REMINDER: Keep your stuff close

[tsme]

Not only do people steal from strollers, last year I saw a squirrel taking cookies from a stroller in front of the Crystal Palace.

Ugh! The Crystal Palace area is a huge hot bed for thieves! I mean they’re stealing something from someone every single day. I’ve witnessed it first hand. One day one even came sit right next to me & tried to steal from me when I had turned my head. Oh yes! What nerve! Luckily I caught him & you know what I don’t think he was even embarrassed he was caught. Plus, he pulled the old I can’t speak or understand English bit. Yep, but I got a picture of him. If you see him, don’t turn your back! Keep your eyes open people!

 

[Pamela M]

Ugh! The Crystal Palace area is a huge hot bed for thieves! I mean they’re stealing something from someone every single day. I’ve witnessed it first hand. One day one even came sit right next to me & tried to steal from me when I had turned my head. Oh yes! What nerve! Luckily I caught him & you know what I don’t think he was even embarrassed he was caught. Plus, he pulled the old I can’t speak or understand English bit. Yep, but I got a picture of him. If you see him, don’t turn your back! Keep your eyes open people!

LOL!! I had a seagal steal a hotdog right out of my hand once at Pier 29 in San Francisco.

 

[Beth33]

okay....so suppose you wrap the chain through the spokes in the stroller wheels and around the frame? Does that make anybody happy?

Look, theft is a real thing and you can't prevent all of it. All u can do is encourage the bad guys to try somewhere else....like having the alarm system signs on your lawn. The casual crook will try next door....maybe.

That won't work because the CM's have to move the strollers around all the time as "stroller parking" empties out and fills up... You aren't supposed to chain up the stroller in such a way so as to keep the CM's (or thieves) from moving it...

Actually, if you wrap the chain around one wheel and the nearby frame, I think that would be fine. It's different from chaining a stroller to a bench or such. The CM can still move the stroller, though they might need to pick up the rear wheels to do so and just push it on the front ones.

That's basically what we did (except using a bike chain and our regular backpack) when we left our backpack with incidentals in it. Things like ponchos, clothes, water, pull-ups, etc., that we wouldn't be heartbroken to lose but we wouldn't really want to lose either. We were never reprimanded by a CM the whole time we were there last year for doing this.

 

[DisLiss]

Confession time: I went to Chickfillet to pick up breakfast on the way to work, and I went into the building. When I returned to my car, I opened the door and sat down, and immediately I realized IT WASN'T MY CAR. Someone else's bag was on the passenger seat! I couldn't get out of that car fast enough, but -- wouldn't you know it? The real owners were just coming out of the restaurant, and they saw me. I couldn't apologize enough /fast enough, and I pointed at my identical car only two spaces down.

LOL! I once tried to get into my car and couldn't figure out why my key fob wouldn't unlock the door. Then I noticed my kids' car seats were missing, and then I realized "Hey! The car looks really clean inside." (Because normally crumbs would collect under the car seats.) And that's when I *finally* realized my car was one row and one car back from where I was standing.

BUT, one time the opposite happened and a guy walked over to my car and opened the driver door to get inside...and I was sitting in the passenger seat! I said "Can I help you with something?", and it startled the poor guy and then he was sooo embarrassed when he realized what he had done. Then his wife came out of the store and saw him there, realized what he had done, and started teasing the poor guy to death about it. The whole situation was pretty funny.

 

[DisLiss]

When we go, I bring a small assortment of cinch bags, fanny packs, and small cross body bags with us, and we generally choose 1 or 2 to take in the park with us. Typically we stick one folded up empty bag inside the other so that if at some point the bag gets a bit heavier than we like, we can split our belongings into 2 bags. But we use very small bag so they can easily go on rides unless they are not allowed, in which case they can easily fit into a locker.

We try to bring only really basic items...some ziploc bags to stick phones into on wet rides, medications we need during a day out, sunglasses, sunscreen, a few first aid items like a couple band-aids and some blister care items, any autograph books or pressed penny book the kids may want, and a few small paper plates and plastic utensils in a larger ziploc. (We use those when we want to share an item in the park.) Those things are all fairly small and lightweight, so it's no biggie for use to just keep the bag of them on us at all times. If someone is tired of wearing the bag we trade off so no one is tempted to take the bag off and set it down for a bit.

 

[makthompson]

We've been going to DW and DL since my now 20 year old DD was 11 months. We never had anything stolen and left everything except purses in there. So sad to hear this is happening, but with people ever changing and getting away with stuff it doesn't surprise me at all. We did have an incident one time though in DW. I had handed my 2 yo DD a $20 to pay for her stuff and she dropped it. Before i could tell her to pick it up a lady behind us grabbed it and said mine now. I told her my daughter just dropped it and the woman was refusing to give it back!! I got a little loud and said you're stealing my daughters money!! I guess because people were looking at her she got embarrassed and handed my DD back the money, but not without telling her if she drops it again she will NOT give it back....

 

[mom2rtk]

We've been going to DW and DL since my now 20 year old DD was 11 months. We never had anything stolen and left everything except purses in there. So sad to hear this is happening, but with people ever changing and getting away with stuff it doesn't surprise me at all. We did have an incident one time though in DW. I had handed my 2 yo DD a $20 to pay for her stuff and she dropped it. Before i could tell her to pick it up a lady behind us grabbed it and said mine now. I told her my daughter just dropped it and the woman was refusing to give it back!! I got a little loud and said you're stealing my daughters money!! I guess because people were looking at her she got embarrassed and handed my DD back the money, but not without telling her if she drops it again she will NOT give it back....

WTH? That's awful.

 

[makthompson]

Right! The woman had to be in her 50's. You would have thought she would have handed it back to my daughter immediately, at least that's what I would have done.

 

[mom2rtk]

Right! The woman had to be in her 50's. You would have thought she would have handed it back to my daughter immediately, at least that's what I would have done.

You handled that better than me. I probably would have had a very un-Disney like response.

 

[Sara_H]

A friend of mine was there about a year and half ago and they stopped at one of the parks, I think HS, before heading to the airport. Their car had all their luggage in it and someone broke into their car and stole her husband's laptop, a gopro I believe and several souvenirs. Apparently people own some sort of device that can unlock vehicles that aren't theirs. They reported to security and were given no help and were basically told "it happens." So frustrating that even if you take the correct measures like locking your car, you still aren't necessarily safe. In my opinion, monitoring the parking lot could be easily done. It is a shame that a few bad apples ruin it for all. I have a hard time trusting anybody and it is sad.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

A friend of mine was there about a year and half ago and they stopped at one of the parks, I think HS, before heading to the airport. Their car had all their luggage in it and someone broke into their car and stole her husband's laptop, a gopro I believe and several souvenirs. Apparently people own some sort of device that can unlock vehicles that aren't theirs. They reported to security and were given no help and were basically told "it happens." So frustrating that even if you take the correct measures like locking your car, you still aren't necessarily safe. In my opinion, monitoring the parking lot could be easily done. It is a shame that a few bad apples ruin it for all. I have a hard time trusting anybody and it is sad.

Suitcases, shopping bags, etc they all have always created a risk.

While the advice is to try and make them as hidden as possible (trunk, under seats, etc) things can still happen. Around Christmas time the local mall can get hit quite hard with this. Being at Disney is no different just with vacation it can make it harder to hide stuff when you start adding in luggage and how the back of the car is designed.

Monitoring parking lots only go so far realistically.