Any pool thefts

scrapycruiser

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
Should I be concerned about my stuff by the pool ? What does everyone do with their things when you want to jump in the hot tub or go down the lazy river?
 
Been to Aulani 4-5 times and never had anything go missing. We tend to take a small bag with our phones, kindles and sunscreen. Our room key we keep on us at all time (husband's in his boardshorts pocket, I tend to put mine in my swimmer top whenever we are all in the water at the same time). The bag we leave on the seat along with our towels, whatever shoes we are wearing, coverups and hats.
 
We've been a few times, never had any issues however we won't leave high value stuff around. We don't need our phones when swimming so we leave those in our villa. I have left my ebook there with no problems, as well as our cups, a small back with knickknacks, etc
 
A few minutes after we sat on the loungers, a young couple near by were talking with disney security.
They were in the water about 15 minutes and had placed a wallet and phone under their towels and it went missing.

For all our beach and pool outings, we used a waterproof fanny pack type belt (amazon) with room card,credit card, phone (and car keys when going off-site). I used a waterproof camera and kept it on my wrist while swimming and wading.

Anything you would miss, don't leave at the poolside or beach.
 


Agree. Wallet under the towel etc. is definitely a step too loose, as it seems that couple learned. Petty theft and car break ins are common in Hawaii, and the Aulani beach is indeed public, a few steps and unlocked gate from the pools. In fact walking the pool grounds is arguably open to the public given that dining reservations are not exclusive to guests.

Amazon has a nice zip up bag safe with a bike-type cable. We use these for beaches and pools which add one more mild layer of security (a would-be thief would need to be walking around w a strong snipping shear). Still, would otherwise strive to keep valuables on your person (shorts or waterproof bag as stated), or in the room.
 
Keep in mind that all beaches in Hawaii are public. Even at Aulani, although the public isn't permitted to use the chairs. But they can use the lagoon and beach.

I have a KYSS bag that I use. It has zippers that can lock shut and the bag has a built-in small chain that you can wrap around a fixture (umbrella or chair) that also locks into place to prevent someone from walking off with the bag. Its also slash-proof. We still try not to bring anything of value with us to the pool or beach, but this bag gives us more peace of mind.
 
We have waterproof lanyards for our phones and rom key (you know kids Instagram in the lazy river LOL), but that doesn’t work on the body slides. I also have a very flat fanny pack I can fit under a tanking top.
 


Thieves are looking for someone that leaves their valuables unguarded because they assume they are safe or are too lazy to protect them!

Always protect your valuables according to the situation. While the Aulani pool is 99% safe, you still need to protect from the 1%. No place it 100% safe.


-Paul
 
I would definitely not bring a tablet/computer or wallet to a pool if someone from my party will not be guarding it. Putting an item under a towel is like leaving the key to your front door under the oddly placed rock on your front porch.
 
Having something stolen ruins a vacation don’t set yourself up for that no matter where you go there are sticky fingers
 
We never brought anything but sunglasses, towels and beach cover-ups to the beach or pools; we all had pockets in our swim shirts/pants to put our room key in. We didn't figure we needed phones or anything. We left it all in our room.
 
I don't take anything valuable other than our phones and sunglasses. We both have jobs where we pretty much have to be available to take calls or respond to texts, unfortunately so we cannot be without our phones, even on vacation. I've purchased some clear plastic phone covers with cords to put around our necks so we can carry our phones with us. The cords on these plastic covers do break easily so if you end up getting some for your trip, don't take them into the ocean but you should be fine in the pool.
 
We left our phones and Kindles in our beach bag on our chairs and they were always fine. Looking back, we probably should have kept them in the waterproof cases and taken them into the pools with us, but our stuff was never bothered.
 
I don't take anything valuable other than our phones and sunglasses. We both have jobs where we pretty much have to be available to take calls or respond to texts, unfortunately so we cannot be without our phones, even on vacation. I've purchased some clear plastic phone covers with cords to put around our necks so we can carry our phones with us. The cords on these plastic covers do break easily so if you end up getting some for your trip, don't take them into the ocean but you should be fine in the pool.
Try a SealLine zip pouch and a regular lanyard. Ours have been everywhere with never a leak or break! I regularly float in the lake and read on my Kindle app :). (I pretty much have to always have my phone too, so I understand you...)
 
We use kyss bags when at beach & waterparks. It’s staying home for Hawaii trip as most beaches we will be visiting won’t have loungers or even much in way of trees to attach it.

I just can’t bring myself to trust even the most pricey waterproof phone bags. Will use a small, wallet sized one bag that can be worn around neck on string lanyard or tied & tucked into swimsuit for room keys, IDs, money etc. i’ll Go old school and use a waterproof camera vs iphone as it also can be clipped to swimsuit.
 
We had our camera stolen from the bottom of Rainbow Reef snorkel lagoon (I had dropped it by accident) but it was returned within two hours. The person thought it was his wife's camera and soon realised it wasn't. In talking with security and various CMs, they said theft of personal items is rare on property. Money and slippers/flip flops commonly go missing, though -- even though the custom in Hawaii is that if you take someones flip flops you leave your own in their place... but that's not exactly understood or welcomed by travellers.

Otherwise, we leave everything in our room and just bring our room key and the underwater camera. You can charge everything to your room, so there is no need for a wallet. When we had a phone we kept it in a waterproof lanyard. The resort is so small that it's super easy to run up to your room to get anything you need, even if you're on the fifth floor.
 
Everything of value I keep in a waterproof pouch around my neck. I use my phone for checking the time/taking pictures and video, and I don't have pockets in my swimsuit to carry room key/ID, so it all goes in the pouch. All that's left on the chair are things nobody should want to steal, and if they did it would be no big deal. Swimsuit coverups, cheap flip flops, and sunscreen. I roll the dice with the refillable mugs, but they're all over the place and relatively inexpensive so I guess not much of a target item for thievery.
 
We had our sunscreen and magazines stolen but really they were probably just put in the trash. It was the chairs they were after. We were gone for about 20 minutes and a couple stole the chairs and when we asked about the sunscreen and magazines they pretended they didn't know where they were. It was very unlikely that it was the hotel staff as it had been well under an hour and we rarely saw staff moving stuff from unused chairs during our trip. It was the chairs that face out to the ocean near the adult only pool. Those seemed to be the highest-coveted chairs there.
 
Just got back. Had no problem with theft around the pool. We just covered it with towels. You can get lots of them at the towel stations
 
We have been to aulani several times. We leave phones and iPads on our chairs, we never bring money to the pool, just use our room key for purchases. We have never had a problem.
 

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