Safety Tip

[mcnerthney]

I was watching The Doctors last week and they gave a great tips for those going to Disneyland with kids. When you arrive, take a picture of each child with your cellphone. Then if anyone gets lost, you will have a photo (with the clothes they are wearing) immediately at hand.

Five weeks to go!

 

[mystic_path]

Good Call!

 

[Quilter007]

Only the paranoid survive....

 

[Disney Dreams]

Only the paranoid survive....

This is no paranoid, but very smart. In the midst of, "Ah, where's Jordan!?!" it can be hard to remember what everyone was wearing.

Great tip!

 

[rentayenta]

Great tip!

 

[engo]

I read some posters saying that they take pictures of their kids every morning during the trip. So parents will "updated" pictures for what their kids wearing that day.

 

[Brady's Mom]

My sister swears by this trick and has used it regularly. If you lose one of your kids (God forbid) then it is so much easier to show a picture of them that morning in their exact clothes than try to remember what they were wearing out of all the clothes you brought for vacation.

Besides, you get some cute pictures of your kids at DLR every day.

 

[tdashgirl]

Great tip! One of those "why didn't I think of that???" things.

 

[skiingfast]

Maybe you haven't heard? Kids don't get lost at DL. But commonly scared and worried parents get lost. All they need to do is talk to any CM, they are prepared to find the parents.

 

[PHXscuba]

I may be paranoid, but I feel that an ounce of prevention is worth it (and superstitious enough to think that if I do it I will never need it!)

I have always worried about my little kids, but never really thought much about the older ones. They don't get lost, right? Right before our last big DLR trip, I sat them all (ages 4-13) down and talked about what to do, finding CMs, etc.) We were staying onsite at the DLH, and my 13-year-old thought that if he got separated from us, the best thing to do would be to go all the way back to our hotel room (with no key or phone) and wait!! I was flabbergasted -- and glad I brought it up. I told him to stay put, find a CM, NEVER leave a park without us.

Just goes to prove that you should never assume anything. I make sure I have recent headshot photos of ALL my kids with me, just in case.

PHXscuba

 

[sas_mk]

We did lose my 6 year old one year at Disneyland. My FIL was "in charge" of him and had let go of his hand when they got through Tarzan's Treehouse. He was lost for about 10 minutes and it was terrifying.

I flagged down a CM working security and the first thing he asked me is, "What is your son wearing today?" I was surprised how hard it was for me to remember -- but I finally remembered he was wearing his Star Wars t-shirt (to raise his chances of becoming a newly trained Jedi earlier in the day).

Even with myself, my DH and my FIL searching up and down that crowded corridor, it was the awesome Security CM that finally found him -- when my DS approached him to ask for help finding his lost parents!

A picture would have been helpful, but I wasn't thinking very clearly in my "Mom Panic-Mode" so I don't know if I would have thought to take out my phone or my camera during that time. I was glad that I had at least paid attention to what he was wearing that day!

 

[Feistygirl916]

I purchased a dog tag at WalMart (they have machines that etch the info on them) and they also have the necklaces to hang it on. My daughter wears this whenever we go on trips; it has her full name, my cell # and our city/state on it. She knows to look for a CM if she ever gets lost and it's reassuring to BOTH of us.

We took one of her friends with us to DL a couple weeks ago and had one made for her as well.

 

[CrazyDuck]

I purchased a dog tag at WalMart (they have machines that etch the info on them) and they also have the necklaces to hang it on. My daughter wears this whenever we go on trips; it has her full name, my cell # and our city/state on it. She knows to look for a CM if she ever gets lost and it's reassuring to BOTH of us.

We took one of her friends with us to DL a couple weeks ago and had one made for her as well.

There was a machine in Rainforest Cafe last time I went that made these tags for you. It only took a couple of minutes. I made one for my DD the day we got there.

 

[Sherry E]

I don't even have kids but I think this is a great idea. I can see how easy it could be to lose a child in DLR if you even turn your back for one second. They could just get swept up in the massive crowds that are surging towards a ride or something.

I lost an adult friend inside World of Disney just because we stepped a few feet away from each other to look at different things. She had left her cell phone somewhere so she didn't have it on her for me to call at that moment, and I could not find her no matter where I looked in the store. So I had to basically just go and stand at one of the entrances to World of Disney and hope that she eventually made her way out that way. But I was standing there for quite a while before she emerged. If it were a child that I lost in that store, I couldn't be guaranteed that the child would know to come back out the same way we went in. And trying to find a child in that huge store would be almost impossible if I couldn't even find my adult friend!

Better to be safe than sorry!

 

[Kayla's Mom]

I purchased a dog tag at WalMart (they have machines that etch the info on them) and they also have the necklaces to hang it on. My daughter wears this whenever we go on trips; it has her full name, my cell # and our city/state on it. She knows to look for a CM if she ever gets lost and it's reassuring to BOTH of us.

We took one of her friends with us to DL a couple weeks ago and had one made for her as well.

We did this too, except I got ours at PetSmart. I got the heart shape though...not the bone!

 

[kmr444]

What a great idea . . . both the daily picture and the tags. On a side note, when I was about 7 years old I got separated from my parents in Disneyland. I remember asking a cast member in Tomorrow Land for help and being taken behind the scenes to the Lost and Found station on Main Street. I was a bit disillusioned after that, seeing how industrial and definately not magical it was behind the "cast members only" doors.

 

[planegirl99]

I LOVE the dog tag idea! I think I may hit Petco or someplace this week and make 2 up for the girls to wear under their t-shirts both days at DLR!

Thank you!

 

[Garthilk]

This is going to sound funny,

My wife just bought temporary tattoo's for the kids. The tattoo has my cell phone number on it.

 

[Canadian Traveler]

What a good idea last year when we were there we turned around and my 11 yr old cousin was missing! We all looked at each other and each took one area where we had been and set a meeting place. We did find her and wow! Disneyland moves fast they had already called 911 (disneyland 911) and there were about 10 disney people around her.. She had been gone10 min by the time we found her.

 

[Quilter007]

Another thing I've seen parents do, is to tape a piece of masking tape on the back of Jordan's shirt with a cell phone number on it. That way if does Jordan gets lost , it's easy for someone to call Jordan's Mommy/Daddy on their cell phone.

Frankly, the best tip I have, if you can get your kids to go along with this AND if you have enough adults to do this. Assign 1 adult to every kid under X age and that is their buddy. Every kid stays with the their buddy for the day. If you are a kid that requires a buddy, that means you are holding hands when walking unless you are in line for a ride or in a stroller. DS9 still holds hands w/out issue. DS6.5 is unhappy about it, but goes along because it's the rule. DS6.5 is more aware of his surroundings, so we may relax the hand holding thing at an earlier age for him, but since I am paranoid I doubt it. I truly believe that only the paranoid survive.

Our big security issue now is that Grandma is starting to lose it a little and we've got to start thinking about assigning Grandma a buddy....geessh!!! Good thing the kids are getting older! next phase is -- Jordan, make sure you don't lose Grandma!