Getting sick on Disney World transportation

[ENJDisneyFan]

I forced myself to do our flight of passage FP today but left before Everest and Dinosaur as I found myself looking for the nearest bin..!

So you're mad about people coughing and sneezing on a bus, but it's fine for you to be at a park going on a ride when you're about to vomit?

 

[LMA712014]

I think we must be related lol!

Bahaha I swear I was never that germaphobe - until I had kids. Sick kids are the worst.

Did you use antibacterial wipes or regular baby wipes or other cleaning wipes?

Just regular baby wipes! We have a 2 year old who’s still in diapers so we had them on hand anyways. Quick and easy and seemed to make a difference.

 

[LovesTimone]

I'm that crazy lady with the Lysol wipes.... you see on airplanes that wipes the seat, arm rest, screen off, I even take then with me to the bathroom, to grab the door handle and lock, and use to touch anything in the bathroom... I wipes the tables in the quick serve off including the chairs too, When we head into any hotel room, after checking for bedbugs, I wipe everything down... and do it again when returning to the room, you can't be sure if your housekeeper is sick or what..... I am a hand washing machine, and hand sanitizer dealer... I make my family crazy with it sometimes...But now my DD is a mom she does the same thing... I wipe off shopping carts, when I am at the gym I wipe off my machine before I even think about starting to use it... I keep Lysol wipes in my purse..... I worked in healthcare... not gonna go into details....

I have another thought.... could you have allergies? I do and this time of year the pollen is crazy bad... you might just need some OTC allergy med's.

We use airborne when we travel, plus a few weeks before we go... I start pushing more vitamin C just to boost up our immune system. Flu shots are a must...

 

[LMA712014]

I have another thought.... could you have allergies? I do and this time of year the pollen is crazy bad... you might just need some OTC allergy med's.

We use airborne when we travel, plus a few weeks before we go... I start pushing more vitamin C just to boost up our immune system. Flu shots are a must...

These are really good points too!

My allergies have gotten progressively worse and on our departing day I had awesome sinus congestion from it.

And we totally added extra Vitamin C and On Guard essential oil leading up to our trip.

 

[sponica]

I have another thought.... could you have allergies? I do and this time of year the pollen is crazy bad... you might just need some OTC allergy med's.

We use airborne when we travel, plus a few weeks before we go... I start pushing more vitamin C just to boost up our immune system. Flu shots are a must...

Add in the fact it's pollen you're probably not used to when you're traveling...

 

[KrazeeK120]

I think the thing is...germs are everywhere. I came down with a cold at Disney several years ago. Last year, my son started coughing a little on the last day of the trip (which resulted in a hospital stay more than a week later after he continued to get worse and not better). There’s no way to “make sure” you won’t get sick next time. Just wash your hands before you eat and keep your hands off your face. That’s the best you’ll be able to do.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

I'm that crazy lady with the Lysol wipes.... you see on airplanes that wipes the seat, arm rest, screen off, I even take then with me to the bathroom, to grab the door handle and lock, and use to touch anything in the bathroom... I wipes the tables in the quick serve off including the chairs too, When we head into any hotel room, after checking for bedbugs, I wipe everything down... and do it again when returning to the room, you can't be sure if your housekeeper is sick or what..... I am a hand washing machine, and hand sanitizer dealer... I make my family crazy with it sometimes...But now my DD is a mom she does the same thing... I wipe off shopping carts, when I am at the gym I wipe off my machine before I even think about starting to use it... I keep Lysol wipes in my purse..... I worked in healthcare... not gonna go into details....

I have another thought.... could you have allergies? I do and this time of year the pollen is crazy bad... you might just need some OTC allergy med's.

We use airborne when we travel, plus a few weeks before we go... I start pushing more vitamin C just to boost up our immune system. Flu shots are a must...

I like a lot of this, don't do all but like it. Do you allow them to clean your room while you are on vacation? I get skeeved by this and some days don't allow anyone in. I just ask for what I need whenI need it. What do you do?

 

[blackpearl77]

It's most likely the airplane!!! I watched a show on tv and they said in between flights they only have time to clean the bathroom. So the seats, trays, etc don't get cleaned!

 

[LovesTimone]

I like a lot of this, don't do all but like it. Do you allow them to clean your room while you are on vacation? I get skewed by this and some days don't allow anyone in. I just ask for what I need whenI need it. What do you do?

Yes... I let them clean the room daily, fresh towels, beds made, room vacuumed and dusted, bathroom cleaned... all this helps with all the pollen here in Florida, also the cleaning helps with the germs. When we get back I wipe down the room, as you never know that the housekeeper might be sick..

Of course there's a little story to go with why I am a crazy lady with the Lysol wipes... We were at Disney, when the kids were little, and I realized that I did not have the girls rain jackets and we always have some type for rain shower here in the summer in the afternoons, so we decided on going back to the room to swim and regroup, and honestly after 2 full day we all needed a break...
So we headed back to the room, and the "Mousekeeper" was in there and she was so sick.... visibly sick, runny nose, and coughing all over our room, and she was not covering her mouth. I told my DH take the kids to the food court, I went down to guest service, and after calmly explaining what had happened, I asked that our room be re-cleaned, fresh towels, bed linens, including the comforters... At first there was a bit of push back, then I asked to speak to a manager, and calmly re-explained what happened, and said we would be happy to change rooms if this help, and I did use my mommy voice and told him I could not believe that they would let a employee work in guest rooms when she was so sick.... His reply was no problem re-cleaning the room, the housekeeping supervisor met me at the room, and went in with 2 other Mousekeepers, Gloves and mask on and in about 20 minutes it was all redone... I thanked them, after they were gone, I re-wiped everything down, with Lysol wipes... Honestly I never thought about that part of the trip assuming that the housekeepers would not be ill... better safe then sick at WDW...

 

[Klayfish]

If I had walked into the room and saw that, honestly, it wouldn't have even phased me.

You'd be mortified at my house.

 

[motherof5]

We just came back from Disney in Feb and saw people wearing masks on the transportation and plane. With it being flu season I thought that was a good idea to prevent getting sick, not sure if they wore just for the transportation, as I never saw anyone in the parks wearing them

 

[hsmamato2]

crowds=germs....it's a fact of life. and the crowds are at airports,stores,theme parks,buses,etc. it happens.... and impossible to pinpoint exactly where the germs get you. wash,sanitize,wipe the hands. it's the best you can do.

 

[robinb]

I'm that crazy lady with the Lysol wipes.... you see on airplanes that wipes the seat, arm rest, screen off, I even take then with me to the bathroom, to grab the door handle and lock, and use to touch anything in the bathroom... I wipes the tables in the quick serve off including the chairs too, When we head into any hotel room, after checking for bedbugs, I wipe everything down... and do it again when returning to the room, you can't be sure if your housekeeper is sick or what..... I am a hand washing machine, and hand sanitizer dealer... I make my family crazy with it sometimes...But now my DD is a mom she does the same thing... I wipe off shopping carts, when I am at the gym I wipe off my machine before I even think about starting to use it... I keep Lysol wipes in my purse..... I worked in healthcare... not gonna go into details....

I have another thought.... could you have allergies? I do and this time of year the pollen is crazy bad... you might just need some OTC allergy med's.

We use airborne when we travel, plus a few weeks before we go... I start pushing more vitamin C just to boost up our immune system. Flu shots are a must...

That made me exhausted just reading that!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Luckily we don't get sick often. And I'm not a germaphobe either. My biggest thing is I make everyone wash their hands often. But I always get sick after ANY vacation. I believe it's the flying.

Either way life doesn't stop when I have a cold and I know it doesn't for most people. So I'm one of "those people" who goes out and still lives life with a cold. Am I supposed to hide in my room away from humanity for 5 days? Nope....not happening. I'll cover my face when I cough and sneeze and then put antibacterial on my hands.

 

[Footnotegirl]

It's very common to get sick while on a trip for any number of reasons, probably none of which is 'the transportation'.
The biggest reason is this: In your day to day life, you are exposed to usually very much the same people and places all the time. Every germ that is there, you've likely already been exposed to and fought off, so you don't get sick. When you're in Disney, you are suddenly exposed to people (and their germs) from all over the world. New germs! Brand new exciting experiences for your immune system to deal with.
Secondly: Vacations generally represent a massive change in patterns. You are likely getting less sleep, expending more energy, eating less healthy food, and since it's Florida, getting overheated. When your body is out of tune, your immune system will not be at it's best, so it won't be as quick or as successful at fighting things off.
Finally: Confirmation bias is a thing. We don't notice when we get a little ill at home because then we get over it and go on with our lives. We do notice it when it happens during a vacation because it gets in the way of our activities.

I mean, you can try avoiding the busses and see how it works. Who knows? But it's not the most likely vector for disease.

 

[Mome Rath]

One of the biggest things is to work on your own immune system (and your fam's) before going anywhere. Eating healthy, adding in high vitamin C foods, D3, all the fresh fruits and veg, and water water water, get sleep/rest. On the plane the dry air can dry out your membranes that usually serve to keep germs at bay, so sip your own water throughout the flight. Keep finger out of mouths, nose, and eyes. When you get to where you are going gargle warm salt water. Unfortunately no matter what we do we'll get exposed and will get sick sometimes... but give your body its best chance to fight it off, or to heal.

 

[happymommy]

I'm so sorry to hear you got sick! I do hope you have a quick recovery!

I also agree, there is no reason to simply blame the busses. The rides - many have handles that a thousand people touch a day. Thankfully most restrooms at least don't have doors, but the stalls do. Airplanes are a giant cesspool of germs.

I'm anal when we travel; we wipe down the tray table, armrests, and seat belt with Clorox wipes immediately (the seat belt latch has so many germs!). We use hand wipes all day long. My oldest used to have asthma, so it helped to request a VIP cleaning of the room prior to the trip (they steam clean the carpet, change all bedding (used to have comforters, ewww), change furnace filter, etc... and after we did that he had so little issues! He used to get sick every trip a little, mostly needed his nebulizer.

I'm not saying I love the busses, but I'd rather take them than drive!

 

[jo-jo]

Luckily we don't get sick often. And I'm not a germaphobe either. My biggest thing is I make everyone wash their hands often. But I always get sick after ANY vacation. I believe it's the flying.

Either way life doesn't stop when I have a cold and I know it doesn't for most people. So I'm one of "those people" who goes out and still lives life with a cold. Am I supposed to hide in my room away from humanity for 5 days? Nope....not happening. I'll cover my face when I cough and sneeze and then put antibacterial on my hands.

I'm not sure people would think it's wrong to go out with a cold. Perhaps if you were coughing your head off, but when I hear of "those people", I think of someone running a fever, having tummy issues, having kids out with the glassy eye look. A few years ago we were waiting to board star tours and two moms were talking how little Timmy was throwing up all night and there is little Timmy hanging off the hand rails. I whispered to DH, don't touch the railing and we used hand sanitizer right after the ride.

 

[Dismama2boys]

I feel like in addition to the general germiness that crowds bring, Disney is even worse because sick people (yourself included, apparently) continue on with their trip rather than isolating themselves as they would at home. I get the temptation, but it's unfortunate for other travelers around you.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm not sure people would think it's wrong to go out with a cold. Perhaps if you were coughing your head off, but when I hear of "those people", I think of someone running a fever, having tummy issues, having kids out with the glassy eye look. A few years ago we were waiting to board star tours and two moms were talking how little Timmy was throwing up all night and there is little Timmy hanging off the hand rails. I whispered to DH, don't touch the railing and we used hand sanitizer right after the ride.

There have been threads where people get very upset when someone goes to work, school, grocery store or WDW when they are actively coughing and sneezing. If i don’t have a fever i leave my house. I’ve had a nasty cough from a bad cold for two weeks. My asthma made it worse. I still went to work and lived life. If i were at WDW i would’ve went to the parks too. Life doesn’t stop over a cold.