What to leave in the stroller

[Beth33]

I'll be traveling to WDW with my family in about a month. (Yay!) I was just reading about thefts of unattended items in the parks on another thread on this tips board, and it made me nervous. I was planning on having the most important items on me (epi pen, wallet, cell phone, etc.) in a large purse and leaving the following in a backpack in the stroller:

Water bottles
Snacks, gum
Motrin, Bandaids
sunblock
Fan/Water Mister
2 Autograph books (2 "Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters," hardcover 9x11.2" books)
Hidden Mickey Book
pull ups, wipes, etc.
spare shorts, tees for kids
long sleeved tees in case it's cold inside
disposable ponchos (for unexpected showers, wet rides)
our good rain gear (if heavy rain forecasted)
flip flops (on days when we plan to do wet rides)


I'd be pretty disappointed to suffer any theft, of course, but I'd be really disappointed to lose the autograph books and the nice rain gear we have. Should I just leave the nice rain gear at home? The autograph books have already been ordered and they're too big to put in my purse. Would it be effective to have them in a large 2-gallon ziplock under the backpack? I have to imagine that thieves are looking for things like wallets, cameras, phones, etc., and may take a backpack hoping there's something valuable inside, but would be unlikely to want two large hardcover books.

 

[hakunamomtata]

I wouldn't bring the heavy rain gear. Heavy rain isn't common this time of year. At the most, I would bring some dollar store ponchos and leave them in your backpack. We're scheduled to arrive in WDW mid april also (YAY!!!!) and that's what we're doing.

I do have to say though - throughout all of our trips to disney, we have never experienced a theft from our strollers. I typically carry a cross body style wallet/bag with all the important stuff in it and leave the rest in a bag under the stroller. I would strongly recommend bringing an extra pair of socks for the kids - even if you bring flip flops for wet rides, something might happen to their dry socks....and the world will end if that happens. Trust me, been there, done that. Have fun, maybe I'll see you around the world!

 

[NYCgrrl]

I think you should carry with you whatever relieves any possible anxiety.

 

[BrookieM2001]

We have brought a stroller for various kids, mine or my sisters through all our trips over the past 17 years. We have never had an issue with theft. Knock on wood, obviously, but we keep EVERYTHING in the stroller. Basically, what we do is fill up the bottom with stuff and its kind of chaotic down there. I am usually an organizational fiend, but i feel like that makes it easier for people to see what you actually have and also makes it take much longer to put things away. For example, your autograph books. If you have everything in a slot and stuff fits on like a puzzle, it ,makes things much harder when you are in a rush. Things get kind of hectic when yous see a character on the fly or even if you need to jump on a ride with surprisingly low wait time. We just sort of stick things in the bottom of the stroller and dont worry about too much organization. Also, we tend to stick things that we wont need in an ASAP situation tends to live in the diaper bag. People are much less likely to steal a diaper bag because they just assume its full of baby food and wipes, so if we arent taking the items on the ride or meal, we stick them inside that bag and no one has ever messed with our items.

Also, anything you worry about getting wet during an surprise shower while you are eating or on a ride, stick in a ziploc. we tend to keep a couple diapers in a ziploc because we have gotten our stroller suck in the rain while we were in line and the diapers all got wet. Ditto with the extra clothes you might need for potty accidents or water rides. i'm all about the ziploc bags!

 

[Renee Durand]

We have never had an issue with leaving things in strollers. Cast members are constantly around them (and moving them to make sure they are organized well). If you are really worried about an item, you can wrap it in a diaper in a diaper bag. It's a pretty decent deterrent.

Unsolicited stroller advice - get a balloon to tie to your stroller so you can find it quickly if a cast member needs to move it!

 

[G719]

Squirrels will get in your stroller if there's food in there.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Nothing ever. But if you absolutely have to, only anything you can easily replace and wouldn’t need urgently, and I would put it all in clear ziplock bags. The strollers that get stolen are often the ones with stuff in the bottom, and they steal the stroller so they can steal whatever is in the bottom without being noticed. If it’s a bag that you can’t see through, it’s appealing to thieves. We leave nothing, we only take what we can pack in the backpack and we pack light. You’ve got quite a list, I would consider paring it down. Anything that looks like a souvenir I would never leave (the books). Nor anything expensive. It also helps to make your stroller easily identifiable. We knot 2” wide red and white polka dot ribbons on the handles and have a luggage tag attached to the basket with our contact info on it

Also consider, you’ll have to empty and fold that stroller at least on the busses, and the more you pack in, the more you have to carry along with the stroller and kids.

We fit a whole days worth of necessities for a 2 year old in a good lightweight REI backpack and one of us wears it on rides. The big kids each have their own backpack for their own snacks, water, etc. I carry nothing for the 10 and 13 year old except their money and gift cards. The purse would probably drive me bananas, I need to throw the backpack on and not think about it falling off my shoulder.

 

[michbaron]

I have a small backpack that comes on everything with us that has wallets car keys camera epipen autograph book (ya never know when a character could pop up) extra phone battery charger and cable, all the essentials and then we keep our other normal backpack on the bottom of the stroller which has diapers wipes changes of clothes, towel, etc it’s so easy this way and while it would suck to have anything stolen it’s not going to ruin the whole trip or take up a bunch of time figuring out logistics of cars and IDs etc this way, we also don’t keep it out in the open so much, we kind of back the strollers in against a wall if we can or recline the seat back a bit, also I’ve accidentally left my iPhone on top of the canopy before and went back 10 minutes later and it was still there (not that I’d recommend this!)

 

[michbaron]

Oh and if we leave our expensive baby carrier we shove it towards the bottom and buckle the strap around if we can and put the bag on top

 

[MakiraMarlena]

be careful with the snacks. Plenty of those are lost to squirrels and birds.

 

[BrookieM2001]

[/GALLERY]

be careful with the snacks. Plenty of those are lost to squirrels and birds.

LOL, this happened to us 2 years ago!

 

[pkpope]

I'll be traveling to WDW with my family in about a month. (Yay!) I was just reading about thefts of unattended items in the parks on another thread on this tips board, and it made me nervous. I was planning on having the most important items on me (epi pen, wallet, cell phone, etc.) in a large purse and leaving the following in a backpack in the stroller:

Water bottles
Snacks, gum
Motrin, Bandaids
sunblock
Fan/Water Mister
2 Autograph books (2 "Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters," hardcover 9x11.2" books)
Hidden Mickey Book
pull ups, wipes, etc.
spare shorts, tees for kids
long sleeved tees in case it's cold inside
disposable ponchos (for unexpected showers, wet rides)
our good rain gear (if heavy rain forecasted)
flip flops (on days when we plan to do wet rides)


I'd be pretty disappointed to suffer any theft, of course, but I'd be really disappointed to lose the autograph books and the nice rain gear we have. Should I just leave the nice rain gear at home? The autograph books have already been ordered and they're too big to put in my purse. Would it be effective to have them in a large 2-gallon ziplock under the backpack? I have to imagine that thieves are looking for things like wallets, cameras, phones, etc., and may take a backpack hoping there's something valuable inside, but would be unlikely to want two large hardcover books.

I think some of the things can be left at home- ie rain gear and long-sleeved shirts. Disney take steps to prevent buildings from being too cold for people and the rain is relatively predictable here in the summer. Further, in the 20 years my family and I have been going to Disney World, about 15 of those included having a stroller and not once have we had anything stolen, including wallets, phones, and sunglasses left in strollers while we went on rides.

 

[Minniemouse07]

This is a recommendation I just posted on another thread, and what we did when our kids were younger.

• Pack one regular "diaper bag" with 2-3 diapers and travel wipes along w/ some snacks, etc. We used a backpack diaper bag and all our stuff (including valuables) went into that as well. Then place more diapers and wipes in a plastic grocery bag. The diaper bag goes w/ you everywhere, including on rides while the grocery bag stays under the stroller. No need to take a full day's worth of supplies on every ride...and no one is going to steal diapers. When you need to collapse the stroller (trams, train, bus, etc) all you have to do is pull out the grocery bag instead of trying to clear out the bottom one item at a time!

 

[Stitchglitch]

Luckily, we've never dealt with theft and we've left multiple souvenirs (bubble wands, stuffed pals, shirts, food, bags from the shops, small diaper bag) in the bottom of our stroller. I definitely wouldn't leave anything absolutely necessary in the bottom of the stroller like medications or something irreplaceable but small stuff that won't ruin my day or vacation if it disappears, is fine by me. We always have a backpack to take on the rides with us too.

 

[Beth33]

Thanks, guys, for your input! I'll leave the rain gear at home. As for the rest, I'm kind of on the fence. Those of you who carry your stuff with you have a good point, that way you don't have to be anxious about your bag. On the flip side, it'd be so nice to not have to haul everything around by hand while waiting in line.

be careful with the snacks. Plenty of those are lost to squirrels and birds.

LOL, this happened to us 2 years ago!

Wow, I never even thought about that. If I have food in a zipped backpack or a zipped lunchbag, will the critters still go for it?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

The one thing we've had stolen from our stroller was an umbrella.

Came out of a show to rain, and umbrella gone.

Rats!

 

[BrookieM2001]

Thanks, guys, for your input! I'll leave the rain gear at home. As for the rest, I'm kind of on the fence. Those of you who carry your stuff with you have a good point, that way you don't have to be anxious about your bag. On the flip side, it'd be so nice to not have to haul everything around by hand while waiting in line.



Wow, I never even thought about that. If I have food in a zipped backpack or a zipped lunchbag, will the critters still go for it?

For some reason, it keeps telling me I can’t post a pic because the file is too big, but I have several pics of a squirrel digging around in the bottom of our stroller while YDD is still sleeping inside! I have one of him looking at her and he just keeps digging! I was standing right there while DH took ODD on a rider swap ride and looked down at the baby and there was a squirrel, not a foot away from my leg!!!

 

[Beth33]

For some reason, it keeps telling me I can’t post a pic because the file is too big, but I have several pics of a squirrel digging around in the bottom of our stroller while YDD is still sleeping inside! I have one of him looking at her and he just keeps digging! I was standing right there while DH took ODD on a rider swap ride and looked down at the baby and there was a squirrel, not a foot away from my leg!!!

That's brazen. I've never seen a squirrel act that way. I guess all of those Disney princesses who make friends with the forest creatures have spoiled them

Did the critter get anything? I can't say I relish the idea of a squirrel climbing all over the backpack, but as long as it can't get inside the zipped bag I can deal with it.

 

[BrookieM2001]

That's brazen. I've never seen a squirrel act that way. I guess all of those Disney princesses who make friends with the forest creatures have spoiled them

Did the critter get anything? I can't say I relish the idea of a squirrel climbing all over the backpack, but as long as it can't get inside the zipped bag I can deal with it.

If I remember correctly, he was trying to get into the styrofoam container of our lunch leftovers. But it was wedged in because we had reclined the stroller back for the sleeping baby, so he kept trying but he never got into the food I don’t think...

 

[brent02139]

We put our stuff in a kid’s backpack, nobody would steal a kid’s backpack. And when loading/off loading at a bus, it’s easy to move everything out