It happens to everyone at at Disneyland or Walt Disney World at some point – they lose something. It could be the cell phone that fell out of your pocket as you stepped out of the Pirates Of The Caribbean boat, your child’s security blanket that somehow wound up behind the bathroom door which you missed as you left your hotel room, or the souvenir bag you left at the restaurant.
I remember when I went on my 3rd trip to WDW (my first trip as an adult), it was “the trip of losing stuff.” I left my (white) nightshirt on the bed and housekeeping picked it up with the sheets (they changed the sheets every day back then). My friend went on the tube slide at River Country and flipped upside down at the bottom, causing her glasses to fall to the bottom of the lake. And she also somehow left her day planner…”somewhere.”
Back then, all you had to do was make a report at the park or hotel where you think you lost wherever the item was, and a process would happen where you might get you your stuff back, or you might not. As it turned out, we did pretty well with the stuff we lost on that trip…although my nightshirt was gone forever, divers found Kim’s glasses and they were returned to her the next day. And can you believe they found her day planner 6 months later and mailed it to her???
Times change, and how things get done change too. Here’s what to do nowadays if you lose something at a Disney park in the U.S.:
Disneyland
If you lose something in the parks or at Downtown Disney
Disneyland (DL) still handles their Lost & Found department how I described above. If you lose something in either Magic Kingdom or Disney’s California Adventure park, it’s recommended you visit Lost & Found, which is located in the Guest Services building, just outside the main entrance to DL.
Photo via The Walt Disney Company and Google Maps
If you’re unable to visit Lost & Found, you can call them at (714) 817-2166 from 8am to 8pm daily.
If you lose something at your Disney-owned hotel
The Guest Services desk of your hotel will be your best bet. Guest Services can be reached by dialing “0” from any house phone or from your Guest room phone 24 hours a day. If you’ve already left your hotel, you can call Disneyland Resort’s Guest Services/Lost & Found department at (714) 817-2166 from 8am to 8pm daily.
Walt Disney World
Walt Disney World (WDW) changed their Lost & Found system away from one like Disneyland’s (and similar to what I experienced during that trip in 1992) in mid-2018. At that time, they began using a third party automated Lost & Found program called Chargerback, which is dubbed as, “the Hotel Industry’s Lost & Found solution company” (I’ve it called many other things as well, most of them not great. But it’s what WDW uses now, so I guess we have to suck it up).
As per WDW’s website, if you’ve lost something while on Disney’s Magical Express, they recommend you call (866) 599-0951.
As per Chargerback’s Disney-specific website, if you’ve lost something at a WDW Resort Hotel, they recommend you contact the hotel directly.
But if you’ve lost at item at any of the WDW theme parks, Disney Springs, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Disney water parks or while using WDW Resort transportation (including buses, monorails and watercraft), they recommend you fill out a lost item report, which can be found on your phone or computer.
The software is easy enough to use, with drop down boxes to assist with filling in information such as where you lost your item and what item you lost (not shown: space to fill our your contact information). By the way, if your item is something common, like a pair of glasses, be as specific as you can be – i.e. the glasses are black rimmed, kind of rectangular, prescription, there are chew marks on the left earpiece, etc. – so they can differentiate your black glasses from the bajillion other black glasses lost that day ;-). Anyway, once you fill out the form, you’ll get a confirmation email with a lost item claim number and then another email within 48 hours, with an update on the search. They’ll continue the search for a period of time, based on the circumstances of your lost item. Should they find it, you’ll be asked to pay to ship the item back.
The Lost & Found page of WDW’s website still includes maps of where Lost & Found can be find at each park, hotel, etc., so if you’ve lost your item that day, still fill out the Chargerback form but I would suggest also checking out Lost & Found, just in case, because you never know when some kind soul will find your jacket, etc. and hand it in.
Good luck!
*** Feature photo via The Kingdom Insider
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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