Stroller Jacking! Bait Car - Disney Style

[Robo]

went to Epcot for dinner last night and entered at about 5:30 when everyone was streaming out in the rain. We saw two different strollers sitting near the exit and I mentioned to my husband that I thought people were supposed to return them to the rental place.



Now I know, they were probably stolen from someone.

Very unlikely that they were "stolen." (Although that's one possibility, of course.)

There are dozens of guests (daily) who simply abandon their strollers as they exit
a park (or even leave them somewhere else deeper in the parks.)

They don't want to take the time/effort to return them.

 

[PeterPanic]

I think it's more likely the hugeness of Epcot with the only possible rental place at the front of the park. Someone brings their 7 year old who hardly ever plays outside, but expects them to walk 10 miles a day at Disney. By the time they reach Norway, their kid is sprawled out on the ground whining because their feet hurt. They see a random stroller that someone left out and think, hey that's a park stroller....maybe they know how expensive it is....maybe they don't...either way they know that if they snatch it and let their kid ride in it he/she will stop whining.

Personal stroller theft is a problem as well, but in those cases its often either a case of confusion or they're actually trying to remove them from the park, so they can sell them on eBay.

Your scenario is pretty good, but I don't think all of them are due to someone "deliberately" stealing the stroller. We have seen from some of the posts of the past how little most people do any research concerning a trip to WDW. I think that they are unaware, in many cases, that they are rented. I think they thought that they didn't need one but by about the 6 mile mark realize that was a mistake. They see a grouping of strollers all looking alike and think...Isn't just like Disney to anticipate this and have strollers available for people to use and for free as well. What a place. Yes, they were stupid and completely lacking in common sense, but why that would come as a surprise to anyone is baffling. Yes, there are some that don't care, aren't honest and see it unattended and just take it. But I don't think that is common.

 

[Kaylasmomma]

Very unlikely that they were "stolen." (Although that's one possibility, of course.)

There are dozens of guests (daily) who simply abandon their strollers as they exit
a park (or even leave them somewhere else deeper in the parks.)

They don't want to take the time/effort to return them.

i was thinking the same thing.. i mean it IS possible it could have been a stolen one... but its like the grocery carts... many people cant walk 5ft to put them in the corals

 

[Robo]

i was thinking the same thing.. i mean it IS possible it could have been a stolen one...


but its like the grocery carts... many people cant walk 5ft to put them in the corals

Buzzacly!

 

[Kellykins1218]

Disney strollers all look alike & someone may have just taken the wrong one especially since CMs move them constantly. You leave your stroller in one spot and they move it to another. Then someone else comes & parks their stroller where you originally parked yours. You come out, see it there & assume it's yours. We've done it. We didn't notice the wrong name card until later.

 

[kerry34]

Although I never had the experience of having anyone take a park stroller from me, I did have someone steal my own strollers for my twins at an offsite resort. I made the mistake of leaning them against the car and running back inside to bring one of the girls to the bathroom and when I came back out they were gone. I don't know how people live with themselves.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Once, at another amusement park, we were loading our two daughters (then 3 and 2...now in their 20s) in their car seats for the trip home. Someone just came from behind and stole one of our strollers. We didn't even notice until it was too late.

 

[loveDisneyinTN]

We were at HS on Jan 10th and our personal stroller got taken while everyone was on a ride! They took it due to a bag that was left in it, hoping to get something valuable but lucky for us it was just poncho's and some other random things that weren't worth much!

Luckily we found the bag in the bathroom! We ended up recovering the stroller as well, but for an hour or so we were pretty upset!!

 

[letsgoreds]

I seriously think half of the stroller jacks...are people jacking back their strollers...the other ones are instances where CM move them. A very small percentage are actual thefts. People really don't pay attention to what they are grabbing, and Disney strollers look a lot alike. There are also some popular brands that are in duplicate+ at the parks (Maclarens, Gracos, etc.).

That being said, I would never leave anything in my stroller that I couldn't replace...same with the stroller.

Same with luggage at the airport...even with my giant ribbons on by luggage, people still grab them off the carousel by mistake.

 

[mousejunkie98]

I think it's more likely the hugeness of Epcot with the only possible rental place at the front of the park. Someone brings their 7 year old who hardly ever plays outside, but expects them to walk 10 miles a day at Disney. By the time they reach Norway, their kid is sprawled out on the ground whining because their feet hurt. They see a random stroller that someone left out and think, hey that's a park stroller....maybe they know how expensive it is....maybe they don't...either way they know that if they snatch it and let their kid ride in it he/she will stop whining.

Personal stroller theft is a problem as well, but in those cases its often either a case of confusion or they're actually trying to remove them from the park, so they can sell them on eBay.

There is stroller rental in Epcot at the International Gateway (between France & the UK pavilions), right next to the turnstiles near that gift shop. So if your stroller ever goes missing while you're in the World Showcase, don't go all the way back to the front of the park!

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

We had our personal stroller taken two years ago. We parked it close to IASW at MK and couldn't find it. We had parked two strollers next to each other so we knew that someone took the other. We told a couple of CMs and talked them and they were nice enough to bring us a rental at no charge. We then walked over to the carousel to ride and saw the stroller parked - so we stole it back!

Something similar happened to us. We came out of The Land at EP and couldn't find our personal stroller. We were leaving for the day, anyway, so we were walking towards the exit, and we saw our stroller parked right by spaceship Earth. We knew it was ours because of the happy birthday button pinned to it. (it was hand written with decorations, so it was unique).

 

[jrtoastyman]

I seriously think half of the stroller jacks...are people jacking back their strollers...the other ones are instances where CM move them. A very small percentage are actual thefts. People really don't pay attention to what they are grabbing, and Disney strollers look a lot alike. There are also some popular brands that are in duplicate+ at the parks (Maclarens, Gracos, etc.).

This was my immediate reaction as well. I'm sure there are some legitimate thefts, but I would bet that most "thefts" are people who have their strollers moved by CMs and can't find them -- and I would think this would be particularly prevalent with Disney strollers, since there isn't really anything unique to help you spot it in a sea of identical strollers. CM's seem to be constantly moving and reorganizing stroller banks, and I'd say around a third of the time, my stroller is somewhere other than where I left it when I go to pick it up, and occasionally it's in a dramatically different location. Thankfully, my stroller looks like crap so it's easy to spot, but if it were one of the hundreds of identical Disney strollers, I could see it being an issue.

 

[Barnhill9586]

We've been at WDW all this week. I bought length of stay stroller passes. A piece of advice to parents who rent a stroller from WDW; Do not leave your receipt and stroller passes in your park stroller. Luckily mine were in my pocket.

Our rental double park stroller was Stroller Jacked twice in a seven day period. Both times at EPCOT. If you have your stroller ticket for that day, WDW will give you another, at no charge. However, this means you walk with your not happy children from The Land or from Norway back to the front of the park.

The CMs told us that they have many of these each day. MANY! While we were there another parent had come in with the same problem. He left his kids with the wife and made the trek to the front alone. However, bad news for him. He didn't have his stroller receipt. A double stroller rents for $31 per day ($27 if you buy multiple days). With the security that WDW has, why can't they slap a GPS on a couple of these, leave them around the park in stroller parking and nap these bandits?

A little Bait Car - Disney Style.

Man I'm glad mine are past that age! That's more per day than Hertz is charging me to rent a Jeep Grand Cherokee for our upcoming trip!

 

[letsgoreds]

This was my immediate reaction as well. I'm sure there are some legitimate thefts, but I would bet that most "thefts" are people who have their strollers moved by CMs and can't find them -- and I would think this would be particularly prevalent with Disney strollers, since there isn't really anything unique to help you spot it in a sea of identical strollers. CM's seem to be constantly moving and reorganizing stroller banks, and I'd say around a third of the time, my stroller is somewhere other than where I left it when I go to pick it up, and occasionally it's in a dramatically different location. Thankfully, my stroller looks like crap so it's easy to spot, but if it were one of the hundreds of identical Disney strollers, I could see it being an issue.

Agreed...on a recent trip, my sister who is a very smart, observent person, and wasn't in any sort of a rush was headed back after not being able to find her stroller and came across it...and it is orange. She was 100% convinced it had been stroller...and then it appeared, mocking her!

The OP made some very good points, and I hope this saves someone some $$$. We will bring one in Dec 13 and it is obnoxiously bright green...I would dare anyone to try to get away with it.

Also, to those who have experienced theft, I am truly sorry. It would totally suck, you brought the stroller for a reason. I just don't want newbies to think that this happens all the time, because it is the exception, not the rule.

As another PP mentioned, covering your stroller if there is the chance of rain, is an outstanding idea. Sucks to come back after riding a ride to find a sopping wet stroller. We have used collapsible golf umbrellas to cover a stroller as well as a poncho/tarp type thingy. Just depends on what we remember to pack!

 

[kkmauch]

I'm sorry this happened to you, but at the same time, I'm not convinced that both times the person responsible was "stealing" your stroller. We've actually witnessed on MULTIPLE occasions, someone coming to the stroller counter with a stroller that was not theirs and telling the person at the counter that they accidentally took the wrong one by mistake.

Twice in one week is unusual, but I wouldn't just assume they were stolen. With so many that all look alike, if you don't check that name plate (which, btw, many folks turn around so you cannot see the name), you may not immediately realize you ahve the wrong one.

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

Sorry this happen to you,but at least you were able to get a replacement..

This is one of my worst fears about taking a personal stroller..
We have a stroller lock, b/c I was reading a thread awhile back about a ring that were stealing higher priced strollers..

Someone had there high end stroller stolen, and when they reported it.. They were told there was a high number of strollers being stolen lately to be sold on ebay.

I agree with putting something on your stroller to so everyone knows its yours.. Lots and lots of ribbons it always good!

 

[Bell30012]

Today our stroller tag says, "Stolen from The Bell's" in big letters and has princess stickers on each wheel cover. And I shot a photo of the sticker number Disney has put on it. Of course, I doubt WDW would do anything if I spotted it.

 

[Braden's Momma]

This is why I am taking our 7 yo bright green stroller! I would not be too upset if it disappeared lol

 

[Tbiafore]

We learned the hard way...We had items stolen out of our personal stroller (which a CM found abandoned somewhere else in the park once it was stripped) and our Wheelchair in the same trip this last November. They did find the wheelchair as well, but that took a couple days.

Never had anything ever happen to us in the past, this one was a double whammy. Never leave anything in your cart/stroller/wheelchair.

 

[huhwhat]

How bad do people have to be to take your child's stroller!

It must have been the BTG's !