Has Anyone Ever Bothered Your Stroller?

[lissawynn]

Thanks to all of you who helped me out by answering my question. I love the idea of hanging a "fake" dirty diaper from the stroller!

 

[Melrosgirl]

We just got back and no one touched our stroller (Peg Perego). I was hesitant to bring it as it's a $200 stroller, but it was fine.

I did get my camera stolen two years ago at Epcot though. (Left it on a bench. Turned around and it was gone.)

 

[christinou]

We have gone with a single stroller, a double stroller, and 2 cheap umbrella strollers, we always took a ski lock with us, and locked the wheels together, I know that it does not happen very often to have a stroller taken but it does happen, and with 2 little kids, it was better for us to ensure that no one who the strollers.

 

[lllovell]

We have never had any problems with things being stolen at WDW, but there was a time when a family took our stroller thinking it was theirs. We never did find ours, but an identical one was where we had left ours with an inexpensive little leather camera bag in the basket. We turned in the camera bag to lost and found and finally just took the other stroller. Usually we leave things on our stroller (coats, clothes, water, etc) so I think that helps identify it. We also have always taken our own personal strollers.

I dont think this one is worth worrying over, but dont leave things of value behind.

 

[cmonroe]

We have gone with a single stroller, a double stroller, and 2 cheap umbrella strollers, we always took a ski lock with us, and locked the wheels together, I know that it does not happen very often to have a stroller taken but it does happen, and with 2 little kids, it was better for us to ensure that no one who the strollers.

Now that's a simple, great idea! Imagine how awkward it would be for a would-be "stroller-stealer" to take a stroller with the wheels locked . They would certainly stand out a bit. It also covers the taken by mistake scenario. As soon as someone started to roll the stroller away, they'd realize it wasn't theirs!

Great idea!

 

[noritake1]

HI back in 2000 when I only had 2 dd, now we have 4dd and 1 d son. I was in line for Snow White ride when I turned to my husband and said "Is that our stroller that that women is putting her 2 kids in?" We both got out of line and went over to her and she said "Oh sorry I thought it was mine. My 2 daughters were 6 and 7 at the time. and my stroller was older, i bought it when they were babies it was a double front to back. her kids were 2/3 my stoller was not on the market any more. so I don't know how she thought it was hers. it was also raining and I had the seat cushions underneath to saty dry. I almost always lock it but figured hey we are right here we can see it. After that I always lock it. When she walked away we nevere saw her get "her' stroller. Jill

 

[cmonroe]

HI back in 2000 when I only had 2 dd, now we have 4dd and 1 d son. I was in line for Snow White ride when I turned to my husband and said "Is that our stroller that that women is putting her 2 kids in?" We both got out of line and went over to her and she said "Oh sorry I thought it was mine. My 2 daughters were 6 and 7 at the time. and my stroller was older, i bought it when they were babies it was a double front to back. her kids were 2/3 my stoller was not on the market any more. so I don't know how she thought it was hers. it was also raining and I had the seat cushions underneath to saty dry. I almost always lock it but figured hey we are right here we can see it. After that I always lock it. When she walked away we nevere saw her get "her' stroller. Jill

grrrrr. That's very suspect. Maybe WDW should start videoing their stroller parking!

 

[CTillberg]

We had a stroller stollen at Disney. We had two with us, so after that I would take off a wheel to discourage someone from wanting our remaining stroller when we parked it.

Last time we went to Disney, I bought a lock that looked like a small bike lock and locked our two strollers together whenever we parked them and they were out of our sight.

If I had only one stroller, I would use that same type of lock and lock the wheel to the frame so a person trying to take it would see that it is secured and would realize that taking this stroller will involve some effort and instread go for a someone else's stroller that was "easier" to take. I did not lock the stroller to an object so that a CM could still move the strollers if needed.

I now trust no one.

Cathy

 

[bytheblood]

Pluto tee-teed in mine once. I am kidding. I have never taken a stoller to WDW as my child was 5 when we went. I have heard of items being stolen from the stoller and strollers "borrowed" by other people, but these stories are rare.

 

[Mellie0119]

We bought an inexpensive double stroller ($80) for our last trip to WDW, DS is 4 and is over the weight limit, but it works. Anyhow, that thing squeaks SO loudly that if anyone took it they'd probibly ditch it after a few feet. We've tried oiling it down to no avail, we're planning on investing in a better stroller after this trip. Not going to temp fate (or the would-be-stroller theives)

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks to all of you who helped me out by answering my question. I love the idea of hanging a "fake" dirty diaper from the stroller!

Actually, (even though many people are only hearing about it now) the fake dirty diaper idea has been around for a long time (at least 15 years that I know of) and is pretty well publicized. Someone actually stealing a stroller would likely just throw it in the trash, since there are trash cans all over WDW.
We went on our last WDW trip with my niece and her three and 1/2 yr old DD. They had a very cheap umbrella stroller from Target. My niece marked it all over using a permanent marker (on the stroller, on the frame) with her DD's name. Then she took a piece of cardboard and formed it into a cone shape with a hole in the bottom. On that, she wrote her dd's name and the put the handle of the umbrella stroller thru the hole. She also attached some curling ribbons to the handles. That way, anyone who didn't look at the stroller before they rolled it away, would feel the cone and the ribbons.

 

[sleepyone]

There will probably be a thread about "Why do people leave nasty diapers on top of their strollers? Don't they see the garbage cans every few feet? This really irks me"

 

[PiRSquared]

I have a friend who had their Disney stroller taken and everything in it. The teenage son was dumb enough to leave an entire backpack in the stroller. All his souvenirs and some money was stolen. BE CAREFUL!

 

[jnrrt]

I can't understand why you hear about so many people having their strollers stolen with the stuff, but not so many about the stuff being stolen and the stroller left. It can't be that ALL of these people who are stealing things out of strollers also need the stroller. Or that they are all mistaken about whose stroller it is, since the contents should clue them in. I'm just surprised that there aren't more stories about people grabbing stuff out of parked strollers - they are kind of sitting ducks when people leave their stuff in them.

 

[dawgsgirl]

I took a solo trip last Sept and thus noticed stuff I usually miss. I was amazed at the stuff people left in strollers! We always took our stuff with us and I could not believe what people left behind. All sizes and shapes of Disney sacks, really nice coolers, bags of all shapes and sizes, those expensive Disney fan misters, the list goes on and on! Yes, it's Disney, but still the real world. I did witness an event at MGM where a family had a total meltdown due to their stroller and all their stuff being stolen. I really felt bad for them. It was a rental stroller, but they were upset about the stuff in the stroller. Better safe than sorry!

 

[Ziggie]

I know the last post in this thread was weeks ago, but I have to tell you what I witnessed first hand at EPCOT this past trip.

A family of 4 parked their rented stroller in front of Mexico. Inside the stroller were some brochures, children's clothing (sweaters, pair of flip-flops) and some other non-crucial incidentals. After pushing it securely as far as they could next to a plant stand, the Mom took DD out of the stroller and the family of 4 entered Mexico.

Not 5 minutes later a Dad (I'm assuming he was one), walked right up to their stroller. He grabbed the stuff that was in it and threw it onto the dirt of the plant. He reached into the plastic area that holds the name card and turned it around. Whooosh ~ within a few seconds he was off with the stroller.

I was horrifed! I was on my feet and ready to say something. As I began walking towards him, I saw the family come out of Mexico. I told them what I witnessed and where they could now find their stroller. They thanked me profusely and handled it from there.

Can you believe it?

 

[Miranda Danda]

We've never had a problem, but we don't leave anything in it.

This is a random and slightly icky tip, but was a good idea, I thought. Tying something to your stroller is always a good idea so someone doesn't take it accidentally (there are millions of strollers!). I can't remember where I read it, but they suggested tying a plastic bag with a diaper in it to the handle, possibly pouring in some coke or something to make it look yucky. I think it would be a deterrant , especially when there would be so many other CLEAN ones around if someone had nefarious purposes in mind.

Hey! Have you been reading the UG?

 

[jl3614]

This April we lost our umbrella stroller. We came out of Festival of the Lion King, looked everywhere - it was gone. After about 15 minutes of looking, the sea of strollers had dwindled to just a few, at that point we notice a stroller which looked exactly like ours except it had an airline claim check tag attached with the owners name. We asked the CM what to do. They said this happens all the time. They said we could either file a report and someone would decide what to do (probably give us stroller vouchers for the rest of the trip), or we come simply take the identical stroller assuming this person had accidentally taken ours. This second choice is what we did. The morale of the story - tie some identifying item to the stroller so someone doesn't confuse it with there own.

 

[Mellie0119]

Update on Stroller Snatching...
We just returned from WDW on Friday, but while the first full day we were there, we went to Epcot, we had parked our double umbrella stroller outside Spaceship Earth under a tree, we left a map and disposable sippy cup sitting on the seats. We came out of the ride, ready to head back to our resort for nap only to find our stroller gone. We looked around wondering if some cast members had done the stroller shuffle while we were on the ride, and found a stroller identical to ours, only newer. We took the stroller over to guest relations, the cast member asked if we had lost anything of value with our stroller, and then asked if there was anything of value on the "new" stroller, since the answer was no to both, he said, "Well, looks like you got an upgrade." We could have left the stroller there at GR, but would have been stroller-less all week, so we left DH's cell number with them incase the other people came back, but we never heard anything so we ended up taking the newer stroller home. We've been joking ever since about the "Upgrade"

 

[cmonroe]

Update on Stroller Snatching...
We just returned from WDW on Friday, but while the first full day we were there, we went to Epcot, we had parked our double umbrella stroller outside Spaceship Earth under a tree, we left a map and disposable sippy cup sitting on the seats. We came out of the ride, ready to head back to our resort for nap only to find our stroller gone. We looked around wondering if some cast members had done the stroller shuffle while we were on the ride, and found a stroller identical to ours, only newer. We took the stroller over to guest relations, the cast member asked if we had lost anything of value with our stroller, and then asked if there was anything of value on the "new" stroller, since the answer was no to both, he said, "Well, looks like you got an upgrade." We could have left the stroller there at GR, but would have been stroller-less all week, so we left DH's cell number with them incase the other people came back, but we never heard anything so we ended up taking the newer stroller home. We've been joking ever since about the "Upgrade"

Mellie0119,

I think you did the right thing. If the people returned with your original stroller, they would have had your contact number. It would have simply been a stroller swap for the amount of time it took them to realize. Obviously, they either never noticed that theirs was now an older model, or they didn't care.

It's good to hear a silver lining to a story like that.

Everyone together! (queue music) "new stroller"