Stroller theft

[philliesflyers]

I have been seeing on this board alot about stroller theft. We dont' want to carry everything with us on each ride. I would like to keep our water bottles in the stroller and maybe my DD extra outfit.

My DH suggested locking the wheels together. How bad is the theft?

 

[moredisneyplease]

i was at WDW last month with my BOB Duallie (an expensive jogger!!) and didnt have anything happen to our stroller. HOWEVER, I did see someone else with the same jogger and they had a bike lock that they said they use at each and every ride. It makes sense and I think I'll do that next time!

 

[jack hannah bananah]

We leave water bottles, diapers, change of clothes, snacks, etc. These are things that, if stolen, would be inconvenient, but wouldn't ruin our vacation.

I have never had anything stolen or known anyone personally to have something stolen. So, I would have to say the problem is not very big. However, there are bad people everywhere, so it is going to happen.

 

[Missin'Disney]

Happened to us, getting off of first ride on our first day of our first family vacation to WDW! Our gear and a brand new pair of sunglasses that I'd just bought were gone but we just got a replacement stroller (luckily it was just a rental) but have had no problems on subsequent trips, and have brought our own stroller from home with no problems too. Although if bringing a $300+ stroller you can bet I'd lock that puppy up!

 

[chloe770]

We have rented a stoller the last 2 years and have never had anything stolen from the stroller. however, we have on several occasions had to send several minutes looking for the stroller after a CM had moved it to make more space. Someone suggested to me to tie a balloon to my stroller. I will definetely be doing that this year.

 

[Manymice]

We've been out of a stroller for 4 years now, but I was given this gross tip a long time ago because of the stroller thefts... tie a plastic bag to the handle of the stroller holding a diaper filled with coke. We didn't try it ourselves but it struck me as so funny. The person who wrote this swore it worked because it looked so disgusting I know I wouldn't want to touch that stroller! Personally, I would lock my wheels with a bike lock.

 

[LilGMom]

On previous trips when we had taken our own stroller we never had anything stolen. Last year we rented WDW strollers for two seperate trips and had incidental items stolen (water, sippy cup, etc.). This last trip we took a Sit-N-Stand and used a long flexible bike chain to lock the back wheels together and to the frame of the stroller. I'd never leave anything of value in the stroller and you'd be surprised just how fast you can get a stroller unlocked while the other parent is loading the youngest child.

 

[Tiger926]

We've never had an issue - thank goodness! Just last month I had my brand new Mac Techno XLR (approx $400.00) and my Peg Pliko P3 (approx $350.00) strollers at WDW at the same time.

Good luck, Tiger

 

[kiteri]

Are you allowed to lock the wheels when CM's move strollers?

Nothing would be worse than coming back to a broken stroller because a cranky CM just plowed it around with a bike chain through the wheels... except maybe coming back to no stroller at all I guess.

 

[momsavealot]

I plan on using a lock and bringing my camera/wallet on the rides with me. Even if a stroller is locked, they can still take things from the stroller. A friend of mine had her camera stolen from her handicap scooter while on a ride this year. The locks are so easy to use and would give the perp enough trouble to just move on and pick another stroller. Altho I like the poopy diaper idea - too funny!

 

[delmar411]

we leave everything on the stroller and never have any issues other than playing find the stroller when a CM moves it elsewhere.

We've got a pricey stroller but I got it for a steal and wouldn't be devastated if it was stolen. I'd also be likely to reclaim it if I saw it parked elsewhere. It might be similar to other strollers but I can spot ours easily.

Seriously, is someone really going to take a private stroller and use it in the parks knowing full well that the owner could walk up at any minute and have them tossed from the park at best and arrested at worse?

I know ppl's strollers have been stolen before but it seems to be an extremely rare occurrence with private stroller. More of an issue with the rental ones.

I saw at lot of those expensive ($800 expensive) european strollers the last time we were there. No one seemed overly concerned over whether someone would steal them and left them all over the place unattended.

 

[cogero]

I have brought a MacLaren several times and nothing is ever missing. I also mark my stroller in a really obnoxious way either really frilly things or several ribbons tied on it so I can spot it in a second

 

[sohappy]

We didn't have trouble on our recent trip. My parents even left my bag with my money, my digital SLR camera, pretty much everything hanging on the back of my stroller outside of Soarin for over 30 minutes. No one messed with anything.

If you are worried about stuff being stolen from it, putting a bike lock on it won't help. I think that the biggest problem is finding your stroller when you come out of a ride- that and someone taking your rental since they all look exactly the same. Next trip, we will rent, but bring something to help distinguish our stroller from the rest.

 

[Colinsmom]

Where on the board has there been a lot of reports of stroller theft? Just curious because I didn't notice it (but don't even try to read every thread).

I'd never leave anything of value in the stroller (camera, tickets, wallet, etc) but we always leave our bag with snacks, bottle of water, sippy cup, change of clothes, extra diapers - it wouldn't ruin our trip if any of that stuff disappeared.

I don't understand the "dirty" diaper trick. With a garbage can every 20 ft at Disney, why would anyone (especially any thief) believe that you'd haul around a gross diaper on your stroller handle vs. tossing it at the first opportunity??

 

[RetroMom]

I took my Mac Volo with us recently. I had a small soft lunch bag that was water resistant in which I put extra camera batteries, memory card, folded ponchos, etc. in and put it in the bottom. Nothing was ever touched that I could tell. Of course, the lime green mickey heads hanging from the handles may have scared them!

 

[smidgen21]

i plan to tie a balloon to the handle so it's easy to spot. i also like the bike lock idea, but since I just have a $175 graco i don't think it will be a hot target.

 

[wilderness01]

Don't think just because it's cheap, it won't grow legs.

My umbrella stroller was stolen towards the end of the 1st day of our 12 day trip. It was definately a pain to go and replace as my child hated the rental kind. Good luck.

 

[BigMickeyFan]

Our Maclaren Triumph was swiped on our 3rd day of an eight day trip. Luckily, it was a case of mistaken identity - by noting that there was a similar looking stroller left alone on the sidewalk (outside the Belle show at DHS), we hung around the general area and the owner of that stroller eventually showed up and confirmed that his wife had accidentally taken ours to the other side of the park. (As an aside, she had sent the husband back to retrieve theirs and was planning on just leaving ours at the other end of the park!!! My husband had to schlep all the way over there, retrieve ours and come back. Can you say RUDE?!?!)

Anyway, there was nothing in the stroller - including nothing to identify who the real owners of the stroller were. You'd better believe that we decorated that puppy up when we got back to our resort! We were very lucky to get ours back, and I'll be sure on future trips that it is very clear who it belongs to, and also may consider locking the wheels as a PP suggested.

FYI, I noticed that the resort gift shops (at least, POR) carry a Kolcraft umbrella type stroller for $40. Pricier than you'd pay at home, indeed, but if your stroller walked early on in your trip, it might be cheaper just to buy one rather than pay to rent one for the rest of your vacation.

 

[kjbrown]

We've been twice with our Maclaren. Both times we tied a red bandana to it. Never had any problems. I would guess that most of the time it is a case of mistaken identity. Like other posters, I never left anything of value on the stroller, but did leave bags with diapers, wipes, etc.

I definitely recommend some sort of decoration, it's just easier to spot it once the CMs move it!

 

[polynor]

When we went to DL with our son for the first time last year -- we bought the cheapy Kolcraft umbrella stroller ($20 at Toys r us)so we wouldn't care if it went missing.
But given the shear number of them, we wrote my husband's name and cell number on the stroller (using a sharpie) several times on the stroller where it is visible.

I would hope that alot of strollers are mistakenly stolen -- they really aren't that unique. If we brought an expensive stroller (we bought the kolcraft and haven't looked back at our Graco - it's amazing durable whereas the Graco's wheels wore out much sooner), I would be personalizing it even more (fabric paint anyone?) to make it even more identifiable.