Have you ever lost your child at Disney?

[BuzzLightYear3]

We lost DS at BB when he was 10. We had been by the wave pool.....I told DH I was heading back to get towels before lunch. DH was watching our 2 younger kids. DS was sitting on a chair. I guess at one point, DS looked up and didn't see DH (DS didn't have his glasses on), so he assumed we had left, and he wandered back to try to find our chairs. We ran around for 45 minutes trying to find him. Somewhere during that time we reported him at the lost children table, but they said they hadn't found him, so we continued to run around looking. Finally, about 45 min later I passed by the lost childrens table again, and he was there. Once he realized he couldn't find any of us, he had told a lifeguard CM and she had him stay with her until a security person was available to walk him to the lost childrens table. Even with a 10 year old, it's really, really scary. Just too many of those news stories running through my head! Fortunately, he was fine. I kept trying to remind myself that if you're going to get lost, Disney is the place to do it!

 

[Amy&Dan]

We lost our 8 year old daughter at Epcot last October. It was a long 3 minutes I can tell you that much. I have always instructed our kids that as soon as they realize they are separated from us to stop and look around for a CM or a nice Mommy. That way they don't wander further away and will be closer to where I last saw them. It happend because I was messing with Pal Mickey's batteries of all things and just didn't notice she had stopped to fix her shoe. When she realized I wasn't there anymore, DD just stopped in her tracks and began yelling, Mommy!! Luckly a very nice "other Mommy" stopped and stood with her until I came running back to her. Also, DH and I immediately split up and made sure our cell phones were turned on. I got to her first and relief now has a new meaning to me!

 

[leanne11]

we were in a huge long line and it wasn't going to start for 1/2 so she went to the restroom, well they let us all in and i sat right in front at the bottom to whatch her come in, but she must have walked in and saw this huge stage with 100's of people and wlked right out a great cm found her and brought her to me, of course my big girl was a mess, crying and all. but all was ok...you just don't realize how big and scary the theatre is....

 

[kat6994]

I lost my Son last year at Animal Kingdom. My son's granny told me about this thred so I had to find it. Your daughter to 3, my son was 10. I lost him and it was all my fault. I had to have a cigarette and I was going nuts. Bad habit I know, please don't lecture me. I swear it was the longest hour I've ever lived.

TIPS:
* always have a meeting place.
In MK we use Tony's Restraunt.
In AK we use the Big Yellow Dinosaur
In MGM we use the Hat
In Epcot we use USA
ALL THREE ARE VERY EASY TO FIND, just some ideas to be safe.
* tell her no to be afraid of the people who work at WDW. Make sure she knows how to tell the difference. The people with White Name tags are safe to talk to.
* try to give her a cell phone or walkie talkie. Cell phones are much easier to use to stay connected. My son will have a cell phone with him when we go this year.

I taught my son to put up a fight if anyone tries to take him.
The CM's told me that every child that was lost, has always been reunited with the parent. They have NEVER had a child kidnapped from the parks (this was told to me in April 2004). They found my son walking toward the area that I told the CM that my son was missing. I was so freaked out by it, I couldn't find my way to "LOST CHILDREN'S" and a CM who was sweeping the garbage from the walk ways took me. It's a very scary experience, one that no body can imagine unless they actually experience it. If you two are traveling alone, DO NOT LET GO OF HER HAND. ESPECIALLY IF SHE IS 'VERY FREINDLY' with everyone she encounters. Do not go for a cigarette break without her. Keep her in your sight every step you take.

 

[~Kathie]

I lost my nephew some years ago in Mickey's Birthdayland (Now Mickey's Toontown) in WDW. He was 9. My son was 14, my daughter was 11 and the kids were getting character autographs. My nephew was so excited to be at WDW for the first time. There were many characters and my husband and I were watching all 3 kids. Suddenly, my nephew was nowhere to be seen. My husband went one way, I went the other way and we told my son stay put and watch my daughter and not let her out of his sight and told her not to leave him, under penalty of death.

I found my nephew a few minutes later almost at the tea cups, he had chased a character to get an autograph. " I wasn't lost Auntie........YOU were!!"

Picture me telling my sister I lost her son in WDW.

My friend lost her son when they came out of the Land ride. They immediatley found a CM and Disney Security was there in a flash. She said CM's came out of the woodwork to find her son. They did find him in about 10 minutes. He was swept away from them in the crowd.

Glad everyone had a happy ending!

 

[ksoehrlein]

The playgrounds at MGM (Honey I Shrunk the Kids) and AK (Boneyard) scare me because of all the opportunities to momentarily disappear from view. Am I the only one?

DD and DS were at the top of one of the Boneyard slides. I ran down the steps to get to the base of that same slide in time for them to land. They weren't there! It took a few heart-pounding minutes before I realized DS had chickened out and they tried to take the stairs down like I had but made a wrong turn and ended up at the top of another set of slides.

I noticed both playgrounds have CMs stationed at the entrance and exit, which is reassuring, but at the time, all I could think was that all they can do is ensure that kids don't leave without an adult. There's no guarantee that they'll leave with the correct adult. I think we'll save playground time for trips when it's not 2 kids/1 adult.

 

[quiltymom]

Ooh -- I don't like those places! I brought DD & DS in MGM's for a few minutes and couldn't find DS for 15 min of searching! The same thing happened in AK, except DH thought it wouldn't be a problem to let them run free. It took another 10 minutes for us to find them, and that was with me stationed at the exit. Never again, unless it's one-on-one.

 

[gary4jenn]

One of the things I do before our trip to Disney is take a photo of each of my kids (fairly close so head and shoulders in pic).
I put their fingerprints on a piece of white paper and cut it to fit on the back of the photo. I put each child's height, weight, eye color, age and full name and nicknames on the back and laminate them.

I figure that if I lose my child I am going to be waaaaay to upset to communicate all that info plus the CM's would have an actual picture of my child- not just a description.

I think an ounce of prevention........

Anyways, it makes me feel safer and a little more in control.

 

[kakiegirl]

I do not like those play grounds either. We have never seen the Honey I Shrunk the Kids one and I will probably avoid it this trip. Before when dd has done the boneyard I have been right behind her every step of the way, I let her slide first and tell her to wait at the bottom for me. (Trust me is it not easy for a grown up to slide. Are we not as slippery as kids?) Alot of my friends tell me I am too over protective, but I just don't like for her to be out of my sight in those places. I do plan to lighten up a little maybe when she is I don't know about 21 (Just joking) I appreciate all the good advice I have gotten from this thread, I feel I am much better prepared to prepare dd now just in case it does happen.

 

[back2disney]

I got lost when I was around 13 in the mid 1980's at DW or DL I don't remember. Late afternoon ~5pm I got in line to ride Star Tours, my dad a little sis where to wait for me by the exit. The wait wasn't too bad ~20minutes. I got off and they weren't there. I waited maybe 5 minutes(to me that was long) and then walked around the ride area by the front and then decided to just get on the ride again. Well, I get off again and nobody is there waiting for me. So now I'm scared, but don't want to sit still alone so I go off walking around and get on the segway people mover and the skyway to tommorland to look from above to see if I can see them below. No such luck. Well, now I'm not really scared after all it is Disney, so I decide to enjoy myself and ride Space Mtn and a few others. I keep thinking I'll run into them eventually. No such luck again. Now its getting dark and towards 9-10pm I'm thinking well I know where the hotel is maybe I'll leave the park and go there. Thats when I started getting scared. But, I made my way towards the exit and as I started down Main Street I heard my name! There was my dad and sis. I hugged them and started crying a little. He asked me if I was okay did anything happend. I said no I just couldn't find you guys. He bought me an ice cream and I told him what I did and he said he had wished he had given me some money in case I was hungry. He said he and my sis and gone to the restroom and maybe a gift shop but that was all. The CM told my dad to hang around main street and that is what he did.

So my lesson for the future would be for anyone riding alone or if there is going to be any seperation is to have a time location point or better yet a cell phone which unfortunately did not exist back then.

The end.

 

[swilshire]

I just read my original post, the one that got me in hot water and I agree, it was in bad taste. When I wrote it the other night it didn't seem that bad. However, after reading it it really did sound awful (definitely not what I intended). I apologize for such poor judgment on my part.

Don't be too hard on yourself. As the mother of kids 19, 17, 11 and 6, I chuckled at your post and took no offense. Laughed even more when you mentioned a lack of sense of direction. My daughter was the WORSE when she started driving. She had lived in the same area all her life, but had a terrible time learning how to get around.

As for your comment, I've said words to that affect regarding more than one of the kids. Of course we love them and don't mean it.

We lost DS (6 and developmentally delayed) in Once Upon a Toy last year. One minute he was playing with toys with his DB11 with the rest of us in the area. The next, he was just GONE. It was a very terrible feeling. We found him within a very few minutes hiding from us in a hallway and thinking it was a terrific joke. We were not amused.

The worst feeling was a few years ago when the family split up and agree on a meeting place at the Toontown station. What we didn't know, and it was not noted on the map, was that the station was closed and you could not get off there. It took us a LONG time to get the family back together as we had not made an alternate plan. It was terrible knowing that the family was there somewhere and not knowing how to find them. Since that we are very specific about meeting places and times and of course, read the Disboards to learn about closings.

Sheila

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

Well technically I did not lose my son but DH MIL & FIL did at Typhoon Lagoon. I went in to change and I came out with DH running past me "I can't find Chris!" not even one second from his lips I started to look around. DS was 3 and definitely a wanderer so I looked around at what would be interesting from his point of view. So while my MIL was in total panic yelling to me that she can't find him... I thought clearly and said his name calmly but loud enough for him to hear. I did not want him to hide for fearing of getting in trouble. Out he comes from the mens changing rooms. Smiling like "what?"

It still baffles me that the three of them couldn't keep tabs on him.

 

[3DisneyNUTS]

All those ID things are great, but did you see that recent thread on here about "angel alerts"? Someone said you could buy them at walmart and basically if your child is more than 50 ft away from you, an alarm that the child is wearing will sound. I'm going to look into it more, but it sounds like a wonderful thing to me!

We bought one and it stunk. It went off when together and did nothing when seperated. Plus it has an alarm beep where the kid can press it and it beeps the parents. If your kid is young enough to need this thing then they are also young enough to figure out that beeping that thing constantly is fun. So It was a waste of $$ for us.

 

[Vijoge]

I just wonder if anyone had ever lost their child at disney.

I lost my 17 y/o son in 1998. We finding found him in It's a Small World, sound asleep.

 

[TSWJan78]

Not sure if this has already been mentioned but on top of the tags on the kids we always took a pic of them on our digital camera or cell phone before we left for the day. In that moment of panic i can not tell you what i am wearing never mid what the kids put on that day. Makes it easy to just look at the pic and remember... unless we are all wearing the same shirt that day which we have been known to do.

 

[JeanJoe]

Haven't lost either of my kids there yet, but I got lost when I was around 6. Or, as I said then, my mother got lost.

We were at DL on Tom Sawyer's island in the late afternoon, and I went running off on my own. Then, they made the announcement that the LAST RAFT was leaving, so sensible boy that I was, I went to the rafts and informed the CM that my mother was lost. (She, meanwhile, was running around the island looking for me.) When the CM asked me what my mommy looked like, I told him (and the entire raft) "SHORT AND FAT!!!"

Well, eventually, mom decided to go to the rafts (guess she gave up on finding me), and the entire raft of people shouted "There she is!" My mom found out later about the detailed description I had provided to identify her...

 

[kathy0513]

I lost my 3 DD at the parade. She had gone out to dance with Cinderlla and I was watching her. There was a group of kids holding hands and dancing - they went together and then split up - I never took my eyes off her but suddenly when the kids started to go back to parents she was gone. I pushed my way onto the street with the parade and my DH and I started to run around the floats yelling her name. I was running up and down the street yelling her name, describing what she was wearing. All the CM did was try and get us off the street so the parade could continue. I refused to leave the street. All these hundreds of faces of parents looking at us while we screamed and ran - all with sympathy. Suddenly a women comes walking towards us on the street with our daughter. I was so overwhelmed I didn't say thank-you or even ask how she got my daughter. My DD must have followed some of the kids into the crowds and then got behind them and walked down aways. To this day I don't know how she connected with the mother who returned her. I would say that she was probably lost for maximum 5 minutes but it was the longest 5 minutes of my life. I was surprised out how unsympatetic and unhelpful the CM's were. Despite having the headset - they never radioed to anyone else. All they keep trying to do was move us back into the crowds off the road. The parade must go on!!.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Haven't lost either of my kids there yet, but I got lost when I was around 6. Or, as I said then, my mother got lost.

We were at DL on Tom Sawyer's island in the late afternoon, and I went running off on my own. Then, they made the announcement that the LAST RAFT was leaving, so sensible boy that I was, I went to the rafts and informed the CM that my mother was lost. (She, meanwhile, was running around the island looking for me.) When the CM asked me what my mommy looked like, I told him (and the entire raft) "SHORT AND FAT!!!"

Well, eventually, mom decided to go to the rafts (guess she gave up on finding me), and the entire raft of people shouted "There she is!" My mom found out later about the detailed description I had provided to identify her...

 

[Mom2R&D]

I lost both of my DS's, if only briefly, in the PoC giftshop. I believe they were 2 and 4 at the time (or maybe 4 and 6) and I told my DH to NOT LET THEM OUT OF HIS SIGHT. Well, anyone want to guess what he did? Uhuh. All in all they were only "missing" for about thirty seconds but it seemed like an eternity.

I've seen lost children more than once when we've been at WDW. It happens.

 

[wanna-b-Tink]

We lost our children at the Costume Contest at MNSSHP in 2004. Absolutely terrified me. At that time the kids were DS6 and DD2. Took us about 10 minutes to find them. I had the announcer call their name over the PA and they didn't come to the stage for the longest time.