What to do when your child is lost in the World?

[mouseketeer_mom]

We are taking our first ever family vacaction to WDW. I will of course be making good ID tags for my kids. Both my DH and I will have our cell phones with us. But, I need a little help. What identifies a CM as such? What can I tell my child to look for if they become seperated from us? Does WDW have any kind of standard policy or procedure for lost kids? Will a CM call our cell phones if my child has the number available?

My oldest, DS7, would definitely look for a CM and give them his ID info to call mom and dad. I'm concerned that either of my twins, B/G 4.5. May just become upset and not actually seek assistance. I will make sure their ID tags are easily found but is there anything I could or should do?

Lastly, does this really happen all that often? We've done zoos, museums, parades, etc, and have never had a problem. But, WDW may be more crowded and certainly offers more in the way of distractions than most other places. (at least that is my perception at this point)

TIA

 

[stczt]

Last year we were in the big store in DTD I forget the name and dd(6) was with dh. he was ready leave the section he was in but she was not done looking at princess. Dh called me on my cell and aske if I had her and we started panicing. She was crying and a dad saw her and tried to talk to her and help her but she was afraid he was snatching her and she screamed and wouldnt let him near. Finally some cm's got her calmed down. And a lady saw us searching and asked me if I was looking for a blond girl and told me where she was. The sad thing is SHe and I were wearing blue shirts and tan shorts and I had no clue as to what she was wearing. We go to six flags or white water almost everyday when they are opend and gone to lots of places/ sporting events and never lost any of our 3 kids. I guess Princess' are magical and can make a child loose it. The cast members are all dressed in a uniform so just tell the kids to look for the matching people.

 

[robinb]

I've heard of people who take a picture of their kids every morning with their digital cameras so they can tell the CMs what the kids are wearing. I always think it's a great idea, but I forget to do it most of the time!

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

The sad thing is SHe and I were wearing blue shirts and tan shorts and I had no clue as to what she was wearing.

One thing we do is to take a digital picture of both girls before we leave the resort each morning. That way we don't have to remember what they are wearing - we have a picture! We also use the Whose Shoes ID tags, and tell our kids to look for a CM at a ride or in a store. I think the CMs have white name tags, as opposed to the red name tags you can buy in the stores - maybe someone can confirm that? As soon as we enter the park, we start pointing out the CM's in the uniforms.

I also have dressed the girls in matching bright shirts on days when we go somewhere crowded (they wore orange t-shirts to the Georgia Aquarium - it was packed, but I could still find them!). That's harder to do at WDW since you are going somewhere crowded everyday - that's why we take the digital picture.

In four trips with DD7 and DD3, we have not lost either one yet, but we would rather be prepared!

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I've heard of people who take a picture of their kids every morning with their digital cameras so they can tell the CMs what the kids are wearing. I always think it's a great idea, but I forget to do it most of the time!

Oops, you type faster than I do! What she said!

 

[robinb]

Oops, you type faster than I do! What she said!

But at least you remember to take the darn picture in the morning!

 

[kaysmommie]

Last year we were in the big store in DTD I forget the name and dd(6) was with dh. he was ready leave the section he was in but she was not done looking at princess. Dh called me on my cell and aske if I had her and we started panicing. She was crying and a dad saw her and tried to talk to her and help her but she was afraid he was snatching her and she screamed and wouldnt let him near. Finally some cm's got her calmed down. And a lady saw us searching and asked me if I was looking for a blond girl and told me where she was. The sad thing is SHe and I were wearing blue shirts and tan shorts and I had no clue as to what she was wearing. We go to six flags or white water almost everyday when they are opend and gone to lots of places/ sporting events and never lost any of our 3 kids. I guess Princess' are magical and can make a child loose it. The cast members are all dressed in a uniform so just tell the kids to look for the matching people.

That is scary and it happens so easily! I will using some of the suggestions on this thread. Luckily in september no one was lost but I still worry.

 

[Whosemom]

We do the t-shirt thing too, only even the grownups wear them. If you get two steps from your party and glance up like you are looking for them, some kind soul will point the way LOL. The unfortunate side effect, when DH was handling Dkids' meltdown by having one of his own, I couldn't pretend I didn't know them. (lol, don't even say you haven't done it ) Oh, the other side effect, reaching out to grab kids the size and hair color of your kids if they are wearing the color you are. teehee. I've done that alot and the other parents always laugh at me.

There are stores everywhere, I tell my kids to go to a counter. And, as a back up plan, to go to a mommy with a stroller and say they are lost. My oldest got separated from us at a large museum when she was 9, and went to the gift shop. It IS hard to guess what a 4.5 yo would do. We drill our message into them at every fair, amusement park, museum, and crowded store, so I hope they would do what we said.

When dd#2 was 18mo, she was on her own in inoventions for probably 15 minutes. DH walked past as I was looking at something. I said "hi" and he decided that was a handoff. I, however, did NOT think it was a hand off. So when he came back through without her 10 minutes later and I asked where she was TOTAL PANIC set in, for us. SHE was happily playing a toddler video game. OMG. Heartstopping. But that is the type of thing that happens the most. Like PP princess "shopping". We drill the kids about bad guys, but mostly the world (the real world) is a safe place.

Be prepared, but don't spend too much time worrying.

 

[almburr]

we took our DS6 and DD4 for thier first time ansd kept telling them what to do. We told our kids if mom and dad ever got lost do not go looking for us. They are to stop right where they are, take a deep breath and look around, they are to look for the closest food stand or store or security officer they are then to walk right up tp the counter and only talk to the person with the name badg,(on first day we showed them the people to look for) They are to tell them that mom and dad are lost. The kids have ID tags velcroed on thier shoes, they are only to take them off and show them when they are asked thier names by the CMs. Will drilled that into them months before the trip and thank goodness there was no problem. But it was neat when we were in the parks kids kept telling us where everyone was.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

When DD was younger we always told her to go to anyone ringing up behind a cash register.

This way she knew they worked there. Many people wear the name type tags at WDW .

We always had a dogstyle tags with both our cell numbers o n it

 

[LisaFB]

Wow, I'm so glad I found this thread! I never thought about any of this, but it's good to be prepared!

BTW, what are Whose Shoes ID tags?

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Wow, I'm so glad I found this thread! I never thought about any of this, but it's good to be prepared!

BTW, what are Whose Shoes ID tags?

http://www.whosshoesid.com/

 

[almburr]

The ones we fot are in the One step ahead catalog. They come in a package of 2 bright pink or blue. All the info is on the underside of the strip. You write your info down and then feed it through the laces and flip over. They have very strong velcro. The other one can also go on a belt loop.

 

[WDWCPAlumni]

we do that all too, but what i found helpful is that i get the walkie talkies and i teach the kids to use them.........we play with them for months. Then when we go to the parks I put them into each fanny pack. So my 2 kids get one and we each get one.........and if we get lost we use them to help find each other or to calm them down.

 

[kanga24roos]

In 2004 DH and I took our 4 DS' on our first ever trip to WDW. We had a reserved seating for the character breakfast buffet in AK on our first mornig. Meal was great went off w/o a hitch when we all left the restaurant we went towards the dino rides next door well apparently ds #2 who was 5 at the time thought heading towards meant the same as getting in line and going on the ride so we lost sight of him and searched frantically yelled found a CM who was absolutly no help and finally he walked up to us after he got off the ride and wanted to know why we were all freeaking out. BAD way to start a vaca. But we got over it and had a great time. I was surprised the that the CM was no help though, I read on this board before we left that they took safety very serious there and really tried to locate misplaced children ASAP.
Will do the picture thing on our upcoming trip though as DS #s 3 and 4 are now much more mobile than the first trip and are also much more daring than their older brothers

 

[LaraK]

One of the very first things we did was to introduce DD to a CM. They were really very nice about the whole thing and showed their name tag. DD was told to look for someone wearing that kind of name tag.

 

[gianna2006]

We have used idonme.com. You can order the id bracelets (they also have medical id bracelets and allergy bracelets) in all different colors. They are size adjustable and fit well around the wrist, ankle, or even shoelace. You just fill out your contact information and slip it inside the bracelet - added perk is that the bracelets can get wet and the information doesn't come off!

 

[CherCrazy]

We were the finders of a little boy (3?) at the teacups in 11/05. Anyone lose him?? Anyway, me & another mom spotted him at the same time. We moms seem to have a sixth sense about knowing who is lost sometimes. I took him to a CM, who had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what to do with him. We bought him some water - he had to have been lost for quite a while - he just gulped it down. We took him to the CM's in the Tomorrowland store next to Cosmic Ray's. We hung around for quite a while before we moved on.... NO ONE CLAIMED HIM in all that time! I was really upset that he was without his family for all that time....where were they? and why didn't WDW have a better system of contacting his family? They had to be searching for him too. I couldn't believe that WDW didn't have it's own sort of walkie-talkie system going to help parents in this situation. They were truly clueless.

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

We were the finders of a little boy (3?) at the teacups in 11/05. Anyone lose him?? Anyway, me & another mom spotted him at the same time. We moms seem to have a sixth sense about knowing who is lost sometimes. I took him to a CM, who had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what to do with him. We bought him some water - he had to have been lost for quite a while - he just gulped it down. We took him to the CM's in the Tomorrowland store next to Cosmic Ray's. We hung around for quite a while before we moved on.... NO ONE CLAIMED HIM in all that time! I was really upset that he was without his family for all that time....where were they? and why didn't WDW have a better system of contacting his family? They had to be searching for him too. I couldn't believe that WDW didn't have it's own sort of walkie-talkie system going to help parents in this situation. They were truly clueless.

That's actually really scary! So, am I to understand that including our cell numbers on our childrens ID tags won't insure that a CM will call us if they are lost? Perhaps another Mother with the sixth sense you mentioned would make the call. I certainly would.

 

[molly2004]

We have used idonme.com. You can order the id bracelets (they also have medical id bracelets and allergy bracelets) in all different colors. They are size adjustable and fit well around the wrist, ankle, or even shoelace. You just fill out your contact information and slip it inside the bracelet - added perk is that the bracelets can get wet and the information doesn't come off!

Would you tell me if the idonme is easy to pull off? My boys will be almost three when we go next month. I'm afraid they'd get bored and try to pull them off.

Thanks for point me to this!