Hi all. We are just back from disney travelling with a 16 month old and a 7 year old in a wheelchair. We took our bugaboo as getting around is tricky enough with our son and his disabilities so needed baby to be comfy etc. I wasn't keen on taking it I'll be honest but knew it would make our trip better and we don't know of our son will be able to travel again for a while so wanted to make the most of it. Anyway we used a bike lock in the parks but at cafe mickey in the village couldn't use it. We came out and it had been stolen. This was on our 2nd day so made the rest of the holiday really difficult. The strollers you can hire are not suitable for small toddlers and she kept falling out! They did give us a very basic folding stroller to travel home for which I'm very grateful but it has still been a pain not to mention the loss. The police said it happens all the time and the thieves actually buy annual passes and watch for nice prams etc so please please please do not leave anything unattended. Disney dealt with it as very best they could but I'd rather no one went through this x
I'm so sorry to hear about this :( How awful for you and on the 2nd day of your trip too. I hope it didn't put a damper on your trip and that your travel / home insurance will cover the replacement. xxx
That's just awful terrible to hear that someone would do that to you :'( what are people supposed to do then to make sure this doesn't happen I will be going next week and with my double buggy and also have cafe mickey booked is there nowhere to leave them? What about when you go on the rides?
That is terrible! We are taking our Phil & teds dot in September and this my nightmare as I will have a 3 year old and 4 month old. Can't believe there isn't somewhere secure to keep it in the village!
I was even more mad as we initially had inventions booked for every night but I was talked into swapping one night for cafe mickey for a change and now wish i had stuck to my plan!!! I would strongly urge you not to leave prams anywhere in the village. The rides we found easier as there were railings all around the park so we just locked it up with a bike lock. They did not have this at the restaurant but as the prams are parked right in front of reception we didn't think anyone would be so brazen but in hind sight how on earth would the cm's know which pram belonged to who. X
Thanks for the warning. Next time i will remove one or two wheels. Prams without wheels are useless ( I hope). And the wheels usually come off easily (at least from a bugaboo they do)
Funny you should say that because I said to my hubby almost immediately we should have taken the wheels off haha x
I don't have kids so would not suffer with this problem, however, from the information on this site it would appear that a real problem exists here. We cannot tell how bad the problem is, but Disney must be aware of it and I feel that it is their responsibility to help solve the problem! The very least they can do is address the problem at Cafe Mickey and provide some sort of area where prams etc can be locked up by the owners. It may still be a problem as the number of strollers outside Cafe Mickey can be incredible at time, but Disney make a handsome profit from this restaurant (I assume!) and they should step up to the mark and give their paying customers a hand here.
What do you all think?
Maybe one of you parents should start on online petition aimed at getting a response from the notoriously reticent Disneyland Paris management!
I am writing in to suggest something is put in place like it is for their own strollers which I guarantee no one would steal but you have to show paperwork to pass the gates. This would only stop thieves in the parks but it is one step. For the village they need a secure area and the stroller park outside cafe mickey could easily be fitted with something secure. The money they must make in there is astronomical as the quality of food and service is some of the worst I've had so they must make huge profits. They can easily afford a little outlay to provide something secure. I think I was more upset by the none caring attitude of staff as they are so used to it they aren't even a tiny bit shocked. I will admit I am not planning to visit again until my little one is out of a pram x
When we where there last week and where waiting to go into Café Mickey staff where just throwing the buggies that had been left inside by the doorway outside. Some of them had bags,toys etc underneath them. People who had left them there were most probably not aware that their prams where now outside. For the amount of prams that are left outside each night they should come up with some locking system where you are able to lock your pram/buggy up and then get given a token or ticket and only when you hand this in are you able to get your pram/buggy back. There is loads of space at the side where this could be put in place. When we had to take a pram we never had a problem but I bought a cheap buggy for when we travelled. I would write a strong letter and complain as this seems to be a problem that I think Disney need's to start looking into.
Is there somewhere the buggies can be left in the park if you are just popping out to disney village for lunch. For an couple of hours,!Think I might not bother bring it to cafe Mickey at all they could both manage short walk/carry! Terrible people should have to worry about their prams getting stolen on holidays. >:(
Our children have now reached the stage where we don't need to take pushchairs. However, when we did take pushchairs we always took the view that it is possible that things maybe stolen.
Nobody but the owner is responsible for their own property and I don't believe that any business (be it Disney, Tesco's or Alton Towers) should be held responsible for other peoples actions or property.
If they offer a storage facility that is manned then it is reasonable to expect to pay for that service.
We never left anything valuable on the pushchair. We always took a cheap pushchair since some idiot broke our Mamas and Papas on the Eurostar. It happens. That is what holiday insurance is for.
Since that incident we never took expensive equipment. It is an open invitation for the less than honest guest.
In 20 years of going to DLP it never ceases to amaze me how cavalier some people are with their property. Abandoning prams in silly places, leaving the strewn instead of sensibly parked. The castmembers then have to put some order to this and are blamed for moving the abandoned prams.
I have the utmost sympathy for people who have suffered theft or careless damage caused by another guest. But ultimately it is not Disney's responsibility.
That is made very clear in the park regulations
I do not believe it is disney's responsibility but what I object to is them knowing that they have thieves circulating the parks day in day out and just shrug it off as oh well it's what happens here and we don't have CCTV as it ruins the magic. My belongings are absolutely my responsibility and I don't blame anyone at disney for my loss. I do think they should address the situation though and provide safe parking I would pay to use it and people have a choice not to. They even laughed and said oh I bet you had a bugaboo the English always have bugaboos stolen :( x
while I do not have children and have never been to Disney with children, I do feel some sympathies with having belongings being stolen... HOWEVER I sometimes think people, especially UK or Irish get lulled into a false sense of security and let their guard down. Oh its Disney, nothing bad will happen. In the case of Cafe Mikey for example. If you were at a restaurant on your local high street in England, would you leave your buggy outside the restaurant, unchained and still expect it to be safe??? The answer is no, so why do that at Cafe Mickey?? Disney Village, while on Disney property is public and is basically the same as any high street in The UK, where pickpockets and thieves roam free and target naive and unstreetwise people. And I'm not surprised you were laughed at , dumb English making things easy for the local thieves. Wouldn't you have the same reaction to foreigners in your local city who leave their expensive items unsupervised , easy picking for the local thieves...
It always amazes me how people do the most stupid things on holiday yet when at home at the most security conscious and sensible...
No I would actually never laugh at someone or call them a dumb foreigner as that's very rude and I have a great deal of respect for others and expect the same in return. My initial post was not looking for any sympathy it is just a material object I can easily replace it. I was simply warning others that thieves are operating the parks as a career and please do not take your eyes of your belongings or your children for a second. I am certainly not dumb or unstreetwise and like I say it is only a pram and I was merely inconvenienced for the rest of the holiday. Some people may not be so fortunate and may fall foul to pickpockets. It is a very sad world where the victim is considered dumb and the thief is considered the clever member of society
I have put several posts on in the past in regards to property especially prams and buggies whilst in Disney. I think it's awful that people could be so horrible as to buy annual passes solely to take to Disney to go on the hunt for other peoples property and it shows the sad state of the world today where people can go to happy, carefree holiday places and deliberately and wilfully ruin other peoples fun.
I too have fell foul of being so caught up in the Disney moment that you don't stop to worry about your belongings as you're having so much fun but isn't this the whole point of Disney??!! Being able to forget your cares and worries and just enjoy time with your loved ones!
My only advice to anyone travelling to DLP is if you have to take a buggy or pram then take the most practical CHEAP one you can find! That way you'll be doing the thieves out of their annual pass money as they won't be able to take your valuable property and you'll be saving yourself the trauma of having something like this happen to you. I do sympathise with anybody that has any property stolen and sadly I can't see the situation getting any better.
So any travellers taking these items to DLP enjoy yourselves in this magical place but be vigilant and try to minimise any inconvenience to yourselves. :D
:( What a horrible experience! I quite agree I wouldnt expect anybody to find the situation laugh worthy!! :(
It doesn't come as a surprise to me that prams are stolen. I've seen how people just dump them here let alone somewhere like Disney. A small space for pushchairs could be made more useful if people actually folded them ! A folded pram with a lock put round it would seriously put a theif of as they couldn't just simply walk of with it.
Hopefully your holiday insurance will cover the cost of you replacing your pram.
I remember seeing a programme that was about Bike Thefts at bike racks where the thief simply broke the lock and rode off with the bike. To battle this, the Police Department put up posters near the bike racks that displayed a pair of eyes and was captioned "We are Watching You". There was no other enforcements and believe it or not, the posters worked! I think no thefts were made or there were less.
Maybe DLP should consider this...