Thrifty Thursday: Walt Disney World Lost and Found

Our family always wears lanyards during extra magic hours. It is the easiest way for us to prove that we are guests of the Disney resorts without having to stop at each ride to show our key to the kingdom card. We normally take the type with press closures at the tops of the cardholders but the lanyards themselves are regular rope-type.

This year, we got some beautiful lanyards from a travel agent and so we decided to wear them instead. The tops of the cardholders were not closed on these. We didn’t think anything of it until we got off of Space Mountain and my DH was missing his key to the world and his driver’s license.

We were frantic and went back to Space Mountain and spoke to the cast member at the entrance. She told us that there was nothing they could do right then, but informed us that every evening after the park closes, they do a full sweep of the ride to find any lost articles.  If they found the lost items, they would turn them into the main Lost and Found at the Transportation and Ticket Center. She told us to wait until the next day and call the Lost and Found to find out if they had been found.

She also told us that, to be on the safe side, he should stop at the front desk of our resort and have all charging privileges on his card suspended and a new card issued. This took a matter of minutes and he got a new key to the kingdom.

The next morning, he called Lost and Found and, luckily, they had found both items. All he had to do was hop on the monorail and go to the Transportation and Ticket Center to retrieve them. Usually, a guest would have to give the cast member proof of identification but, since they had his driver’s license, they were able to clearly see that he was the owner of the property. This was a life-saver because the key had been easy to replace, but trying to replace a Texas driver’s license before you will be driving home in two days would have been much more difficult.

I hope that none of our readers will ever lose anything at the parks but, just in case, I wanted to give you some words of advice and some information you could take with you that might help:

1. Make sure the cardholder on your lanyard closes at the top.
2. Keep these phone numbers for Lost and Found with you just in case. Print this table, cut it out, and tape it onto a page in your cheater book.

• Yesterday (or before) at All Parks, TTC   (407) 824-4245
• Today at the Magic Kingdom   (407) 824-4521
• Today at Epcot  (407) 560-7500
• Today at the Hollywood Studios (407) 560-3720
• Today at Animal Kingdom  (407) 938-2785

Hope you will have a great visit and that everything that goes with you stays with you!

Brenda is a native Texan born and raised on the Gulf Coast. She visited Disney World twice as a teenager and always dreamed of growing her family Disney. She took her first-timer husband and their three children to Disney World in 2000 and they now spend every Thanksgiving there. Brenda writes with a comedic twist on various Disney topics. She will be sharing tips she has learned during her travels and also hopes to enlighten people on little-known freebies that Disney has to offer. She wishes she could have met Walt Disney and considers herself to be a student of Walt. In parallel to his dream it is her wish that everyone would take at least one trip to Disney World in order to share in its magic with their families.