Our Experience with the First Aid Station at Magic Kingdom

(CW: Blood)

We were about halfway through the regular line part of the Dumbo: The Flying Elephant queue when the twelve year old started having a nosebleed. It was a lot of blood, and came on really fast. She was standing there in long princess gown, tilting her head back and trying to catch the blood in her hand. Luckily, a cast member walked by a couple seconds later and I managed to flag him down and ask for some help. I asked if they had anything I could use to try to stop the mess from getting everywhere, and if we could head into the play area so I could get her to sit down on one of the benches until we could get the bleeding under control. He let us through, and sent someone to get some washcloths. I had my younger kids go into the smaller play area for the 2-4 year olds, giving instructions for the middle kid to help his little brother while I handled the oldest. After a couple minutes, the bleeding hadn’t slowed down. I was on the phone with my wife, trying to explain what was going on, trying to help get her nose under control, and trying to keep an eye on the younger kids simultaneously. I asked one of the cast members if he would be able to go get my wife from outside, bypassing the line so she could be in there and I wouldn’t have to divide my attention.

Big shout-out to the cast members here. I really do try to make note of cast member names, but I was super scrambled with everything going on. But they were so great. They grabbed extra washcloths, asked if we needed anything, and when it continued for more than ten minutes, offered to get a wheelchair for us to take her to first aid or to call Reedy Creek if we wanted to have the EMTs check her out. We held out a few more minutes, as it seemed to be slowing down, but then there was a HUGE clot that came out, and even more blood. After seeing that, I made the decision that, even though it was going to suck for my back, pushing her in a wheelchair over to first aid was going to be our best bet.

I left my wife with the younger kids in the play area – we had to figure out how to get the ECV and stroller handled because the middle kid isn’t super capable of pushing his brother in the stroller. The Princess and I were escorted out of Storybook Circus through a backstage area, and left next to the teacups. I had a general idea of how to get over to first aid, but we were over near Tomorrowland, and I was slightly disoriented because I was worried about my kid, and the Hub was started to get busier as guests were staking out spots for Enchantment. I ended up pausing on the far side of the hub and asking a security cast member and a couple law enforcement officers I saw for better directions to help me get a straight shot over to first aid. (Normally I go to Casey’s Corner and follow the paths over, but saving steps and getting there quicker was the priority here) They radioed over to first aid and let them know to expect us.

First Aid got us back really quickly. The nurse checked her vitals, swapped the washcloth for gauze, and we finally got her nosebleed to stop. The nurse was wonderful. She got the kiddo a Powerade to rehydrate and let us rest for a bit. She coordinated with the cast members at guest relations to have someone go grab the ECV and drive it over to us at First Aid, so my wife was able to push the toddler in the stroller. While we were waiting, the nosebleed started back up, taking another 10-15 minutes to stop, but with a much slower flow. The nurse showed her a specific point to put pressure to stop bleeding from the main vein in the nose, gave us some extra gauze just in case, and told us to keep her in the chair until we get out of the park. She said we were good to go to our dinner reservation once our group got to us, and when my daughter noticed she had gotten blood all over the front of the skirt part of her dress and was sad about it, she even gave her vouchers to get a change of clothes from one of the shops.

All in all, Disney cast members went above and beyond for our family when we ran into a scary situation. This was not my family’s first run-in with a medical issue on a Disney vacation, nor was it the most serious. But I’m so grateful for how helpful, kind, and considerate the cast members are when it comes to medical issues, both minor and serious.