First of all, let me start by saying that we had a wonderful Christmas trip to Disneyland from the 8-13 of December. It was a week filled with firsts and so many good things that the one really bad night seems to fade in our memories. Second, this will most likely get to be a long post by the time I tell our story and give Disney CMs all the kudos they deserve for helping us so much!!
Sunday we spent all day enjoying CA. We were up for our last ride of the evening at about 6:00 so we used our FP for Soarin'. When we re-emerged 15 minutes later, our entire stroller was gone!! Completely gone!! We were in shock. In all of our previous visits we had never had any problems of any kind. DH did a quick look see in the area and then went and told security, and within minutes the entire cast was radioed what was up. Security took a report from us, and in the meantime the custodial cast was searching bathrooms and exits around the ride and Taste Pilots Grill. When nothing appeared, the Security Guard walked me back to their office to file a report while the head custodial CM took my husband and 2 daughters to World of Disney to replace a few things that had been taken in hopes it would help ease our daughters concern. Our main concern was that DD(7) had her favorite Blankie (yes, it even has a name!!) tucked on board for when she tired later in the evening. It was gone and she was heartbroken. We were all very upset and it was mostly over the possibility of never seeing Blankie again...bad, bad news!! Amber the custodial CM picked up on this right away and hence was doing all she could to get my DD a new blanket to help tide her until her old Blankie reappeared (hopefully). They also used NSA vouchers to replace the Santa Mickey and Dale hats that my husband and older daughter had left behind and to get 2 stuffed toys for the girls to cuddle. WOW!!! The Security CM (Ron) was so honest and reassuring to me with information and I am so thankful for that!! He said that it was quite possible they would find our stroller somewhere in the resort later that night after all the guests had gone. He also said to be prepared that a lot of our stuff could be gone, or that it may never surface at all. I was bummed as we had our warm wear on board for later in the evening, our wet wear for the water rides and forecast rain, and my poor DH had forgotten to grab our camera which had not been downloaded of pictures yet...
So, we did our best to carry on for a bit more, even with heavy hearts. We walked the pier area and around Soarin' again, in hopes we would find what was left of our stroller. We rode a few rides hoping to get our minds off of things for at least a bit. We are so proud of how well our daughters carried on in light of the event!!
We finally gave in and headed over to Disney to meet some friends of ours and get some very belated dinner for the girls. While standing in front of the Little Red Wagon, we received a call just before 11:00 pm that they had found our stroller in Bugs Land during their security sweep after all the guests had cleared. We could come collect what they had found at the entrance. Oh how our hearts felt lightened!! We made a mad dash over there and were met by security CM Candi, who explained where they had found it and that almost everything seemed to be intact. She also told us that we were one of 4 reported thefts in the entire park that day, and it was busy! She called that a 'rash' of crime for the park?? She also gave us a few security tips for future visits. But the big thing was that Blankie was there!! Oh the delight on our faces and the alligator tears my daughter cried when her trusted friend returned!!
So, the entire point to the post is this: bad things do happen at the DLR. NEVER leave anything that is irreplaceable unattended! The cast members do more than I have ever seen to make things better and easier to deal with (or at least as easy as possible given the circumstances). Items were replaced as possible, almost everything was returned, and we still had 2 days to retake our pictures (though phone cameras don't quite compare to a real camera...). By the way, they were even so kind as to let us retake our character breakfast pictures that had been on the camera from our Saturday morning Minnie and friends breakfast!! Overall we ended up having a great time and are now able to look back on the longest 5 hours of our Disney experience with a positive point of view.
Sunday we spent all day enjoying CA. We were up for our last ride of the evening at about 6:00 so we used our FP for Soarin'. When we re-emerged 15 minutes later, our entire stroller was gone!! Completely gone!! We were in shock. In all of our previous visits we had never had any problems of any kind. DH did a quick look see in the area and then went and told security, and within minutes the entire cast was radioed what was up. Security took a report from us, and in the meantime the custodial cast was searching bathrooms and exits around the ride and Taste Pilots Grill. When nothing appeared, the Security Guard walked me back to their office to file a report while the head custodial CM took my husband and 2 daughters to World of Disney to replace a few things that had been taken in hopes it would help ease our daughters concern. Our main concern was that DD(7) had her favorite Blankie (yes, it even has a name!!) tucked on board for when she tired later in the evening. It was gone and she was heartbroken. We were all very upset and it was mostly over the possibility of never seeing Blankie again...bad, bad news!! Amber the custodial CM picked up on this right away and hence was doing all she could to get my DD a new blanket to help tide her until her old Blankie reappeared (hopefully). They also used NSA vouchers to replace the Santa Mickey and Dale hats that my husband and older daughter had left behind and to get 2 stuffed toys for the girls to cuddle. WOW!!! The Security CM (Ron) was so honest and reassuring to me with information and I am so thankful for that!! He said that it was quite possible they would find our stroller somewhere in the resort later that night after all the guests had gone. He also said to be prepared that a lot of our stuff could be gone, or that it may never surface at all. I was bummed as we had our warm wear on board for later in the evening, our wet wear for the water rides and forecast rain, and my poor DH had forgotten to grab our camera which had not been downloaded of pictures yet...
So, we did our best to carry on for a bit more, even with heavy hearts. We walked the pier area and around Soarin' again, in hopes we would find what was left of our stroller. We rode a few rides hoping to get our minds off of things for at least a bit. We are so proud of how well our daughters carried on in light of the event!!
We finally gave in and headed over to Disney to meet some friends of ours and get some very belated dinner for the girls. While standing in front of the Little Red Wagon, we received a call just before 11:00 pm that they had found our stroller in Bugs Land during their security sweep after all the guests had cleared. We could come collect what they had found at the entrance. Oh how our hearts felt lightened!! We made a mad dash over there and were met by security CM Candi, who explained where they had found it and that almost everything seemed to be intact. She also told us that we were one of 4 reported thefts in the entire park that day, and it was busy! She called that a 'rash' of crime for the park?? She also gave us a few security tips for future visits. But the big thing was that Blankie was there!! Oh the delight on our faces and the alligator tears my daughter cried when her trusted friend returned!!
So, the entire point to the post is this: bad things do happen at the DLR. NEVER leave anything that is irreplaceable unattended! The cast members do more than I have ever seen to make things better and easier to deal with (or at least as easy as possible given the circumstances). Items were replaced as possible, almost everything was returned, and we still had 2 days to retake our pictures (though phone cameras don't quite compare to a real camera...). By the way, they were even so kind as to let us retake our character breakfast pictures that had been on the camera from our Saturday morning Minnie and friends breakfast!! Overall we ended up having a great time and are now able to look back on the longest 5 hours of our Disney experience with a positive point of view.
so we've been wondering more and more about things like this. Anyway - we are REALLY glad to know that Disney CMs are so helpful and accommodating in this type of situation. What I'm wondering from those of you with kids is, considering that strollers cost a good $300 these days - would this be a good reason to rent a Disney stroller every time we go, instead of taking our own? I realize we would have to remove our valuables and take them on the rides, but at least an expensive stroller wouldn't disappear. Then again, would a rented stroller be a more likely target because people just assume it's not that family's stroller anyway and will stay at the park no matter what? Then again - we are socal residents and go to Disney ALL THE TIME, so renting strollers would probably get expensive. Should we invest in a cheaper stroller for the sole purpose of using it at the parks over the expensive one? But if we did that I suppose it would defeat the purpose of having bought the "nice" stroller in the first place. LOL, I've never been a parent or pushed a stroller before so I have no idea! There's so much to think about! What are your recommendations for this, if any?
which will go with either of us on every ride. Or at the very minimum, DH will put my wallet in his cargo shorts and the camera too. I don't know what the current deal is with Disney Visa cardholders, but I think they may get a discount on stroller rentals.
