When planning a Budget trip to Disney PLEASE...

[chocovrdmicears]

Please be sure to factor in some money for *just in case* things like illness.
We just returned from the World last night and unfortunately
DS6 got really sick while we were there. Fortunately we had the finances to cover the extras. Some of the expenses we didn't *plan* for ...we had to add an additional night to our stay as well as change our flights to allow some extra recovery time for our son. We also had to pay for extra meals. Fortunately we were able to wait until Monday morning to use the Centra Care shuttle to get DS to a Dr...but..if you are staying on property, need medical care after one of the clinics close (like after 6:00pm on Sundays)and do not have a rent a car, your only options to receive medical care (unless you dial 911) is to A. take a taxi to the emergency room or A. call the service that sends a doctor to your resort room for a *house* call (on a Sunday night the charge would have been about $375.00).
Anyway...I see a lot of "going to the World on a tight budget" threads and while I am ALL for planning a budget vacation, please be aware that you may not end up with one.

 

[thebeesknees]

I'm so sorry your DS got sick! Hope he is feeling much better now. Thanks for the reminder to save a bit for the unexpected.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I'm sorry your ds got sick. Thanks for sharing this though. It's good to keep in mind that unexpected expenses can pop up like that.

 

[Redwitch]

I'm sorry about your son and getting ill. While this sounds like a major illness, even a minor one can bust a budget. Next time your at the world - check out the prices of cold remedies!

 

[monkey30]

Oh no I hope your DS feels better soon.

We ran into this issue when we were there. All of us got sick and towards the end of our 2 week stay I woke up one morning and could not hear anything. Being from Canada we had no clue what to do and went to Walgreens they had a RN there who could diagnose basic things, turned out I had a nasty sinus infection and my ears were so infected she said that much more pressure and they would burst. Thank goodness she can also perscribe meds, the whole appt was $60 and the meds $20.
I highly recomend using them if it is not serious.

 

[NeedaVacation03]

We had that same thing happen in 2006. It was both my dd12 and I. I can see how it would blow your budget if you did not have the funds for it. It cost us around $600 that we did not expect.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

Thanks you for your positive thoughts. We need them.
We went to the dr. first thing yesterday morning and we are all hoping
he will be feeling better by Xmas...my poor little peep is as sick as I have seen him in a long time.

 

[sweetpeakaris]

I'm sorry your DS got sick, glad to hear everything worked out in the end.

 

[lisajl]

Good point! My DS-15, got sick as well. We thought he was having an asthma attack. We did the whole drill with medications and he was just not doing well. Had to go to the hospital because the urgent cares were closed.
Turned out he may have hurt himself while he was on RocknRoller coaster.
I can't remember what they called it, but we were thankful it was not an asthma issue.

Hope your son is feeling better!
Lisa

 

[mamo-4-wdw]

Thanks for the reminder. Hope your son feels better.
My BF always gets sick or hurt while on vacation.

It is good to know about Walgreens too!

 

[turkeymama]

My DD got sick on the last night of our 2008 vacation. Turns out it was a nasty asthma attack and respiratory infection. She had never been DX with asthma prior to that, so we never traveled with her "supplies". We got lucky that trip that she wasn't worse, but we now make sure we have her asthma meds when we travel. It's nice to know about the Walgreens nurse for future trips.

 

[yeahdisney]

When we travel with our kids. In my packed luggage, we take liquid tylenol, liquid motrin, a therometer, cough medicine. Also ATB ointment and bandaids, cherry cough drops and halls cough drops, and basically anything I think they might need. I given took our otoscope last trip. 2AM and a sick child at disney is not the greatest. Our last trip I called- our at home doctor for an ATB for DD 11. DD left Magic Kingdom got the ATB and then I give it to her there, it took 3 hours for him to get it and return to Magic Kingdom, he really was a trouper for that one. DH started an ATB in FL. And my doctor gave my one just in case, cause we were getting on the disney cruise the next day. Our Ped doctor is REALLY great if we tell them prior to our trip we are going and have the telephone number ready for the pharmacy we are going to use. Actually I got the pharmacy number and address from a CM in City hall.

 

[RangerPooh]

A trip to the doctor while at WDW can definately be a bidget buster! We discovered this on our x-mas trip in 2007. The week prior to our vacation DH had a root canal. At somepoint during the flight his mouth started to hurt, and only got worse as the trip progressed. It reached the point where he was out of meds and had to have the "house" doctor come to out room due to the pain. As you said, that costs almost $400! The pain was still there the next day while at the parks. By mid day my husband was calling around trying to find a dental office that was 1. accepting new patients, 2. open on Dec 23, 3. accepted our out of state insurance.

Having flown out from the west coast we didn't have a rental car, so I had to head to the S&D to rent one, then back to our resort to pick up everyone. Thankfully we had brought the girls carseats on the plane so I didn;t have to rent those too. And yes, DH had to have another root canal $$$ In the end it became a VERY expensive trip. While we started the trip with some money to play with we certainly left it broke! We have since learned to make sure that we have a little extra to play with.

 

[TexasTodds]

That is a good point about planning for emergencies, but another "budget-friendly" item to consider is to bring a varied assortment of any over-the-counter medication (child and adult) that you think you MIGHT could use. So much cheaper to bring it, but also then you aren't wasting precious "Disney" time looking for it!

 

[akcire]

Oh no I hope your DS feels better soon.

We ran into this issue when we were there. All of us got sick and towards the end of our 2 week stay I woke up one morning and could not hear anything. Being from Canada we had no clue what to do and went to Walgreens they had a RN there who could diagnose basic things, turned out I had a nasty sinus infection and my ears were so infected she said that much more pressure and they would burst. Thank goodness she can also perscribe meds, the whole appt was $60 and the meds $20.
I highly recomend using them if it is not serious.

I too have used the Walgreens urgent care. Resort pool gave me pink eye, Walgreens nurse gave me medicine. Our insurance covered her bill 100% and my co pay on the pink eye meds was $5. So as much as it stunk getting an eye infection, at least it did not break the bank; and I skipped the pool for the remainder of our vacation.

 

[SandrA9810]

For basic OTC meds, you can ask at the First Aid stations for some, it's given for free. We've walked in there many of times for some tylenol or a bandaid. They were real nice when I took my brother and he had a feeding tube. She gave us all little bottles of powerade too.
They're all registered nurses, so they can be very informative, but there are some limitations to what they can do.

 

[hsmamato2]

which walgreens has a doctor option at it? wondering,in case we ever need that.....

 

[jenseib]

did you have trip insurance? most times it will cover these expenses. Most likely reimburse you, but still cover it