Stroller Theft

[ilandrazdsw]

I don't think that anyone here believes that every restaurant should accommodate strollers. But we are talking about restaurants on Disney property, in particular, a restaurant that is geared toward families, promoted toward families, who should be expecting that at least a certain percentage of these families will have young children with them. They should have considered, during their developmental stage, that a percentage of guests would have strollers and thought about how those strollers would be accommodated. I've been in many restaurants where strollers were allowed, and they simply removed chairs from one side of the table and parked the stroller there. It didn't take up any more room than an adult sitting in a chair would (granted, some of the strollers these days are the size of a mini-van, but I'm talking your normal one child, non-umbrella stroller here).

It just seems like Landry's could be losing some of the core audience it was trying to attract by not thinking ahead and being pro-active. And no, I don't have any stroller age kids, so I don't have anything to gain or lose in this battle. I still think that it would be better to either buy a cheapie stroller or rent a stroller than to bring an expensive one from home.

I know no one cares about my opinion except me:
1) I do not think the stroller rentals from Disney are a good deal. I also would consider them being stolen from me if a rent a specific one and then it is take because "it doesn't matter they are all they same." Also renting doesn't help with issues of strolling children outside the parks. If you have your own, why rent or even have to buy a cheaper one just for you trip?
2)I guess I just expect more from Disney (granted It's been a long time since I've been)...foolish me!
3)I will not be dining at this resturant (or most likely any other one at DTD) if I have to leave the stroller in an unsecure area...and yes I feel the parks are more secure because they have a little ways further and the exit to get to the parking lots.
4)And you can compare all you want resturants within WDW for not having a designated stroller area, but there are many resutrants outside of WDW that do offer this...even those that are not specifically geared to families!
5)What do they do with a handicapped child who is in a stroller??? Do they make the child get out of the stroller? Yes many parents will use a stroller rather than a wheelchair for thier handicapped child!

 

[onelilspark]

Honestly? I'm surprised all the time when I walk by strollers. I don't have kids or nephews/nieces, so I have no need for strollers right now (or ever in my life.) I think people let their guards down on vacation and think things are safe when they're not. I can't get over how many strollers I see that have packages in them. Maybe I just don't trust people, but I would never leave that much stuff just sitting there unattended...

 

[Bell30012]

One good thing in MK is that if your rental stroller is stroller napped, you can pick one up at Main Street, Toontown or Frontierland. My daughter is six. So she is too big for most strollers but if I have her walk all day she won't make it. The rental strollers are perfect for kids her age. Easy to get into and easy to get out of. Even with the stroller, there were a couple of days our October trip that were just too much...

I find them very easy to maneuver through the parks.

 

[Jessfrogger88]

1) WDW employees are not supposed to show sympathy.
2) It can be taken as an apology or sign of guilt, and make WDW liable.
3) WDW is not responsible for any theft within the parks or on the property.
4) You need to file a police/sheriff report and turn it into your insurance.
5) Disney does nothing to search or retrieve items (unless in Lost & Found).
6) You leave the stroller at your own risk.

NOTE: Some people try to put a lock on the stroller. If one wheel locks, it would be OK. If the stroller cannot be moved, WDW will cut off the lock, as they move strollers to make the parking area more tidy and less of a hazard for others.

Ummm I understand the logic behind this but it isn't as cut and dry as this suggests. There is a difference between showing sympathy and admitting responsibility. As a former CM who parked strollers we were never told not to be sympathetic ... and we did do our best to look for the strollers in our area... Also I believe security does look for items as best they can through out the park.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

I don't really think that you can declare that parents should just rent strollers or use a cheap one unless you have kids and have had the experience of pushing a cheap pram around all day.

{snip}

The thing is, if you have a baby who cannot yet sit up by themselves or who is sleeping, you need to be able to seat them in their pram so that you can eat your meal. I think that they should at least allow strollers for babies under six months but that is just my opinion.

I don't think anyone's making any great declarations here. I'm not telling anyone what to do. I think all parents have the choice to: A. Rent a stroller, B. Bring a cheap stroller that wouldn't upset them to any great degree if it were stolen, C. Bring an expensive stroller AND the proper materials to secure it, D. Bring an expensive stroller with nothing to secure it. Those are all options. I'm just telling you which ones I think have lower-risks (the first three).

As for the baby who can't sit up, bring a snuggly. That's what I plan to do for our infant. Heck, I might even forgo the stroller altogether.

I agree. This is Disney property and no one thought about strollers?

This isn't V&A.

The policy is the same all over Disney property. I'm not sure why people are picking on this one particular location. They are doing nothing differently than anywhere else.

4)And you can compare all you want resturants within WDW for not having a designated stroller area, but there are many resutrants outside of WDW that do offer this...even those that are not specifically geared to families!
5)What do they do with a handicapped child who is in a stroller??? Do they make the child get out of the stroller? Yes many parents will use a stroller rather than a wheelchair for thier handicapped child!

I don't think the issue was that there was no designated stroller area. I assumed the stroller was parked in one of those. The issue some people have is that these areas are not supervised.

Also, if you have a handicapped child who uses a stroller as a wheelchair, you can take that stroller anywhere. I guarentee you you won't have trouble at WDW. That is because such strollers are clearly marked with speciail identification as substitutes for wheelchairs. So, that whole situation really has nothing to do with this discussion.

One good thing in MK is that if your rental stroller is stroller napped, you can pick one up at Main Street, Toontown or Frontierland.

This is true on all Disney property. That is why I think renting strollers is your best bet for piece of mind.

 

[DisneyJoo2008]

I know I'm a bit off topic but I can't believe the amount of valuable property we saw left in pushchairs (strollers!) during shows etc. We saw a PDA / Blackberry type device in a buggy near Pecos Bills when we were eating lunch. Then walking past the Nemo show, we saw TONNES of cameras, video-cameras and even handbags left on strollers!!!!!!!!

Sorry that shocks me a bit! (I live in a rough town though )

xxx

 

[Jessfrogger88]

Everyone keeps saying how economical it is to rent a stroller...


For a double disney stroller it's like 30$ a day... for five days that's 150$..... That is not cheap for a hunk of hard plastic on wheels you only get for 5 days..

Maybe rent one from an outside vendor.

 

[MARY-IN-OH]

I read an interesting tip here on the boards a while back regarding a way to keep your stroller safe...

Use a clear (maybe bread bag), rub melty chocolate all over a diaper, and tie it up to the stroller handle when you get on a ride or go into a restaurant.

I'll bet it helps to keep people away from it...

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

Everyone keeps saying how economical it is to rent a stroller...


For a double disney stroller it's like 30$ a day... for five days that's 150$..... That is not cheap for a hunk of hard plastic on wheels you only get for 5 days..

Maybe rent one from an outside vendor.

I think you get a discount the longer you rent it. Even still, I think that's a lot cheaper than the $400 the OP's friend had stolen.

 

[ilandrazdsw]

Also, if you have a handicapped child who uses a stroller as a wheelchair, you can take that stroller anywhere. I guarentee you you won't have trouble at WDW. That is because such strollers are clearly marked with speciail identification as substitutes for wheelchairs. So, that whole situation really has nothing to do with this discussion.

Strollers for handicapped children are not necessarily marked OR specially designed handicapped strollers. The handicapped child may also have a hidden disability not visible to the "naked' or untrained eye. So, yes, with regard to strollers being allowed in a resturant it most certainly does apply!

Yes strollers are discounted for entire stay rentals $27 for a double, but if you have one why rent if you wnat to bring your own, not matter what the cost of the personal one.

I guess my feeling is I expected more of Disney...to not even show a customer sympathy...not fault, guit, liability...just plain sympathy is rediculous!!!

 

[Bell30012]

What happens if you rent a stroller from an Orlando location and it um, disappears in the park? I think I'll stick with the hard plastic rental strollers.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

Strollers for handicapped children are not necessarily marked OR specially designed handicapped strollers. The handicapped child may also have a hidden disability not visible to the "naked' or untrained eye. So, yes, with regard to strollers being allowed in a resturant it most certainly does apply!

Yes strollers are discounted for entire stay rentals $27 for a double, but if you have one why rent if you wnat to bring your own, not matter what the cost of the personal one.

That's interesting. You would think most parents who used strollers as wheelchairs would do this often and would have a tag that marked them for this purpose. Do you know someone who doesn't? I'm just curious because I've never heard of parents of handicapped children neglecting to do this. It is a heck of a lot easier for them if they do. I really wasn't aware that handicapped children being denied access to restaurants in their strollers/wheelchairs at WDW was a huge problem. If you know about this, you should let some disability advocacy groups know.

And to answer your second question, we have already been through this. The reason one might want to consider renting a stroller as opposed to bringing their own is so that they don't have to worry about theft and also for the convience of not lugging a stroller on planes, trains, etc. You ask the question like this is a foreign concept. Do you think that those scads of blue hard plastic rentals are being used by parents who don't own their own strollers?

 

[OHSNAPaduck]

Strollers for handicapped children are not necessarily marked OR specially designed handicapped strollers. The handicapped child may also have a hidden disability not visible to the "naked' or untrained eye. So, yes, with regard to strollers being allowed in a resturant it most certainly does apply!

Then that is the parent's fault for not getting one of the "stroller used as a wheelchair" tag that Disney provides for people. I work at Disney, on my attraction you can bring strollers that fold up onto the ride, if it doesn't fold up you can't bring it on BUT if they have "stroller = wheelchair" tag they can go in regardless if it folds up or not.
If the parent chooses not to mark the stroller or get a guest assistance card, then I'm sorry you need to park your stroller.

 

[Matt'sMom]

All OP's co-worker could really do, after the fact, is to file a police report. It is not Disney's or Landry's responsibility to guard someone's private property (stroller in this case) when the owner leaves it unsupervised, nor to replace it if stolen.

Stroller users should take this incident as a warning: you are the only one responsible for your own private property. If bringing an expensive stroller to WDW, be sure to also bring a reasonable means for securing that stroller when not in use (such as a stroller/bike lock to secure one set of wheels so it can not easily be rolled away by a would-be-thief, but can still be moved a short distance by a CM if necessary). Likewise, do not leave any valuables unattended in/on your stroller while you leave it to go on a ride or attraction. Loose items left unattended anywhere (even on WDW property) are easy targets for theft. Just use the same common sense that applies everywhere, and take appropriate precautions. Not everyone who enters WDW property is of equal moral compass.

 

[crashbb]

Strollers for handicapped children are not necessarily marked OR specially designed handicapped strollers. The handicapped child may also have a hidden disability not visible to the "naked' or untrained eye. So, yes, with regard to strollers being allowed in a resturant it most certainly does apply!

You can easily get a GAC (Guest Assistance Card) which is marked "stroller use das wheelchair" - then the stroller can go anywhere a wheelchair can go.

 

[rt2dz]

I read an interesting tip here on the boards a while back regarding a way to keep your stroller safe...

Use a clear (maybe bread bag), rub melty chocolate all over a diaper, and tie it up to the stroller handle when you get on a ride or go into a restaurant.

I'll bet it helps to keep people away from it...

I read similar tips all the time. If someone is unethical enough to steal a stroller, I'm sure they'd have no problem throwing it away.

And, really, who hangs onto dirty diapers!?!

 

[rt2dz]

Has anyone here been to T-Rex yet? There is *NO* room inside that place for strollers. They do need to be left outside, even folded. There is a stroller parking area to the left of the restaurant. It is set aside by boulders so that really only those looking for strollers are there. Employees will come out there and straighten out strollers. The host stand is just behind the stroller parking area, so an employee is nearby (for those looking for a “false sense of security”).

I have an expensive double stroller that I take to WDW (I’d never rent those over-priced, uncomfortable no storage things) and have left it outside T-Rex, but I did so knowing it was at my risk. I wouldn’t expect leaving my stroller anywhere to be anything but at my own risk. I trust that odds of anything happening in Disney parks to be low, but not DtD. I wouldn’t leave my stroller anywhere there without thinking the odds are pretty good it’ll be gone—no parking fees, no admission fees, a lot of non-Disney guests. However, I did feel pretty comfortable outside T-Rex, with the set-up I figured someone would have to be pretty bold to take it.

I do think that a police report should have been filed. They may still be able to do it, I don’t know. The only other thing I think they can do is to write a letter to Disney expressing their disappointment with the lack of help they received. It certainly wasn’t Disney’s fault, or Landry’s fault. I don’t think it was their fault either, but a risk they took.

 

[WDSearcher]

I read an interesting tip here on the boards a while back regarding a way to keep your stroller safe...

Use a clear (maybe bread bag), rub melty chocolate all over a diaper, and tie it up to the stroller handle when you get on a ride or go into a restaurant.

I'll bet it helps to keep people away from it...

Except that EVERYONE does that now, so the shock value is pretty much lost. And really ... if someone is determined to take your stuff, they probably won't shy away from taking a plastic bag with a dirty diaper and tossing it in the trash. It's not like they have to touch anything nasty. It's in a bag.

People are talking as though stroller theft is rampant at WDW. It's not. To read this thread it sounds as though expensive strollers routinely disappear from restaurants all around property. Again ... not true. But yeah ... it's going to happen. Disney is a huge place with a huge number of people. Law of averages tells you that SOMEONE is going to have something taken at some point.

I admit that I like the fact that some restaurants won't allow them. I think some parents tend to ignore the fact that their stroller -- stuffed with bags and cameras and diapers and juice boxes and all the rest -- is a hazard for others trying to walk around the restaurant (including servers). It's not like people make it a point to clean up the stroller -- straighten bags, toss out used Capri Sun pouches, wipe down the tray -- before they bring it in. So it's not a pleasant thing to look at either in a restaurant. Plus ... strollers have gotten so HUGE. It's like they're little SUVs, with all the attachments and padding and shades and hoods and pockets and shelves. They take up more room than a chair, a lot of the time, so it's not like just shoving the stroller where the chair would be is an even trade. And once the stroller is in place, it never really stays there. The child moves it or the parents move it or someone needs to get something out of it. And then it's right in the path of other people.

I've asked many a mom or a dad (nicely), "Excuse me ... could you please move your stroller a bit so that I can get through?" and I'm almost always met with a dirty look. One father looked up at me and flat-out said, "No -- my son as as much of a right to be here as you do." Um ...what? It wasn't about who had a right to be there. I just needed to get through, and the other way was blocked by a serving tray filled with food. So I stood there waiting for one or the other of the two things (stroller or serving tray) to move. The dad looked at me and said, "Could you get away from us please?" I pointed to the tray of food and the stroller and said, "I would love to. How should I do that?" He then realized that I was trapped between his son's stroller and the server's tray and he moved the stroller enough for me to squeeze through. Had he put the stroller on the other side of the table (by the wall instead of in the path of people walking) it would not have been a problem.

So ... while I understand that people with strollers feel put-out by having to remove a child (who is often sleeping) and transfer them to a high chair in a no-stroller restaurant, those of us seated next to families with strollers are often in an inconvenient place too. Most restaurants could solve the problem by simply having fewer tables and more space between them. But I somehow don't think that's likely to happen.

 

[Bell30012]

The idea with the diaper trick is to make the next stroller look more appealing than your stroller... Not to stop the theft. That is kind of why I park my dirty, 1996 GMC Sierra next really clean, expensive Lincoln Navigators and Cadillac Escalades...

 

[JohnsonsLoveDisney]

I know I'm a bit off topic but I can't believe the amount of valuable property we saw left in pushchairs (strollers!) during shows etc. We saw a PDA / Blackberry type device in a buggy near Pecos Bills when we were eating lunch. Then walking past the Nemo show, we saw TONNES of cameras, video-cameras and even handbags left on strollers!!!!!!!!

Sorry that shocks me a bit! (I live in a rough town though )

xxx

Exactly!

The only thing i leave in a stroller when we have to enter a ride/show resturaunt, is things that arent such a big deal. like the bag with extra diapers, change of clothing, sippy cups, snacks etc. I'm sure i would be upset if my stroller was taken with that in it but it wouldnt be such a big deal. I keep my purse on me at ALL times. same with the camera either DH or I have it. Sometimes we are lugging 3 bags (purse, camera bag, kid bag) with us on rides or into shows. We also try to do our shopping on the way out so we dont have anything sitting in our basket.