Lost Children

[schrodstrip]

Just wondering if anyone has had this happen and how they handled it. Also, we usually pick an " if you get lost" place to meet beforehand, just in case, but have never been to a place this huge! Any tips?

 

[KathyTX]

It's good to have the "if you get lost" meeting place.

When DS was small, we also always wrote our cell numbers and our hotel info on masking tape and put it inside the tail of his shirt. We always told him that he should find someone in a uniform (we made sure he knew how to recognize a CM) and show them that info if he got lost.

He never did get lost, he was usually velcro-ed to us in a crowd, but we were more relaxed knowing that we had a plan.

 

[princess aurora]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but children don't get lost at Disney. No, no, no. Parents go missing occational so there is a "Lost" Parents place which is by the First Aid station on Main Street.

Some helpful tips below.

http://www.mouseplanet.com/akrock/akrock7.htm

 

[snappy]

Yup, my daughter lost me at splash mountain several years ago. She was where she was supposed to be, I had wandered off. The nice CM found me. My daughter really wasn't too worried, she had ID in her Minnie fanny pack.
I was kinda useless the rest of the day.

Now we all have cell phones, except DD9 (the one that lost me).
We also, specify a place to meet if we separate and can't get in touch (I have been known to lose my cell phone too), usually guest relations.

 

[BroganMc]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but children don't get lost at Disney. No, no, no. Parents go missing occational so there is a "Lost" Parents place which is by the First Aid station on Main Street.

I was a lost "child" once, sort of. I was with my parents but I was grown. Just got my own wheels (powerchair) and entered the MGM gate before them. My pass had been wiped by my room key and the CM directed me to Guest Relations by the gate. My parents were at the outside windows exchanging vouchers for passes and lagging far behind me. So I zipped in to get my new card. 3 minutes later I zipped out and they had vanished. I spent the next 2 hours searching all over the park for them wondering how two old *geezers* manage to slip by me when I was pulling 4.5 mph.

The little buggers went to see Little Mermaid without me. A little payback since I saw Hall of Presidents without them 2 days before. (They were 30 min late that time and I was ushered in out of the rain and parade route.)

I came home and got everyone a cellphone then. A prepaid VirginMobile that works great in the parks.

I've tried meeting at Guest Relations and all that. It almost never works for our family.

Now when I'm taking my young nieces and nephews out, I make sure they keep one hand on my armrests at all times. Plus we discuss our destination so if we're separated we're going to a known place. (This is more for the adults in our group as they tend to be easily distracted.)

But don't worry too much. CMs are very good at rescuing abandoned children. Back in the 70's when it was only Magic Kingdom, my then 11 year brother got himself lost in TomorrowLand. My parents were frantic until they spoke to a CM on Main Street. He told them to just sit still. They would "flush" all the stray kids out in time. Sure enough, 10 minutes later there was my brother oblivious to my parents' dismay.

J

 

[Dismom63]

When DD was 6, we were at Typhoon Lagoon and she got ahead of me in the lazy river and got out at what she thought was our"spot"- well it wasn't and there were about 10 minutes she was unaccounted for. The CM's were great - I told the lifeguard the minute I realized she was not right ahead of me and people literally came out of the bushes to look for her. Within 5 minutes (felt like an hour) one of the CM's radioed that they had her clear over on the other side! I was very impressed with how Disney handled this and I hope no one ever has to experience it first hand.

 

[schrodstrip]

These are some great things to know. Thanks!

 

[yogibigdog]

Found a lost child once. He was about 7 or 8 wandering around by Dumbo crying. I just walked him over to the nearest CM. He took the boy by the hand and starting calling around on his headset. I stay a few minutes. I did not see anyone looking around or calling for him. I knew he was in good hands and we went on our way.

 

[DLKT]

Is it true that all lost "bad" children who are not found by thier parents are forced to spend the rest of thier lives as the children in the "It's a Small World" ride?

At least that's what I tell my kids anyway.

Is that wrong?

Just kidding!


I love the tape idea.
That's very easy and smart!

 

[bavaria]

To reassure lost parents, in January there was a young boy about 8-10 years old crying inside the Tea Caddy shop in the UK. He didn't speak English, and several guests immediately tried to help. Two very sweet CM's came over and called immediately to report him.

After several minutes, we found out his name. After another five minutes of pantomime, another guest who spoke fluent Portuguese came over and translated, getting his hotel name, etc (they were staying offsite)

So even with the language barrier, a child of lost parents was immediately attended to by various guests and CMs. I am certain that he was reconnected with his parents soon, based on how quickly this was handled.

 

[mommi97]

Yep lost my 6 year old son on the Lazy River, I had 3 kids and I had one, my husband had one, and my mom was supposed to have my 6 year old. Well here comes mom and no son! My husband paniced and started walking up the lazy river as I sat with the other kids waiting.....then I hear my name come over the park intercom system to please come to the lost child location...wherever that is. I yelled across to the lifeguard that they called my name and my son was lost. He told me to stay where I was. A CM brought my son skipping to me with candy in his hand..lol. I thanked them so much, they said no problem. I asked my son what happened, and he said I did what you always told me, if I ever get lost go up to someone that works here. I am surprised he didn't panic and start screaming my name and crying like he usually does when he thinks he is lost.

 

[MiJo]

He was about 4 yo and appeared to be foreign (Scandanavian). We had just watched one of the stage shows in front of the castle. When the crowd dispersed, this little boy kept looking up at different families and following them for a short time. My wife used her keen eye from our Search and Rescue experience to notice this, despite quite a few people being around. She asked him if his Mommy and Daddy were lost and he nodded that they were. It seems he was with his family in Fantasyland but he somehow became separated from them and wandered through the castle. We waited a good 5 minutes or so for a security person to come into sight but none did, so I headed off to find one. With no luck, we took the youngster over to the bake shop near Adventureland where they called security. I guess it all ended well. One of the CM's in the bake shop acted like she didn't want us to stay until security arrived (almost rude about it) so we left. After discussing it, we thought we should have stayed nearby to see the outcome. Hopefully, he didn't end up in Neverland!
We also had the same thing happen as Mommi97. When we took our kids to WDW in 1990, our older son was 11. We went to TL and at some point we noticed he wasn't around. We panicked! I don't really think we thought he had drowned as there were about 2000 life guards on duty that day. Anyway, after we ran around a while looking for him, we found him floating around on the Lazy River! He was perfectly fine and couldn't understand our problem.

 

[Ducky4Disney]

There have been lots of good ideas about how to "label" your children in case of a separation. One of the ideas I really liked was to take pictures of him/her with your digital camera every morning before entering the park. That way you have an up to date picture of what they were wearing that day. Don't forget to take a picture of their back - that might be how you find them, walking away from you!

Other good ideas are the kids shoe thingy. It's a piece of velcro with you kids info on it and it gets strapped to their shoe.

Also, if you're looking for a meeting place, don't use the castle (or any of the park icons). It's the obvious choice for a meeting place, but it gets crowded and can make it harder to find people!

D4D

 

[gabbygrennell]

We lost our son twice in the same day! Tell me I didnt feel like a bad parent! duh!
Blizzard Beach, lazy river!
Get this, there were 4 adults, 4 kids... no brainer right? wrong!
My then 9 yr old wanted to stretch his wings a little and it was not very crowded, so i agreed that he didnt have to hold on to anyones tube... he started getting a little ahead of us! Around a bend he went and several minutes later, no one could find him!
My sis in law and i stayed with the 3 kids, hubby and bro went looking for our 9 yr old.
We immediately told the first cm we saw, he was great about helping us to remain calm etc..
My 9 yr old finally realized we were no longer behind him and did exactly as he was told, to find the closest cm! We were reunited quickly ... then we had a heck of a time finding hubby and bro who were still crazily searching the lazy river!
After that, we made our son stay with us in the lazy river. We also agreed, that a good meeting place, would be the locker where our stuff was stored, and tell the cm there where you rent towels...
Well, a little while later, somehow it happened again! (still in the lazy river)
this time, I noticed almost immediately because ds was with me. I stopped right there on the side of the river and stood and waited. In another minute or so, here he came, he had gotten stuck and others had gotten in front of him.
The new rule became, if going in lazry river, one must hold mom or dads hand... of course our 9 yr old thought this was terrible, but twice in one day? come on!!!!!!
The cm's are great at helping you remain calm!
At the other parks, our kids have their id in their fanny pack, but we were at a water park... had nothing on them.... after all this, i think this trip, for water parks, they will have one of those snack size zip lock bags with our info in it, safety pinned to the inside of their swim trunks.
I dont know how else to label them while in the water park... anyone have any other ideas?
We always do the pic in the morning on the dig camera... you wouldnt believe how hard it is to remember what they were wearing when all you can think about is finding them!

 

[AJKMOM]

As the parent of an autistic son who loves Disney-our 11th trip is next week-, we used to pin him name, diagnosis, our names and where we were staying, on the back of his shirt. That way, he forgot about it, and wouldn't try to remove it. We lost him more than once, and looked for the nearest CM to help. Now, he is 5'11", so we never lose him.

 

[EAP'sDAD]

Scariest moment ever was when I was in Honey I Shrunk the payground at MGM. There is a little alcove where my DS age 2, 3 were playing and I was standing guard at the mouth. There was no way out of the alcove without going past me. Well 5 minutes past and my 3 yr old wants to go play somewhere else, I go into get the 2 year old and he is no where to be found. I tell the CM and they put people at the exit and wouldn't allow people to leave. all of a sudden here comes the 2 year old down one of the slides happy as can be. But for those few minutes I was a nervous wreck.

 

[punkin]

My older daughter never got lost. She was always stuck to me like glue and never stepped away from me for a second.
My younger daughter is an explorer. She wanders off. The first time I lost her was in Epcot. She was just under 2. I lost her two other times on the same trip. I lost her in a local water park in Kansas; I lost her in the Bronx Zoo (she was so young, she was barely walking)); I lost her on every trip we toook to WDW (actually, it almost always happens in Epcoot; she loves that park and apparantly feels the need to explore on her own). This year we went to Disneyyland and I did not lose her at all. Maybe she's getting older.
I'm planning another trip in May. Hopefully, she'll keep the wanderig down to a minimum.

 

[DizBelle]

We were shopping at the World of Disney. I am a serious shopper. I am also short and am easily lost among the displays since they are all taller than I am. DH was looking and looking and looking for me to no avail. He must of looked distressed (or frustrated) and a CM approached him and asked him if he lost his "child." He said, "No, my wife." Well, the CM got on his radio and before he knew it a fleet of CMs were searching the store for me. Fortunately for him, he managed to find me before a CM did. I don't think I would have ever forgiven him for setting the security folk on me.

The good news is that his impression is that the CMs really know what they are doing when there is a lost child (or wife for that matter).

 

[mhaley]

I too have misplaced children in the Honey I shrunk the kids playground. I panic everytime we go there but my kids love it. Now I wait at the exit while my husband tries to follow the kids. I think it is just way too easy for a little kid to get separated from a parent in there and then wander out of the area.

 

[AJKMOM]

I used to hate that playground for the same reason. We quit going there after losing a kid once.