Stroller Jacking! Bait Car - Disney Style

[AshRose26]

I plan on renting a stroller from Disney, but I would love to look at a picture. Does anyone have a picture of one? I am debating on how big a bag I can take with us during the day and also, how many cupholders it has? We plan on getting a refillable cup but with four people, I don't need the headache of my kids complaining about carrying their cups if there aren't enough cupholderse.

 

[SRiley1985]

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

How about the stuff that you put on the stroller to distinguish it from everyone else's? Last year I printed a paper sign that said "Mason's Monorail" and had a picture of a cartoon monorail on it. I put the sign in a sheet protector and attached the sheet protector to the stroller with zip ties. We came out of the Land about halfway through our trip and someone had stolen the sign out of the sheet protector! People are pathetic.

 

[pascalstongue]

How about the stuff that you put on the stroller to distinguish it from everyone else's? Last year I printed a paper sign that said "Mason's Monorail" and had a picture of a cartoon monorail on it. I put the sign in a sheet protector and attached the sheet protector to the stroller with zip ties. We came out of the Land about halfway through our trip and someone had stolen the sign out of the sheet protector! People are pathetic.

That is shocking!!

 

[lynypixie]

If your stroller is misplaced, there is a good chance that a CM did it. We've seen on several occasions last week, CM putting strollers somewhere else, because people do not park them in the designated area.

There are stroller parkings. If you park your stroller anywhere, it WILL be moved.

 

[Robo]

I plan on renting a stroller from Disney, but

1- I would love to look at a picture. Does anyone have a picture of one? I am debating on how big a bag I can take with us during the day and also, how many cupholders it has?

2- We plan on getting a refillable cup but with four people, I don't need the headache of my kids complaining about carrying their cups if there aren't enough cupholderse.

1-
http://www.wdwinfo.com/tips_for_touring/strollerrental.htm

http://allears.net/pl/strol_faq.htm

2- Don't know exactly what you mean regarding the cups,
but just for information, there are no refillable cups available or used at the Disney theme parks.
(Just at the resorts and water parks.)

 

[GillianP1301]

Sorry to the OP that this happened to you, but great tip to keep your rental paperwork out of the stroller. I suspect stroller theft probably happens very regularly, but I would bet the minority of those thefts are deliberate for the sake of making money (by either the contents or resale value of the stroller). The majority are probably from lazy, entitled, pathetic people who think it's no big deal to "borrow" it for personal use in the park.

I do also think there are probably a lot of lost strollers from them being moved and probably some inadvertent mix ups. But really, the latter should never happen. If you have half a brain, you quickly check the name tag before taking it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I plan on renting a stroller from Disney, but I would love to look at a picture. Does anyone have a picture of one? I am debating on how big a bag I can take with us during the day and also, how many cupholders it has? We plan on getting a refillable cup but with four people, I don't need the headache of my kids complaining about carrying their cups if there aren't enough cupholderse.

No cupholders at all.

 

[Granny square]

It's interesting that you posted this today. We 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. Pretty disgusting if you ask me.

We always just left the stroller at the exit. The dollar return wasn't worth standing in line.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I do also think there are probably a lot of lost strollers from them being moved and probably some inadvertent mix ups. But really, the latter should never happen. If you have half a brain, you quickly check the name tag before taking it.

I have a complete brain & managed to do it. There was no reason to check the tag because it was exactly where we left it. We didn't know that it had been moved & somebody else parked their's in the same spot we had used originally. It's a very easy mistake to have made.

 

[Bell30012]

There are two pockets on the back of the rental strollers that easily hold a QS drink or 16 ounce bottle

 

[PeterPanic]

I plan on renting a stroller from Disney, but I would love to look at a picture. Does anyone have a picture of one? I am debating on how big a bag I can take with us during the day and also, how many cupholders it has? We plan on getting a refillable cup but with four people, I don't need the headache of my kids complaining about carrying their cups if there aren't enough cupholderse.

Cup Holders? Seriously?

 

[gottaluvdisney]

Back in 1978 our second visit to Disney with my grandmother - her wheelchair got stollen three times in one day. We had to get new ones each time. The last time we caught the kids doing wheelies in it. Had our name still on the back. Sad that some people think this is ok.

 

[Orangeandwild]

Not just Disney rental strollers, park rental scooter often are taken and used by someone else as the rental keys they give you fit all their scooters. If someone cannot find their scooter, due to forgetting where they put it or some CM moving it they just take another. I know someone who found all their items removed from the Disney scooter, set on the ground and the scooter was taken by someone else.

DH and I also saw a very drunk couple in Epcot once whom not only had stolen someones Disney park scooter, but were joy riding on it and making a lot of noise about having taken it. The moron who took it actually hit a guy almost in front of us, hopped off the scooter, said to the poor guy he hit, this isn't my scooter and the drunk couple walked away leaving the injured guy without even an apology and with the scooter with someone else's stuff in it

 

[M5ward]

We run a stroller lock through the back wheels so they won't turn. Someone would look pretty silly trying to wheel a stroller out of the park using only the front wheels. The CMs can still move it, but they only move them a short distance. We never leave anything that even looks valuable in them. And we tie bright ribbons on them (we found that using balloons was a pain because they kept hitting us in the face.)

 

[Disneytwinsmom]

wow! I had no idea that stroller stealing was an issue!

 

[letsgoreds]

It must have been the BTG's !

Back from a late Jan trip...so I totally get it!

 

[wilkeliza]

I believe there is no deposit on strollers and wheel chairs anymore. You just pay the flat fee and that is it. CMs won't let you leave the park with them (or shouldn't) so Disney isn't as afraid of those being stolen and they are pretty cheap to replace. The ECVs on the other hand are limited and expensive.

I actually witnessed a stroller theft as a CM and got the teenagers thrown out for it. The teenagers had been either dropped off by their parents are just seperated from their group and decided joy ridding in a stolen stroller was the best idea of fun they could come up with in EPCOT. They were pushing each other in it under the breeze way leading to MS and TT. I watched them to see if they would ditch it but they actually ran it into one of the cement columns and it shattered! I knew I was headed to a place near security so I got a good mental image of the kids and told the security guard I love. As he approached them to give them a warning they booked it for the fountain in the middle. Needless to say the punks got what they deserved.

Just don't forget this is Disney we are all talking about and it is relatively safe and amazing but the CMs can only do some much. We try to make sure strollers are watched and taken care of but one stroller parking CM could be in charge of parking and watching over 100 strollers and that doesn't include moving ones that aren't properly parked into the correct area. That means there is potential to have your stroller moved, taken, or even simply misplaced so not having valuables in it is #1. If your stroller is stolen stop by GR to see what might be able to be done.

 

[ChristineOH]

It's interesting that you posted this today. We 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. Pretty disgusting if you ask me.

If they were right by the exit, then the strollers were probably ditched, but we parked our stroller near the entrance and left it during afternoon breaks. We always found it when we returned, luckily.

 

[kirsangel]

I wish I could say it was smarts that caused me to have the stroller receipt it was luck. I happened to shove them in my pocket after we started rolling. I am guilty of using that back pocket on the stroller as a catch all.

With as much as this happens at WDW, don't you think that Disney could put a stop to it? After all, it costs them money. Someone got out of paying $31 for each park stroller swiped. I have no idea how many times it happens but lets just for example purposes say a dozen times a day (across all four parks), I'm sure it's higher. That comes to $2,604 per week and $135,408 per year. This is a substantial revenue loss that could be stopped relatively cheaply.

I guess they could make money if it is a personal stroller stolen as the family would then rent one.

Lost revenue? Disney does not lose any money if a stroller is stolen. They actually make more money because if you do not have your receipt, you would actually rent again, right?

 

[dalayney]

wow! I had no idea that stroller stealing was an issue!

Wow, me neither. We're renting one for our 7 yr. old and this just gives me an excuse to "foof" it up now. So ... if you see a stroller next week with lots of blue and green ribbons, some bling, etc...that'll be us. I'll try and make it so no sane person would want to be seen w/it.