The good, the bad and the really ugly!

[munchkinsmom]

We had our MacLaren double stroller stolen in front of Disneyland's Small World ride a few years back during Labor Day weekend. My parents were with us and decided to take our then 2 and 4-year old children on the ride while DH and I rode Space Mountain. They parked in the designated stroller parking spot (towards the edge of a curb, where you'd have to wade through other rows of strollers to get to it), came back afterwards and found that it had disappeared, along with the diaper bag and a soft cooler containing my DD's two epipens and benedryl.

We get a frantic call from my dad saying that it was stolen and after an hour of looking for it (a CM helped us) we resigned to the fact that it was gone. My poor dad felt compelled to stand at the front of Main Street (where the Christmas tree usually stands) for at least an hour afterwards to watch people go by, even after insisting to him that it wasn't his fault.

My DH drove back home (1 1/2 hour drive) to get our single stroller, another diaper bag and another set of epipens and benedryl. We tried really hard to not let it dampen our weekend, but my folks felt awful about the whole incident. My DD kept asking where the other stroller was. We filed a report but never saw our stroller again.

We bought a new double and after that, we locked it using a retractable ski lock similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Master-Lock-4...69G0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323446502&sr=8-1 We would cable the wheels together (through the spokes) or thread the cable in such a way so it was extremely difficult to push or close it, but still capable of being moved if needed.

Today we're past the stroller stage, but I'm amazed at all the expensive strollers that are pushed at Disneyland, parked unlocked, and wonder how many strollers are stolen from Disneyland these days.

 

[fidoprincess]

Cerilene, Sorry this happened to you. It's happened for years though. 15 years ago, our stroller was also stolen. I knew not to leave anything valuable in it but only had wipes and diapers. Ha, I learned how valuable a diaper is when we went back with a messy baby! Luckily we were able to just run and get more but it did leave a bad impression and from that point on, Dh always carried a backpack the whole time we had little ones. The rule became "never leave what you can't lose!"

A few years later, my second child had a sippy cup in the stroller tray and we came out of a ride to see another child sitting in my dd's stroller drinking from her sippy cup-ewwww. Imagine my surprise to see her mother RIGHT THERE watching her. Never said a word to us either.

Years ago, we also saw the tip about putting a balloon on the stroller so it would be easy to find in the sea of strollers. Guess what happened? They stole the balloon! Now that one hurt for some reason. Easy to replace but dd was at an age where she was able to understand that someone stole it.

Nope, can't leave anything you can't lose!

Skiingfast. you are so funny! Wrist bands, really?

 

[jdb in AZ]

Sad that the thieves hadn't had more foresight to bring their own stroller, or maybe they just assumed they wouldn't need one for their hyper-active angel. Or in the case of PP, maybe the red stroller left behind was broken so the thieves helped themselves to a better model.

I wonder if thefts are more common this time of year because people are "Christmas shopping" and use other people's belongings as gifts. bah humbug.

 

[kirstie101]

OP - I'm so sorry you had to experience this! Had this happened to me I would be just as upset as you! Its especially hard when you have little ones that dont understand.
About 3 years ago, someone accidentally walked off with our stroller near Nemo. I figured it was an accident right away because I was able to locate an identical stroller not too far from where I had parked ours. A CM helped me look for it to no avail. About 45 minutes later though the person who took it finally realized they had the wrong one and brought it back.
Since then I keep a stroller lock on our stroller and just slip it through the wheel so its harder to push away. I doubt anyone would steal mine as its just a 5 year old Graco but I dont want to deal with the hassle of someone taking it by accident again. And like many others, I wont leave anything in th stroller that I am attached to. Soda cups and non disney sweatshirts are about all I'll leave in there.
Anyway, I believe the stroller lock I have is called Buggy guard or something of that nature. Its shaped like a panda bear and I purchsed it on Amazon if anyones looking for one.

 

[cerilene]

Cerilene,

I am so sorry to hear about this happening to you.

A few years back i let my aunt and uncle borrow my brand new Sony handy cam and it was stolen at Disneyland. Fortunately they replaced it for me, but still, it was a real bummer.

Of topic, but your screen name, is that your name? It is the name of one of my favorite songs of all time by the greatest band ever, Sister Hazel.
If you haven't heard it, you should go to Itunes and check it out!

We LOVE Sister Hazel!! That was actually DD's first concert when she was only a few months old and Ken sang Happy to her (when we met him after the concert) because that's my favorite song and she slept through it! She was almost named Cerilene, but we decided against it. Maybe this new baby girl will be honored with that name when she gets here in March.

 

[Bambi&Thumper]

OMG if my stroller was stolen I would be so ticked offf!!! wow!!! couldn't even imagine.... the most valuable think would be his blankie that w encourage him to leave behind to get over that stage, If it was stolen Oh man.... I wouldn't know what to do. That was his real first blankie of course from disney... and its not replaceable... the orange one limited edition....one of 55 years... kinda ugly now that its been washed a 100 times and no longer super soft. I bought a knew one at Disney world this summer but he doesn't like it. Go figure. When I go to DL- I think of it as my magical place in the whole wide world and for anyone to steal and lie and cheat is beyond exceptical for me. Of course I spelled that wrong.. but oh well. I just would love a real land of Disney true Disney folks who was honest and fun and caring and loving as me. No worries Hakuna Matuta.... LOL

 

[LisaCat]

I've seen several posts about stolen strollers. Boggles my mind that someone would do that. I'm fairly sure I saw one the other night. I was leaving the park about 40 minutes after closing time and taking a slow stroll toward the front gate from back by Small world and taking pictures along the way. How often does one get to take pictures in Fantasyland with NO ONE in the shots? LOL I saw a lone stroller parked by the carousel and thought at the time, "How does someone leave WITHOUT THEIR STROLLER?". There was a CM doing "guest round-up" not far behind me, so I'm sure they took care of it, but after reading your post, I'd be willing to bet it got matched up with a "misplaced stroller" report. Ugh. So sad that some people just have to suck so much.

And, I'm sorry, but if I set a bag down under the table at lunch and forget about it and leave the restaurant with the bag still under the table and it's gone when I remember and go back, you can call it "misplaced". If I park a stroller IN STROLLER PARKING, and it's gone when I come back, it's not "misplaced". I placed it where Disneyland asked me to place it. Someone TOOK IT.

 

[bumbershoot]

Okay, so, first off I want to say that I am sorry that this happened to you, cerilene. Sincerely. It would be awful to have anything stolen and it can really put a lousy twist to your vacation. I am sorry.

That said, every time I read about something like this I am just really surprised that people leave anything of any value at all in strollers at Disneyland (or anywhere else for that matter). Why leave anything that is important to you (the generic "you") unattended, where anyone can take it at any time? Whether it's monetarily valuable or simply sentimental valued, why leave it anywhere? I would never dream of leaving medication that I had to have, a camera, money, etc... in a bag and leave it sitting somewhere.

I just don't understand why people think it's safe to do so at Disneyland. If I had a purse filled with money, my camera, an inhaler, an epipen, and my favorite shirt, I would not leave it sitting in front of the grocery store while shopping. I'm not sure why anywhere at Disneyland, like in front of a store, is any different. Human nature (sadly) shows that people will take what they need if they think they can do so without consequences. A busy theme park is a perfect place.

I think it's amazingly wonderful that the CMs gave cerilene a hat/scarf and a new blankie!

- Dreams

Yes yes to all of that. I was just there and even I, an honest person (seriously, I just wrote to Lego because they included three extra keychains in my recent order, to ask them how to send them back), was peering into strollers to see the bounty left in them.

OP I hope you guys get the stroller etc back, and in the future please don't leave required items in the stroller...monitor, toddler's beloved items, etc.



When DS was 3 someone rummaged under a scrungy sweatshirt to snag DS's new pirate hat. It really bummed us out, but we definitely took responsibility in having left it in the stroller! We wouldn't even leave water in the stroller after that, as the thought of someone messing with things in our stiller sleeved us too much

 

[I❤MICKEY]

So bummed that this happened to you but I appreciate you sharing your story as I will be more inclined to be more careful during our trip in a few weeks.

We bought a new double and after that, we locked it using a retractable ski lock similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Master-Lock-4...69G0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323446502&sr=8-1 We would cable the wheels together (through the spokes) or thread the cable in such a way so it was extremely difficult to push or close it, but still capable of being moved if needed.:

Glad you posted this. I was thinking how would you lock your stroller. You couldn't attach it to anything because the CM rearrange all the time in the stroller parking area. I have a brand new double stroller that we purchased specifically for our trip. I'll be investing in one of these locks.

 

[goofiNess]

Im so sorry that happened. Im glad to hear that at least provided a new blanket

 

[Amy&Dan]

That is so awful and just makes me sick this happened to you.

Its really a problem because bottom line, even if you take everything out of the stroller (which with young kids can be a lot of items) your stroller is still being left unattended for a dishonst stroller thief to help themselves to.

One time as we walked back to our Harbor Blvd hotel, we noticed two young women take a sleeping child out of a very expensive looking double stroller and run to board a city bus. I remember yelling "you forgot your stroller" but they got on the bus and that was that. Stupid me, I felt so bad FOR THEM that in their rush to make their bus, they forgot to get their stroller. Much later on I woke up thinking about it and wondering why they had a double stroller for one kid that looked way too old to be in a stroller anyway and all of the sudden it occured to me they had probably swiped that stroller to make it easier to transport their sleeping kid to the bus stop. Dh and I kicked ourselves that we hadn't thought of that earlier so we could have walked it back to Disneyland and turned it in.