Stroller stealers?

[olive]

I just had to buy a new lightweight stroller because someone stole ours. I was planning on bringing this stroller (or now its replacement) to Disney with us in January. I remember another parent telling me awhile back that she had to buy a new stroller because theirs was stolen from the stroller parking area outside one of the attractions. Is there anyway to prevent this, or at least make it less likely to happen? Perhaps somehow wrapping a bike chain around the wheels? I don't want to spend too much of our vacation locking up and unlocking the stroller, but I also don't want to buy yet another Maclaren. If we hadn't just had a stroller snatched, I wouldn't even be thinking about it but now I feel a little more cautious.

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[bzzybee13]

If you do lock it just make sure the CMs will be able to move it if needed. Do either the front or the rear wheels, but not both, and don't lock it to anything like a bench or a fence.

 

[natashag76]

Skip taking the fancy Maclaren! I bought a decent light-weight stroller at Target for $15 specifically for our trip this summer - it has a basket, a reclining seat and a little canopy to keep out the sun. That way if it disappears it won't hurt us too much, financially speaking. Or you could just rent one at the parks. They offer deals if you rent for more than one day at a time.

 

[squirrel]

Mark your stroller with something visible so someone doesn't accidentaly take it.

Put your name and phone # on it an make sure it isn't easily removable.

 

[Cibahwewah]

I've only heard of the Maclaren brand being stolen. We took $20 Toy R Us plain jane lime green strollers, well marked with name tags and glo sticks. Not stolen, but yes, moved several times.

 

[katyjeka]

Quick story. We had our double stroller with us in 07. We left Soarin and could not find our stroller anywhere. CM's were helping us to look, they seemed a little surprised that it was missing. According to them, it doesnt happen very often. When we returned to our room that night there was a message from the front desk, they had our stroller. Someone had taken the time to return it to our hotel, with a note. They used our stroller all afternoon until they realized they had the wrong one. Luckily we had left our dining reservations for the day on a paper in the stroller, and they were able to track us down. The funniest part, they had left their stroller at home, and were renting a disney stroller. When they left Soarin they saw ours, which was the same as theirs at home, so they grabbed it and left. I was just thankful to get it back.

 

[Gabes_mommy]

I'm on a stroller board and someone there discovered that Disney does not allow you to lock up your stroller. If they see it they will cut the lock off. I believe it's because it can be considered a hazard of some sort. Just an FYI.

I have taken our nice stroller (Bugaboo Bee) to Disney twice and never had a problem. Although I have heard of strollers being taken I do think it is extremely rare.

My DS just outgrew our Bee so I am getting a Maclaren and I plan on using it at Disney. I do plan on putting our name on the stroller though. I think that's a good preventative measure.

Good luck!

 

[ktlm]

My guess is that a lot of strollers which get "stolen" are people who made a mistake as to which one is theirs. The CMs move the strollers around a lot (people come get theirs and CM move the others to fill the holes), so more often than not your stroller is not in the same spot where you left it in the stroller parking areas which I think leads to confusion for some people. Ours is a pretty unusual pattern and we still found others just like it, once one was parked right next to ours. I actually put my hand on it (since it was in the spot where I left mine) before realizing it wasn't ours and mine was sitting next to it. If you have a common one, you will see a ton of identical ones. We tie big bright colored ribbons on ours as well as a tag with our name and cell phone number in case someone were to accidently take it so they could find us. We took our Maclaren to WDW twice and we still have it.

 

[kevschickee]

I'm on a stroller board and someone there discovered that Disney does not allow you to lock up your stroller. If they see it they will cut the lock off. I believe it's because it can be considered a hazard of some sort. Just an FYI.

I have taken our nice stroller (Bugaboo Bee) to Disney twice and never had a problem. Although I have heard of strollers being taken I do think it is extremely rare.

My DS just outgrew our Bee so I am getting a Maclaren and I plan on using it at Disney. I do plan on putting our name on the stroller though. I think that's a good preventative measure.

Good luck!

I am renting my stroller from ABBF and they are giving me a bike lock with it. They said you cant lock it up to anything but you can put it through the wheel and onto the bottom of the stroller. that way it can be moved but it really can't be used

 

[Gabes_mommy]

I am renting my stroller from ABBF and they are giving me a bike lock with it. They said you cant lock it up to anything but you can put it through the wheel and onto the bottom of the stroller. that way it can be moved but it really can't be used

That makes sense. You can lock up the wheals but not lock it to anything else.

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

My sister brought her Maclaren and used a lock for the wheels. It was a pain in the neck, but it would have been worse if it had been stolen. She uses it as a wheelchair for her disabled daughter.
There were definately times we thought someone took it, because we just couldn't find it. Those Cm's move them so often that you never know where you will find it. Make sure you mark your stroller with something very visible that stands out. So many look alike.

 

[syko]

I have the bugaboo camelon and I remove one of the back wheels.
Never had a problem with CM, one once asked me why I was doing it, I told her the price and she said she would do the same!!!

 

[lucigo]

I think that if you make your stroller stand out from the rest there is less of a chance of someone taking it, either by accident or on purpose. (If they got caught they could say oh we thought it was ours). There are TONS of MacLarens in the parks so I would think that would be what a true thief would go for, they are expensive and plentiful. We had a Britax that we had put a big Mickey Mouse iron-on applique on, which made it easy to find and unlike any others in the park. When that stroller died and we bought a Baby Planet I thought it would be unique, especially since I took the straps out of it since I have an older child, but I still had a hard time locating it until we "decorated" it. I also put an autism pin on the sunshade, figuring surely if someone was going to steal a stroller they would think twice about stealing from a disabled child!?!

 

[eaj1228]

When we were in WDW we had no problems with stroller theft. Disneyland was a totally different. One of our two rental strollers were stolen with my brothers pictures that he bought from Space Mountain. It was a lesson learned to never leave anything valuable in your stroller.

Another time we rented two strollers for my nieces. My best friend took the older of the girls to the restroom so we parked the stollers next to eachother. While I was playing with the little one someone tried to steal the other stroller in front of my eyes. She took off before anyone had a chance to confront her. I was completely shocked. We assume she had a kid who was getting tired and she didn't want to carry them to the gates.

It is so frustrating because a stoller is nessesary but the cheap umbrella strollers are so low that they are uncomfortable to push but you don't want to bring an expensive stroller and have it be stolen.

 

[loveysbydesign]

I made this iron-on for the hood of our stroller!

 

[aidtrismommy]

I've been reading a lot of these stroller threads for some time now. I agree that most missing strollers are due to look-a-likes, but be aware that there are stroller stealers out there. I have read a few stories about this and these people just steal them to re-sell them or to use for themselves. It is pretty disgusting. If you can find a small bike lock to thread through the back wheels, do it. It is a great way to deter theft. The ones with the keys are easier and quicker to take on and off. (My new maclaren has spokes too close together so I am still searching for one thin enough. If anyone has any ideas, please help me out.) Please do not bother puring soda in a diaper and hanging it from your stroller. The stroller stealers are not stupid. They will just throw it away and steal your stroller anyways. Also, the tip about tying a red or orange ribbon the stroller is also no longer useful because everyone does it. Find a new creative way to mark your stroller (I love the Hartley family one posted above) Just be smart and take the precautions you need to because the whole point of buying expensive strollers is to use them and keep our babies comfy.

 

[NotUrsula]

What I've always done with my Macs is to put a long-hasp padlock across the fold joint in the back. It's my compromise solution, because I found that actually locking the wheels was too time-consuming in the parks, and I ended up not doing it most of the time. Police officers have always told me that the simplest defense against theft is to just make your item a bit more difficult to steal or re-sell -- most thieves will quickly move on to easier pickings and steal from someone else instead.

I figure that the someone who is a casual thief would probably abandon the stroller near the park entrance or in the parking lot when they realize that they would need a hacksaw to make it foldable. It probably wouldn't deter a professional eBay thief, but then, not much would. I have return-address labels shellacked onto the frame in several places, including some that are not easily visible (with my cell phone number added).

I put big poufs of metallic holographic curling ribbon on the handles of mine during the trip, it catches the light so that it is easier to see in the "parking lot" outside of a ride. It's difficult to remove without a sharp-point scissors. It also feels odd on your hands -- you are likely to notice it if you are not expecting it to be there, which would help to deter mix-ups, too.

 

[drewbie'smom]

I took the canopy for our Maclaren Volo and had our name embroidered in red (and in 2 inch letters, no less) on it. That was for our January trip.

We leave next week for Disney but this time I have a Baby Jogger City Mini. The canopy doesn't come off, so I can't do the same embroidery thing. I may look into some type of iron-on though!

I also have glow sticks for the night-time (we usually go in the off season, so we haven't spent much time in the parks after dark).

While I, too, am apprehensive about the stroller being stolen, I try not to let it consume me! (Of course, if it does get stolen, I may have a hard time remembering that! )

 

[*Belle*]

Our local ski store sells a retractable combination cable lock. We feed this thru the back wheels of our Maclaren stroller. If you have a solid wheel just drill a small hole thru the wheel cap to feed the cable thru. For us it's a great in convinience to not have our stroller.


Belle

 

[TravelinGal]

We have a Peg Perego (over $300) and we use a MasterLock Retractable Cable Lock. It's easy to carry around (far less bulky than a bike chain!) and we choose the 3 digit code for the lock. I put it through the front wheels and go knowing that it's far safer than any that has no lock. Yeah, those jerks who steal just to resell could still take it, but that goes back to taking items that are easy.

It is very thin and easy to feed through most any wheel.

(It's {the stroller, not the lock} also yellow - which is not a common color)

I would be very upset if our stroller was taken - not just because of the investment, but because of the time we'd lose having to go get another one. (we both have back issues and cannot push those short umbrella strollers)