Just back - stroller thief got us!

[GiGi30]

I had heard about it ... but never expected it to happen to us! DH and DS were riding Goofy's Brainstormer several times in a row while DD and I had some mommy-daughter time. Hubby texted me and said the stroller was gone. We have a blue MacLaren fold up stroller. It had a lei from the Polynesian, a lime green luggage tag, and a few things that made it distinctively ours. We looked for a couple of hours in ToonTown, Teacups, Pooh, etc. Came back to ToonTown and noticed that a light blue MacLaren had been there as long as we'd lost ours, so i attached a note to it just in case they had picked ours by mistake. I know that when you have a screaming kid and a dad or grandparent who doesn't pay much attention to detail, there is a possibility that a mix up could happen. No luck.

We decided to ride a few things and check with lost and found the following morning. By the time we made it over to Pirates, the kids were cranky and DH and I were just fed up. My pregnancy hormones didn't help, either! He suggested we skip Pirates and go rest up at the resort. I suggested we let the kids ride Pirates since they were asking to, so we parked the one stroller we had left and went to ride. They moved my DD's stroller inside ... LOW AND BEHOLD ... they moved it directly in front of my DS's stroller. I stole it back like a pirate - explained to some nice gentleman who was sitting near the stroller what had happened. He was shocked! He asked if I was going to wait until someone came out looking for it to confront them. I told him no, I didn't want my kids to see that and I am pregnant, certainly not looking for any trouble and just glad we found it by some miraculous twist of fate. He said he was going to wait and see if someone came looking for it and tell them the real owners had found it

The more we've thought about it, we're convinced that could have been no accident. No way you could miss the lei and big green tag. Idiots didn't take it off. That's what caught my eye! Be careful with your strollers. After that, we stopped by the concierge desk and wrote our last name all over both strollers - the visors and in hard to see spots. Be sure you have yours identifiable with more than removable things. We took cell phone pics after that, too. I was so paranoid about leaving the strollers the rest of the week.

 

[Sammie]

oh man I would have so been waiting and with security.

Glad you got it back and I have to agree it was no mistake.

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

WOW good self restraint, with pregnancy hormones no less, from not letting the thieves have it!

 

[BabyRN]

Thank God you got it back! And I sure would've been waiting too...that's really low for someone to steal basically from a child!

 

[triplejen]

I had heard about it ... but never expected it to happen to us! DH and DS were riding Goofy's Brainstormer several times in a row while DD and I had some mommy-daughter time. Hubby texted me and said the stroller was gone. We have a blue MacLaren fold up stroller. It had a lei from the Polynesian, a lime green luggage tag, and a few things that made it distinctively ours. We looked for a couple of hours in ToonTown, Teacups, Pooh, etc. Came back to ToonTown and noticed that a light blue MacLaren had been there as long as we'd lost ours, so i attached a note to it just in case they had picked ours by mistake. I know that when you have a screaming kid and a dad or grandparent who doesn't pay much attention to detail, there is a possibility that a mix up could happen. No luck.

. . .

The more we've thought about it, we're convinced that could have been no accident. No way you could miss the lei and big green tag. Idiots didn't take it off. That's what caught my eye! Be careful with your strollers. After that, we stopped by the concierge desk and wrote our last name all over both strollers - the visors and in hard to see spots. Be sure you have yours identifiable with more than removable things. We took cell phone pics after that, too. I was so paranoid about leaving the strollers the rest of the week.

I think there is a good chance that the "thieves" were the owners of the light blue one that remained at the original ride. It seems like too much of a coincidence that your blue Maclaren disappeared, and at the same time a second blue Maclaren was abandoned in the same location.

I would also think that if someone were to deliberately steal a stroller for use in the parks, the first thing they would do would be to remove any identifying items - like the lei and the LGMH.

The most likely scenario is that parents with a similar stroller grabbed your thinking it was theirs, and didn't notice the stuff hanging off (or did notice, but each assumed the other had hung the items there). A boneheaded thing to do, sure, but not something with malicious intent.

With luck, maybe the guy you told the story to remained, and filled in the confused family when they came out of the ride looking for their own "stolen" stroller. That way they'd know where to go back to look for their own!

I'd like to think that, anyway.

In any case, I'm glad you got your stroller back. What a neat stroke of luck to come across it at a different ride!

 

[CaptainHypersock]

A reobtained stroller; that which was taken was restored. Congratulations on that counter-steal!

CaptainHypersock out.

 

[jekjones1558]

We are stroller thieves. A few years ago we bought a cheap umbrella stroller to use at WDW intending to just leave it or throw it at the end of our trip. We inadvertently took someone else's stroller at some point. The only way we figured it out was that we found some Mickey stickers on the frame. We didn't even know where we had made the mistake, so we just hoped that our victims figured out what happened and took our stroller. If you are out there reading, sorry!
OP, glad it all ended okay.

 

[GiGi30]

I think there is a good chance that the "thieves" were the owners of the light blue one that remained at the original ride. It seems like too much of a coincidence that your blue Maclaren disappeared, and at the same time a second blue Maclaren was abandoned in the same location.

I would also think that if someone were to deliberately steal a stroller for use in the parks, the first thing they would do would be to remove any identifying items - like the lei and the LGMH.

The most likely scenario is that parents with a similar stroller grabbed your thinking it was theirs, and didn't notice the stuff hanging off (or did notice, but each assumed the other had hung the items there). A boneheaded thing to do, sure, but not something with malicious intent.

With luck, maybe the guy you told the story to remained, and filled in the confused family when they came out of the ride looking for their own "stolen" stroller. That way they'd know where to go back to look for their own!

I'd like to think that, anyway.

In any case, I'm glad you got your stroller back. What a neat stroke of luck to come across it at a different ride!

Nope, the people with the light blue stroller called me and said that they decided to take the train to Frontierland, which is why it seemed abandoned. She called when she got the note so we would know to continue looking. It was a huge stroke of luck to get it back. My 3 year old LOVES that stroller. All's well in the world now LOL

 

[GiGi30]

I can see how easily it would be to mix up the strollers. MacLaren seems to be the popular choice in the parks - all the same model - the simple fold-up ones. We did get to teach the kids a lesson about why it is never good to steal from others.

 

[heather13]

Wow! This is one of my fears about bringing a stroller along. We NEVER travel with a stroller, so I'm also nervous about the airlines destroying it before we arrive. Great advice to put names in places that can't be removed.

Although I can totally see DH being one of those taking someone else's stroller because he vaguely knows what ours looks like, and we'd figure it out at the other end of the park...

 

[momtotnt]

I'd have to agree with triplejen though. If someone is going to deliberately take a stroller, there's no way on Earth that they'd leave anything identifyable on it such as an obvious lei, especially if they were continuing through the park with it. Sounds like an honest mistake, but we'll never know.
If it was dishonest, they could have done it to another person. I would have gone on and the very least had DH or a CM stake out the stroller.

 

[Eljay]

So, what do you do?
Write your name on the frame with permanant marker?

 

[Albytaps]

Wow. First off, that stinks that your stroller got stolen... but it is INCREDIBLE that you found it again!

LOL I would have made a stakeout to see who the culprits were. I would have bought some pirate gear to blend in and then BAMN! Jump out and say "AH HA! Caught you redhanded!"

 

[Redwitch]

Pour coke, root beer or some other brown beverage on a diaper. Place said diaper in a clear plastic bag in such a manner that some of the brown stain shows. Tie bag onto stroller. No one will steal stroller.

Glad you got your stroller back.

 

[HannaBelle]

Pour coke, root beer or some other brown beverage on a diaper. Place said diaper in a clear plastic bag in such a manner that some of the brown stain shows. Tie bag onto stroller. No one will steal stroller.

I was thinking about that post this week! That is hysterical...

 

[Ela1972]

We wrote our name on with permanent marker and also I bought some very brightly coloured ribbons and tied these in bows (lots of little ones) all down the handles. I used a spot of super glue on the centre of the bow to stop them undoing.
It made our stroller very noticeable.
It had been moved by a CM (we think) once. We looked for it outside of the indiana jones thing at DHS and couldn't find it anywhere. Walked round for 2 more hours (me looking all the while for it) and just called back to Indiana jones on the way out. Low and behold it was there - but I had looked properly DH still blames me!!

BTW because of the ribbons could send DH to collect it and he never had a problem.

 

[triplejen]

Nope, the people with the light blue stroller called me and said that they decided to take the train to Frontierland, which is why it seemed abandoned. She called when she got the note so we would know to continue looking. It was a huge stroke of luck to get it back. My 3 year old LOVES that stroller. All's well in the world now LOL

GRRR - I wanted to believe the best! That really stinks

 

[Goofy4]

Friends of ours lost their wheelchair and umbrellas. 20 minutes later they noticed the wheelchair with 1 of the umbrellas and proceeded to have a bit of an argument with the "thieves". They claimed to not speak English. What they did understand was that the name tag was still on it, and it wasn't their name.

Sorry OP... Glad you got it back.

 

[CandleontheWater]

I am so sorry your stroller got nabbed, but I am SO HAPPY you stole it back! I disagree with the people that say it wasn't deliberate because they didn't take off the identifying items. If you confronted them they probably would have played dumb, and figured that since they were at Disney nothing bad would happen to them.

I've been to Disney three times now with a stroller, and we bring our expensive Uppababy Vista. I bought one of

and locked up the stroller every time we left it. Some people might think it was overkill, but I'd rather take a second and make sure my stroller was there when I got back!

 

[disneychic2]

When you think of the remote chances of you finding your stroller, makes you think of Divine intervention! Glad you found it!