if your child goes missing at WDW, what should they do?

[Melrosgirl]

Anyone know what Disney's policy is on lost kids at WDW?

I was at World of Disney at Downtown Disney recently. My friend was watching my 5 year old on the other side of the store while I shopped there. Apparently my 5 year old "got away" from my friend and she couldn't find him. She tells me he ran off and with the crowd of people, she couldn't see him. I immediately go to a CM, tell her that my 5 year old is missing. This is what happens:

CM says "go to the jewelry counter and let them know. Jewelry counter is in the back of the store" (she points).

I run there. I tell the jewelry counter CM. She doesn't look up, she says oh he's over there. Is his name Johnny? I said No. (at this point I'm frantic.) She says well check back later then. (!!)

By now five minutes have gone by. I'm racing around this huge, busy store. I find another CM. Tell her my 5 year old is missing. She says did you check jewelry, yes I did, oh well another boy is there wearing a striped shirt isn't that him? I say NO! I ask her to please make an announcement and let other employees know he is missing. She says "we can't do that."

Another guest hears this and says "is she serious? They can't alert other CM's to a missing child?" I run off and keep looking. We find ds a few minutes later. (and give him a lecture, after lots of hugs.)

I was really upset by this whole situation. If a child goes missing at my grocery store, they do a Code Adam and block the doors, etc. and make an announcement.

Anyone know what the policy at WDW is? I realize not every store may have an intercom system. I do think that CM's should seem more concerned. I'm sure they see dozens of kids go "missing" each week. A lot can happen in five minutes though and the lack of compassion really was upsetting.

 

[robinb]

I have to say that I am very surprised by the CM's response to your missing son. I have seen CMs help find lost children in the past and they have been very concerned. This is a good PSA that you just might be on your own to find your lost child at the World of Disney store. I do hope that you took the opportunity to tell your son what to do next time he is lost (find a CM or stand still -- don't wander). If you both know what to do in that situation it will be less scary if (when) it happens again. For instance, if he had gone to a CM he probably would have been standing next to the other little boy in jewelry.

FWIW, I would not expect them to do a "Code Adam" and shut down the store. It is a HUGE store with many exits and many, many people coming in and out all the time. I suspect one of the reasons you were met by such a lack of concern is because kids go missing all the time in that store. Heck, I've lost my husband in there more than once! If they were to Code Adam every time a parent reported a lost child the doors would be closed all the time!

 

[ms_missy66]

OMG! How horrifying for you! I, too, would have been frantic. Maybe a Code Adam isn't feasible, but I wonder if other CMs or at least managers have walkie talkies? Couldn't they somehow get the word out? I'm so sorry you had to go through that. But serious lesson learned, I guess. We're headed down in two weeks and I need to have the "if you get lost" talk with my girls again. Always find someone with the WDW nametag.

 

[DawnM]

What the CM did was NOT correct.

I have lost my middle son, when he was 3, at Disneyland. We were on Tom Sawyer's Island and I was a basket case imagining him falling into the water somewhere!

It was a VERY LONG 20 min!

When I finally found him (or rather he found me), a CM was holding his hand walking him around the island looking for me!



NOW WHAT I HAVE DONE:

is to educate all my kids, esp my youngest, to spot the uniforms/outfits and CM buttons on them. I have told them to find the nearest CM and tell them they are lost and to STAY THERE! We will find them. I have tried to remember to pin our cell numbers on their clothing, but I do forget sometimes. I am confident that we will locate them if they are with a CM though. My guess is that they would take them to the lost children area and we would be able to find them there.

Dawn

 

[MiniGirl]

It seems as though the CM was unconcerned because she thought they did have your child at the jewelry counter. I do know they will not make announcements because it will alert everyone -- even those who would look to harm a child -- that there is a lost child in the store.

Once the CM realized the child at the jewelry counter wasn't yours she should've jumped into action. Not all CMs have a walkie-talkie but she should have found someone who did. Believe me Disney takes missing children very seriously, but I know that doesn't help when it is your child that is lost and they seem not to be doing anything.

 

[Hannathy]

FWIW, I would not expect them to do a "Code Adam" and shut down the store. It is a HUGE store with many exits and many, many people coming in and out all the time. I suspect one of the reasons you were met by such a lack of concern is because kids go missing all the time in that store. Heck, I've lost my husband in there more than once! If they were to Code Adam every time a parent reported a lost child the doors would be closed all the time!

I agree with this and most of the "missing" kids are just looking in another aisle and if they called a Code Adam everytime a Mom panicked for nothing they would be doing nothing else.

Plus there are a tremendous amount of kids looking on there own at that store so they can't be expected to quiz every child if they see them looking alone.

at 5 your child should have known to stay put or go to a CM. I also think your friend took her eyes off of them for more than a second to get that far away from the 2 of you that she couldn't have followed the general direction they were headed and found them.

And to help with your panic the actual amount of child abduction has not increased it has stayed the same or gone down from 20 or more years ago and the actual amount of random abductions is extremely tiny.

 

[abdmom]

One time at MGM studios, my dd8 got lost in the crowd between the Indiana Jones adventure and Star Wars. I asked for help from one of the cart vendors and they immediately called security. Security showed up very quickly. DD showed up soon thereafter. DD is a little older now. She and her older brother now have a designated meeting spot in the parks (and cell phones ) in case of separation.

 

[okeydokey]

I found a lost little girl in the World Showcase a couple of years ago and I brought her to a CM. I figured a parent looking would contact a CM and through radio contact they would reunite.

 

[Petraman]

It seems as though the CM was unconcerned because she thought they did have your child at the jewelry counter. I do know they will not make announcements because it will alert everyone -- even those who would look to harm a child -- that there is a lost child in the store.

Once the CM realized the child at the jewelry counter wasn't yours she should've jumped into action. Not all CMs have a walkie-talkie but she should have found someone who did. Believe me Disney takes missing children very seriously, but I know that doesn't help when it is your child that is lost and they seem not to be doing anything.

I think this was most likely an isolated incident ( at least I sure hope so) but one thing is very clear. You need to contact Disney and make them aware because they need to do a new training of their CM's in that store. That behavior is simply Unacceptable! There is almost nothing worse that can happen to someone at a Disney park than truly losing a child. Also the liability that Disney would incur if they are shown as not being diligent in dealing with an abduction would be huge. Believe me, Disney wants to hear from you, they can't afford that kind of nonchalant attitude.

 

[emma'smom]

I've always told my girls to look for a CM if they are lost (and point out their name tags). I've also told them that, if they can't figure out who the CM's are, to tell a mommy with a stroller (so they are easily identifiable as mommies) that they are lost and could they please take them to a CM.

Is there some small amount of risk in this strategy? Of course...but I'll hedge my bets that 99.99% of the ladies with strollers are other mom's who will try to be helpful to a small, lost child and not take advantage of that situation.

P.S. Last year we found a small girl wandering around on her own near Test Track. We noticed her because a very large group who was dressed in similar clothing had been walking around Tomorrow Land earlier. She had similar dress and we figured each person in the group thought she was with someone else. We just walked her to a CM right in front of Test Track (at an ice cream stand) and said that we had found her wandering around. Poor thing was probably about three years old. The CM thanked us and took it from there.

 

[Melrosgirl]

thanks for the replies. My son didn't realize he was lost. He told me later that he was just looking at the toys and didn't know people were looking for him. I guess he's more independent than I thought (not a good thing sometimes). He said if he thought he was lost, he would have looked for a CM. Hopefully I'll never have to find out again.

 

[xipetotec]

maybe policy is different in the parks, cause when we lost our daughters ( my daughter and my cousin's daughter wandered off together ), one of us found cast member, the other went to city hall at MK and they immediately put a call to CMs to keep an eye out and to stay put they would find them.

In the end, my daughter did the right thing, SHE found a cast member, who let her use her cell phone and called me on my phone.

 

[WantToGoNow]

I'm not sure what was going on in that store because when a child gets lost in the parks or the resorts, they act quickly. I know this from experience. We just returned from a trip with my cousin's family and have 6 children 9 years of age or younger between us. We lost a child 8 times - 1 child 5 times and 3 others 1 time each.

Our room was ready, my cousin's was not. So we unpacked everything into our room. When they finished checking in, we all (or so we though) walked over to our room. We had been in the room about 30 minutes, when my cousin looked up and said "where's ______". OMG!! We called security and the front desk and they sent someone over and immediately started looking for a lost 4 y/o girl. We found her sitting in the lobby right where we left her - she said "I knew you'd come back".

This same child got lost 3 other times in parks and each time they immediately put out a call to the CM's - we found her each time before they did. She got lost again at the Orlando airport. The lesson for this - always get a stroller for a 4 y/o and keep them in it.

My cousin's ds5 got lost at DHS for about 1 minute, my dd5 at AK for about 1 minute and my ds8 got lost at the resort - he was sure he knew how to get back to the room. I thought ahead before he went up to the lobby and put dh's cell phone in his pocket. He called me and told me where he was and I went and got him.

 

[cnlmom]

I to lost a child in the giant Downtown Disney store and I got the same reaction. I was so angry at their lack of concern. DS 4 at the time was there one second and the next, poof he was gone. We were so careful the entire week we were there and never had a problem, until that moment. I contacted a cm immediatly and was blown off, found another one, an older woman who wandered aimlessly around pointing out small boys my sons age and asking if that was him. We were wearing identical homemade t-shirts and I kept saying over and over again, he is wearing a shirt EXACTLY like mine. It was extra scary as as another poster pointed out, the store is HUGE and has many exits. I was shocked that they did not have a system in place at that gigantic store. I did NOT expect them to make a Code Adam type announcment, or lock down the store or anything like that, as I am sure people are "lost' in there all the time, but some sort of system was expected. My son did not know he was lost at first, but soon realized he was, Luckly after a few moments of him panicking and crying he did exactly what I told him to do...find a person wearing a disney name tag, but because of their lack of concern/training whatever, it took about 5 long terrifying minutes for us to be reuinted. I know 5 minutes is not long, but when you cannot find your child, it is an eternity.
This was about 2 years ago, and I vowed to complain to Disney about it, but sadly I did not follow through, I should have. I have seen in the resorts and in the parks CM immediatly get on radios and reuinte kids and parents. So I know there is something in place there, but Downtown Disney must be a different animal.
On a different yet related thought, I have noticed CM's at Downtown Disney smoking outside the stores with the name tags on, never saw that in a park or a resort.... and they seem to have a "less cm type attitude" there.

 

[Rylee]

Just want to offer a suggestion to anyone reading this thread...

Take a picture of your child on your digital camera every morning after they are dressed for the day.

This way, you'll have a picture of your child to show the CM, and also a description of the clothing they are wearing.

Of course, this is in addition to discussing with your child the importance of staying together, and what to do and how to react in the event they are separated from you.

 

[roobug]

Just want to offer a suggestion to anyone reading this thread...

Take a picture of your child on your digital camera every morning after they are dressed for the day.

This way, you'll have a picture of your child to show the CM, and also a description of the clothing they are wearing.

Of course, this is in addition to discussing with your child the importance of staying together, and what to do and how to react in the event they are separated from you.

Along with that make sure you tell your young child what to do if they are "seperated" from you, or are not with you or however you want to word it but don't use the word lost - most little kids don't think of themselves as lost - as is obviouse in both the stories of the boys they didn't realize they were lost. If they have instructions that if mommy or daddy or whoever is not right with them they go to a CM they are more likely to do that then if they are told to go to a CM when they are lost.

 

[Disneyadore]

I would not blame the CM but my friend. SHE was in charge and SHE let him get out of her view.
Children are like water ,fast and easy slipping away.

 

[kellyg403]

We just got back from WDW. At AK on Sunday 12/6 I was standing at one of the little food carts when a little boy was just walking around behind me. The CM stopped what he was doing with me, asked the little boy if he was o.k. He responded.."nope, my parents are lost and I can't find them". The CM immediately got on his radio, talked to the little boy, who btw was too cute for words in both looks and attitude. When asked his name he matter of factly stated his full name. When asked his age he said 4 years and 1/2. If the situation was not so scary it would have been a little bit on the amusing side. He was not scared at all. The CM stayed with the boy, put him on the bench, finished up my order and said to me " He doesn't seem scared at all does he". I said nope.. Next thing I know another CM walked up to take over the cart, the little boy took the hand of the other CM and they walked to wherever they were going. The whole time this little boy was telling a complete and concise story about where he LAST saw his parents. Later in the day I saw him again..with his parents!

Kelly

 

[bamajenn]

I know I'm a little late to this party but for me... Safety Tats are a great solution to the fear of losing a child while out in public, especially someplace as big as WDW. While I always make sure to have a hand on my son, kids can just slip away and into a crowd of people taller than them. The Safety Tats are awesome. You get them pre-printed with your cell # on them and then put them on your child's forearm (or somewhere easily seen) and explain to them what it's for. If someone find them, they have your cell # to call and find you!

 

[Melrosgirl]

I would not blame the CM but my friend. SHE was in charge and SHE let him get out of her view.
Children are like water ,fast and easy slipping away.

I'm just glad I find my son. I'm not going to blame anyone (I just think the CM's handled this terribly.)

One can do everything right. You can have your child's name and phone number printed on his forehead, you can put him in a harness, you can do lots of things, but if they do get away, it only takes one sicko a few minutes to get them out of the store and into their car in a matter of minutes.