Don't forget to use the safe!

[Tamar]

We just got back from a wonderful 10 day trip to Disney, with 3 days at BCV (our first time there) and 7 days at BWV. The one bummer is that somewhere along the way, my travel purse "disappeared". I carried it down on the plane so that I'd have all my valuables on my person while travelling. When we got into our room at BCV, I transferred all the cash and extra "wallet" type things into the safe (the purse is not big, but the safes are tiny!). Left my cell phone and my sun glasses case in the purse on the table in the room.

4 days later after changing rooms the purse was nowhere to be found. My first thought was I'd left it in the BCV room when packing, but they didn't have it.

That leaves a couple options:

1. It somehow was removed from my luggage during the day of the transfer, or
2. One of the two times maintenance was in our room at BWV it was removed (we weren't there either time), or
3. Even though I never carry a purse to the parks (I like to avoid the bag check), I took it somewhere and left it there.

The good news is that all I lost was a cell phone, a glasses case, some little candies, and maybe a few pens and spare change (and the nylon purse itself). I had put all the things from the safe into my pockets for the room transfer, so they were all secure. Funny thing, we found one of those distinctive little candies on the sidewalk outside the exit closest to our room.

I know this story is incomplete....I'll fill in the blanks after I've caught up on unpacking, mail, work, etc. In case anyone's travelling soon, I just thought a quick reminder to use the safe was in order...I am sometimes lax about that, especially when I'm at DVC where the rooms aren't cleaned every day. I'm glad I decided to use the safe this trip!

Yes, I contacted BCV, BWV, and Disney claims. Should be getting a call from Disney claims in the next week--I'm not sure what they'll do for me.

Oh, I called Verizon to suspend service on Friday after confirming the purse was nowhere to be found. There was only one call, a one-minute "data" call, made from the phone after it disappeared, so that's good news.

 

[AJKMOM]

There have been several threads on the Resorts Board about theft at WDW, and maybe you have another choice, like a stranger who was not an employee found a way into your room. Someone who was staying at the Contemporary had a thief in their room while they were sleeping, he came in thru the sliding door! Losses like yours are a major inconvenience, too.

I wanted to take my daughters laptop on this trip next month, but I'm thinking it will be a bad idea.

 

[rocketriter]

Also, if you use the safe, don't forget where you put the key! We did this once and had to pay $50 to have the safe drilled on checkout.

 

[Tamar]

Does anyone know if maintenance leaves the door propped open if they're in the room when you're not? We were on the third floor, so doubt anyone came in from the balcony....

 

[DebbieB]

There have been several threads on the Resorts Board about theft at WDW, and maybe you have another choice, like a stranger who was not an employee found a way into your room. Someone who was staying at the Contemporary had a thief in their room while they were sleeping, he came in thru the sliding door! Losses like yours are a major inconvenience, too.

I wanted to take my daughters laptop on this trip next month, but I'm thinking it will be a bad idea.

If you want to take the laptop, get a locking cable. So many people will post on this board that they just leave their laptop sitting out in the room, never had a problem. But I'm not going to take a chance that I will be the one who has a problem.

 

[beccasmom]

We have found it best to leave our "Do Not Disturb" sign on our door when we leave. Disney folks will honor that request and/or call if they truly need access. If you're not expecting housekeeping, it works well. Of course, it doesn't curb outsiders. If we need Maintenance, we make sure one of us is around. Overkill maybe but we've had small items taken and small amounts of cash. I've learned to leave true valuables at home - we rarely take our laptops and I wear minimal jewelry. We bring only small amounts of cash - use the ATM if needed - and always carry our credit cards. Theft is frightening and can ruin a vacation. .

 

[della]

If we need Maintenance, we make sure one of us is around. .

The last time I was at BWV we had gone back to the room around 2:30 pm. Two maintenance men knocked on the door to exchange fire extinguishers. They had proper ID (and a new fire extinguisher!) so I let them in. They were there no more than 2 seconds but still it made me realize that they might be coming into the room (when I am out) for things I may not have called for.

 

[Lew]

Also, if you use the safe, don't forget where you put the key! We did this once and had to pay $50 to have the safe drilled on checkout.

That's a ripoff!

The safes use Medco locks and keys. The formula for each key is kept on file by the locksmith, so Disney can easily have a new key made to open the safe. The lock cylinder can then be changed and a new key cut. This should cost no more than $10.

I used Medco locks and keys for a business I owned because the keys can't be copied. Also, if an employee were to leave my employ, and I got his key back, I didn't have to be concerned there might be a duplicate floating around somewhere. If I didn't get the key back, re-keying the lock and 10 new keys cost less than $30.

 

[Kitten]

Which I think is absolutely absurd but we found out the hard way last weekend when we were assigned room 4546 at VWL. My DH likes to put some of his smaller electronics in the safe and when we realized there was no safe we tried to get our room changed. Unfortunately because it was F & W weekend and Super Soap weekend there were no other non smoking studios to move us to. There is however a safe available at the front desk.

 

[Donna]

Which I think is absolutely absurd but we found out the hard way last weekend when we were assigned room 4546 at VWL. My DH likes to put some of his smaller electronics in the safe and when we realized there was no safe we tried to get our room changed. Unfortunately because it was F & W weekend and Super Soap weekend there were no other non smoking studios to move us to. There is however a safe available at the front desk.

Did you look in the corner in the closet? i've never known a DVC resort to not have a safe! they are so tiny anyways, not much bigger than a jewelry box.

 

[Kitten]

Did you look in the corner in the closet? i've never known a DVC resort to not have a safe! they are so tiny anyways, not much bigger than a jewelry box.

The room we were in was a handicap accessible studio so there was no closet, just a large armoire that housed the TV and had an area where you could hang clothing. Believe me, we searched every inch of that room before we called the front desk to complain....even the CM we were speaking with could not believe there was no safe. We were told to come back down to have our room changed and during the time the CM was searching for a new room she did confirm that some rooms do not have safes and we were encouraged to use the main safe at the front desk.

We have stayed at OKW, BCV, BWV and always had a safe...this was our first trip at VWL and also our first time being assigned a HA room so I'm wondering if the lack of closet is the reason for no safe??