resort security

[weluvdizknee]

Just finished reading a post on another web message board about the lack of security in an off property hotel near Disneyworld. Long story short, it was a 5 star hotel with a large parking lot. While walking through the parking lot to the hotel about midnight, they were confronted by 2 guys who were not guests, asking them for money. They didn't notice any security around or inside the building. They posted they were afraid of what may have happened to their car when they came back to it the next morning.

So my questions to all are:

Are the Disney Resorts and Parking Lots secure? (And if they are, this could be another reason to stay on Disney properties!!!)
Have you ever seen security guards in the parking lots outside of those monitoring the gates?
And where would you go for safety help, or to report an incident of suspicion in the resorts if needed?

Just some food for thought.

 

[disnut8]

I've always felt safe at the Disney resorts. I have seen other security vehicles in the parking lots. As far as reporting any suspicious activity, just call the front desk. The parking lots at the resorts are not that large. It's not like they have one big lot for the entire Pop Century but have several for each of the different buildings. All are lighted. And having to go through the gate guard usually would be enough. If you don't already have a Disney resort parking pass, you will be asked for a driver's license. In about 40 trips (most onsite), we've never been panhandled or accosted at any Disney resort parking lot.

 

[tubachick]

I have never felt Un-Safe at any Disney World Parking lots either with DH or bymyself at any time of day or night. When I go to DTD to go shopping by myself, and return to the resort well after dark, I do not worry about walking in the parking lot alone, there are pleny of secuirty call boxes as well as security patrols driving around the lots. I live in the city and am always aware of my surroundings and when I am at Disney, I still am on guard (you can take me out of the city, but you can't take the city out of me). I can't speak for other resorts in the disney area, but at the all stars, and at WL I have always felt safe.

 

[Rowlf]

You have to get through a guard to get to any Disney parking lot - I've always felt extremely secure there and never had a problem on any Disney grounds.

 

[OKW Lover]

Despite some obvious security factors, I still wouldn't let my guard down while at Disney. Crime does occur everywhere, including at WDW.

 

[DisneyGirl]

I have always felt safe when at Disney, but I am always careful to "watch my back" when I'm there... it is a place where there a lot of tourists, and therefore, the perfect place for people with some not-so-honorable intentions to come in, so I never feel 100% safe-- the security guards at the gate are definitely very good, but you can get into resorts merely by saying you want to look around!

I think the best thing to do is to report anything you see that is suspicious, so that it can be taken care of as soon as possible so that nobody gets hurt. I think it is easy to get caught up in the fact that you are in the "happiest place on earth," with so many other families and nice people, that it is easy to forget there may be criminal-behavior there-- most definitely not true!!

 

[SqueakyMouse]

The only place I have ever felt unsafe is the self-park at the GF of all places! Because we were running late for our 1900 ADR and we missed getting in the right lane for valet parking (We are DDE members, so it's free!!), dh decided to just park in self-park (not realizing how faaaaaaar away it was from the main building. Well, this lot is not well-lit at all. As well, there was someone in an old car very, very slowly cruising the lot. They were definitely NOT looking for a parking spot, because there were plenty available. Also, there was someone sitting in a running car at the stop sign where you exit the lot. It took us quite a while to haul our 2 young children, strollers, etc. out of the car; but the car at the sign remained. I noticed it at the time but didn't think much of it. Then, when we returned to our car hours later, there was a truck idling at the stop sign. As we left the lot, we had to drive around it to exit. Very strange. The oddest part of our -- GF security has offices adjacent to this lot. Yet we never saw a single guard. At other resorts, we noticed security officers cruising the lots at all different times of the day.

 

[Luigi's Girl]

-- the security guards at the gate are definitely very good, but you can get into resorts merely by saying you want to look around!

Are you sure about that?

 

[DawnCt1]

Despite some obvious security factors, I still wouldn't let my guard down while at Disney. Crime does occur everywhere, including at WDW.

It really does. The Mouse Betrayed discusses some serious incidences. Having said that however, about 8 years or so ago, Orlando had some serious issues. A lot of the hotels were magnets to crime with guests being held up and in one case murdered. Because of that, I prefer hotels with an inside corridor when traveling with kids.

 

[DebbieB]

-- the security guards at the gate are definitely very good, but you can get into resorts merely by saying you want to look around!

Are you sure about that?

Pretty much. If you do not have a WDW parking permit, they will take down your drivers license # and license plate #.

Other factor to consider - anyone can get into a resort on a bus or monorail.

 

[TiggerPiglet]

The other thing too, just because they're a guest, doesn't mean they can't be up to no good. I don't think you are ever truly safe wherever you are and you always need to be aware of your surroundings. I can't tell you how often I see people in the various hotels I have stayed at in WDW and they have their kid in the stroller outside the car, while they are in the car looking for something or whatever, it would be so easy for someone to just take the kid or women leaning into the car looking under the car seat for something, putting themselves in a very vulnerable position for someone to come up from behind them. If you need to look under your seat, get in the car, close the door and then look under the seat. Maybe I'm a little jaded from growing up in the Bronx, but I know a lot of people who thought they were in a "safe" area and ended up getting mugged or even worse, because they let their guard down. I'm not saying you need to walk around scared, but you can never let your guard down, it isn't smart, JMHO

 

[Rhonda]

I've done it.

 

[Disneyjosh229]

Just finished reading a post on another web message board about the lack of security in an off property hotel near Disneyworld. Long story short, it was a 5 star hotel with a large parking lot. While walking through the parking lot to the hotel about midnight, they were confronted by 2 guys who were not guests, asking them for money. They didn't notice any security around or inside the building. They posted they were afraid of what may have happened to their car when they came back to it the next morning.

So my questions to all are:

Are the Disney Resorts and Parking Lots secure? (And if they are, this could be another reason to stay on Disney properties!!!)
Have you ever seen security guards in the parking lots outside of those monitoring the gates?
And where would you go for safety help, or to report an incident of suspicion in the resorts if needed?

Just some food for thought.

Our last stay at CBR, we parked the car at 12:30pm and were walking back to the room and were approached by a Disney security "golf cart" (which was sitting in the parking lot) that asked us....
1. Which room we were in
2. If we wanted him to escort us to our room


I felt TOTALLY safe after talking to him!

 

[weluvdizknee]

On our last stay, 7 of us stayed off property. We had a rental mini van. On 2 of our vacation days, we drove to some of the Disney resorts as a break from the heated parks. When we arrived at the POL entrance gate, only the driver (dh) was asked for ID. We hopped on the monorail and exited, and entered, at all 3 MK resorts. No one ever asked us for ID or resort keys or anything. On the second day, we drove to FW. Same thing happened there. Only the driver was asked for ID. We road a bus while we were there, through the camp area. No one questioned us.

 

[colleen costello]

Nowhere in the world is safe anymore, but I think the security at WDW is there more than we realize. I think they are in the parks in plain clothes and I think they keep more of an eye out at the resorts than we realize. I do know at OKW (which is very lush and therefore has dark places at night) they cruise all the roads all night, just making sure everything looks as it should. We were sitting out one night and we saw the men come by in the van. I have also met the nice security guard on foot, when he was checking out one of the quiet pools. He told me where to look for the MK alligator!

My family lives in a little hick town with very little crime, but you still have to be careful. Crazies can be anywhere! Orlando is a big city and that means crime. Just be careful in general. I watch my kids like a hawk even at WDW.

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

We had an issue that we needed help with at CSR, and we never did get any help from security. It ended up being ok but it was very scary and I was frantic.

It was our first night at CSR. My DH,DD and DS were walking to our room from the main building and our DS, who is 8 decided he wanted to run up the stairs at Casitas 4 and meet DH on the other side by our building Casitas 5. Well needless to say, he got lost and we couldnt find him. DH brought DD back to me in the room and went to look for him. About 15 minutes later we still couldnt find him, so DD and I went to look for him too. After another 20 minutes we still couldnt find him, so I went back to our room and called the front desk. I told them what happened and they transfered me to someone else. I told them the story and they transfered me to security. They said they would be to our room ASAP. Well 15 minutes later, no DS and no security. I called again and was transferred again. The person who answered that time said they knew nothing about it...Ok by this time I was really upset. So he said he would be to our room himself....15 more minutes no security and no DS. By this time oue DS had been lost for more than an hour. DH was still looking for him and about 10 minutes later found him wandering around Casitas 3. We called back to security and told them we found him, they said they still needed to stop by the room just to make sure everything was alright....they never showed up.

Like I said it all turned out ok, but we were really scared. And a little disappointed in the security, but not enough not to go back

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Wow, ks, what a terrible experience you had at CSR with DS. How scary! CSR was no help at all. How very disappointing.

I have never had any issues that could involve security at WDW, but coming from the chicagoland area, I never let my guard down either. That said, the only time I feel creepy is when I seem to be the only one walking to TTC from the Poly or to Poly from TTC when it's late and it's just DGS and myself. That walk from the desolate TTC area to the lush and dark area surrounding Poly is not my favorite thing to do. I've never understood why I don't see more people using TTC to and from Poly. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone on the trek over to Poly

Tink

 

[gm]

Not resort related but once we in Disney on our way back to the airport, we decided to stop by Florida Mall and upon reaching there after trying to find it we realized we did not have much time to get to the airport except to get a bite to eat so we turned right near the main intersection of Florida mall and walked into a burger king because kids were really hungry. There were some people eating in there that looked like homeless people on the stree. dirty clothes, face, etc". The lady was looking and wanting my fries and I gave it to her. I kinda told hubby in his ear "let go NOW" and left. After we left, I realized the area did not look nice and clean from the outside and maybe we just happened to be a part of town not attracting lots of businesses because I did not see any that I would know except Burger king and when we turned back somewhere to get back to the airport, That is when I see familiar restaurants like Chick Filla etc which I beleive was on Orange Blossom .

If I was in a familiar area than I would know to avoid but being a tourist it is hard.