Does one have to worry about stroller theft?

[Honeybee83]

I hadn't heard widely of reports of people stealing strollers at DW, but didn't know if anyone had had this experience. We will be using a Kolcraft Contours Lite, retails about $60 on amazon, so its not a huge loss if it was stolen. However, It can really put a kink in your plans if your conveyence for carrying your child, plus any snacks, clothes, etc for them were to disappear. I will have a separate small bag to keep on me AT ALL TIMES for valuables like ticktets, wallet, phone, etc. I have never been to Disney World with a child before though and am looking for tips and help from all you veteran Disaholic parents!

 

[SqueekieKitty]

We went on our first trip with a little one last week. I wasn't worried at all, but DH almost lost his grits when he found out we had to leave the stroller. Of course, then he made ME worried, lol. We did end up leaving it all over the place and had NO problems. We got "double parked" once, but that's the worst of it. We did carry our "valuables" in with us, but no one touched the stuff we did leave behind.

 

[maxiesmom]

Stroller theft isn't rampant in the parks but it does happen. If you are worried you can lock the back wheels together. That makes it useless to a thief, but allows CMs to still move it if they need to straighten up an area. Just don't lock your stroller to anything.

 

[bostonminnie]

The best advice is to carry your valuables when leaving the stroller, which you are already doing. We also secured a bright yellow luggage tag around our stroller handles. It made it easier for us to recognize our stroller once we came off a ride, and it was a pain to get off, so if someone tried to steal our stroller they would fumble around trying to take it off and hopefully not bother trying to steal the stroller.

Also, I did not realize that CMs move around the strollers in stroller parking while you are on the ride, so don't panic if you do not see your stroller where you left it

Have a great trip!

 

[mjkacmom]

Theft does happen, but I don't think you are going to have to worry about a $60 stroller - not much resale on that! I do think people take the wrong stroller by mistake, because the CM's move them around, so just tie on a colorful scarf, or something else making it distinct.

 

[Honeybee83]

Thanks everyone. I like the idea of running a bike lock through the back wheels. I guess you could run the diaper bag strap in it too, to at least protect the bag, though not the contents of it. I'm only planning on bringing in the diaper bag a changing pad, diapers, wipes, ointment, a couple of changes of clothes for her, maybe some snacks, and some ponchos. Not much worth taking.

 

[corneredbycorn]

The best advice I've read is to make the stroller as recognizable as possible and as difficult as possible to make unrecognizable so they pass it for taking too much time and effort to sneak out unnoticed. Using stuff like name plates zip tied to the handle, balloons, shoelaces wrapped and tied around various bars, glow bracelets strung around the handles all make the chances of being stolen (on purpose or mistakenly) very low.

 

[JessicaW1234]

We have been several times with an Aria stroller (retails about $200) and have never had a problem. We did not do anything special to it, or lock it and it was always there when we came out. We even left bags underneath and no one touched them

 

[JediBonas]

I plan on bringing my ski lock and putting something bright to identify our stroller. For a cheaper stroller I probably wouldn't bother but at $500+ I don't want to chance someone walking away with ours. I've read here about people using a cheap, bright scarf to identify their stroller, that's what I'm thinking of doing.

 

[englishteacha]

If you're not worried about resale value, stencil your family name on the stroller somewhere visible! A metal name sign zip tied on is close to permanent, but removable with the right tools. Unless you have a knife or scissors, that thing isn't coming off! You could get some fun colored tape for the handles, too.

 

[PaulaVonSchweetz]

Ive never had a problem either. Im pretty sure its not really stroller theft, but more of taking the wrong stroller. I find that if I do something to make my stroller stand out - like some tacky printed ribbon tied on the handles, makes it easily recognized by my family, and others would realize it wasn't theirs.