Do you leave camera equipment in your resort room?

[littleteapot]

DH would love to take pictures on our trip, but he doesn't want to lug his "big" camera and lenses around the whole time. Also, the kids have gameboys. Will they be safe sitting in the room all day while we're gone to the parks? I had planned to lock down the laptop, what would you suggest for the rest?

Thanks!

 

[FlowersChild]

DH would love to take pictures on our trip, but he doesn't want to lug his "big" camera and lenses around the whole time. Also, the kids have gameboys. Will they be safe sitting in the room all day while we're gone to the parks? I had planned to lock down the laptop, what would you suggest for the rest?

Thanks!

Well just to be safe my advice would be to locked some of the stuff in the safe if it can fit. Or just hide them somewhere. The chances of a Disney Cast member taking your stuff is very slim, but it does not hurt to be safe if you can.

 

[JR6ooo4]

worse we leave two laptops worth over $2K each after you add in software cost.
They do not fit in the room safe

several words:
allstate personal article insurance. $5K per year coverage, no deductable, accidental damage coverage as well as loss/theft costs me about$85 per year.
Mikeeee

 

[geetey]

I just tuck all of our electronics in our extra backpack (we bring 2 on the plane). Our last trip it held 2 Nintendo DS, 2 personal DVD players, dvds, cd players, cds and our camcorder. I just placed the backpack out of the way (for cleaning) and it was fine.

 

[Anewman]

I just tuck all of our electronics in our extra backpack

That is really considerate of you, that way the thief does not have a hard time carrying around all the loose items.


Just joking of course

 

[Chickysmom]

What about locking them up in your car? Would your car insurance cover any losses if they happened?

 

[Geoff_M]

Another option, if skittish about leaving stuff like that in your room is a product that available that's basically a mesh bag made of wire that you can place things into and then lock the bag around something like a laptop security leash. Here's an example: PacSafe

 

[RobinMarie]

I put the items in the suitcase and locked the suitcase, keeping the key in the safe. I also skip maid service sometimes to reduce the number of people in the room - I use the privacy key.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

I doubt the car insurance would cover your items, although I could be wrong. I once had a man rearend me and I had a complete set of SCUBA gear in the trunk, ruined, not covered!

Also the Florida heat would really do a number on your electronics. Even in the cooler months the sun can heat the car up really fast and that's not a place you'd want sensitive items.

We have never had a problem on any of our trips, cruise or resort with items being "misplaced". Infact on our cruises I leave my laptop on the desk to charge along with the camera while we are out enjoying the ship. I know it's a chance, but I've got bigger things to worry about. If it happens, it happens, it could happen at home, and I don't lock my stuff up there.

The only items I keep "up" are cash, hard to prove you had it, harder to find if it goes missing.

 

[littleteapot]

Another option, if skittish about leaving stuff like that in your room is a product that available that's basically a mesh bag made of wire that you can place things into and then lock the bag around something like a laptop security leash. Here's an example: PacSafe

Wow, that looks neat. Has anyone used one of these?

Thanks for all the responses. DH's DSLR + lenses are only slightly less important to him than his family . We live in TX and he would never leave his stuff in the heat of our car for more than a few minutes. I don't think auto insurance covers that kind of property loss anyway, just homeowners and I bet it would be a fight.

 

[geetey]

That is really considerate of you, that way the thief does not have a hard time carrying around all the loose items.
Just joking of course

LOL! I hadn't thought of it that way. Here I was being so considerate and we didn't get one towel animal!

 

[boBQuincy]

Wow, that looks neat. Has anyone used one of these?

Thanks for all the responses. DH's DSLR + lenses are only slightly less important to him than his family . We live in TX and he would never leave his stuff in the heat of our car for more than a few minutes. I don't think auto insurance covers that kind of property loss anyway, just homeowners and I bet it would be a fight.

I have used my PacSafe to store my camera bag in when in rooms that didn't have a safe or had one too small to put gear in. Of course, my dSLR is always with me so that's not a problem. I usually wrap the PacSafe cable around a large piece of furniture, but try to keep it out of the way of room service.

My insurance company requires separate riders on my homeowner's policy for items out of the ordinary, such as dSLRs and nice lenses. It's fairly inexpensive and probably worthwhile.

 

[littleteapot]

I probably need to look into the insurance rider. I had no idea it might cover away from the house.

When the kids are older, I'm sure he'll want to lug his camera all the time too. Right now he has to hold too many hands and carry the occasional worn out six year old.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I had all of my camera gear stolen out of my hotel room once. It wasn't at Disney, but it could easily happen there. In my case, I had everything in a camera bag stashed in a drawer. I suspect that it was either the cleaning person or someone who saw me enter the room with the gear. They could easily have walked in while the maid was distracted, done a quick search, and walked out. My home owners policy covered it, but only after a $2,000 deductible.

Since then, I've gotten an insurance rider specifically for my gear. I also try hard not to leave my gear in my room. I usually opt for the room safe, the lobby safe, or caring it with me.

Hotel rooms and cars are lousy places to leave anything valuable, especially stuff that can be quickly sold by a junkie for a quick hit.

 

[Geoff_M]

I probably need to look into the insurance rider.

One of the first lessons about things like this is to talk to your insurance agent. I was puzzled when I had an exchange with someone on another photo board and he said his standard home owner's policy had a low coverage limit on camera equipment. I was confused because he had the same carrier as I did and I knew that mine had no such limit. I called my agent and learned that, due to differences in state insurance laws, home owners policy terms from the same company often vary widely from state to state.

Also, as an FYI a "rider" is actually called an "Inland Marine Policy".

 

[LorilieMarie]

I carried my digital camera, but left my SLR with a huge zoom lens in the room. I put it in the bottom of a drawer, then put a white T-shirt over it with my husbands underwear over that. It didn't look like they went through any of my draweres. My husband doesn't get new underwear very often, so I doubt if they would want to touch them.

 

[ndelaware]

While at Disney I usually have my camera bag on top of the TV and the laptop on the table in the room. When we leave the room I take the body, 1 or 2 lenses, and sometimes the flash with me. That leaves 3 or 4 lenses and sometimes the flash in the bag in the room.

 

[0bli0]

i leave my stuff in the room all the time. im on the road several times a month and generally take my camera everywhere. if i'm going to a meeting, i leave my camera in my room. if there is a safe, i'll put the body in the safe. but the safe isn't any true guarantee as there is a universal code (in case a guest forgets theirs) and they seldom change them so it's not hard for employees to obtain it.

the only place where i really worried about losing it was in johannesburg last year - only because it was before my trip to Londolozi for a safari. i simply had the hotel put it in the hotel safe. i figured since there are guards with shotguns in the hotel lobby, not too many people are likely to rob the safe

the pacsafe as described above are great as a quick deterent. i have one for my touring backpack. sure they could cut through it with decent cutters in the hotel room, but then nothing is 100%

get some insurance, be smart, and don't worry about it.

 

[DemonLlama]

I carried my digital camera, but left my SLR with a huge zoom lens in the room. I put it in the bottom of a drawer, then put a white T-shirt over it with my husbands underwear over that. It didn't look like they went through any of my draweres. My husband doesn't get new underwear very often, so I doubt if they would want to touch them.

Ok, this made me laugh. Sounds like our house.

On our past trips, we've kept our largest suitcase in the closet to put dirty clothes in throughout the trip and put the laptop in a bag underneath the clothes when we left the room. It was never disturbed.

 

[LorilieMarie]

I just remembered - Our first trip as a family to Disney in 2000 -

We stayed at the All Star Sports. We had a lot of cash in the safe along with a camera. I got the camera out to take with us and forgot to shut the safe. Our room was cleaned, the safe was still opened with our cash still there. I'm not saying that will happen in every room, but we had an honest mousekeeper.