My father always said locks are only to keep honest people honest. As most thefts are crimes of opportunity, locks and safes can reduce risk of theft, but not stop a determined thief. Even if you have a study lock on your suitcase, its usually easier to bust the zipper.
Years ago I had someone push the lock on a file cabinet that had no key. Without any previous experience (except watching Remmington Steele as a kid), I was able to open the lock using two paper clips in about 5 minutes. Once I figured out the trick, I discovered the same trick works with most locks that use a traditional key.
As for hotel safes, there are many diffent types and they range in security. The lock overrides can also very from needing a master key (easily copied) to using combinations of master codes, pins, swipe cards, and/or hardware. If it is a weak safe or not locked properly, putting valuables in it can actually be less secure. There is no need to take time to go through your bags, a "locked" safe tells the criminals where the valuables are.
As for Disney (or any hotel) reponse to a reported theft, because it is often difficult to determine if a theft has actually occurred, hotels will rarely compensate guests. Imagine the number of false claims of stolen money or electronics if hotels normally compensated guests. If you suspect something is stolen, report it to hotel management so they can investigate and determine if they have a bad employee. Unless the individual is caught on video or with your iPod in their possession, don't expect to get anything in compensation. If the theft is big enough, report it to police and file a report. With a police report a hotel might be more willing to provide compensation or you might be covered by travel, credit card, or your home insurance policy.
The best advice, don't take anything on vacation that you couldn't live without if stolen, don't leave anything in your hotel room that you wouldn't leave in a public place, don't advertise your valuables (computer bag, jewelry case, gift shop bags), and don't put all of your valuables in one location (e.g. Laptop, phone, ipad, cash and jewelry in your computer backpack).
Lesson learned. This was the second of a 10 day trip and I'll tell you NO mousekeeping got a tip that trip! You may say, well that's not fair. HA! I had asked who had made up our room that day (not afraid to take matters into my own hands!
) and they said they couldn't release that info.
So no tip since I wasn't provided a name. Why tip the theif and the other mousekeepers had to suffer from their coworkers stupidity.
