Lost, But Never Found! A real life Toy Story that ended our Vacation

[amyren]

I just wanted to correct 1 thing, the company did ceilings in Tokyo disneysea, not Disney land. That would have made me about 20 years older lol

ya I was like.... man, he's pretty old to have a toddler.

That's a great rule! I can imagine how hard it would have been, especially with the language barrier. I can see myself thinking "do they understand what I'm asking for? What if they've got it, but don't understand what I'm looking for?"

Yes the language was definitely a barrier. The girl at information didn't speak English so she put me on the phone with a translator. We passed the phone back and forth as the translator worked both ends of our conversation. Basically I was told that they wouldn't let me see lost and found, because it was for employees only but they would call me if they found my "blanket". I'm not 100% sure they grasped the fact that it was a baby blankie... I checked back 3 times and did the same thing with the translator on the phone then had my hotel call as well... no luck.

We were at WDW when our oldest son was a baby and still used a pacifier. We were walking through Liberty Square, when we realized he had dropped his beloved pacifier! We freaked out because we didn't have another one with us, so our entire group of 6 adults started searching the area and retracing our steps. Luckily, my husband found it a few minutes later!

Fast forward approximately six years... my husband says to me, "Hey, remember when we lost that pacifier at Disney?" Of course I do, we mention it every time we walk through that area. Then he says, "Well... it was in my pocket the whole time. It was never actually lost. When we started searching the ground for it, I realized that I had actually had it the whole time and I felt dumb, so I waited a few minutes and then pretended I found it."

In hindsight, he probably made a good choice, because we would never have let him live that down.

This is hilarious!!!

 

[MrandMrsJoeFriday]

As a side note, although it made little difference to our DD, if you loose a stuffed animal on property at DTD, guest services will give you a voucher to use for any Disney store for a free plush valued at $25.00 or less. We thought that was incredibly generous of Disney to offer that. We ended up going to World of Disney, and she picked out a black and white vintage style Mickey Mouse valued at 13.00. I must say that the clerk at the store was surprisingly rude after we presented the voucher, likely because of the fact that she did not know how to redeem it. A supervisor quickly noticed and fixed the issue.

 

[MommyTaraLee]

We once left my DD's stuffed Marie in a hotel after a weekend trip away. It was a small stuffy that I had gotten her on a whim... She had never seen the Aristocats before that, and she wasn't really interested in it right away. But, a year or so later, I had to go away on a business trip, and that is when the attachment came! Luckily, the hotel ended up finding Marie in their laundry, and we paid to have him overnighted home. Since then, we have instituted a new policy... "Real" Marie does not leave home. Only "Travel" Marie can come on trips with us!

 

[auroralark]

Aw, I'm sad you never found the old ACHOO! Glad you found a new one though and your daughter is accepting the new one! What great parents you are! I have a 2 year old, and she's not super attached to any stuffed animals yet.

My husband and I have a soft spot for stuffed animals and we definitely turn any we find in to lost and found - you just know there's a child out there missing it! We found a small stuffed bear once at the aquarium, and the person at guest services looked at us like we were crazy when we turned it in. Obviously someone loved it enough to bring it to the aquarium!

When I was a kid, my sister repeatedly left her beloved cat "Kitty" (we were creative) in the hotel bedding. More than once, Kitty had to be rescued from housekeeping. Finally my mom said Kitty had to stay home.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

My daughter lost her "Bee" when she was about three years old. It got left in a hotel room (not Disney). Unfortunately even though we called the hotel while we were on the road just an hour or so after we left the hotel claimed that it hadn't been found. We knew that it was definitely in the room as she had slept with it the night before and she had not taken it out of the room. I am sure it got tossed out and that the people at the hotel just didn't want to take the time to reunite it with its owner. She is 14 now and still remembers her Bee. I had bought it at Walmart but after searching several none were ever available to make a replacement. Searched Ebay too. On the bright side she did recover. And we as parents learned that after the initial trauma, lost loveys are way harder for the parents than it actually is for the child.

 

[lugnut33]

My daughter has a little stuffed dog, appropriately named "Doggy". He has these plastic eyes that are so worn it looks like he has glaucoma. Anyways, she is heading to Sweden for a year as a Rotary exchange student and the one thing she wants to take from home is "Doggy". She's 17 and Doggy has been with her since birth.

 

[hockeymomNS]

I am so glad that ACHOO is back in DD's arms.

This brings to mind when I was having my children. I had an aunt who lectured all of us about stuffed toys, blankets etc and babies. To her, they were akin to giving baby Satan himself. As a first time mom, she kinda made sense so I was good with toys and blankets but used a soother as my oldest son was a preemie and needed to work on the sucking (and I really didn't care). What she said affected me so much that the day that they gave it to him in the hospital, I made my poor husband go to three pharmacies and he bought 20 of the exact same one. I don't know about my kids but at any given time, I had a dozen soothers on hand............she scarred me.

 

[MrandMrsJoeFriday]

I am so glad that ACHOO is back in DD's arms. This brings to mind when I was having my children. I had an aunt who lectured all of us about stuffed toys, blankets etc and babies. To her, they were akin to giving baby Satan himself. As a first time mom, she kinda made sense so I was good with toys and blankets but used a soother as my oldest son was a preemie and needed to work on the sucking (and I really didn't care). What she said affected me so much that the day that they gave it to him in the hospital, I made my poor husband go to three pharmacies and he bought 20 of the exact same one. I don't know about my kids but at any given time, I had a dozen soothers on hand............she scarred me.

That sounds just like me. Right after we noticed her attachment to ACHOO, I weren't hunting for a back up, and was only able to find 1 on ebay. Since the incident at downtown Disney I have 3 back ups scattered in the house in secure places. However yesterday while searching for my camera with her by my side, I opened one of these secure drawers I keep locked, and right there in front of her face was one of the backups laying face down, which I had forgot was there. As soon as she saw it she said "ACHOO", and then I quickly closed the door. A few seconds later with a little confusion in her face she said "Bad ACHOO", and went on with her day.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

This reminds me of a story my best friend from high school wrote about his daughter's "Alice" as in Wonderland. Better result but equally harrowing. http://mikekenny.blogspot.com/2014/01/alice-in-wonderland-aka-albuquerque.html?m=1

 

[North of Mouse]

That sounds just like me. Right after we noticed her attachment to ACHOO, I weren't hunting for a back up, and was only able to find 1 on ebay. Since the incident at downtown Disney I have 3 back ups scattered in the house in secure places. However yesterday while searching for my camera with her by my side, I opened one of these secure drawers I keep locked, and right there in front of her face was one of the backups laying face down, which I had forgot was there. As soon as she saw it she said "ACHOO", and then I quickly closed the door. A few seconds later with a little confusion in her face she said "Bad ACHOO", and went on with her day.

Awww, that's too cute. Babies' attachments to cuddlees, blankees, stuffed animals, whatever, are sooo real to them and they are a must 'to them' for their comfort and security. So happy you had a good ending even though it was heart breaking for a while.

Our son loved his 'pound puppy' - went everywhere with him also. One night left it behind at the library and they closed soon after when we missed it.
It was 'not' a good night for him or us. First thing next morning we called the library - sure enough he was there and they said they'd take really good care of him till we could get there.

The 'reunion' between our son and pound puppy would melt your heart!

So, we totally understand what you went through!

 

[PixieDustD]

Sorry to hear that Achoo was not turned in. We had a similar experience to MommyTaraLee. Our daughter's "Mutsy" was scooped up with the wrinkled bed linens by the unsuspecting hotel maid one morning. As it was New Years weekend it was impossible to retrieve it from the laundry as it had been shipped offsite. The following Monday Mutsy was overnighted home. It was difficult to explain to our four year old that Mutsy needed to be washed. She was worried he would drown in the washing machine.
Needless to say Mutsy was never left in a bed in a hotel room again. He was always put in a drawer for the day.

 

[sweetpeama]

On a recent trip to the Black Hills (ok it was last month) we got to unloading the van at the cabin (we live in MT so it's 5-8 hour drive depend on the exact town you go to or near) it was discovered that the box containing my special needs daughter's blankets and "friends" had not gotten loaded. We had allowed her to her to select 3 of her blankets and 3 of her collection of friends. She had chosen her pink puppy blanket, her Katya (Kat Cha) cupcake blanket (a clipped and tied fleece blanket I bought as part of a fundraiser to help a friend adopt a child in Eastern Europe that they named Katya (Kat Cha) said the way it is in the child's birth country), and her Winnie the Pooh sleeping bag for her blankets. Friends chosen for the trip were her POOH BEAR, My Pal Violet, and a pinky puppy named Rosebud (the collection also includes a small learning bear named Lilac after its dark purple shirt, 2 build a bear bunnies named Sunflower and Daffodil, and a bunch of others I think at last count the number allowed on the bed was over 20).
This was discovered at 11 pm. It was a long night on being awake but a short night on sleep for me. My husband ended up starting out the night on the floor by the door instead of one of the beds (we had 2 queen beds and a twin bunk bed in the cabin) so that she could not escape. My daughter was going to walk back the 6 hour drive to home to get her POOH. She even put on her shoes and coat and told us Go POOH (a couple of the few words she can say). She is little miss Independent lately and would have done it hence my husband sleeping by the door. We had plenty of blankets thanks to grandma packing extras that they did not need since their motel room was furnished. (some of the accommadations were furnished others were provide your own).
The next morning I asked a couple of the employees at the campground and resort if their was a thrift shop in Hill City, SD (the town a couple miles away that the places address was). There wasn't but there was one in Custer about a 20 minute drive. That afternoon I headed into Custer right after lunch and before dinner at the family reunion we were at in search of a Pooh or a Minnie (another favorite) in the thrift shop.
None was to be found though I did find a multicolored and a white bunny with a train conductor style cap that I purchased. I decided to try my luck at the ShopKo Hometown store in town as well for a Pooh or Minnie but again turned up nothing.
I got back to the campground and found out that my husband had taken both girls back to the cabin after my older daughter (non special needs) had finished swimming (special needs daughter does not like to go swimming so she played on the playground with grandma watching her) to change. I headed around to the cabin, parked the van and went inside. I gave my special girl the 2 bunnies. Oh the smile I got at that moment. She started hugging them and kissing them, and stroking their fur. After a while I got a bunch of hugs, kisses, and wanting to cuddles.
That night she slept part of the night with me though I was not used as a stuffed animal and in the middle of the night moved to the lower bunk of the bunk beds we had originally chosen for her to sleep in. The last night there she slept all night in her own bed and the final night of the trip she slept all night in the hotel where we put her down.
We got home and there was the box with her stuff in it including the blanket bunny she got as a baby named Bun Bun she had tried to sneak in (would have been successful if it had made it to the van) sitting on the couch in the front room.
Since we have returned home both the multicolored now named Tulip and the white bunny named Dandelion have been added to the bed.

 

[Jfsag123]

I must admit my first thought upon reading this was that you were over-reacting. Then I remembered the family trip we took when I was 5 years old, during which I left my favorite toy (comfy dumpty) in the hotel room never to be seen again - it still bothers me decades later! Congrats on being able to welcome ACHOO back into the family.