Theft at Pop Century

[DMRick]

I'm sure some will say it's my daughters fault for not locking the safe, and in hindsight she wishes she had (luckily, since the connecting doors were open, my safe was locked). We were late because of snow getting into Orlando, and once there went directly to Chef Mickey. We checked in and the kids wanted to swim, so we were in a hurry. We found the connecting door didn't work, so we called it in. A gal came to fix it and while she was fixing it. my grandson (10) gave his wallet containing $55 and a Walmart card for $50 I gave him for his birthday to his mom. She tossed it and the CD case holding 5 cd's in the safe, got distracted and didn't lock it. The gal doing the fixing, wasn't able to fix it and said she would be back. Kids were then getting their suits on. We all left with the kids in swimsuits to swim, and passed her on the walkway outside our rooms coming back, we assume to fix the door. The next morning (we still hadn't had maid service), when my grand asked for his wallet, the safe was empty (it still was not locked). She filled out a report and we heard nothing. I just called and security said they will look into it. Over 25 trips and nothing to our knowledge has ever disappeared. I'm very disappointed.
Oh, the reason I called back to see if they were investigating this, is because I had the receipt for the gift card and $20.45 was used on Feb 26th in Florida..and we weren't at Walmart. He'll still have the balance ($29.55), if they don't shop again before we get over to Walmart. They'll cancel the other card.

 

[bengalbelle]

I'm so sorry that happened to your grandson. I'm sure that was difficult to explain. I sure hope they can do something about it.

 

[LindaR]

Stay on top of it! Write a letter to the Executive Offices. I'm sorry that this happened............no, I don't blame you. Everyone is faced with some sort of temptation every day....it's up to us to decide whether to act on it or not.

 

[beattyfamily]

I'm so sorry to hear this. Keep nagging them! Did you file a report with the police?

 

[DMRick]

no report with the police..just Disney security. I'm just glad I held onto the Disney dollars in my backback, so he still had some spending money! Of course his mom is going to reimburse him, if Disney doesn't.

 

[mortimor]

FYI. MOST Walmarts and other stores are so advanced that it may be simple to find out who used the card. The PD should be able to work with Walmart, find the time and cash register the card was used and view the tape of the register at that time. Who knows what one will find -the housekeeper that has had complaints in the past, the person who was supposed to fix the lock, Waldo etc.

 

[Ishy]

When a room isnt broken into, a theft is either by the staff or by the carelessness of the staff (leaving the door wide open while not paying attention) --- but the rooms are not that big that a maid should be in a bathroom and not notice someone popping in and taking stuff. Small things sthat easily slip into a pocket...

anyway... yup - dont hold your breath about security telling you anything beyond 'you should file a claim with your home owners insurance' = we know thats not worth it for most small thefts.

I would advise anyone having a theft no matter how small, to have disney call the police and make the management file a full report. It is the only way to make sure security and disney are held accountable for the amount of theft that goes on. Otherwise statistics are buried and ignored. It makes futures stays safer for everyone.

Yes, I speak from experience.

 

[ducklite]

This is the second time in under a week taht I've heard about a theft like this at Pop. Makes me wonder what's going on there.

Anne

 

[Pixiedusttravel]

We had almost the same thing happen to our family except we were staying at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. My sister left an envelope with $100 in the safe, got busy doing something else, and forgot to make sure the safe was locked. When we got back from the Parks that afternoon, the safe was empty. She filed a report, but still it really ruins the "magical" feeling you usually have when your on Disney property.

I'm just sorry your grandson had to experience that on his Disney trip!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

That's just what I was thinking!

We didn't have any problems at all last month, but I did lock everything in the safe and I kept the key in a pouch around my neck. Still, people should be able to leave valuable things in their hotel room and not have them disappear!

I hope something is done to compensate you for the loss, DMRick. I am sure it put a damper on the vacation!

Don't hold your breath about Walmart helping with their security tapes. A lady who owns a local shop had her purse stolen from behind the counter of her shop. She knew who took it because they came in as a large group, fanned out all over the shop, and kept trying to distract her. They used her credit cards at Walmart. Walmart said it would violate the privacy of the theives to show the videos to the police. Perfect.

 

[DMRick]

FYI. MOST Walmarts and other stores are so advanced that it may be simple to find out who used the card. The PD should be able to work with Walmart, find the time and cash register the card was used and view the tape of the register at that time.
*************

We've been to Walmart today, and there was still ~$30 on the card left. It was used on Feb 26th, at 3:15, in Orlando at Walmart store 908, and we have a print out of that. Walmart says they are the same as cash and has no tracking other than the above info. A light won't go off when the thief goes back to use it, and all they would have to say if caught is that they found it on the ground. Theyhave no plans of viewing security tapes. We certainly don't think it was a maid, since they are usually gone by the time we checked in. We did Chef Mickey's and checked in about 9ish. The only person who had been in the room was the person fixing the door. She had left the room to get a part, we passed her returning, on our way to the pool. We came back 1/2 hour later and the door was fixed. We all went to bed, the next morning, when getting the wallet for the park, it was noticed it wasn't there anymore. I hope to call Disney tomorrow and follow up, and will mention a police report. It didn't leave us pennyless, but did leave a very bad taste in my mouth. This was a grand gathering, and in spite of this was a great vacation.

 

[EEyorelover22]

This makes me nervous now about leaving our camcorder and laptop in our room now. I never worried before when we went, but maybe I should.

 

[loveswdw]

Guess we were really lucky when we left our safe wide open on our honeymoon. We just plain forgot to lock it. It had everything in it including wallets (with lots of cash-- probably around $800+ due to wedding gifts of cash) and car keys. We panicked when we were at Epcot and I couldn't remember locking the safe. Finally when we got back to the room over an hour later (takes a while to walk to the entrance from WS and then wait for a bus!) we were relieved that nothing had been touched and housekeeping had already been there! We were so lucky! Needless to say, we have been so careful on our last couple of trips and made sure we checked the safe before we walked out the door each time.

We forgot once and I think we learned our lesson. Thank goodness it wasn't the hard way! So sorry your GS lost his money--that's so hard for kids. Just glad it didn't totally ruin your vacation.

loveswdw

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

So sorry this happened to your family. What a bummer

You'd think Walmart could at least cancel that card and give you $30 on a new one. Especially if you have the purchase receipt.

Hope whoever did it gets caught.

 

[lotte]

Do stay on top of this with Disney. A few years ago we rented a convertible at the airport and checked into POFQ. We were called down to the front desk a few days later to be told that they had several vandalisms on the property the previous night. Our rental car was torched! I mean it burned right down to the steel frame of the seats. Disney would not take any responsibility. They wouldn't even drive us over to one of the other hotels in DTD to pick up another rental. Needless to say, we wrote saying our yearly visits were on hold as I didn't feel comfortable with the way they had handled the situation. After a few complaints, they paid the deductible we owed our insurance company. It was worth the effort!

 

[Mama Twinkles]

The devious vigilante in me thinks it would be satisfying to smoke out the thieves by intentionally leaving some safes unlocked with credit cards that you have canceled (or maybe even reported stolen!) inside. Train nanny cams on the safes to catch them in the act, and enjoy knowing what will happen when they try to use the cards. Heh heh.

 

[Poohbear123]

I once left a 20.00 bill in my top drawer by mistake.....it was still there when I got back to the room hours later later. I do use the safe, but sometimes leave the key under some clothes in a drawer...guess I won't do that anymore.

 

[EEyorelover22]

I once left a 20.00 bill in my top drawer by mistake.....it was still there when I got back to the room hours later later. I do use the safe, but sometimes leave the key under some clothes in a drawer...guess I won't do that anymore.

Same here...put stuff in the safe and would hide the key. Not anymore!!

 

[Skyhawk32803]

Call the front desk, and demand to speak to the Duty Manager. Depenend that the problem will solved. It said to say but Disney will fix the problem if shout and yell at them enough. Bye the way let me know who the Duty Manager was if you call.

 

[Sammie]

So sorry to hear this happen on your trip. Nothing is worse than theft and even worse when you know someone was in your room. We were cleaned out once at the Ritz in Atlanta by someone on the staff, so no hotel is completly immune to this.

I hope they are able to help you out for your loss.