Disney World, the Happiest Place on Earth ….but what if you are sick at Disney World??
I’ve always loved Disney World. I was able to bring my family there for the first time, many years ago. My kids were 6 & 8 years old. It was like the commercials… I was so excited, I couldn’t sleep the night before. I had been wanting to take my family to Disney for so long, and now we were finally going! It was a great first trip – we were hooked!!
I have since gone 34 more times. Today I am a frequent Disney World guest. But now I go also to see my daughter to whom I gave the love of Disney to. She started the Disney College program in Jan 2014 and fell in love with Disney. In Aug 2014, after completing her college program, she was hired as a part time cast member. Today she is a full time cast member climbing the Disney ladder, working as a Custodial Coordinator at Animal Kingdom – and loving it! I visit her 4-5 times a year now.
Let’s now fast forward to one of my most recent trips. I was going to Walt Disney World for a girls weekend. We were attending Night of Joy, a concert that was being held at Wide World of Sports. As usual, I came in a day early to visit with my daughter, and we (along with her boyfriend) had a wonderful day at Epcot. I should tell you that the crowds were so small that day, that we were able to walk right onto Soarin’!!! My friends flew in the following day to meet up with me. We were going to have fun…whoo hoo, just us girls! So we started the trip at Disney Springs with a little shopping, and a great meal at Raglan Road. It was a great trip so far!
The next day I woke up feeling fine. So off we went to Blizzard Beach – one of the top water parks in the county! It was so much fun! On the last ride, I was walking up the steps to the slide, and I started having trouble catching my breath – so much so, that it scared me. But I figured I had gained a little weight and I was just really out of shape. So I proceeded to go down the slide, catching my breath by the time I got to the bottom. It was at that time I realized that something wasn’t right. From that point on, it actually hurt to breath. Was I coming down with something? Was I going to be sick at Disney World? Well, I was at Disney World, and nothing gets you down at the “happiest place on earth”… right? Ha! So I kept on going. We went back to the room to get ready for the concert and I just wasn’t feeling right. I was having trouble breathing – could it be asthma? or the flu? I didn’t know- I just knew it was something.
Now remember, I wasn’t with my family. I was with friends that hadn’t been to Disney as much as I had been. I didn’t want to bring their trip down. So what should I do?? I really didn’t know. So I decided to go to the concert. As I sat there, I started feeling terrible (like a truck hit me kind of terrible). I finally ended up going to the First Aid stand. It was barely an hour into the night. Yep, I was sick, I had a 102.7 fever. I never get sick like that. But that night I felt so bad, that I ended up calling a cab. I left my friends at the concert and went back to the hotel. But I still couldn’t breath. So after a night of struggling to breath, I called the front desk and asked for advice on what to do. They explained that there was an Urgent Care Facility nearby. They would send a van to pick me up and then return me to the hotel – free of charge. They gave me the number of the facility and I called, and called, but they didn’t answer. Ugh – why me, really?? So I went to the front desk asking for help, again. They could see that I looked like death. They were so kind to me. They gave me a voucher for a cab. And off we went. My friend Karen was kind enough to ride with me. It was about a 15 minute ride to get there. The facility was located right outside of Disney Springs. When we got there, one other person was in the waiting room. I was called in within 10 min. Upon entering, I noticed that it looked exactly like an emergency room in a hospital. They started tending to me rather quickly. After getting a chest x-ray, I was diagnosed with pneumonia!! They gave me breathing treatments, antibiotics, 2 prescriptions and a ride back to the hotel. At least I knew what was going on now. I napped for the next 2 days, until it was time to come home.
So Disney is even the best when it comes to getting you medical treatment, providing great care, even when you get sick at Disney on vacation!
Well it took a good 2-3 weeks to finally feel better – but I am now at 100%. I wanted to share my experience with you, so in that rare instance that you get sick at Disney World while on vacation you know that there is a system in place to get you great treatment, and rather swiftly I should say!!
If you are feeling sick at Disney World be sure to go straight to the front desk to get the assistance you need or a first aid station at the parks.
