antibiotics!!

One year we got to go without her getting sick before the trip, instead she got sick the 2nd night, this all started at 11:30 of course, luckily it turned out to be strep which was ok because it can be treated with medication and the symptoms usually disappear within 24 hrs (of course that can vary depending on how long they go without being treated since symptoms sometimes take a long time to show up). We went to the Centra Care walk-in that next morning and they diagnosed her then. We spent the rest of the day in the room. She played with some thing she brought, etc. The next day we went to AK and she sat in the stroller the whole time. By late that afternoon she was feeling herself again.

This past Oct. we went to WDW to escape the aftermath of hurricane Wilma. When we left she was running a low grade fever & she had a bad cough, I had a sore throat. It took a few days for it to go away but the dr's wasn't even open here, so it was better to go away.

Let me just say, everytime we go to WDW I have the Lysol spray and wipes with me. AND the Purrell, I just can't get enough of it, I'm an ADDICT!!!

Just make sure to bring extra "easy to pacK" activities with you. besides that I bring the laptop so I throw in a few DVDs, (you never know if you'll need them and they don't take up much extra room).

 

[magicmirror]

Not an expert, of course but, hubby's family lives in FLA. I lived there when we met. I moved with my family,to Bama before we married. He followed, shortly after, anyway. After not living in Fla. for a couple of years, everytime we went, one of us got sick, we later had the kids, still, someone always got sick while we were there. Doc. told me once that it has to do with a change in atmosphere, your body gets accustomed to where you live, when you go somewhere new, for some reason, you get sick. I don't remember exactly what he told me, it was something to that effect, and it was so true, we would always be perfectly well, then someone would get sick everytime we went to FLA. At Christmas we were there for a week, and noone got sick, that was the first time in 15 years. Our first Disney trip is in Nov., hopefully we will all stay well.

 

[damiel]

My advice is to bring lots of meds with you. We had to buy some at our resort a few years ago. I nearly had to take out a second mortgage to pay for it. You have to ask for it, they don't have it out in the gift shops. We had to visit the nurse in AK when my son got strep throat. I guess there are nurses and little offices in each park. They gave us a map of area Dr.'s but none of them would take any insurance. We had to pay cash and then file our own claim with our medical insurance. We leave in 29 days and I am crossing my fingers and taking my One-a-Day's.

 

[vhoffman]

none of us has ever gotten sick at Disney, but several years ago, before our children came along, we went to Las Vegas. Just the two of us, a nice, romantic get away. The first morning, I rolled over in bed, sat up, coughed once, and broke a rib! I felt a searing pain in my side and thought at first I had pulled a muscle. I had some valium with me, which is also a muscle relaxant, so I took that and it helped a little, however, I had trouble drawing in a full breath. Like a fool, I thought it was just a muscle strain and did not seek medical attention. I spent the whole first day in bed (not the way I had intended) while dh amused himself at the casinos. The next day I was able to walk around somewhat but still found it hard to breathe in fully. I also had a cold and some congestion. I managed to go to the casino in our hotel but that was about it. We just ordered up room service, I couldn't handle a restaurant. But still I didn't go to an ER, or at least a doc in a box. Three days later we came home and then I saw my doctor. He confirmed I had actually broken a rib! And, because I wasn't able to breathe deeply, I had the beginnings of pnuemonia! I wound up in the hospital for a week!

However, I won $1000 at the slots!

 

[siouxi31]

Twice I was there with a sinus infection and fever. I swear one morning I was going to get coffee and I thought I was going to faint from sickness although I had never fainted a day in my life.
The adrenaline kept me going and I had a great time.