Okay, tell me how to lock up my stroller at DL?

[Dukland]

I know some have mentioned that they somehow locked up their stroller, but made it so it was still capable of being moved by CMs. how should I do this? I actually bought a new stroller today, (a Sit N Stand, from Target) that I think would be really helpful at DL. I justified it to dh, because we hope to have one more child, and this stroller would be great for our ds, currently our youngest, and a new baby. So, I'd like to hang on to it, you know?

How should I lock up my stroller, without being a pain to CMs?

 

[kuusimo]

You cannot lock it up to anything at Disneyland, but you can lock the wheels together. That is the only thing Disney will allow. Otherwise it would be considered a fire hazard and they could cut the lock on you.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

And somebody previously mentioned locking the rear wheels together; this will allow a CM to easily move it while empty (by tipping it onto the front wheels), but it will be unusable and not likely to be stolen.

 

[Liltx]

Is stroller theft a big problem? I am taking our peg perego for my baby and the chicco for my oldest. We have never had anything stolen at WDW. Is DL more of a problem? If it is I will use the chicco for my baby and rent one for my 3yo.

Monica

 

[Liltx]

I think I will buy a lock to lock the two stroller legs together. That should work. Glad you posted about this. I would have never considered it!

Monica

 

[drag n' fly]

Stroller theft I don't think is a problem however stuff in the stroller is. While we were in toontown and parked by the fountain we just finished shopping and put our well concealed bags in the basket and sure enough we came back and everything was cleaned out! I would like to mention however how Disney handled it. We immediately brought it to their attention and after a bit of discussion up the line they agreed to give us a credit in the amount spent. In good faith they truusted us and we trusted them and we were so impressed with how it was all handled. Not to many places would value you that much! This time we will save our shopping for the last day and then carry everything back with us and not leave anything unattended. Honestly we should have known better but got complacent because we were in a Disney park.

 

[fidoprincess]

I would not worry about locking your stroller up! I had a $700 double stroller that I took to DL many times and the first time, I was so nervous that I took a bike lock and each time I went on or off the rides, I locked the back wheels to the frame. Very time consuming and silly!

After the first trip, I never did it again. Having a stroller stolen is very rare at DL. Plus, I can assure you that if someone is going to steal one, it won't be a sit and stand-lol. Why wouldn't they steal a really expensive one?! I've seen plenty of pricey strollers at DL, the $500 and up ones!

I do agree with the other posters, it is the stuff IN the stroller that gets stolen. Once I had the entire diaper bag stolen-ugh-no diapers, bottles-that was BAD! I've even had a balloon taken off the stroller, talk about tears that day...I've even seen other toddlers taking stuff off parked strollers like blankets, toys, food and even drink from others sippy cups-ewww.

Here is what we used to do: take 2 bags, one big and one small easy to carry around. Put all the things you need for a few hours in the carry one and put the spare stuff in the bigger one in the locker. Take the carry one on the rides and don't leave anything in the stroller! One, your stuff won't be stolen and two, you will have what you need waiting in line. I even learned to change a diaper in line, fast and quick and nurse too with the aid of a small lightweight blanket and no one even knew. When your carry around supply gets low, go back to the lockers and refill. We also used to put warm clothes for night and even a change of clothes in the locker too. You can open them and close them all day long for the same $7-really worth it!

By the way, you will love your new stroller! Have fun and don't worry about locking it up, you will be fine.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

I've never been to DL, but just being a generally cautious person anyway, I'm a bit concerned about leaving the stroller and any contents.

I don't know if I'll go to the trouble of locking up my stroller, that does sound like a huge hassle! But others have posted how they've made their stroller (even a rented one) more easily identifiable, such as decorating it with ribbons or balloons (or even crumpling a diaper into a clear plastic bag and hanging it from the handle, LOL!)

As for the stroller contents, I would never leave anything in there that we would hate to lose, whether it's expensive to replace or not. One post said a child had a very full autograph book by the end of their stay, and it got stolen from their stroller, so sad!

I bought a backpack to carry our things in; while we're on the move the backpack will be in the stroller basket, but when we have to leave the stroller, the backpack will be easy to carry along. (I read somewhere that bags are sometimes frowned upon for taking on rides, but backpacks are not a problem.) I'd probably leave water bottles, snacks and the like to lighten the carrying load.

We'll be buying souvenirs, but will either buy what will fit into the backpack, or shop just before leaving the park. Alternatively, if you are staying onsite, you can have your purchase sent to your hotel, though it will take a day to get it and might be more of a hassle than it's worth for some things. (Don't do this for a toy that your child will want to play with as soon as you get back to the hotel!)

That's my plan...

PS. Fidoprincess, not sure if I'd need your 2-bag system, as we'll be heading back to the hotel every mid-day for naps, but it's a great idea! Will just have to see how we do in the first couple days. Or maybe the first time I try to cram everything into a backpack...

 

[kuusimo]

Another thing that we always do is park the stroller backwards and lock the wheels so it is harder to move. That way the basket is not in plain view of people.

We have not had anything taken from our stroller, but I do agree to not leave anything there that you could not part with. We generally keep just snacks and water bottles in ours. Occasionally a jacket for night.

For more tips on strollers they have a great parenting section on mouseplanet.com. Most of these articles were written by Disneyland mom's.

 

[Shelebeen]

We never had anything stolen from our strollers, but they do get moved around sometimes - mostly by the cm's for parades, line ups, etc. Once we came out of pirates and spent quite a while searching for our strollers... we did eventually find them - they had moved them in anticipation of crowds for fantasmic

 

[munchkinsmom]

Our 2004 Maclaren Twin Traveller was stolen last Labor Day weekend 2005. My parents were nice enough to take the kids to the "It's a Small World" ride while DH and I rode Space Mountain. They had parked the stroller in the designated stroller parking area in front of "It's a Small World" three rows deep, so whoever took it had to make the effort to wade through the other strollers to get to it. We looked everywhere, talked to a CM and he also helped us look all over the place. Couldn't find it...it was gone. Reported it stolen at Lost and Found and checked every single day we were there (we were there for a total of five days and the stroller was stolen on Day One). Never saw our stroller again.

We now have a 2005 Twin Traveller we bought to replace the one that was stolen and we lock it every time we leave it out in public. Since bike lock cables are too small for our double, we use a long cable we already owned that locked a car cover we had. We thread the cable through the wheel spokes so it's impossible to push using the wheels or close the stroller. Yes, it's time consuming (all but a minute) but after our experience last year, we're willing to make the time so that it won't happen to us again.

So while I agree that chances are minimal that your stroller will be stolen, keep in mind that it does happen.