Stroller/bag theft at Disney?

[Momto1]

We're doing a one-day trip to Disneyland next week (I live in SoCal, but this will be my first time going with a LO). We are going for DD's 2nd birthday.

The ladies on the stroller board convinced me to take my BOB, but I'm nervous about leaving it in a stroller parking zone. Is it true that DL doesn't let you lock up your stroller while you're on a ride? If it's true, then what do you do? Leave it alone? Take turns watching the gear and riding? Bring a cheapo stroller that you aren't attached to? How likely is it that someone will try to walk off with it? (I can't even begin to imagine how anyone could steal a stroller, but I guess there are creeps out there who would do such a thing, right?) Am I being overly paranoid about this?

And what about bags? I was planning to wear a light cross-body bag with my valuables (wallet, phone, car keys) and hang my JJB diaper bag on the stroller. Would I have to bring the bag with me on every ride? Should I just wear a backpack instead of hanging a bag on the stroller?

[sariana]

We were at DL last Thursday. We always take our old Graco (we kept it only for theme parks), and we always just leave it in a stroller parking zone. We have left it there for long periods of time without any problems. I left a backpack in the bottom, and it was not disturbed either.

Of course, there are people who have had strollers taken.

I would not take our BOB to DL for two reasons--it is too unwieldy (parking IS limited), and it was too expensive!

I don't know anything about locking up your stroller, but I do know that staff will move strollers sometimes (for parades or whatnot). So I imagine they would not want the wheels to be locked (I assume that's what you mean?). Then again, there usually isn't someone there montoring to make sure you don't do that.

On another note, last week was the first time they have checked everything--and I mean EVERYTHING--in my stroller bottom. I had to take out the backpack and open every bag in it. (our lunches--technically not allowed to be taken in, but she didn't care about that, just alcohol and weapons)

[pinay]

We were at DL 2 weeks ago and brought our Baby Jogger ATS (virtually identical to the BOB) for DD to use when she got tired- we just parked it whenever we were going on a ride and made sure we didn't leave any valuables in it. I saw lots of BOBs and other more luxe strollers, but it seemed like everyone was fine. I carried a backpack so we weren't leaving anything in the stroller and usually parked the stroller with the handles up against the railing so the front wheel was sticking out- it was a tiny bit more of a pain to get it when we were done, but I figured it would be a deterrent of some sort for any potential thieves if I made it a little harder to get to :)

[Twoboos]

We were in DL last week, and it was super crowded. We had a Mac Volo. (DD2 is 5.5 and we brought it as a just in case, thank goodness b/c she wasn't feeling well for a couple of days and it let us hit the park anyway.) We just left it in parking areas/off to the side while we went on rides. Everything we had was in a backpack that came with us. It worked out fine, the stroller was always in the exact spot we left it in.

If I needed a real diaper bag I would probably leave all the diapering stuff in a cheapo bag in the basket and take everything else, just to minimize bulk while on the rides.

Have fun!!

[Raidra]

We rented a Citi Mini Double from Magic Strollers when we went to WDW. We never had a problem with leaving our stroller unattended. The only real valuables we had were our cards/tickets, phones, and camera, and those usually came with us (sometimes we left the camera and my cheapy phone in my diaper bag under the stroller). Everything else.. diaper bag, coats, souveniers, etc stayed in the stroller.

[mousemom]

We don't have an expensive stroller, so we had no problem leaving it in stroller parking. But we saw many, many more expensive brands left there as well. We had a cheap, drawstring bag (the kind that businesses give away as promotions) that we left in the bottom of the basket with extra diapering supplies, sunscreen, poncho, etc. Basically anything we might want that was not very hard/expensive to replace and couldn't be tampered with (i.e. we would not leave extra snacks or medications unattended). Anything valuable - tickets, cameras, etc. - stayed with us.

[justlearning]

We took our Skip Hop diaper bag (not expensive--bought on clearance for $30) and kept that attached to the stroller handles. That bag is SO nice to use because it provides easy access to all our water bottles.

DH then wore a small bag on his hip for our camera and valuables. This solution worked out great for us.

[Momto1]

Thanks for the tips everyone! I'm getting excited for our trip. Even though it will just be for one day, I'm sure DD will love it.