Our (personal) stroller went missing today

[Disney Dynamite]

This entire situation just stinks, OP. I hate that someone stole your stroller.

I like the idea of a bike lock through the back tires - I've got to remember that for when I have children.

 

[magical76]

Our stroller was also stolen. The person who took
it removed our tags off of it so Disney Lost and Found could not contact us . We kept going to the Lost and Found near transportation center and it finally turned up.

Keep checking back at the lost and found in person. I hope you get your stroller back!

 

[NinaBella]

If it happens as often as is indicated in the thread, Disney Security should set up a sting operation. Leave a stroller out with something enticing to a thief. Nothing will deter a stroller thief like the threat of getting arrested in front of your children while on vacation. Word gets out that could happen and the number of thefts would go down.

I'm willing to bet that the majority of thefts are not by parents there with their kids. I am willing to bet that there are locals with an AP who troll the parks looking for items to steal. They know people leave valuables in strollers. Then they can take the valuables to the local pawn shop, resell, etc. The parks are an easy target since there is so many people and cast members do not know who owns which stroller so someone walking off with one is not a red flag. Husbands typically go get the stroller while the wife and kids are sitting on a bench, etc. so even a man alone is not a red flag. Disney doesn't have any responsibility over items left unattended so setting up a sting operation isn't an interest to them.

 

[Haley]

Sorry OP that really stinks.... We have taken our personal stroller twice (britax b-agile) and I always worry a little bit that it could be gone when we come back to retrieve it. We thought about using our umbrella stroller but there's hardly any storage and it's way less comfortable for dd so we just risk it.

OP did you tell the CMs what souvenirs were stolen? I would think they would replace them.

 

[asta]

I'm willing to bet that the majority of thefts are not by parents there with their kids. I am willing to bet that there are locals with an AP who troll the parks looking for items to steal. They know people leave valuables in strollers. Then they can take the valuables to the local pawn shop, resell, etc. The parks are an easy target since there is so many people and cast members do not know who owns which stroller so someone walking off with one is not a red flag. Husbands typically go get the stroller while the wife and kids are sitting on a bench, etc. so even a man alone is not a red flag. Disney doesn't have any responsibility over items left unattended so setting up a sting operation isn't an interest to them.

I know this doesn't make a majority but years ago when we still needed a stroller we actually came upon a family taking our rental stroller. As we exited a ride we saw the male take our name off and throw it on the ground and then place his child in the stroller. These people did not look like the type that would be wise to confront and who wants to fight on vacation. My husband just hoofed it back to the entrance to get another. Our rental was stolen three times on that trip.

 

[santy707]

I'm really sorry this happened to you and it's a wakeup call for my upcoming trip in August. We will definitely exercise more caution with leaving stuff behind in the stroller than we have in the past. On a more positive note, on our last trip 2 years ago, we misplaced our camera while in MK. Our son was only 9 months old and it was his first trip to WDW, so you could imagine how upset we were that all our memories of our son's 1st trip were gone. We were told by castmembers to try the Lost & Found. We had very little hope someone had turned it in, but to our surprise our camera was waiting for us in the Lost & Found. Thankfully our camera did not fall into the wrong hands and someone was kind enough to do the right thing.

 

[mummabear]

The insurance deductible is likely to be more than the value of the stroller and contents.

Highly depends on the stroller and insurance policy.
I know our stroller is $1200, plus the cost of renting a replacement in the mean time, and our excess is only $200.

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

I'm willing to bet that the majority of thefts are not by parents there with their kids. I am willing to bet that there are locals with an AP who troll the parks looking for items to steal. They know people leave valuables in strollers. Then they can take the valuables to the local pawn shop, resell, etc. .

Boy is that a slap in the face to us locals & AP holders. I've lived in Florida for 59 years & have been to WDW every year since the first park opened & I certainly wouldn't think to steal anything on Disney property - let alone troll strollers to find things to pawn. What an outrageous statement!! Do you think that about locals in your area???? I watch how people just dump off their strollers & leave them piled high with bags & backpacks. Just like I watch people in a grocery store walk away from their purse in a cart. I'm not gonna steal anything but I sure think they need to be more careful!!

 

[GeorgeG]

I'm willing to bet that the majority of thefts are not by parents there with their kids. I am willing to bet that there are locals with an AP who troll the parks looking for items to steal. They know people leave valuables in strollers. Then they can take the valuables to the local pawn shop, resell, etc. The parks are an easy target since there is so many people and cast members do not know who owns which stroller so someone walking off with one is not a red flag. Husbands typically go get the stroller while the wife and kids are sitting on a bench, etc. so even a man alone is not a red flag. Disney doesn't have any responsibility over items left unattended so setting up a sting operation isn't an interest to them.

Hey! Not cool!

 

[JanaDee]

Highly depends on the stroller and insurance policy.
I know our stroller is $1200, plus the cost of renting a replacement in the mean time, and our excess is only $200.

Your stroller cost $1200??

In that case, don't be surprised if it is stolen. You should never bring an expensive stroller on vacation, especially to WDW.

 

[ForeverAlice]

If my park rented stroller was taken twice last trip I don't think it was locals... Just some jerk parent who too cheap to rent one.. they knew it wasn't theirs ours it even had ribbons tied to it and a large royal carriage stroller tag...both times taken from stroller parking designated areas in fantasyland....

 

[JimmyV]

I'm willing to bet that the majority of thefts are not by parents there with their kids. I am willing to bet that there are locals with an AP who troll the parks looking for items to steal. They know people leave valuables in strollers. Then they can take the valuables to the local pawn shop, resell, etc. The parks are an easy target since there is so many people and cast members do not know who owns which stroller so someone walking off with one is not a red flag. Husbands typically go get the stroller while the wife and kids are sitting on a bench, etc. so even a man alone is not a red flag. Disney doesn't have any responsibility over items left unattended so setting up a sting operation isn't an interest to them.

While I confess to being at a loss as to figuring out the "how's and why's" of all of this, I don't think it is any more (or less) likely that a ring of local thieves is to blame. While it might make sense for locals to be more likely to walk into the park for the day with theft as their goal instead of park touring, you would think that such people would grab a stroller, take it to a more out-of-the-way location and search if for other valuables, and ditch the stroller once they have stripped it of said valuables. Under your theory, the stroller is not the ultimate objective. The stored valuables are. But if a local band of thieves were doing this, then the OP (or park security, or lost and found) should have found the abandoned stroller in no time flat. It would have been searched, stripped and abandoned in less than 5 minutes.

On the other hand, strollers don't have any secondary market value. The risk of being caught is far more than the $5 or $10 that someone could make selling a second-hand stroller. (Notwithstanding some that are worth upwards of $1,200. But those have to be few and far between). The local police would catch a "stroller stealing ring" in about 10 minutes by simply answering ads in local papers, Craig's List, or elsewhere on the internet that showed ads offering second-hand strollers for sale in the Orlando area. A person only has so many strollers that s/he could sell. Link three or more strollers to the same seller and suspicions would be raised. And for what gain? A couple of bucks?

More likely, the stroller thieves are people who don't want to stand in line or pay to rent a stroller and just walk off with one for the day. And those people are actually more likely to be from out of town and who chose not to travel with a stroller. A local would put their own stroller in the trunk of their car.

OP: Be persistent with lost and found. At the end of the culprit's trip, they are likely to abandon it rather than take it home.

 

[fairyprincess88]

Boy is that a slap in the face to us locals & AP holders. I've lived in Florida for 59 years & have been to WDW every year since the first park opened & I certainly wouldn't think to steal anything on Disney property - let alone troll strollers to find things to pawn. What an outrageous statement!! Do you think that about locals in your area???? I watch how people just dump off their strollers & leave them piled high with bags & backpacks. Just like I watch people in a grocery store walk away from their purse in a cart. I'm not gonna steal anything but I sure think they need to be more careful!!

I honestly don't see a reason to get upset about someone saying that it could very well be locals involved with some of the stroller theft because it's most likely true. That's not at all saying all locals are thieves but anyone who lives in a tourist area knows that there is an underbelly so to speak in the area that thrives financially on tourist fishing. To not think so is naive.

It's not an insult on all locals or even most locals at all. I live in NYC and yep, there are many locals who make their living on robbing the tourists blind, either by scamming or flat out theft. Do I steal and scam? No, absolutely not. But do others? Yes, yes and yes.

So no, one can't say "it's the locals" and only blame the locals but I'd hazard a guess that there very well could be some locals involved because the fact of the matter is in a lot of tourist areas there are many locals who make a nice profit off of "tourist targets".

 

[mom2rtk]

Boy is that a slap in the face to us locals & AP holders. I've lived in Florida for 59 years & have been to WDW every year since the first park opened & I certainly wouldn't think to steal anything on Disney property - let alone troll strollers to find things to pawn. What an outrageous statement!! Do you think that about locals in your area???? I watch how people just dump off their strollers & leave them piled high with bags & backpacks. Just like I watch people in a grocery store walk away from their purse in a cart. I'm not gonna steal anything but I sure think they need to be more careful!!

Hey! Not cool!

I'm sure the PP didn't mean that people who live in FL are more likely to commit crime. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the logistics that would be involved. Airfare or the price of gas would definitely eat into the profit margin.

 

[Oswald lover]

I'm so sorry that happened! Maybe try talking to some Disney employees about it..? They might be able to contact someone of a higher rank who could help. Some people in this world, unfortunately, like to make things hard for other people. Hope you find it!

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

It is sad to see how often this occurs. A while back someone in here had a handicap equipped stroller taken. It was heartbreaking. There is no limit to human depravity but there is also no limit to human kindness. So hopefully in the end it balances out in favor of the latter.

I also read a story once where a family accidentally took the wrong stroller and realized it later, then sent the husband back to get their own stroller while they shopped on Main Street with the "borrowed" one.

Keep trying lost and found. If you're still there try stopping by in person as the CM might not actually recognize your stroller like you would. Things after sometimes logged wrong as well. Maybe you have a red McClaren that was accidentally logged as a red Graco if you have a picture of the stroller forward that to them too.

 

[jaykorf001]

Your stroller cost $1200?? In that case, don't be surprised if it is stolen. You should never bring an expensive stroller on vacation, especially to WDW.

And a problem with filing an insurance claim on something like this, even if the claim exceeds the deductible, is you can find yourself in a real bind if you have a subsequent catastrophe and have to file a claim. The previous claim counts and you can end up forced onto a costly high risk policy. This happened to a friend of mine. She filed on something minor and then lightening set her house on fire. It was a mess.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Alice Royal]

I'm willing to bet that the majority of thefts are not by parents there with their kids. I am willing to bet that there are locals with an AP who troll the parks looking for items to steal. They know people leave valuables in strollers. Then they can take the valuables to the local pawn shop, resell, etc. The parks are an easy target since there is so many people and cast members do not know who owns which stroller so someone walking off with one is not a red flag. Husbands typically go get the stroller while the wife and kids are sitting on a bench, etc. so even a man alone is not a red flag. Disney doesn't have any responsibility over items left unattended so setting up a sting operation isn't an interest to them.

While this is barely likely, it's not always the case. Many of us locals/AP holders are simply there to enjoy ourselves and not to steal your crap...

 

[Friendlyadvice2]

I just saw this thread and am livid. We usually rent strollers and typically get the insurance, but decided not to get it this year for upcoming trip. Although our stroller has been moved by CM's in the past to accomodate other strollers in the parking area, we have never had one stolen. I just don't understand people sometimes!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

As
In a perfect world, adults would park the strollers in a neat and orderly fashion and no one would steal a stroller. But none of us live in a perfect world. To term it loosely, *stuff* happens and we all have to deal with it.

It is not about how neatly the stroller is parked. All strollers get moved. Sadly, I think that actually encourages sloppy parking. Sometimes CM's even ask to park it outright.

I'm sorry this happened to OP, but don't give up hope. Over the years, and many trips to WDW, we've had several valuable items returned to us. I have been VERY pleasantly surprised! Do check back with central Lost and Found!

I think the fake dirty diaper trick is slightly silly (too well known), but there are other easy tricks that work. A lock is a bother, but colorful stickers and knotted ribbons/twine are not. Bright, easy to see, hard to remove on the fly, and doesn't interfere. A string can later be easily removed, and makes the stroller look far less new.

The more unique, the easier the stroller is for YOU to find, and less likely to be taken by anyone else- for any reason. It may also be - at least in some cases - that an innocent person grabs the wrong stroller by mistake. It's pretty common that someone mistakenly grabs my grocery cart by mistake - a situation where there is zero incentive to steal. Many strollers at WDW look exactly the same!

A few weeks ago, I had the funny experience of a lady walking up to my car, and 'attempting' to enter it. She was putting her hey in the door, and look confused. I said, "Um, I think that's your car over there!" She agreed, and apologized. I said, "don't worry, I figured that was your car because I just tried to put my key in your door." Both cars looked almost exactly the same! Right down to the little external paint dings!