Lost at Disney

[Raineman]

I have to be honest, I don't think I could ever lose anything at WDW. The only items I have on me in the parks are my phone and my sunglasses, and I am always checking my pockets for them after every ride, and every 5 minutes of walking. Anything else we might need is stored in DW's handbag, so if anything gets lost, it's probably her fault

 

[Jamie77]

I lost my favorite fleece pullover at Tusker House at lunch one day and didn't know it was missing until the next day. I spent quite a bit of my morning on the phone to lost and found and was put on hold for so long I gave up. I then went to lost and found at the ticket and transportation center and was told it was not there. Finally, I decided to just go to Tusker House and a cast member retrieved it from the back. It was never turned in to lost and found like Disney says they do. Good thing I decided to retrace my steps or I would have never found it. How I remembered it was there and nowhere else still baffles me. But I lost about four hours of my day trying to track it down.

ETA: I left my umbrella in the pouch in front of my seat on Expedition Everest. By the time I remembered the train had taken off for the next ride. I told one of the CMs there and he promptly retrieved my umbrella from an area near the cue as he'd saved it for me. I also left an umbrella on Buzz Lightyear and it was found for me by the CM in the loading area. Years earlier, I lost a disposable camera on BTMRR and never found it. It had flown out of my pocket. I'm glad it didn't hurt anyone.

 

[bpiper]

Based on the size of the main lost and found, I can only assume tons of people lose something at the parks. Have you ever lost something (someone?)

1. What was it
2. Where did you lose it
3. Were you able to get it back?

I'm sure some of you have had some pretty interesting stories!

-I lost a camera case in Animal Kingdom outside the Tuskar House. No luck at Lost and Found.

-Sunglasses on Test Track. Again, Lost and Found didn't have them.

-Lost my family at MK during the Electrical Parade. Yes, I ran to Peter Pan to give away some extra physical FP tickets to a lucky family that had to endure that line and after my good deed, I was on my way back to POTC where I was supposed to meet the family BUT...the parade was in full swing and they weren't letting people cross over...bottom line: I couldn't find my family when I finally made it over to the meeting place. I was in such a panic. No cellphone. I sat down to stop from hyperventilating and as I look around, I see my family casually walking towards me with Dole Whips in their hands.

The main lost and found building use to be the Magic Kingdom Kennel building. Once the central Best Friends Pet Car building was built across from the Port Orleans resort, all the kennels at the parks closed down. If I remember right, lost and found was also in the building. They were probably squished when the pets where there, but probably have tons of room now.

 

[wdwmap.com]

My wife left a stack of clothes in the dresser at the Animal Kingdom Lodge when we checked out of there and into Bay Lake Tower. A few calls later we ended up getting some some of the clothes but there were several shirts and a belt missing. How she left it all i still can't figure out. I am now the one who checks the room before we checkout.

 

[katins7]

Seven or eight years ago DD realized that she had left a baseball cap with the name of her school on a MK attraction, probably PhilharMagic. We told a cast member right away. After the next show let out the CM went in to retrieve it. They made DD describe the hat in excruciating detail before they would return it, which we found pretty odd. I assume CM was trying to get DD chatting, but she wasn't very chatty back then and came away a little bit flustered, but happy to have her hat back.

 

[gobstoper27]

Just the other day I read that after so much time has passed, unclaimed goods can be purchased by cast members. Not sure how true this is though...

 

[20KMourner]

Back in the days of film cameras, I lost a roll of film on Main Street while running to Space Mountain after rope drop. About three weeks later I realized I lost the film. I called Lost & Found, told them the day and location, and they sent me MY roll of film. I still can't believe it!

I've also lost my prescription sunglasses twice on the monorail and been able to reclaim them from Lost & Found within a few hours. They must have one heck of a system.

 

[dsmith51]

I have to honestly say that I have never lost anything in the parks or on a ride. But, once when I was having lunch at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian, I left my Under Armour hat (which I really loved) on the seat of the booth I had been dining in, and was all the way back at the MK before I realized it was gone, so I high-tailed it back on the monorail to Kona to the booth where I was sitting, and there was my hat! As I arrived, the CMs were cleaning up the tables after lunch to get ready for the dinner crowd. I'm sure that I if I had been half an hour later, they would have picked it up and taken it to Lost & Found. In a World that is so big with so many people around I'm surprised nobody noticed, or took it in the whole time I was gone! So technically I didn't lose it, I just forgot to take it with me when leaving and was lucky to get it back.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

My daughter's croc fell off while she was sleeping in my arms on Under the Sea. I went back to the ride but they couldn't find it and figured someone else had turned it in. I didn't bother going to lost and found, but I didn't find any shoes to buy her the rest of the day so I would hold her when we were in line for rides.

 

[Twindaddy]

First ever trip to WDW left my hat on Thunder Mtn. I had volunteered at a senior tour PGA event so hat had some sentimental value. Despite my protestations that no one would turn it in...or would keep it for themselves...my girlfriend (now wife) & friends insisted I report it @ L&F. I reluctantly did so. About 3 weeks later there's a big puffy envelope in my mailbox. Disney found my hat & mailed it back to me ON THEIR OWN DIME!! Amazing. I professed my undying fanship that day. Few years later...2005, now married w/4 yr old twins...I leave my cell on a bus returning from MK. Frantic. L&F was closed for the evening...called the next day & they had my phone. I love Disney.

 

[Sapphic_galaxy]

Lost my Bear and the Big Blue House teddy bear the day I got it in mgm when I was like 6 lol

 

[Walt Disney1955]

In 1995 my dad had his hat fly off on Splash Mountain. It was an old John Deere-type of hat, nothing special at all. Believe them when they tell you your hat will fall off. Anyway, he went to City Hall at the end of the night and reported and described it. I am guessing it wasn't very hard to figure out whose hat it was because he got it in the mail two weeks later.

My wife lost her sunglasses on Pirates of the Caribbean in 2009 and described them at City Hall. Honestly, they were very run of the mill sunglasses that had no notable differences, but she got them mailed back.

My dad lost........(ahem)......."lost" my mom, sister and I at Epcot. I think he figured he could peel through Epcot a bit better alone than with a couple of teenagers. Although he denies it with a smile on his face. Luckily we always had a plan if we accidentally split up and we found each other at the fireworks at the end of the night, or else it would have been in the parking lot.

 

[carriebeth]

Last year we were making our way from Tomorrow land to Adventureland to meet Jasmine and Aladdin. SOme of my kids were dressed as Aladdin movie characters so we wanted to get some good pictures etc. We stopped a moment to watch Woody and Jessie at their spot. Arrived at Jasmine and Aladdin only to be turned away because they were going on break for a while. I was annoyed because I wanted pictures before lunch when children would end up ketchup or chocolate covered. So we went and rode the magic carpets instead. Our group was My sister, my husband and myself and our 8 children. I announced that my husband would not be riding and anyone wishing to wait out could stay with him, anyone wanted to ride come with me. After getting off the ride and doing a quick people inventory I realize our 9 year old is missing. With 8 kids the normal procedure is I keeping my eye on anyone under 5 constantly. Anyone over is pretty much figured to be able to stick close. Plus they always sort of pair up with one another as they walk along so they all keep an eye on one another. We had no idea when 9 year old went missing so we start looking around the area. Nowhere. I went right inside a nearby shop and let them know he was missing and a cast member joined me with a radio and he sent out a lost child message with a description. We retraced our steps back to TOmorrowland. My husband stayed back in Adventureland to search and my sister and kids just stayed put. We had always told our kids if they were to get lost immediately go into the nearest shop or stand or restaurant and tell a cast member. 9 year old was no where to be found. We had Be Our Guest Reservations coming up in a few minutes so I went to Be Our Guest knowing he knew of those plans and thinking maybe he thought he could rejoin us there. Cast member went back to my husband to see if he found anything. Eventually the message came back over the radio that an ice cream cart cast member had him and the 9 year old had followed our procedure just as we had told him. The whole time from when we realized he was lost till he was found was over a half hour. The first couple minutes I had no panic but after about 10 minutes I was starting to get quite worried and my imagination was going crazy.

After that day all the older children must walk in front of beside me, not behind me so I can watch better. The problem occurred because the 9 year old did not hear us or see us all leaving Jessie and Woody and was so caught up watching them that he didn't realize he was lost for a while. Although 9, he still is very much into the Disney magic and especially enjoys meeting characters and interacting with them. We tease him a lot now with how taken he was with Jessie.

My 2 year old lost her shoe on Living with the Land. She was carried off the ride and it wasn't until we were leaving the building we realized it was missing. I went back in and waited as each boat arrived and they checked them to see if it was the boat we were in and if the shoe was there. It was.

 

[thomas998]

Based on the size of the main lost and found, I can only assume tons of people lose something at the parks. Have you ever lost something (someone?)

1. What was it
2. Where did you lose it
3. Were you able to get it back?

I'm sure some of you have had some pretty interesting stories!

-I lost a camera case in Animal Kingdom outside the Tuskar House. No luck at Lost and Found.

-Sunglasses on Test Track. Again, Lost and Found didn't have them.

-Lost my family at MK during the Electrical Parade. Yes, I ran to Peter Pan to give away some extra physical FP tickets to a lucky family that had to endure that line and after my good deed, I was on my way back to POTC where I was supposed to meet the family BUT...the parade was in full swing and they weren't letting people cross over...bottom line: I couldn't find my family when I finally made it over to the meeting place. I was in such a panic. No cellphone. I sat down to stop from hyperventilating and as I look around, I see my family casually walking towards me with Dole Whips in their hands.

Lost a camera back in the 80's... went to lost and found and told them what I had lost where, the brand and model... They required I provide a serial number to verify whether they had found it or not.... It was a pocket camera so frankly I don't even know if they had serial numbers on them back then and needless to say I had no clue what number it might have had or not... So I gathered from that, that unless you have the item clearly marked in some form or fashion so you can prove it is your item your odds of getting it back probably aren't very good. Considering most people probably don't carry around serial numbers for camera I left think that Disney probably had a huge stash of lost stuff somewhere and no real intention of ever getting it back to the owners. If my camera ever got turned in back then I figured some cast member liberated it for himself.

Though with the digital cameras of today I would hope they would look at some photos and use that to verify the owners when they come to lost and found.

 

[drizgirl]

Lost a camera back in the 80's... went to lost and found and told them what I had lost where, the brand and model... They required I provide a serial number to verify whether they had found it or not.... It was a pocket camera so frankly I don't even know if they had serial numbers on them back then and needless to say I had no clue what number it might have had or not... So I gathered from that, that unless you have the item clearly marked in some form or fashion so you can prove it is your item your odds of getting it back probably aren't very good. Considering most people probably don't carry around serial numbers for camera I left think that Disney probably had a huge stash of lost stuff somewhere and no real intention of ever getting it back to the owners. If my camera ever got turned in back then I figured some cast member liberated it for himself.

Though with the digital cameras of today I would hope they would look at some photos and use that to verify the owners when they come to lost and found.

That's exactly what they do. We lost one at DHS years ago and they handed it to us as we walked up to lost and found. They had already looked at the images and knew who they were watching for.

Back in the day, that obviously wasn't an option with film cameras.

One thing I do now is take a photo of a printout of my name, email address and cell number on each of my memory cards and protect it from erasure. I'm good until I format the card again.

 

[Jahona]

Considering most people probably don't carry around serial numbers for camera I left think that Disney probably had a huge stash of lost stuff somewhere and no real intention of ever getting it back to the owners. If my camera ever got turned in back then I figured some cast member liberated it for himself.

Though with the digital cameras of today I would hope they would look at some photos and use that to verify the owners when they come to lost and found.

I'm the odd ball out on this one probably.
I have all of my serial numbers recorded and photographed for insurance purposes. I also have vinyl stickers that say equipment tracked by GPS and includes my phone number to call to return said equipment.

 

[thomas998]

I'm the odd ball out on this one probably.
I have all of my serial numbers recorded and photographed for insurance purposes. I also have vinyl stickers that say equipment tracked by GPS and includes my phone number to call to return said equipment.

You probably are... I track the serial numbers on my guns but still haven't managed to become organized enough to track the numbers on anything else.