What to Do If Your Child Gets Sick at Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World cures most mental ailments.

However, physical ailments are a different story.

My family traveled to “The Happiest Place on Earth” while our blogging matriarch attended the TMOM conference. Both our boys had been playing pong back and forth with a not-so-fun upper respiratory bug.

One would get better. The other would not. The joys of twinning.

All of this is perfectly normal in our household ever since the boys started preschool last year. Surely, every parent can relate.

The story took a unique twist when the health of one of the boys deteriorated quite rapidly on Day 2 of our four-day trip to Walt Disney World. He was coughing incessantly and not responding to any OTC medicine that morning. I thought perhaps a nice breakfast of Mickey Waffles at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, where we were staying, would do the trick.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The coughing was loud, uncontrollable and occurred about every 30 seconds. With fellow patrons around us at the on-site restaurant glancing – make that glaring – over at us like we were carriers of Consumption in the early 1900’s, I knew we had to do something. People can be very kind and warm until they see your kid with watery eyes and snot rolling down his face. Then they whisper loud enough for you to hear them complain. I knew that first and foremost, my kid needed medical attention to help get him on the path to good health. And of course, we were far from home and his pediatrician.

The Cure

I decided that for my son’s sake, it would be wise to give him rest and call it. Our Disney trip would have to be cut short a few days in an effort to get some help to the little man. We went back to the room, called the bellhop, and packed it all up. The hotel porter came to our room and escorted us, with all luggage in tow, to the car to get us on our journey home.

I called their pediatrician once in the car to make an appointment that day and she recommended we stop at the drug store before our three-hour car ride to pick up some meds. I did a quick search to find the nearest drug store and found a Walgreens near Animal Kingdom in Kissimmee, FL.

We bought the meds and noticed that their Healthcare Clinic was open and had no wait. That was my “aha!” moment. The options were to wait many hours until we drove home to visit their doctor – 5 hours from that point – or simply see the staff at this clinic and get back on the happy, healthy kid train.

It was easy to register via one of the computers at the Walgreens Healthcare Clinic and within 2 minutes my ailing son was sitting on the chair. The nurse practitioner was taking his temperature, looking in his ear and evaluating him in no time. She found that he had an ear infection and gave me two prescriptions – an antibiotic and cough suppressant, which they were able to fill there. After 20 mins, the kids did their potty break, took their medicine(s) and we were homeward bound, rewarded with lollipops for good behavior.

How to Help Your Sick Child at Walt Disney World

• Pack a little medicine kit (even if they’re healthy as a horse) such as band-aids, cough syrup, Ibuprofen in case someone needs it. Maybe pack Pepto or anti-diarrhea, too, in case things get funny.
• Ask the hotel if they have a humidifier to get your kid (and you!) through the night – many have them for guest use.
• Should you child require immediate medical attention, visit an urgent care clinic nearby such as Centra Care.
• If it’s not urgent, locate a nearby Walgreens or CVS with a clinic that takes walk-ins. Walgreens Healthcare Clinic and CVS Minute Clinic take medical insurance and offer affordable care.
• Ignore the sneers from people and their careless whispers.

Sick kid leaving Walt Disney World early / Photo Credit: Ocampo