Ever "lost" a child at WDW?

[TandyR]

Our first trip as DVC members and having a 2 bedroom villa we got in late so we didn't show our girls around the villa that much. They saw their room and the livingroom/kitchen area. My older DD at the time was 6 years old woke up and since her sister who was 2 at the time had woken up earlier and came to sleep with me and my DH...DD6 paniced and decided since she couldn't find any of us that we had gone to Mass (which we talked about the night before) so she got herself dressed and pulled the chair over to the door and let herself out. The whole time we didn't hear anything over the baby monitor. I guess a CM found her wandering the hall of Villas at Wilderness Lodge. He brought us back to our room and I wake up hearing a man's voice over the baby monitor and I jump our of bed and my DH beat me out into the living room and the CM told us what happened. It was 4am at that point and DD6 and DD2, DH and I all piled into the king bed and I held my DD6 as tight as I could and was so pleased that the CMs are so wonderful and ready for this sort of thing. Our next trip we are only getting a 1Bedroom and I am ordering a hotel alarm to go over the doorknob. For sometime we didn't know if DD6 slept walked or if she really got up and left...but she finally admited a few months ago that she got up and left because she thought we forgot her when we left for Mass.

 

[crisi]

Not at Disney.

My son would have been about 19 months. My daughter was six months. It was Mother's Day (of all days). We went to the local playground. Mom, Dad, the neighbor and her two kids - who were quite a bit older than mine (they would have been three and five).

I was helping my daughter into the swing. My son was going down the slide - I swear, I know he was going down the slide, and he didn't come out the other end. He just disappeared. In the few seconds it took me to put her in the swing, he was gone.

The playground has some woods around it. Ballparks, a path. Then houses. I'm in a panic. My daughter stays in the swing with someone at the playground the neighbor knows. My husband, the neighbor and I start combing the park and surrounding neighborhood. 45 minutes later the cops arrive just in time to see my son wander down the hill holding a dandilion. "Mom, I brought you a flower."

I dye my hair now.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

We lost our younger dd on Castaway Cay. She had just turned 4. We were at the family beach and had chairs in the first row nearest the beach. We had been in the water playing (she was wearing water wings on her arms.) We were heading back to the chairs. DH was walking ahead followed by younger dd. I turned to say something to old dd who was following me. When I turned back younger dd was gone! I scan the beach -- no sight of her. I look to DH who is at our chairs, she's not there either. I know she didn't pass me and go back to the water. I'm scanning the beach frantically and my DH is trying to calm me down. Suddenly the beach seems so crowded. I go to a CM and tell her that DD is missing. She is asking me what she is wearing when suddenly dd appears. She had swerved off instead of following DH she had followed the row of chairs to the end then then kept walking up towards the shop area. I was so glad to see her.

I am also a finder of kids. On two separate trips to WDW I have found children. The first was a young boy (who didn't speak much English) outside the ladies room near Test Track. He had the panic look on his face. I went into the bathroom and called to see if his mother was in there. No answer. Then I found a CM cleaning the bathroom. She spoke Spanish and was able to talk to the boy. Finally his family came walking up. They just got separated.

In May I found a young girl in Ellen's Energy Adventure. It was during the preshow right after it got dark. I looked down and there was this little girl all alone. She was looking around at the crowd and I looked to see if anyone was watching her. When I realized no one was looking after her I approaced her. I asked her if she was with her mommy and if she knew where her mommy was. Then another "mommy" approached. The little girl told me her name and her mommy's name. I told the other woman to keep an eye out for a CM and I took the little girl and walked to the back of the room looking for a CM finally one found us and had the girl's father with him. It seems they decided to not do that attraction, but in leaving they got separated. The daughter was watching the movie when they walked out.

 

[wahoo776]

Oh Goodness, I'm so HAPPY to find all of you!!!

We were in MK in March and I had been lecturing and lecturing my husband about keeping an eye on the kids. DH, DB, DS and DD all left MK to go to Disney Quest and me and 3yo ds stayed to get the last hour out of MK. We were standing in line for Mickey, when my son changes his mind, ok, no biggie as we are getting out of line, I'm going under ropes, I drop my camera and break it. We come out of there and we see the playground that is in that area and I think perfect he can play for a minute and I can try to salvage my film. I sit down on one of the benches to look at my camera right by the entrance/exit. I was looking up every few seconds to check on him. I look up one time and he is gone. I totally panicked! I looked all over in there and went running to the closest CM as I'm frantically trying to tell her my son is missing, he comes walking up with a young couple. I just started crying....I offered to buy the couple dinner anyplace they wanted, anything, I told them I don't think I could thank them enough. The husband says "you were easy to find, I had seen your families shirts earlier and had said to my wife please don't ever make me wear something like that, when we come with our kids I WILL be wearing one of these shirts." I got their address and have agreed to make them there first shirts when they go with their children. The castmember kept telling me, that WDW would take good care of them, too.

I could have died, I couldn't imagine the 20 minute ordeal.

Thank goodness a VERY good friend of ours had suggested that we all wear the same colored shirts for our trip. The ones we had on then I had made with Disney Print Creations and the November trip will be no different.

To those of you who have the gift of "finding lost children" Well from one mother who had angels watching over her... Thank you!!

I don't think I have left those people out of my prayers since that day!

 

[eek40]

I have noticed that a lot of lost children happen in the bathrooms. There are several bathrooms that have two sides...you can go in on one side and come out another and be disoriented. So watch for these spots!
Aimee

 

[Milldew]

My children 5 & 7 both wear the metallic dog tags but I actually safety pin them to their shorts/pants under their t-shirts. I don't like the idea of something hanging around my childs neck when they are playing on rides, in the pool etc. They both understand what they are for and have been instructed to show them to a CM (or police officer etc) if they get lost. I got the tags at Petco where they have an engraving machine in the store. I got very small ones for a reason (my daughter's is the shape of a heart ;-) and all I put on them was...

I'm 'their first name'
If lost call
w/my cell phone number

My thinking is this.. lord forbid someone takes them on purpose I don't want them to have the type of information that they could use to convince my child that they actually knew them (or us... their parents). So I kept it simple. Having our cell phone number and a meeting place pre-arranged is hopefully enough if in the unlikely event they get lost.

This is a scary subject but I applaud everyone who is prepared and cautious. Planning can really make for a much more relaxing vacation!

 

[paperboy]

I really like the idea of the dog tags and pinning them on the children. The only thing that I have been told by an investigator of missing children is never put the child's name on their clothes. When their older..I don't think it make a difference..but my kids are 2 and soon to be 1.

If someone actually takes them..they already know my childs name. My DD1 loves to hear her name and laughs and smile every time someone says it to her. So, if a person already knows the childs name once they have taken them..it is that much easier to pass the child off as yours or you as a friend of the family..becuase the person knows the name.

Again, I am just passing along the information given to me (becuase I had my DS2 wearing a tag until the investigator told me that.) I think posting your cell phone and letting the child know (if they are old enough) that it is ther if they get lost is a great idea. The name thing just scares me a little!

Paperboy's wife

 

[paperboy]

I really like the idea of the dog tags and pinning them on the children. The only thing that I have been told by an investigator of missing children is never put the child's name on their clothes. When their older..I don't think it make a difference..but my kids are 2 and soon to be 1.

If someone actually takes them..they already know my childs name. My DD1 loves to hear her name and laughs and smile every time someone says it to her. So, if a person already knows the childs name once they have taken them..it is that much easier to pass the child off as yours or you as a friend of the family..becuase the person knows the name.

Again, I am just passing along the information given to me (becuase I had my DS2 wearing a tag until the investigator told me that.) I think posting your cell phone and letting the child know (if they are old enough) that it is ther if they get lost is a great idea. The name thing just scares me a little!

Paperboy's wife

 

[twinmomplus2]

The aqua blast wristbands have an id card that slips on the inside of the band. It is not able to be seen untill you remove the bracelet. And then slide it out of the band. It is blue attaches with velcro and in white letters says, Id Inside. to alert people hopefully kind wonderful, sweet people, that the ID is there.

 

[BrerMom]

Originally posted by eek40
I have noticed that a lot of lost children happen in the bathrooms. There are several bathrooms that have two sides...you can go in on one side and come out another and be disoriented. So watch for these spots!
Aimee

I've even had to stop and think which exit is the "correct" one, so I can imagine how a child would feel.

I wonder if Disney would consider putting a sign above each exit. For example, in the women's bathroom, one entrance would have a sign for Minnie on the way in and on the way out. The other entrance could have Cinderella on each side of the entrance. Could be kind of fun, too..... I can see it now: "Mom, I left my hat in the bathroom with Donald on the door."

 

[tiggersmomof4]

I haven't lost anyone at WDW but we are leaving in a few weeks and my DD 4 is a stroller hopper...meaning she jumps out and wonders where ever she wants when we are at the mall etc.
Have lost her at least 6 times in the Disney Store. I love the idea of the "dog tags" I will definitely be heading to Petco before we leave. Thanks for the great idea!

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Buckaroo's Dad!!! Your story made me chuckle. I know how panicked you must of been, but I just laugh at how we prepare our children for a crisis, THEY know what to do, yet we are the one's who panic.

WE ( I say we because it was my DH, yet he blames me. How could it have been me when my job was to stand in line to give our name at Chef Mickey's and it was his job to watch the kids?) lost our DS then 4 at Chef Mickey's. I was standing in line waiting to give our name. It was a long line. I noticed my two younger children and asked DH where Patrick was. He glanced around and shrugged his shoulder's. HELLO???? WHERE IS HE? My husbands blodd pressure does not rise for anything! I run out of lline and start running around calling him. I go out to where the escalators are, no Patrick. I run back to DH who is still just wandering around glancing. No Patrick. I am on the absolute verge of panic. I didn't know if I should venture out further to look for him, or stay in the same area. About 10 minutes goes by, and I am now ready to report him missing. The place was a mad house, and shame on me, but even I didn't know what I should do. As I was heading back out toward the escalators, he ws coming around the corner holding the hand of a woman with a CM nametag. PHEEWWW. HE told me that he had gone to look at something, and when he looked up and realized we were not there, he stayed in the same spot he was standing ( actually, to hear him tell it, it is so cute) Then he saw the lady and he said "excuse me, can you help me find my parents?" ( did I mention he was just 4? LOL)

Do this day my husband will not take the blame, but then again, he never has for anything.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

I alwasy figure it's better for me to be the finder of lost children rather than some person who might be up to no good. But whenever I tell my mother my child finding stories she lectures me. She tells me that some parent is going to yell at me one day thinking I'm up to no good.

I also tend to "keep an eye on" unsupervised children if I think they might be frightened. This one happened to me in a movie theater: I was me and my 8 yr old daughter at the movies. The movie theater was pretty empty. The lights had gone down and the previews were playing when I saw a man walk in with two kids. He sat them down and I noticed he was standing in the row behind them. Then he walked out. Since the theater was dark I didn't have a great view of what was going on, but I did notice that he didn't come back. The two boys sat through the movie without incident. Since my daughter and I were sitting the closest to them I had my mommy radar on.

The movie ended and I noticed that the two boys were still alone. I tried to delay leaving the theater because I wanted to make sure the boys were alright. The lights were still out so I couldn't really see how old they were. Finally I told my daughter why I didn't want to leave and she told me that she would go talk to them to make sure they were okay. She actually said to me "but mommy, you are a stranger. I'll go talk to them."

She walked back to me and told me that their parent knew where they were and was coming to get them. She had to go to the bathroom by then so we headed out. The two boys were sitting by themselves in a dark theater by then.

After my daughter went to the bathroom we headed out of the theater. I asked her how old she thought the boys were. She said they were definitely younger than she was. I stopped an employee of the theater who looked "motherish" to tell her about the boys. She said I could go back to see if they were still there.

I started to and then I saw a man walking out with the boys. He was their father. My daughter spotted the boys and said "there they are." The father heard so I told him that I was being an overprotective mom. He laughed and said that he didn't want to see that movie so he went to another one. (the movie in question was What a girl wants.)

Maybe it is just me, but I would not feel comfortable leaving my children in a movie theater by themselves. I would worry the whole time that they wouldn't be there when I got back.

What do you think?

 

[donpaul]

2years ago my 5 yr old stopped to look at the sky ride at blizzard beach.
we kept walking thinking we were all still together.
my dh asked where ryan was and Panic--i started screaming for him.
a security guard found him and a worker told me where to go to get him.
the whole time was probably 10 minutes--feeling like all day.
it was a terrible feeling --we are going again in july and believe me he stays w/ me at all times.

 

[Amaris]

Someone mentioned in an earlier post a company called auqua blast for id tags. I found the url:

http://id-inside.com/order.html

They are $4.95 each plus shipping. They look like a good idea, and you may be able to use them on an ankle as well as a wrist.

 

[bridgettesmom]

We "lost" our 8 yr old DN(nephew) at MGM after the parade.We were there with another family(8 in total) and heading towards the parade.My friend's little girl wanted to go into one of the stores to look at the Ariel's doll and my friend had to take her son to the bathroom.I tell DH and my friend's husband clearly that I'm going into the store with Gabrielle to keep an eye on the kids.We go in the store we look at the dolls ,my friend comes in after taking her son to the bathroom.We wait for the parade to be over go look for our DH's ,we find them whan I ask him Where's Alex? He calmly tells me he doesn't know I go into a state of panic ,I can feel the tears coming into my eyes, when I remember that I always tell the kids where to meet us when if they get "lost".At Epcot by "the big ball",at MK by the carrousel and at MGM I had told them by the Sorcerer's hat.I start running histerically over to the hat ,what was he wearing this morning? I remember a red t-shirt I think I see him,yes,that's him he is sitting under the hat looking around with a worried look on his face, I think he thought we forgot about him(it's been at least 15 minutes after the parade), he sees me and starts running towards me,I,of course, started to cry like a baby.When we get back to meet everyone DH is upset at Alex for getting lost,even though he was the one who lost him. MEN

 

[bearloch]

The dog tags are a cool idea, i just found out about a product called child locators there beeper sized gadgets that hook on the parent and one for the child. that you set the distance and if that distance is broken they beep. Ive orderd one for our trip ill post how they work later. I alos heard not to use names, i was thinking off putting nicknames instead but not sure yet what to do.

 

[twinmomplus2]

I just ordered those little locators they are very cute. I have set them and they work like a charm. They are on a little necklace and our twins are begging to wear them and we just keep saying they are a special disney necklace, Hopefully they will still want to wear them when we get there!!!!

 

[wahoo776]

Wondering if one of you who have found these beeper things, would mind posting a website or location I could find them.
Thanks,
Amy

 

[bearloch]

I got mine from pebbleco.com they were 14.99 plus 7.99 shipping and handling havent got them yet to try but i figured that for that price it was worth it to try. plan on using them for field trips and at the park as well

bearloch