Just back - stroller thief got us!

[GiGi30]

WOAH! I got an email this morning from the guy I met who was sitting near our stroller! We exchanged email addresses, because he wanted to let me know if anyone came looking for it. I didn't expect to hear back from him!

He said about 10 minutes after we left the culprits came back and were looking intensely for the stroller. He said it was a couple and their young son who were dressed nicely and didn't look to be in need. They had bought a skull necklace from the pirate store to put on the stroller as he overheard them stating such. They looked the area over for a couple of minutes, then the guy who I had talked to said "Looking for a blue fold-up stroller with the lei on it?" The guy said "Yes, we bought that stroller yesterday here in Orlando". The guy said "Well, the family who owns that stroller happened to find it". The guy played dumb and they said "Oh, here it is - someone must have taken our lei" and draped the necklace on another MacLaren that was similar to ours, but certainly not the same. The guy who I talked to said as soon as they put the kid in it, the owners came out and quickly stopped them. The man I spoke to informed the real owners that they had stolen one stroller already and we had just gotten it back. The couple immediately ran to the Pirates worker and told them the situation. They called security and the guy tried to run, but must have forgotten he had a wife and kid, so he turned around and waited on security. They were told to come with security and they did. The Pirates worker said probably what would happen is that they would kick them off the entire property. Not sure if that's the case should they deny they were stealing strollers. Oh well, he said it was very obvious and they were shocked that we had found it. I didn't expect to hear back from this guy, but he said it was the most excitement of the day for him. In my opinion, if you can afford a Disney vacation, you can at least afford a $10 umbrella stroller for your kid. No hard feelings on my end. We found it, although it was a bit stressful to leave the strollers the rest of the week, even with names on them.

 

[jekjones1558]

woah! I got an email this morning from the guy i met who was sitting near our stroller! We exchanged email addresses, because he wanted to let me know if anyone came looking for it. I didn't expect to hear back from him!

He said about 10 minutes after we left the culprits came back and were looking intensely for the stroller. He said it was a couple and their young son who were dressed nicely and didn't look to be in need. They had bought a skull necklace from the pirate store to put on the stroller as he overheard them stating such. They looked the area over for a couple of minutes, then the guy who i had talked to said "looking for a blue fold-up stroller with the lei on it?" the guy said "yes, we bought that stroller yesterday here in orlando". The guy said "well, the family who owns that stroller happened to find it". The guy played dumb and they said "oh, here it is - someone must have taken our lei" And draped the necklace on another maclaren that was similar to ours, but certainly not the same. The guy who i talked to said as soon as they put the kid in it, the owners came out and quickly stopped them. The man i spoke to informed the real owners that they had stolen one stroller already and we had just gotten it back. The couple immediately ran to the pirates worker and told them the situation. They called security and the guy tried to run, but must have forgotten he had a wife and kid, so he turned around and waited on security. They were told to come with security and they did. The pirates worker said probably what would happen is that they would kick them off the entire property. Not sure if that's the case should they deny they were stealing strollers. Oh well, he said it was very obvious and they were shocked that we had found it. I didn't expect to hear back from this guy, but he said it was the most excitement of the day for him. In my opinion, if you can afford a disney vacation, you can at least afford a $10 umbrella stroller for your kid. No hard feelings on my end. We found it, although it was a bit stressful to leave the strollers the rest of the week, even with names on them.

amazing!

 

[mariepapa]

No kidding, just get a small stroller from Wal-Mart, end of story. So sad they are doing that to their kid. Glad you got yours back! This is one for the books!

 

[Allison]

What a story. Glad you exchanged emails so you could find that out.

 

[weewuvvdisney]

Amazing turn of events.

Here is one way to discourage stolen strollers.

When our dd was little, we had a foldup stroller that was given to us by dsil. Couldn't tell you the make. It was a sturdy one though. The seat had a few stains so I decided to recover it.

I bought a bright red childrens quilted print fabric and recovered the seat. It was attached to the actual seat so if someone wanted to steal it, they would have to unstitch the covering. So not worth their time.

Never had a problem with finding it or having it stolen!

It is so sad that the people who steal strollers are teaching their children that it is okay - well, not the littles but older children.

Glad you found your stroller!

 

[LaNina72]

So glad things worked out for the best... and how great that you heard back from the gentleman at POTC... I bet it was some of the best people watching he's had!

 

[danny1649]

I just wanted to let you know that I have pulled your just back thread from the board. We know you are excited to share your knowledge about your trip, but unfortunately, we can't allow this type of thread. On any given day, we have dozens of DISers just back from trips, and if we allowed this type of thread, the boards would be hard to navigate if many posters posted this type of thread.

Additionally, the moderators feel that this type of thread is a personal message to the original poster, which is against DIS guidelines.

We encourage posters to share their knowledge and experiences by answering questions, and sharing a trip report on the trip report board. Thanks

 

[Eljay]

WOAH! I got an email this morning from the guy I met who was sitting near our stroller! We exchanged email addresses, because he wanted to let me know if anyone came looking for it. I didn't expect to hear back from him!

He said about 10 minutes after we left the culprits came back and were looking intensely for the stroller. He said it was a couple and their young son who were dressed nicely and didn't look to be in need. They had bought a skull necklace from the pirate store to put on the stroller as he overheard them stating such. They looked the area over for a couple of minutes, then the guy who I had talked to said "Looking for a blue fold-up stroller with the lei on it?" The guy said "Yes, we bought that stroller yesterday here in Orlando". The guy said "Well, the family who owns that stroller happened to find it". The guy played dumb and they said "Oh, here it is - someone must have taken our lei" and draped the necklace on another MacLaren that was similar to ours, but certainly not the same. The guy who I talked to said as soon as they put the kid in it, the owners came out and quickly stopped them. The man I spoke to informed the real owners that they had stolen one stroller already and we had just gotten it back. The couple immediately ran to the Pirates worker and told them the situation. They called security and the guy tried to run, but must have forgotten he had a wife and kid, so he turned around and waited on security. They were told to come with security and they did. The Pirates worker said probably what would happen is that they would kick them off the entire property. Not sure if that's the case should they deny they were stealing strollers. Oh well, he said it was very obvious and they were shocked that we had found it. I didn't expect to hear back from this guy, but he said it was the most excitement of the day for him. In my opinion, if you can afford a Disney vacation, you can at least afford a $10 umbrella stroller for your kid. No hard feelings on my end. We found it, although it was a bit stressful to leave the strollers the rest of the week, even with names on them.

Yay! Great ending to the story!
It would have been perfect if the man had taken a picture of the thieves to post here.