expensive stroller worries

[disneymom2one]

Hi ...

We have a nine year old daughter with Asperger's as well as SID and hypotonia among other issues. We finally just broke down and bought a nice Maclaren special needs stroller. She can't walk or stand for long distances without major meltdowns. Anyway, we've had it a month and it has made our family's life so much easier.

We're headed over to WDW for the day this weekend and I'm a little concerned about it walking off. As you guys know, these things are expensive. At almost $500 I can't really easily afford to replace it. Should I worry? We've been to WDW 15+ times but this is a new situation for us.

Thoughts?

 

[minkydog]

Do you have an insurance rider through your homeowner's insurance? I would think you could get one. We have an expensive Convaid (~ $1600). It looks suffiiciently clinical that we don't worry too much. But it's a nice stroller, sturdy enough for a teenager, so I hand a small insulated bag on the back, put a raggedy T-shirt over the seat and leave a diaper visible.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

What you could do is get a bicycle cable and lock. Run the cable through the wheels when you park it. Do NOT attach it to anything! This way if a CM needs to reposition the stroller it can be moved, but someone would have a very hard time walking off with it.

 

[SueM in MN]

It may be covered under your homeowners indurance even without a special rider. My DD has 2 wheelchairs -a manual one that cost around $6000 and a power one at around $8-9000. Our insurance does cover them.

If you are keeping the stroller in line with you, it will be usually be parked at the loading or unloading area. That's a lot more protected than just leaving it where the strollers are parked. Even though the ride CMs are not specifically watching it, people don't usually notice or bother the strollers/wheelchairs that are parked at the the unloading area. They are kind of fixated on getting out.

if you do decide to use a lock, what some people do is lock it in a way that allows the stroller to be rolled, but not folded. That way, you can use it easily, but anyone who tries to take it and leave the park won't be able to fold it. one of the problems with regular strollers is that people mistake someone else's for their own because so many of them look alike. You won't have that problem since there won't be that many like yours. But, marking the stroller so it is easy to identify helps.

 

[leise]

Someone on these boards posted that a foolproof way of making sure no-one pinched your stroller was to tie a plastic bag containing a diaper onto the handles....
We've never tried it, but we did have our stroller moved by CM's on numerous times on our last trip, they constantly need to tidy them up as people come and go. My husband always thought it had been nicked but it would turn up. Except once outside the Living Seas where someone took our double, and swapped it for their single, moving all our stuff and our name card into a single stroller and making off with the double.... I just had to tell myself they were probably desparate with two screaming kids....

 

[Mike Bartenhagen]

We have a Convaid Medical Stroller and I had the same concerns that you do before our trip last fall. One thing I would suggest is that you get the Guest Assistance Card and then if you feel uncomfortable about leaving it you will be able to take it most places with you. We ended up leaving ours in the stroller parking many times and felt comfortable doing it and had no problems.

Mike

 

[SueM in MN]

Someone on these boards posted that a foolproof way of making sure no-one pinched your stroller was to tie a plastic bag containing a diaper onto the handles....
We've never tried it, but we did have our stroller moved by CM's on numerous times on our last trip, they constantly need to tidy them up as people come and go. My husband always thought it had been nicked but it would turn up. Except once outside the Living Seas where someone took our double, and swapped it for their single, moving all our stuff and our name card into a single stroller and making off with the double.... I just had to tell myself they were probably desparate with two screaming kids....

I share your

Even though many people are seeing that "hint" for the first time, it's been around for at least 15 years that I am aware of and would not stop anyone who really wanted to take anything.

People do sometimes take the rental strollers, but if yours is missing, you can take your receipt with you to the stroller place get another one. If you look on the map, they have stroller replacement places in other spots besides the entrance. Be sure to keep your receipt somewhere besides the little place on top pf the rental stroller.
A lot of the strollers that people think are missing are just moved by CMs to keep things orderly and keep a fire lane clear. It is a good idea to mark your stroller. Some people tie mylar ribbons to their stroller near the handle. THat makes it easy to spot, the ribbon would touch someone's hand while pushing it (so hopefully they will notice they took the wrong stroller) and the mylar ribbon is hard to remove.

 

[meandtheguys2]

You know, though, the only strollers we've had swiped were the ones that were empty rentals. I think it is something akin to a victimless crime to some folks. In our rentals, we leave some (expendable) stuff. I think the average "joe" who is just being lazy or cheap avoids these, because they don't want to actually be a thief.

It is all theory, but it has worked for us in several different situations.

And really don't lose the receipt! It is necessary for a replacement!

Never had our good personal strollers, ECV's or WCs messed with, aside from the basic hide-and-seek game the CM's play! Have a lovely trip!

 

[Selket]

Do check with your insurance agent for coverage however. I added a special package on to our homeowner's insurance to cover my son's insulin pump (replacement cost $6000). Of course he rarely removes it but we may remove it in a water park and put it in a locked locker for a short time. If the locker got broken into and the pump stolen it would be covered.

That seems more far-fetched than a stroller taken but still I don't wish to be out $6000 - we couldn't afford to replace that pump and he really needs it for quality of life as you can imagine!

 

[Ambassador]

We have often used a barrel-combination bicycle lock for our stroller, through the wheels only as recommended. If you should spot a CM doing their job organizing strollers, have a word with them about your concerns and they may keep an eye on things. Do personalize your stroller in some way, for easy identification and to discourage others.

 

[zumbergc]

One personalization I saw on my last trip. Someone put those birthday type mylar streamers in the wheel spokes on the wheel chair. Really made the chair look special and stand out. Easy to find.

Connie

 

[dj2]

even if it is covered under your insurance, you probably have a deductible and it's better not to put in for little claims against your policy. so i think you should get the GAC to allow you to keep the stroller with you while waiting in lines, so you can be with it as much as possible. then the only time it's not with you is while you are actually on some of the rides, and it's not in some big stroller parking area. you could try the locking idea, too, but i think you might find after awhile that you'll feel comfortable leaving it w/o locking it at most of the rides. it'll usually be in a pretty "sheltered" area by the ride exit, and Sue's right, most people will be focused on leaving the ride, not stealing a special needs stroller.

 

[saymama]

I haven't read the responses, but I would suggest to get a GAC and use it as a wheelchair, that way it basically never leaves you and when it does, it is in a spot that is usually watched by cast members.

I have 2 boys with autism and we did this last year with our convaid. It worked out very well! We ended up renting a regular stoller because my oldest has hypotonia and I underestimated his walking ability. I should get him one as well.

 

[JodyTG]

Here's a suggestion that a friend told me. Not to be gross, but she took a clean diaper, opened it up and poured root beer on it and placed it on the hood of the stroller. It looked completely disgusting, but no one touched it. Besides, she knew that it wasn't what it looked liked. It was funny after a while, though. Just a thought...

 

[SueM in MN]

Here's a suggestion that a friend told me. Not to be gross, but she took a clean diaper, opened it up and poured root beer on it and placed it on the hood of the stroller. It looked completely disgusting, but no one touched it. Besides, she knew that it wasn't what it looked liked. It was funny after a while, though. Just a thought...

Even though a lot of people are hearing about this for the first time now, this "hint" has been around for a long time (like about 15 years). So, it's very likely that any actual theives know about it and would not be grossed out at all (since there are so many garbage containers in the parks, not many people would carry a real dirty diaper).