Any tips for keeping my stroller for getting stolen?

[Miss Mary Poppins]

I have been to DW 4 times and never had anything happen, but now 2 of my friends have had their strollers stolen in the past three weeks. One was parked at the lot by small world and the other was stolen while they ate at Crystal Palace. So now I am a little worried.

Can anyone share how or what they do to keep their personal strollers safe while parked in the parks. Thanks

 

[Technosavant]

There was a thread on this not that long ago. Possible solutions that were given ranged from putting a padlock on one of the wheels (so it can't be pushed easily- the "make somebody else's more attractive than yours" philosophy) to just using an el cheapo stroller (the "who cares?" philosophy).

You don't want to immobilize it completely (since CMs often need to move them around), but anything to make yours a bigger pain than the one next to it is a good idea.

 

[donaldndaisysds9]

I have been to DW 4 times and never had anything happen, but now 2 of my friends have had their strollers stolen in the past three weeks. One was parked at the lot by small world and the other was stolen while they ate at Crystal Palace. So now I am a little worried.

Can anyone share how or what they do to keep their personal strollers safe while parked in the parks. Thanks

try puting your first and last name some were visible on the stroller.

 

[Astro Orbiter]

Honestly, if someone wants it they'll take it.

I had an el-cheapo Walmart stroller, with my name written on it in sharpie right on the handle where you see if when you look at the handles. At the IASW stroller lot, someone 'upgraded' to ours from their rusty version while we were eating lunch.

Unfortunately/fortunately, that's not the end of the story. DH was obsessed. We scoped every stroller lot for the rest of the day. End of our day, DH spotted it outside the castle - because you could see the purple sharpie name from a distance. With a little girl inside it and her dad beside it. As DD and I were coming over, little girl's mom came out, saw the stroller, and knew it wasn't theirs. DH went over, a CM got involved, and the gist of it is that DH proved his last name matched the stroller, we walked away with ours, and unfortunately told them the story of the rustry stroller at the IASW lot. So we got our stroller back, some stranger got away with a guilt-free upgrade to their rusty $15 stroller, and some family was out theirs.

 

[brekin67]

2 years ago I left our stroller outside the restroom and told DH to watch it. It had our souveigners in it. When I came out of the restroom my DH, DS, and stroller were all gone. I waited and my DH came out of the restroom. I asked where the stroller was and he said he left it outside the door. I told him to go one way and I went the other. He immediately saw our name tag thrown on the grown by the trashcan. I ran ahead and saw a family with my stroller. I went up to them and told them they had taken my stroller and thrown my name off. They denied it, so I asked where there name tag was for the stroller and the man elbowed me and they started walking again. I got in front of them and said that those were my son's souveigners in the stroller. By then, my DH had made it to the stroller and told them they were not taking it. DH grabbed the stroller and I took my DS in my arms. The man with the family called me a B word. When we were heading to Fantasmic, the family was pushing a new stroller with no name tag on it, either. I looked at them, and shook my head. (I should not have done that.) He came running over to me and asked why I am looking at his family like that. He was completely in my face and my DH got between us and told him he was not talking to his wife like that and to back off. Quickly, security came over and we told them what had happened. The man became very violent and they excorted him and his family from the park. If I had not had souveigners in the stroller I would never had approached them in the first place, I would have got a replacement.

 

[Candikayne]

Honestly, if someone wants it they'll take it.

I had an el-cheapo Walmart stroller, with my name written on it in sharpie right on the handle where you see if when you look at the handles. At the IASW stroller lot, someone 'upgraded' to ours from their rusty version while we were eating lunch.

Unfortunately/fortunately, that's not the end of the story. DH was obsessed. We scoped every stroller lot for the rest of the day. End of our day, DH spotted it outside the castle - because you could see the purple sharpie name from a distance. With a little girl inside it and her dad beside it. As DD and I were coming over, little girl's mom came out, saw the stroller, and knew it wasn't theirs. DH went over, a CM got involved, and the gist of it is that DH proved his last name matched the stroller, we walked away with ours, and unfortunately told them the story of the rustry stroller at the IASW lot. So we got our stroller back, some stranger got away with a guilt-free upgrade to their rusty $15 stroller, and some family was out theirs.

All's well that ends well. Glad you got your stroller back! Good for you!

 

[disneymomofmyca]

Wow! I am so sorry that people do this at Walt Disney World! Especially that man that used intimidation and foul words to keep a stroller and souvinears that weren't even his. Terrible. I don't think there is much to do to prevent your stroller from being stolen. As another reply stated...if someone wants it they will take it. But, sometimes people think that they have had their stroller stolen when , in fact, it has been moved by a cast member. They are moving strollers constantly to maintain clear walk ways. Sometimes the strollers get moved a good distance so you have to search for them. So, when you get off a ride and your stroller is gone make sure you throughly check all the stroller parking areas near by. Also, tie a bright ribbon around the handle so it is easy to spot. That way if it is indeed moved you can spot it easily.

 

[suzimar57]

when DH and I were heading into Soarin' recently, we noticed all the strollers lined up outside the Land (most of them filled with personal items: sweatjackets, water bottles, bags, etc) - and wondered what would stop someone from stealing a stroller - most people are honest though...

 

[H_Bruemmer]

This may seem extreme, but here goes....
I have had the experience of having my stroller stolen. It sucks. I knew we were going to be making another trip to WDW with all five kids and purchased a special ultra light stroller. It was basically an umbrella type stroller that reclined, had a basket underneath, a big sunshade, and only weighed eight pounds. It wasn't cheap. I decided to take the top off of it (the shade/canopy part which hung down low in the back) and took it to a local embroidery shop. There for $8.00 she embroidered our last name accross the back in the "Disney" font. We've been twice since then, never had it stolen, plus we can always find it!

 

[suzimar57]

too bad there isn't LoJack for strollers....

 

[realfam]

Wow.... I can't believe these stories. We were just in Disney a few weeks ago and are heading down again in a few weeks. We have fairly expensive Perego stroller, and just left it in stroller parking with bags and other stuff in it with out thinking twice. I told my DW no worries this is Disney..
Well after reading a few of your horror stories, we will definately be locking it up this time with our cable lock that we use for skiing. I'll just put it through the wheels so it will not move. If they want it they will have to carry it.

Thanks for sharing your stories, and I hope no one gets there stroller stolen.

 

[iluvgrumpy4]

I read somewhere that someone had taken a clean diaper- disguised it as a dirty diaper- and tied it onto the stroller in a clear plastic bag. After reading some of these stories it doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

 

[Miss Mary Poppins]

I will make it harder to walk off with and go buy a lock I guess. Thanks for the replys.

 

[princess jackie]

I think I will take my daughters bike lock along when we go. We have never had a problem before but now reading all of these stories makes you think twice.

 

[niciggy]

I read somewhere that someone had taken a clean diaper- disguised it as a dirty diaper- and tied it onto the stroller in a clear plastic bag. After reading some of these stories it doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

I heard this one before and thought it was a great idea! They put a diaper in a clear bag, added some coke or root beer to it, and tied it on the stroller handle. THAT would certainly deter me.
We never had a problem with our strollers. However, we never left anything valuable in there. My youngest was 2 and even she had her own fanny pack with stuff crammed in there.

 

[luckytobeme88]

Back "when" DS was small enough for a stroller, we have always put all of so-call valuable in a backpack. Every time, we parked the stroller, we would take the backpack with us. I guess the readiness of strollers with valuables in plain sight is simply too tempting for many "bad" people. Just be more cautious with your belongings or use one of the lockers in the parks.

 

[Miss Mary Poppins]

So I bought a cable lock and came home to give it a test drive and the wheels are solid!!!! OMG What will the CM's do if we chain it to the railings? They won't be able to move it. But if we keep it out of the way it might be ok??

 

[Technosavant]

I don't know that I'd chain it to the railing. If you can run the cable through the wheels (drill a hole if need be) and you'll likely be fine. I'd probably run it through the back wheels- the stroller can be tipped forward and rolled, but nobody is going to want to push that thing through the park all day like that. It's like car theft- make yours less attractive (and by comparison, the others more so), and they'll move on.

 

[disneycruiser2007]

We used a really cheap ultra light stroller - it was an older version so no one had anything like ours, it was pretty distinctive. Sometimes we put some stuff in it, but not valuables, personal stuff that was identifiable - perhaps a large emboldened sign tied tightly would be helpful - we had it on the ECVs some of the days. With the stroller, the pattern was pretty distinctive, but we also had plastic bottles with partially used water with our names on it, or a part of a snack bag, or some other bags - it helped to identify ours. At one time, we got ours almost confused wtih one that was similar to ours, but we noticed the differences in the handles. That in 4 parks, and not one identical, so we were pretty happy. With the ECVs, we always kept the key so it couldn't be driven off.

 

[MyCathryn]

For our trip in Nov 2007, I also took my stroller back flap to get embroidered and I put our last name on it. Which is also a popular boys name. It worked out great. Never had a hard time spotting it. Never got taken. It was worth the money.