Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Stroller Incident

While at EPCOT last weekend, we rented a double stroller for the kids. At dinnertime, we decided on a little café in Morocco and went inside. We left the stroller right outside the restaurant, but when we came back, the stroller was gone.

At first, we weren’t too concerned – sometimes Disney cast members move them around. So, we looked around and asked a couple of cast members, but it appeared the stroller was MIA. Huh. Who would steal a stroller at Disney?

It wasn’t a big deal as far as we were concerned – we didn’t leave anything personal in it, and it wasn’t our stroller. We knew the stroller wouldn’t leave EPCOT, so it wouldn’t be a loss to Disney. It was just a minor inconvenience.

We kept a light-hearted attitude with the kids and didn’t get upset about it – we want them to learn to take things in stride and save getting all worked up for the important things in life.

We did take the opportunity, though, to educate the kids about theft. This was their first experience with it. We just explained that not everyone is honest. Sometimes people do things that are less than caring to other people. They were disappointed that someone took “our” stroller, but we pointed out that nothing was lost to us. All we had to do was go pick up another stroller.

Tyler, Alyssa and I waited on a sidewalk while Paul went to get a new stroller. When he came back, the kids hopped in and Paul put down the sun canopy, since it was dark. There happened to be two Disney cast members standing next to us, and one of them said, “Oh my gosh, how did you do that?”

So, Paul showed her how to put it down – it is actually a hidden latch underneath the stroller that is not marked in any way. There’s no way you would know it was there – unless you knew. And, it is apparently not something Disney teaches its cast members, because these two were not the first ones we have shown.

Paul continued with the cast member and asked if she wanted to try it herself, just so she would know exactly how it works for future guests. She tried it and was very appreciative we took the time to show her how it works.

Paul and I realized as we were walking away that we would never have been able to help her in that way if someone hadn’t walked off with our stroller. We were sure to share that with the kids and teach them that something good can always come out of something “bad.” Life is what you make it, right?
On a funny note, the nametag we put on the first stroller was Tylyss. When we got the second stroller, Paul named it Tylyss II. Just another way to laugh about the incident!

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