Lost in the park

[Laura]

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.

I never let mine out of my sight either, but I actually lost my daughter once. We were on the Family Magic Tour coming out of Philharmagic and a large crowd shoved between my 2 year old and myself and when they finally got out of the way I couldn't find her. I immediately notified my tour guide who took off running in fantasyland and was able to find her in a massive crowd in less than a minute.

So while I am overly cautious and guard my kids with my life, sometimes you can't help what happens. Thank goodness for the system they have set in place to get your kids back quickly!

 

[DisneyDefenders]

Lost

I thought this thread was about "Lost" in the park...and was all excited about the possibility of seeing Jack and the gang make their way to WDW! :sohappy:

I guess I'm just lost. :hammer:

 

[Scooter]

My wife and I aren't cast members.
But we both have Disney Name tags.
I believe there are several places on property where they custom make them with your name on them for you. We got ours made in a store on Main Street.

My point is this...if you tell your kids to go to someone with a name tag on them, you better also be able to explain to them which is really a cast member, and which is not. Good luck with that.

Thank God my kids are old enough now to carry cell phones.
If we get separated, we just call each other.

 

[Gorjus]

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.

I have no doubt that is what the cast member told you. What I am saying is that unless you have a nextel, you have no idea if a child in the park is missing. And even if you have a nextel, unless you are hooked into the duty manager's signal, you have no idea that a child is lost. There are nextels that are used to call person to base or person to person. The only time the nextel makes noise is when someone wants to get ahold of you. Then there are nextels that constantly make noise whether someone wants to talk to you specifically or not. Those are generally the ones that will hear if a child is lost, a ride is down, etc.

Look around next time, you'd be surprised how many cast members don't have a nextel on them (lifeguards, photographers, entertainment, merchandise), and if they don't have a wire attached to their ear so guests can't hear the constant chatter of the duty managers signal, or their nextel isn't constantly making noise, they don't know a child is lost.

Having said that, the people most able to look for a child and leave their station, do have Nextels and can assist and will be on the lookout.

What surprises me are people who don't have a plan if this happens. People who don't tell their children what to do, people who don't put their cell phone numbers on their child, people who don't ask for help when a child is lost. The other day, I escorted an 8 year old girl to the lost child station at Blizzard Beach. 1 hour later, she was still there and no parent had thought to look in the lost child section. When mom did show up, as parents are prone to do :brick: :brick: :brick: , she yelled at the child.

 

[PintoColvig]

I thought this thread was about "Lost" in the park...and was all excited about the possibility of seeing Jack and the gang make their way to WDW! :sohappy:

I guess I'm just lost. :hammer:

I got the idea that someone was lost in a park but had internet on the cell phone and was posting for directions. It could happen. :lookaroun

 

[Glasgow]

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.

This is a great idea in addition to all of the other procedures in place

 

[JDM]

My wife and I aren't cast members.
But we both have Disney Name tags.
I believe there are several places on property where they custom make them with your name on them for you. We got ours made in a store on Main Street.

Then maybe that's something they shouldn't sell in the parks. I'm sure there are plenty of other little personalized souvenirs that could take its place.
It seems a very small concession to make for the overall betterment of the public.

No offense to you or your wife intended. But, child safety is far more important than your name on a piece of plastic, in my opinion.

 

[magic cait ball]

Then maybe that's something they shouldn't sell in the parks. I'm sure there are plenty of other little personalized souvenirs that could take its place.
It seems a very small concession to make for the overall betterment of the public.

No offense to you or your wife intended. But, child safety is far more important than your name on a piece of plastic, in my opinion.

the name tags they sell in the park have a red or blue background. the ones that real CMs wear are white. so i guess you can tell a child to look for the white ones. a little harder with younger kids, but i know itd be something my 7 and 8 year old brothers would understand

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Then maybe that's something they shouldn't sell in the parks. I'm sure there are plenty of other little personalized souvenirs that could take its place.
It seems a very small concession to make for the overall betterment of the public.

No offense to you or your wife intended. But, child safety is far more important than your name on a piece of plastic, in my opinion.

The name badges they sell in the parks are red or pink usually. Cast Members only wear white. Just make sure your children know to look for the white badges.

On another note, we had just gotten to the parks when my son got lost. I had not had a chance to show him the name badges or anything and being at the water park, there was no place to hide a phone number on him. He has a habit of straying off from us at times. He loves lizards and stuff, so he's constantly looking for them. I turned my back on him no more than 30 seconds to mention something to my grandmother and when I loked back he was gone. I assumed he had gone off to look for lizards. My initial reaction while I was looking for him was to be upset with him for wandering off. Even when I saw a CM walking him towards the lost parent section, I had every intention of getting on to him for leaving us. Of course when I reached him and saw the tears in his eyes and felt the relief in my heart I couldn't fuss. Right then I showed him the CM's badge and told him if it ever happens again he is to look for someone wearing a white badge and tell them he can't find me, my name and the hotel we were staying at. Later, in the vacation, it got to the point we were constantly stopping for him to look at a lizard, we told him we were leaving and walked off (around a building where we could see him but he couldn't see us). When this tactic didn't work we reminded him to find someone with a white badge and ask them to take him to Loast Parents and we'd come back that evening and pick him up after we were done having fun for that day. That worked :lol: Just the threat of it did the job nicely :lol:

 

[OneLuckyMom]

My wife and I aren't cast members.
But we both have Disney Name tags.
I believe there are several places on property where they custom make them with your name on them for you. We got ours made in a store on Main Street.

My point is this...if you tell your kids to go to someone with a name tag on them, you better also be able to explain to them which is really a cast member, and which is not. Good luck with that.

I've taught my daughter to look for someone with a nametag that is in a costume of some sorts. I point out store clerks working registers specifically as good people to go to. If she can't find someone like that, she has also been taught to find another "Mom" with young children. And she also wears an id bracelet with my name and cell phone number engraved on the back, in case she's too scared or upset to get words out. (In my child's case, that's a necessity - she's not the most outgoing type.)

While all of that is still not foolproof, I think we sometimes get a little too worried about "the evil stranger". Yes, they are out there and we need to teach our children how to handle themselves in certain situations. Trust me, I do. But I also still believe the overwhelming majority of folks in this world are good people, and the evil ones are the exception NOT the rule. I wouldn't be upset with my daughter if she forgot all that I've taught her and stopped the first single male she saw and asked for help. I'd actually be proud of her for keeping her act together enough to do that, quite frankly. And she's probably safer doing that than running all over the park, getting more and more panicked, trying to find a person that satisfies my "rules"...

 

[TwoTigersMom]

I've taught my daughter to look for someone with a nametag that is in a costume of some sorts. I point out store clerks working registers specifically as good people to go to. If she can't find someone like that, she has also been taught to find another "Mom" with young children. And she also wears an id bracelet with my name and cell phone number engraved on the back, in case she's too scared or upset to get words out. (In my child's case, that's a necessity - she's not the most outgoing type.)

While all of that is still not foolproof, I think we sometimes get a little too worried about "the evil stranger". Yes, they are out there and we need to teach our children how to handle themselves in certain situations. Trust me, I do. But I also still believe the overwhelming majority of folks in this world are good people, and the evil ones are the exception NOT the rule. I wouldn't be upset with my daughter if she forgot all that I've taught her and stopped the first single male she saw and asked for help. I'd actually be proud of her for keeping her act together enough to do that, quite frankly. And she's probably safer doing that than running all over the park, getting more and more panicked, trying to find a person that satisfies my "rules"...

great post. One of the things I have told both my kids early on, not just for WDW, but anywhere (malls, target whatever), was that should anyone try to take them, they should yell "This is NOT my Mommy" or "This is NOT my Daddy!". I've told them to try to make eye contact with someone when they yell that and yell it constantly. Everyone has seen a crying child being taken out of somewhere and thought "Ohh he/she must be tired", not many would think twice about it, but if that crying child was screaming that the person they were with was not their mom or dad, someone would think twice. The making eye contact thing is because if a child looked directly at you and screamed that, what would you do? Most people would act on it becuase they would feel that child was specifically asking them for help.

The whole time DS was missing, I had no thoughts of him being taken. I knew he had just wandered off. What actually happened was he looked up (in the wrong direction) and didn't see me and started wandering around looking for us. He ended up clear across the park from where we were.

 

[PhilharMagician]

My DD has my business card in her pack. This way she has my cell number if we ever get seperated. Also on the back is my DW's cell #. I also like to take a pic of my DD in the morning so if she ever did get lost (we get lost) I have a pic of her in her current clothes on my digital camera to aid in finding her. Lastly we always designate a meeting location.

 

[dhcalva]

I got the idea that someone was lost in a park but had internet on the cell phone and was posting for directions. It could happen. :lookaroun

It could! I have a Motorola Q, so I could do it. Not that I haven't been there enough to find my way around the parks blindfolded just by the sounds and smells now.

 

[sarabi]

Just adding my two cents:

Guests don't notice missing children at WDW often because the CMs are very good at keeping all parties involved calm. Part of that is the use of "lost parents" rather than "lost children". When I interned, I dealt with one such child and he was very upset until he heard me call my manager and use the term "lost parents". Then he got over it and instead got very indignant with his parents for running off.... but the important thing was he was instantly calm.
Also, even if the CMs do not have Nextel, CMs are very good at keeping each other informed. A CM will go from one area to another to confer with a CM there who will then pass it on to the CMs around. You may not hear or notice the communication happening, but it does. In my experience, CMs are not usually looking for the child... they are looking for the parents.