Lost in the park

[wdwmom2+1]

I'm only asking this becuase the last two times I was in a theme park I saw mothers frantically trying to find their children. (this was not a disney park) but I have never seen it in a disney park. I was just wondring does anyone know how often this usually happens. Is it always quick and easy to find the missing parent or missing child? Thanks!

 

[ImaYoyo]

I'm only asking this becuase the last two times I was in a theme park I saw mothers frantically trying to find their children. (this was not a disney park) but I have never seen it in a disney park. I was just wondring does anyone know how often this usually happens. Is it always quick and easy to find the missing parent or missing child? Thanks!

Every day, multiple times per day in each park. ESPECIALLY the waterparks. It usually doesn't take long at all to get the parties reunited.

 

[wdwmom2+1]

is there a certain protocal they must follow? in this other park noone seemed to know what to do to find the child

 

[ImaYoyo]

is there a certain protocal they must follow? in this other park noone seemed to know what to do to find the child

Yep. In a nutshell, the first person to find them stays with them until a leader can come get the young one. Never refer to the child as lost, always the parent is lost. Nextel the description, guest show and security make it priority, yada yada so on and so forth. There's a decent system in place. The best thing parents can do is STAY CALM. It sounds difficult, but really, freaking out is not helping the cause, and many times impeeds the process by slowing down those who are ready to help. 100 people looking would be better than 1, and some parents need to remember that.

 

[Champion]

Yep. In a nutshell, the first person to find them stays with them until a leader can come get the young one. Never refer to the child as lost, always the parent is lost. Nextel the description, guest show and security make it priority, yada yada so on and so forth. There's a decent system in place. The best thing parents can do is STAY CALM. It sounds difficult, but really, freaking out is not helping the cause, and many times impeeds the process by slowing down those who are ready to help. 100 people looking would be better than 1, and some parents need to remember that.

Just to clear one thing up, when he says 'first person' he means first Cast Member.

 

[ImaYoyo]

Just to clear one thing up, when he says 'first person' he means first Cast Member.

Yep, thanks. Slipped my mind to mention that. When DW and I are in the parks, if we find a 'lost parent' situation, we will wait around with the child and take our IDs out so they can see we work for the mouse. We'll assist them in getting to the nearest Cast Member, and wait until a leader arrives. We always fill out statements just in case, because these days, you never know.

 

[bgraham34]

I love the terminology of the lost parent. It lessens the drama of the incident.

 

[rcapolete]

i had heard some where that in Magic Kingdom at the townhall they have a card that get filled out with all the kids info. and that the kid can where is this true and do they still do it

 

[TwoTigersMom]

We had to utilize this system in April at Typhoon Lagoon on the 1st day of our trip :lol: . I went to the loast parents section and he wrote down all the info in a notebook then sent the alert out over the radio. He said that all the CM's will be on the look out for him and they had one CM whose sole job was to go around looking. He told me to check back every 10-15 minutes and certainly let them know if we found him first. I, of course, wish it hadn't have happened, but since it did it was a very good experience. They were very professional and I was able to stay calm because of all the CM's calm demeanor.

 

[WDWKat26]

Also, a good idea is to set up a "meet up" location in the parks if you do get lost or lose a member of your party. For example, City Hall at the Magic Kingdom, The Pin Station at Downtown Disney, etc. With a child, let them know that if they ever become lost, tell them to seek help from a Cast Member with a nametag, and if the person does not have a nametag, to not talk to them.

 

[Imaginationeer]

"Now is a good time to pick a place to meet if you become seperated in the park" If only the mysterious monorail voice wasn't so vague!:drevil:

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

It is a good idea to let your child know that anyone wearing a Disney name tag that is white is safe to talk to. Grab a CM when you first enter the park and have them show your kid/s the name tag. Let them know the best places to find a CM (ride entrance, in a shop, at an ice cream stand).

The 'lost parent' terminology is a great way for keeping the kids calmer. Of course, a calm CM works wonders too!

And, even though I will not share the actual 'stop-gap' in place, parents rest assured that you will be the only person able to claim your child as a lost parent. WDW has specific protocol in place to make sure that a possibly unsavory person with ill intent can walk up to some CM and say 'Hey, you got my kid?' and then is shown a room full of kids with lost parents to take their pick from by just pointing 'Hey! That's my johnny! He's only crying cause he's scared, I'll take him now.....'

:lookaroun Unsavory persons.... best phrase I've used today!

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

i had heard some where that in Magic Kingdom at the townhall they have a card that get filled out with all the kids info. and that the kid can where is this true and do they still do it

The first thing a lost parent or child with a lost parent should do is notify the nearest CM. Almost all CMs (if not all) carry a Nextel, so an alert can be put out immediately. The CM will either have the parents escorted to the proper building, or will have the child accomanied to the appropriate place.

 

[Laura]

"Now is a good time to pick a place to meet if you become seperated in the park" If only the mysterious monorail voice wasn't so vague!:drevil:

If you lose your 3 year old, I highly doubt they'd be able to navigate to a designated meeting spot.

 

[Scooter]

off topic a bit but:

My daughter saw an episode of Full House where Michelle Tanner got separated from the rest of the Tanner family and got to have a Tea party with Alice and The Mad hatter & friends. After that she kept threatening to "accidently get lost":lol:

 

[Gorjus]

He said that all the CM's will be on the look out for him .

Correction: All the cast members with Nextels will be on the lookout for him.

Almost all CMs (if not all) carry a Nextel, so an alert can be put out immediately.

Many, Many, Many cast members do not have Nextels. I'd say more don't have them than do.

 

[New2WDW]

We heard a child crying on Main Street last year on vacation because she was lost, went over to her knelt down and tried to calm her down and ask her what her parents looked like, etc. in hope they would come back by that spot and within a minute or so they did. It was very crowded while people were heading out of the park and the child just got split up. My wife was just about to go find a CM to help us when the parents showed up. The sad thing about it was the mom was angry at the child, but in my opinion they should have kept up with her better. Anyway, small child crying and scared, we just tried to calm her without making her go anywhere else and make sure she recognized the people that said they were her parents.

 

[bgraham34]

My friends while at large parks they put a bracelet on the kids with one of the parents cell phone numbers in case they get lost.

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Correction: All the cast members with Nextels will be on the lookout for him.



Many, Many, Many cast members do not have Nextels. I'd say more don't have them than do.

No, the Cast Member told me that all the CM's would be on the look out for my son. Maybe, he assumed I knew that some of the CM's didn't have Nextels and wouldn't know, but he DID say that they would all be looking out for him. With that said, I do realize that not all CM's have Nextels, but everyone I saw that day at TL did have them except for the lifeguards that were on the edge of the water (not the ones in the chairs). So on that particular day at that particular park, more did seem to have them than did not.

 

[JDM]

I actually witnessed this happen in Fantasyland at MK.
A little girl was wandering around crying for her Daddy. Just about the time I realized she was, in fact, lost, a mother (not hers) realized the same thing and ran up to her, immediately taking her over to the nearest CM.
This person was, unfortunately, a maintenance lady and she did not look inclined to help at first. But the mother said, "C'mon, help her out!", so I knew that mom would take care of things.
Just then, the girl's real mother (also somewhat hysterical) came running up and all was resolved quickly.

So there are three lessons here:
1) WATCH YOUR CHILDREN!! (We never let our daughter out of our sight for a moment and she was required to hold hands with one of us at all times unless we were in a line. No exceptions.
2) If you find a crying child, be careful which CM you take that child to.
3) Have a plan beforehand to minimize the possibility. We explained to our 5-year old daughter that if she got lost, to find a person with a nametag. Or if that fails, find another Mom with kids and tell her you're lost. Then she should take off her shoe and show that person the tag inside, on which was written our names and cell phone numbers (which of course would be turned on by that time)

Nothing is foolproof of course, but I was amazed at how many parents I saw looking around for their kids.