stolen stroller

[littlelaura]

has anyone ever had or know anyone who has had their stroller stolen at WDW.
i know its an 'unwritten rule' that people tend to trust one another. But has this happened to anyone?
i am thinking of taking the Quinny with us in April, but my DH is worried that someone might take it, as its a fairly expensive make. I could buy a cheap one to take with us i suppose, and don't want the hassle of having to queue to hire one on the park.....
What do you think?

 

[fireworks fan]

We had our stroller stolen in June at MK, but it was just a cheap umbrella stroller. We saw plenty of expensive strollers while we were there though.

 

[Disneylush]

One night we were at fantasmic and we were some of the last to com out to the stroller area and there was a woman saying her stroller was gone but looked just like another one that was left there. (It was the Toys / babies R us Geffory freebie) I don't think anyone stole it I think someone just grabbed the wrong one. So if you are worried ... mark your stroller!

 

[all4fun]

I also recommend personalizing your stroller with something like a brightly colored bandana or a some ribbon. It doesn't hurt to put a tag with your contact info on it either, just in case someone takes it as a case of mistaken identity. We use a bright lime green luggage tag on our stroller hooked near the bottom of the frame. I did see quite a few Quinny's when we were there a few weeks ago so I'm sure you won't be alone.

 

[Creekermom]

We just went in Sept and I kinda was afraid of the same thing plus DD is a TALL girl I didn't know how comfortable she would be as she has kinda outgrown hers so I opted not to bring our Peg Perego Pliko and we opted to rent one.. actually it was much easier to rent one, if it rained we just wiped it off. There was plenty of room for my DD who is almost 5 but very tall almost as tall as a 6 yr old in a single and I put my back pack under her feet.. that saved my back. I wouldn't have been able to put the weight on the Peg if we would have brought that. Depending on how old the child is I would highly recommend renting one. We will do it again next year.
If you buy the stroller rental for at least 5 days or more you only pay $8 per day compared to the $10 daily fee. We never had to wait for a stroller, it was EASY and very convenient.

I will HIGHLY recommend and I did do this and that is to MARK YOUR STROLLER no matter what you decide.

I went to the local fabric store and got some cheap bright green fabric, I cut it into long strips, one for my back pack as well as one for every day we were going to be renting a stroller.

I just tied that on everyday, plus if you rent a stroller. they have TAGS that you put inside a plastic protective area that has your family name on it.

You can bring a special sharpie or something to add to paper so you can find your stroller.

I hope this helps.

 

[5/4Disney]

We have been plenty of times and taken every type of stroller and NEVER have we had a problem. However; I would tag mine so that it looked different from everyone elses. I saw someone once who tied together mickey heads made from a die cut and wrote a letter of their name on each one "really cute" It's not fun to come out of a ride and find that your stroller has been moved. Cast members do this quite often to keep things organized and if you can spot your stroller right away it sure makes things easier.

 

[wilderness01]

Our stroller was stolen at the MK as well a few years ago.

 

[littlelaura]

We had our stroller stolen in June at MK, but it was just a cheap umbrella stroller. We saw plenty of expensive strollers while we were there though.

how sad

 

[blana]

My SIL had her $10 umbrella stroller stollen, but never one of her nicer ones. Her best guess is that people realize it's just a cheap one & don't worry abotu whose they grab.

 

[BellyBaby]

A fellow DISer came up with this one that I think is cute (and genius):

Wrap up a wet diaper (use water) and place on the seat while away. It should act as a small deterent.

 

[0hmyheck]

We had our stroller stolen in June at MK, but it was just a cheap umbrella stroller. We saw plenty of expensive strollers while we were there though.

How sad

 

[disneymarie]

We had a moved stroller a few times. Small world, Pooh area, Hall of presidents it was real far away.
No CM or sign to tell us. I hears of some using a bike lock. Others us cola in the diaper.

We just got back no problesm otherwise, but I bet the more items on the stroller the less likely anyone has a need for it.
I agree with using a color to mark it though.
di

 

[abirdd]

We've taken a Bug, Quinny and now the Maclaren TechnoXT - and none have been stolen. The worst case has been coming out of an attraction, and finding it moved - but CM's do that only if necessary. Thus, we're fond of using brightly coloured ribbons - so it's easy to spot in a crowd.

 

[GrillMouster]

Personalized your stroller by tying colorful ribbons on it. The more colorful and noticeable, the better, for two reasons: 1) it will be easy for you to locatae your stroller among the dozens in the stroller parking areas. 2) a thief would think twice about stealing a stroller that calls such attention to itself (so use lots of ribbon and tie them tight!)

In another thread someone mentioned that they tried immobilizing the stoller using a bicycle lock, but after the first few attractions found it to be cumbersome to frequently lock and unlock the stroller. I borrowed that idea, but instead of using the lock to immobilze the stroller, I used it to make the stroller impossible to fold. So, if someone were to steal it, they wouldn't be able to fold it up to take it on the monorail or store in their car. The stoller was completely functional all day at the park and I only had to lock/unlock it once all day. At home, before leaving to WDW, I studied all the bars and parts of the stoller as I slowly folded and unfolded it. Most parts either didnt' move at all or got closer to one another as I folded the stroller. However, there were a couple of points along the side of the stoller, just under the arm rest, that got further apart from one another as the stoller collapsed. I TIGHTLY wrapped the bike lock around those parts with the stroller in the open position. With the lock secured, the stroller could still roll around, and canopy and storate basket were still able to open and close. As an extra measure, I reclined the seat of the car seat whenever I parked it, because the stoller can't fold while the seat is reclined, and the reclined seat also blocked from view the items in the storage basket.

 

[weloveprincesses]

I agree, if you don't mind paying to rent the stroller, that's really easy as long as you don't have a kiddo that needs to be in one to and from the parks. We've been renting for several years now and it's such a relief to not have to pack one. We did accidentally take someone else's by mistake last year....it was dark and we'd each put a package on the top of the stroller. We felt horrible after we figured it out about ten minutes later....we went back to see if ours was still there, it wasn't. Dh went straight to the front of the park to turn in the package with the name tag from the stroller. We never did get our package back, which was okay, there was nothing important in it....a snack or something. But at least, hopefully the other family got theirs back! Then it occurred to us that maybe they took ours first. Who knows? I does happen...that was a first for us though, in seven trips.

Good luck!
Maggi

 

[littlelaura]

thanks for all the suggestions. we have now gone out and bought a cheap umbrella one to take with us (which i will be decorating with ribbons etc to make it easilt recognisable) just to be on the safe side. i love my quinny, and would be sooooo upset if it did go 'missing'