Vomiting at WDW

TigerlilyAJ

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
The thread title is accurate. Vomiting while at the parks will be discussed. Please do not continue reading if the topic is too unpleasant for you. I understand, I promise. It was rather unpleasant to live. ;-)
I am writing this post for the people who will read it and maybe chuckle or shake their heads, file it away in the back of their minds...and then find it unexpectedly and unfortunately useful to recall during their trip. I hope that person is not you, dear reader, but it might be.

Our youngest traveler, then 2.5yo, seemed to get a stomach bug about 10 days into our December 2016 trip, where we had a rough night at our FW cabin, using up both paper and cloth towels resulting in trash and laundry that had me writing a note about it all to housekeeping, asking for disinfection efforts and leaving a large tip. (We returned to a cabin that looked and smelled especially clean.) For two days after that, there was no more illness, and it looked like the other five of us had dodged a bullet.
Then came the big busy day of my youngest son's 7th birthday. We had planned a day at AK with a Kitchen Sink dessert later at Beaches & Cream.
At AK, I had a series of events that I would later deem "FP working too well." In the space of 30 minutes, I finished the pulled-pork snack dish from one of the carts (delicious! good use of a snack credit!), got in the FP line and rode Dinosaur, and then got in the FP line and rode EE. I was a little shook from Dinosaur, and was a bit concerned about EE, but the one son riding EE with me was good to go. Once we started going backwards on EE, so I could not see in which directions we were turning, I knew I was in trouble. I just kept breathing in through my nose, out through my mouth, telling myself over and over I would make it to the end of the ride. And I did!
I let everyone else hurry off, and I looked around for a bush. I spotted one beyond the fence in the direction opposite from the exit. I started walking against the departing flow and got a quizzical look from a CM.
"I'm going to throw up, and I'm just going to do it in the plants rather than all over the walkway," I said, pointing at my intended targets.
She nodded at me, and said, "I can do ya one better." With remarkable efficiency, she flipped off the top of a nearby trash can, leaving a nice big open space of trash bag for me to lose my lunch in.
You'd think she had done this before.
When I was done, she told me to go into the gift shop, tell them what had happened, and they would give me a complementary bottle of water. After the gift shop CM filled out a little form for her supervisor, I was sipping cool water, feeling much better.
Lesson: If you have the opportunity, do ask for help/alert someone as to your condition. They will help.
So I blamed it all on too much fun in too short a time span. Our day continued, finding us at BC with a grouchy birthday boy. He tried to hide under the table when his family and servers sang "Happy Birthday" as they brought the Kitchen Sink to our booth. He complained that he wanted no part of the sundae, even as the rest of us started eating it.
And then he projectile barfed spectacularly all over the dish and our table. Family members on his side of the booth cleared out like they Apparated, only returning when they were sure he was done. I felt like every single patron and CM was staring at our table. There are no bathrooms in BC, so my husband took him out of the small restaurant to the nearest men's room while I paid the bill for the uneaten KS, complete with automatic 18% tip added because we are a party of six.
Lesson: When your server encounters vomit, there will be no pixie dust on the bill, not even for a birthday.
After that, it was a vomitocious open season with five out of six of us throwing up before we made it back to our cabin. Some of us made it to the hotel's bathrooms on the way back to our car. Some of us "watered" the shrubbery outside. One of us littered the sidewalk, leaving me the embarrassing duty of informing a CM while everyone else fled to the car. But the CM was calm, reassuring, sympathetic, and kept any grossed-out feelings well buried, making me feel less badly.
Lesson: Excellent customer service extends to unpleasant encounters with bodily fluids. No one will shame you.
And then we retired to our cabin to ride out the rest of the worst birthday of my son's life so far. ;-)
So if you find yourself revisiting your stomach's contents, don't be afraid to get a CM involved, both for clean-up and after care for yourself and the "splash zone." Housekeeping at your hotel can and will answer the call to give special, germ-fighting attention to affected areas.
It will be OK. Really.
 
Oh you poor thing!!! That sounds positively awful! I'm so glad you're able to find the humor in your situation, however. I'm sure your positive spirit went a long way in helping your family recover!!

My husband got hit with a stomach bug last year when we were on vacation (not at Disney). Fortunately, he managed to keep it contained to the room. A few days later, we were back home and I thought we were in the clear. Nope. I spent some time hugging my toilet that evening, but at least I was in my own house! I still thank my lucky stars that my (at the time) 8 month old didn't get it. I definitely didn't want to deal with a puking baby! He made up for it though. He caught a respiratory infection on our trip to Disney in May, which landed him in the hospital for a day. That's possibly even less fun than a puking baby. Oh well, he's A-OK now.

I hope we never have to use your tips, but thanks for them anyway!
 
This happened to my son at Mk a few years ago. We barely made it out of the line at Buzz Lightyear before he vomited in the bushes outside. We mentioned the situation to a cast member outside Buzz and all we got were confused looks and no offers of help. We left the park super fast after that. He was sick in the hotel for about 16 hours. And we were able to extend our stay by another day, thankfully. The following day after no more vomiting, he was weak, so we got a wheelchair for him, because he didn't want to miss out.
 


:crazy2:We had a similar experience on our Sept 2014 trip. Thankfully ours began the night we left wdw so we only missed out on the sea world part of our trip. I'm convinced ds, who was 1 1/2 at the time, picked up the bug from the bins at the lego store and graciously shared it with all of us. :crazy2: It sure made for a miserable 10hr drive home.
 
A couple of years ago, we were at Hollywood Studios with my then 4 year old son. We had planned our entire day around seeing Fantasmic - done the dining package for lunch and had our tickets in hand. As we headed over, we stopped to get something to eat, but he strangely wasn't hungry and said his belly hurt (a common complaint which could mean anything from he needed to use the bathroom to he just didn't feel like eating.) We chalked it up to too much Disney food and headed over to Fantasmic. As we're waiting for the show, he suddenly leans over and vomits all over the little girl in a cute princess dress next to him. I grab him and whisk him up the steps to the bathroom, vomiting along the way. I cleaned him up the best I could, gave him my sweatshirt and headed out to see cast members trying to clean up and my husband and mother in law standing there not quite sure what to say besides I'm sorry. It was so embarrasing and we just felt awful- we just booked out of there and had a very uncomfortable bus ride back to our resort.
 
my daughter vomited in front of slpash mountain and all the way to the monorail which wasn't working and hordes of people where stuck and obviously the line for the boat back to the Poly was huge! a cast member handed me a bag and she kept barfing all the way to the poly it was terrible, next day she had her BBB appointment she looks so sick on her pics, two days later we are driving back home and suddenly my husband started felled sick we had to stop in the way and get the first available room and stopped for him to relief himself and to rest for a couple of hours, we finally made home and then I got sick! I have never been i so much pain from a stomach bug :scared:
 


... AND while waiting at BBB a woman was at the podium I assumed asking about their services and the boy that was with her vomited right there in the tiny waiting area of BBB
 
Our daughter (whom was 3 at the time) hadn't pooped since starting our vacation. She was getting really constipated which had never made her vomit before.

Anyway, we we're in AKL community room and she started saying her stomach hurt. So my husband picked her up and put her on his shoulders. He thought she just had to go back the room to try to go potty. Well halfway to the room in the hallway she vomited right on my husband's head!! It was gross..

On our previous trip, that same DD peed all over my lap in the bus. So we always joke "what bodily fluids will she release on someone at Disney this time?". Haha

It wasn't funny at the time, but is now. She finally pooped after vomit and was fine the rest of the trip.

Tip: Don't put a child with a belly ache on your shoulders.
 
Wow! What a story! That will be legendary for your family. So so crazy.

My sister got a stomach bug when she was 4. We were staying at Wilderness Lodge. Mousekeeping was unbelievably accommodating and even brought her a giant stuffed animal (as she said at the time, the top shelf at the Disney Store kind :) ) To this day, in her mid twenties now, the smell of Wilderness Lodge makes her nauseous though!

On another trip, I was talking to my cousin on the boat from DHS to the Boardwalk. Mid sentence she casually stuck her head out the window and barfed. Continued on with the day as if nothing happened.
 
We have been there. Spent 8 of our 10 days in our room for my daughter to recover.

Two words: ACTIVATED CHARCOAL! We never go on a trip without now. Do your own research, as I would hope anyone would before taking any kind of medicine or supplement, but this stuff is great if you have come in contact with someone who has stomach flu. It also works great if you have eaten bad food.
 
My son got sick at Beaches and Cream too. I caught it on his plate, so luckily that helped with clean up, and our waiter was kind enough to send the No Way Jose in a to go container with my husband :) My husband caught the bug a few days later, but thankfully made it back to the hotel. Hoping for a puke-free trip this year!
 
I think the moral of the story is when your kid says "My belly hurts" you find a puke bag pronto! It's coming. Every time my kids say this they puke. I know everyone is at Disney having a good time and it's wishful thinking to say "Oh it's probably just ...." but 95% of the time when a kid says that......they're gonna spew. Get a bag!!!!

Oh speaking of which we were in line for haunted mansion and sitting on top of one of the walls was a Disney parks bag. I grabbed it thinking "Oh no! Someone left their souvenirs!" Boy was I wrong. Some ****** left a bag of PUKE there. I was so mad. Luckily I'm the one who grabbed it. Some poor little kid could have had it fall off the wall and on them. It's not like trash cans aren't everywhere. I found the nearest trash can and disposed of it. I then had to quarantine my hand through the rest of the line and ride until I could find a restroom to scrub up in.

Now every time we get in line at HM someone yells "Hey remember when you picked up a bag of puke?"

Ugh...

IMG_5429.PNG
 
So if you find yourself revisiting your stomach's contents, don't be afraid to get a CM involved, both for clean-up and after care for yourself and the "splash zone." Housekeeping at your hotel can and will answer the call to give special, germ-fighting attention to affected areas.
It will be OK. Really.

Aw, I feel for you guys! It happened to us, and was a bit embarrassing, but like you said it will be okay!

We all got sick during a trip back in 2006. While my husband and I thankfully dealt with things coming out the other way, my 18 month old threw up several times. It all started on the bus to Epcot, where, not only were we embarrassed, but mortified because the bus had to get sent back to get cleaned. Our driver was sweet about it and told us it was routine, but still, we felt awful! We spent half of that day into the next in our hotel room at POFQ where the boy continued to spew. Finally after calling our doctor, taxing to the nearest CVS, and taking a few things, we felt better. But again, I felt awful for the poor CM who had to clean our room. Again, sweet and understanding as can be, but we made sure to leave her an extra tip for the troubles! After that, we realized that anything can happen and try to give ourselves a few rest days in between park days, and try to stay at larger, more comfortable resorts in case we're all cooped up again.
 
My 2 year old got me on a terrible trip one January. It was freezing cold and raining all week and we were on our way to the Garden Grill for dinner. We decided to go on Spaceship Earth on the way. I sat down in our ride vehicle and, just as my husband handed the baby to me, the baby puked all over me and the ride. The CM running the ride just looked at us and said, "Do you want to get off??" Um, yes, I'm covered in my childs vomit - I do not want to sit for 13min on this ride. We made it over to the bathrooms where my husband managed to clean up the child (who was still puking) and I tried valiantly to clean my huge parka. We had to take the monorail all the way back to the Poly. Thank god it wasn't busy and we got half a car to ourselves. We smelled awful and I felt so bad. My husband ended up with it the day we got home and I got it two days later - but at least we were at home!
 
Our DD was 6 and we just got a special treat and surprised her and she met the cast of Frozen Sing A Long. She came out saying this the best day or her life and as parents we were pretty happy for her. We were suppose to go back to the room to take a nap but we were having so much fun I made the call to go off the schedule and just keep having fun... as we stood in Star Tours we got my tummy hearts... got out of line and she threw up everywhere. A CM was amazing and quickly found me and my daughter in the bathroom and handed us a ticket to go to the gift shop to get her a t-shirt. She threw up all over self and me. So got a t-shirt and got her to the busses and of course we just missed the resort bus. I was praying and praying we would get another bus fast. One came and got her on board and prayed she wouldn't get sick on the bus and of course she did but luckily I kept the Disney bag from the new shirt. But still I had no wipes or anything. Thankfully another parent saw what was going on and gave me some wipes.

She was sick for the entire night and we went to a Primacare type place the Contemporary recommended. The doctor was SO rude and non child friendly but she gave my DD a script and said it might be the disney Day 3 bug. Getting a script filled in a different city took until 2am. Got to the doctor at 9pm and left at 10:30pm

So what I learned regardless of age i will always carry wipes, doing probiotics before the trip for the entire family, always using purel as much as i can in the parks. Every CM I talked to at the trip said the Day 3 bug was so typical for kids... kids are excited, eating off their normal menu, not sleeping well and the rides and extra germs. Hope we never have that again.
 
Last year's trip in May, my then 3yo son got so excited in the play area before dumbo. he ran around playing and yelling, and had just eaten some snacks, got all sweaty, then our pager went off, time to ride dumbo! So we went to the the line and right there he just started coughing and couldn't control himself, vomited everywhere! I stayed with him and my DD (5) ,and my husband alerted the nearest CM. Completely unfazed, the cms roped off the area, brought us towels and water, we sat him down, cooled and calmed him down, and after a few minutes we were off riding dumbo and having a great rest of the day.
 
next day she had her BBB appointment she looks so sick on her pics,
Oh, No! We didn't do BBB photos, but on our first family trip to Disneyland, my middle son and I wanted to get some last-minute touring in on our morning of departure, including some magic shots we had missed. So he was dressed in his Prince Charming costume when he got sick right after seeing Tink at Pixie Hollow. The pics with Tink and then the post-barf ones by the castle with the magic balloons added have the grimmest 5yo you've ever seen. ;-)


I think the moral of the story is when your kid says "My belly hurts" you find a puke bag pronto! It's coming. Every time my kids say this they puke. I know everyone is at Disney having a good time and it's wishful thinking to say "Oh it's probably just ...." but 95% of the time when a kid says that......they're gonna spew. Get a bag!!!!

Oh speaking of which we were in line for haunted mansion and sitting on top of one of the walls was a Disney parks bag. I grabbed it thinking "Oh no! Someone left their souvenirs!" Boy was I wrong. Some ****** left a bag of PUKE there. I was so mad. Luckily I'm the one who grabbed it. Some poor little kid could have had it fall off the wall and on them. It's not like trash cans aren't everywhere. I found the nearest trash can and disposed of it. I then had to quarantine my hand through the rest of the line and ride until I could find a restroom to scrub up in.

Now every time we get in line at HM someone yells "Hey remember when you picked up a bag of puke?"
View attachment 248884

Good advice on the "tummy hurts" issue. The Puke in a Bag definitely takes the award for grossest Disney story I've heard. ;-) I mean, REALLY! What were they thinking when they left it there?!

Wow, you guys! I wasn't sure where to put this thread when I wrote it, but it seems like the Families board is the place, because a lot of us have been there. ;-)
 
Nearly 40 years ago I christened country bear jamboree. Without fail I'm reminded of this by my family every time we return. I was 3- and have been back close to 30 times since. Tell your son it will make for great stories when he's 40.
 
Thank you for posting this.

My son came down with what we assume was noro starting twenty minutes away from orlando airport on the plane. He was sick on the plane, (man those flight attendants clear up fast and well) he was sick in the cab, and he was sick for the next 24hrs.

then my husband got it (but was at least able to stay in the room, and not make a mess)

I have felt so guilty and horrible about this for the cleaning staff etc. Reading these stories makes me feel a bit better. Thank you.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!











facebook twitter
Top