Stolen Stroller at Disneyland It Happens

[BayAreaMom]

For our last trip we brought two strollers and had locks for each of them. We often locked them together, stringing the lock around the other stroller and then through the wheels.

We had both a basic bike combination lock and the Buggyguard stroller lock (search amazon)


I actually preferred the bike cable lock- the buggylock looks cute and all, but the combination area itself was hard to access, and it was super cheap.

A few times both of them were moved, and I came across a CM moving them once (when they were locked together). He said locking them was fine as long as they weren't locked to something SOLID and that he could move them.

 

[furb & dez]

While the easy answer would be: Don't bring a stroller to Disneyland... if your child still needs one, they are too young to be there and you are wasting your money.

That said, the realistic answer is: Don't let any of your possessions out of your sight in a public place that you wouldn't think twice of throwing immediately into a garbage can.

That any (presumably) reasonable person would walk away from and leave unattended a $50-300 stroller is ludicrous. What are you thinking?

 

[TeddiBarra]

While the easy answer would be: Don't bring a stroller to Disneyland... if your child still needs one, they are too young to be there and you are wasting your money.

That said, the realistic answer is: Don't let any of your possessions out of your sight in a public place that you wouldn't think twice of throwing immediately into a garbage can.

That any (presumably) reasonable person would walk away from and leave unattended a $50-300 stroller is ludicrous. What are you thinking?

Really? So growing families that have a young child, should make the entire family miss out because there's a baby/toddler/youngster? Riiiiight. I started taking my twins before they were 2. They had fun, we had fun, it was completely worth the trip. Incidentally, one of my twins is 6 1/2 and still needs a stroller, because she has mild CP. That ain't gonna change anytime soon.

99.5% of people take their more than $50 strollers and have no issues. So the expectation that a very small % may have something stolen means the rest of everybody shouldn't do what they NEED to do to have a fun family time at DL? Strollers are made to be taken places. Many of those places- zoos, theme parks, museums, water parks, etc have areas strollers can't go.

 

[sassy*girl]

While the easy answer would be: Don't bring a stroller to Disneyland... if your child still needs one, they are too young to be there and you are wasting your money.

That said, the realistic answer is: Don't let any of your possessions out of your sight in a public place that you wouldn't think twice of throwing immediately into a garbage can.

That any (presumably) reasonable person would walk away from and leave unattended a $50-300 stroller is ludicrous. What are you thinking?

Are you saying if you have a child that uses a stroller they don't need to go to Disneyland??

 

[sassy*girl]

OP, do you mean that you already had a lock of some sort on the stroller before it got stolen? Or are you referring to the stroller brake?

I guess it would be more like the brake bar at the bottom. It's not the easiest brake to undo either you would have to know what you are doing.

 

[sassy*girl]

I wonder if whoever took it had a child. It seems strange that they would wheel it empty all the way over to Downtown Disney. And then hardly take anything. My bet is they put their child in it and then ditched it in DTD before they got on the tram to the parking lot. The items taken could have been taken after it was ditched.

The Anaheim PD told us it happens more then you would think it does. They take the stroller go through it looking for cash, credit cards, and eletronics. Then they ditch the stroller.

Nothing had even moved or gone through in the bag hanging on the stroller. By the way instead of using her petunia pickle diaper bag she just used one of those 2.99 reuseable bags from the disney store.

It honestly didn't even look like they put a kid in the stroller. Only thing missing was the small cheap camera bag, and they tossed our drinks out.

 

[BellaBaby]

We had our stroller taken back in 2005. People can be pigs even transcending the magic of Disney.

Ours was stolen that year too! All we were told by a CM was to keep checking lost and found. Needless to say it was never "found". At the time my girls were almost 4 and 1.5 y.o. We had a stroller for each girl and it was my younger dd's that was taken outside HM right after Fantasmic was over. We had 1 day left at the parks, so we went to Target and bought a cheap one. After that we used a bike lock on all our trips to WDW. Never had a problem with a CM. We did take a stroller this last time to DL for our youngest, but did not bring a lock and it was fine. We figured our ds is 5 y.o. and he could walk if need be (which he mostly did) it was more for when he was sleepy at night and walking back to Hojo's. Also, we never leave anything of value and the stroller wasn't terribly expensive. The 1 thing that was left in the stroller that was stolen was my dd's golden Mickey ears from the anniv. that year, along with some cheap hoodies. But the ears being taken really irked me-who does that to a baby?

 

[starshine514]

That any (presumably) reasonable person would walk away from and leave unattended a $50-300 stroller is ludicrous. What are you thinking?

Aren't most strollers in that price range? I know all double strollers cost at least that. We leave ours unattended, but I'm careful not to leave much of anything (especially a shopping bag, which may have been a big draw to the person who stole the OP's stroller. Imagine the thief's disappointment when all s/he found was a few diapers, a bottle and a change of baby's clothes in there. However, the thief leaving the pins seems crazy - those things are pricey!) in it. Even if it isn't 'valuable', that teddy bear means a lot to my child, and I would hate for even some other little kid to take it and then their parents not know where it came from to put it back. So, even stuffies get stuck in the backpack, which goes with me on the rides.

I've never locked the stroller itself, but may if I buy a more expensive stroller for our next trip. looping a bike lock through the wheels sounds like a good idea to keep it from going anywhere without everybody noticing that someone is carrying it.

 

[pinktink83]

Furb and Dez...it doesn't matter that you didn't "bold" it. You still said it. DL is for KIDS, so why scold parents for bringing them? You do realize kids up to 4 years use a stroller, especially at a big park where there is lots of walking, and lots of little kid gear to carry around? Its not like its a newborn. :/ My 2 yo knows who Mickey Mouse is and LOVES carnival rides. We're taking her (along w/ our older kids) this fall. I know she'll love it and have fun. But she'll definitely need a stroller.

And yes, don't leave your purse, camera, or gift bags/souvenirs in the stroller. Bring a backpack so you can carry it onto the ride with you, and then shove the backpack in the stroller pouch when you get off so you don't need to carry it around the park. That way its all contained, and easy to just sling over your shoulder when you need to bring it with you. All the rides have a place to stow bags, so its not that big of a deal. (plus, you may need something from the bag for the little one while standing in line anyway!)

Putting a lock on a stroller is a huge pet peeve of the Stroller Attendant CMs. If you don't put your stroller in the correct spot and in an ordinary manner and you have a lock on it, be careful. CM's will move it to another attraction as revenge for making thier job harder as they try to organize the strollers. True Story.

I'd be SO TICKED if a cm ever did that. What do they expect you to do? You can't lock it, but you can't take it with you on the ride, and they don't provide a secure location for them with someone guarding them. Seriously, its their job...if I ever knew of someone doing that for "revenge" I wouldn't leave the park till they were fired.

 

[cpster]

I wonder if furb & dez have kids...my guess is NOT! Small children would get tired very fast if they had to walk all over the park all day!

 

[happyhippy]

OP, Thanks for posting this thread. I'm sorry your stroller was stolen, but glad it was recovered! I'm going to pick up a bike lock, too. It'll be odd that we're all on the same ride at the same time, but if we are, it'll be nice to loop a bike lock through both of our strollers. We're bringing our 5 kiddos (to include 4 under 5!) and will need 2 double strollers to safely manuever everyone through the park. Replacement value for our strollers is nearly $1200 - it'd be impossible for us to replace them.

 

[AmyLou30]

We purchased a 'cheap' stroller for disneyland visits just so I don't lose $400 if my stoller is stolen. I don't agree that if you need a stroller you shouldn't visit disneyland. That statement, even though it wasn't in bold letters, is ludicrous

 

[candygirlIRE]

Putting a lock on a stroller is a huge pet peeve of the Stroller Attendant CMs. If you don't put your stroller in the correct spot and in an ordinary manner and you have a lock on it, be careful. CM's will move it to another attraction as revenge for making thier job harder as they try to organize the strollers. True Story.

I think that is just mean. People pay good money for strollers and they don't want them to be stolen.
In previous years we were able to lock the wheels with a pad lock so the CMs could still move it but with a little difficulty. We would never have locked the whole thing to a fence, pole, or anything.

But we ALWAYS take everything with us. We never leave even a blanket or bottle of water in the stroller.
We tend to bring only lightweight strollers with us, not our big Graco. We would love the convenience of the Graco (larger basket, better sunshade, etc) but it just isn't worth risking it getting stolen. At least if we lost our lightweight one, we would be angry for sure, but not out $$$.


That really sucks, but at least you did get it back and it wasn't destroyed or anything.

 

[robinjh7]

OP, so glad you got your stoller back!

My grandbabies are twins and will be nearly two when we take them to DLR in either October or December (still deciding). My daughter-in-law has a very expensive stoller her pediatrician mom provided for them. She was just telling me she wanted to take it with us. I'm thinking if she does then we'll be using a bike lock on it. (I had a similar thing when my children were young that I used at DLR etc. but I was raised by a CHP officer, so I thought I was just paranoid.) I think $25 a day for two strollers each day at Disney prices is obscene but I'm hoping to get her to do it. Still, she'd probably rather have that $75 for souvenirs for the babies!

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

I'm glad you got it back too! Yay for stupid criminals.

FTR, I know they have to be able to and I knew they would/could..but it still always makes me feel weird when CM's have to move strollers LOL.

BTW, I was told if you park your stroller against something backwards it makes it a LITTLE less desirable. It's harder to just grab and go, they can't poke around in it as easily..etc.

I took a sit and stand stroller last time I went as I had a 2 year old and a barely 4 year old. The 4 year old didn't need it much, but used it to sit down when we'd rest. Anyway, those are pricey and bulky..I was kinda concerned about it getting taken (and we left a LOT of stuff in there..nothing valuable tho) but it ended up being fine.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Have you been living in a magical faerie princess land?

Sounds like even if you do, you can get your crap stolen

 

[cpster]

The point is Disneyland IS for kids and small kids DO need strollers. I don't plan on leaving anything in my stroller while it's parked but it still CAN get stolen.

To make a statement that if a child still needs a stroller then s/he shouldn't be in Disneyland is just wrong. I'm sorry I incorrectly assumed you did not have children. I just can't believe that you think any child that still needs a stroller shouldn't be in Disneyland.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

If we hadn't taken my (then) two year old..we wouldn't have won the Dream Suite. I think she was pretty valuable that trip and she had to have a stroller hehe

 

[sassy*girl]

OP, so glad you got your stoller back!

My grandbabies are twins and will be nearly two when we take them to DLR in either October or December (still deciding). My daughter-in-law has a very expensive stoller her pediatrician mom provided for them. She was just telling me she wanted to take it with us. I'm thinking if she does then we'll be using a bike lock on it. (I had a similar thing when my children were young that I used at DLR etc. but I was raised by a CHP officer, so I thought I was just paranoid.) I think $25 a day for two strollers each day at Disney prices is obscene but I'm hoping to get her to do it. Still, she'd probably rather have that $75 for souvenirs for the babies!

I would take her expensive stroller and the lock the wheels with a bike lock. We even looped the lock through the handle of her bag of clothes/diapers stuff like that. I wouldn't want to give up souvenir money for the insane rental prices either. Another thing we did was bring clips so when we covered the stroller with blankets the blanket wouldn't fall off. Of course we had done that and it was still taken.

 

[lovebug33]

I don't get why people leave things in a stroller. My friend left her purse and everything else in there. She got it all stolen. I was in an ECV this trip and I left a bag of stuff in the basket, but nothing important. I got back from a ride and somebody had rifled through it and taken my cookies and a bottle of water. More power to them to steal that, but imagine if I had left my phone or my camera as DH kept telling me to do?