Did you lose something at the Walt Disney World Resort? Now you can go online to ask if it was found, instead of having to go to or call Guest Services at the resort.
As one of the world's most-visited tourist destinations, Walt Disney World long has maintained an immense lost-and-found operation. Even when I worked at the Magic Kingdom — back when dinosaurs roamed the park and would lose stuff like their camera's exposed film canisters — we would walk all the items we'd found at the end of the day to City Hall, so that Guest Services could hold them for any people who came to claim them.
As more customer service functions move online, it's only natural that, eventually, lost-and-found would move there, too. You can buy your tickets, make your reservations, check into a hotel, order a meal, download your photos and arrange a ride from park to park online, so why shouldn't you be able to check to see if anyone found your lost item, too?
Disney is now making that happen, partnering with a company called Chargerback.com, which manages lost-and-found inventory online for hundreds of hotels and other tourist destinations. Recent Walt Disney World visitors can go to DisneyWorld.com/lostandfound to file a report to see if their item has been retrieved and turned in. Disney will hold unique and obviously valuable items, such as wallets and phones, for up to 90 days. Regular stuff, such as sunglasses and toys, gets held for 30 days.
Do note that even though this new system is online, it's still dependent upon human beings in the park finding your item and turning them into a lost-and-found holding location. So if you just lost something, it's still worth your time to ask at the location where you think you left it, or to check in with the park's Guest Services office before jumping online to film a report. The online reporting tool is for anyone who lost something at one of the Disney World theme or water parks, the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex or on a Disney World bus, boat, or monorail. If you lost something at one of the Walt Disney World hotels, Disney asks that you continue to call the hotel's concierge.
If you want to check on a previously-filed report, or just to do things the old-fashioned way, Disney World's lost-and-found phone number is +1-407-824-4245.
What's your best theme park lost and found story?
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It's really convenient but in the end it doesn't work. I told them I lost my spontaneous, fun WDW vacation but they couldn't find it either.
I worked with Lost and Found many moons ago.... I was surprised how much stuff is turned into lost and found, how valuable lots of the items were, and how much of the lost and found people want to buy. Things get awkward really fast when everyone has ideas about donations, charities, and tax write offs.
I'm going to guess this has more to do with managing the Lost and Found that is never recovered than helping people find their lost things.
We just returned from a Disney World trip where we left close to $100 worth of lunch coolers, plastic food containers, umbrella, etc... in a locker in the Magic Kingdom. We filed a lost and found report first thing the next morning. We were told the staff empties the lockers each night and lost items are sent over to a centralized location in Disney Springs. We received several e-mails saying they hadn't found our stuff, but they were still looking. Then after a week we got an e-mail saying they were unable to locate our stuff and they were closing the case. How do you lose stuff that was in one of their lockers?!
I went to Tokyo DisneySeas and found a phone in my seat. The attendant had 3 more phones in her hands. It will be a mess to identify owners of phones and prescription glasses unless you can visit the Lost & Found and test and feel it.
How did you forget $100 worth of stuff in a locker?
"It will be a mess to identify owners of phones and prescription glasses unless you can visit the Lost & Found and test and feel it."
I agree, but I don't think this new system is going to eliminate the need for guests to positively verify the lost item in person or to provide some type of identification to allow them to mail the item to you (in addition to shipping costs). I think what will happen is that guests will file an electronic form, and then the contractor will link that with a found item. They will then send the guest a photo of the item and ask them to come and pick it up or provide identification (passcode or some unique characteristic on a cell phone) for them to mail it back to them. It's not like guests will be able to scan through lists of items online to see if their item (or another item they might like) is available.
By hiring a contractor, Disney gets this tedious process out of their hair, and pushes the responsibility on someone else. It's hard to tell whether that will be a good thing or a bad thing from the guest perspective, but at least it will probably be a bit more standardized than it is right now.
I should have known there was something the Disney Parks Blog wasn’t telling me about this. But think of all the time and money Disney will save by citing down on those annoying Guest interactions!
THE OLD DISNEY: “What’s that, Timmy - you lost your mouse ears in the Magic Kingdom? Well, let’s have a Cast Member get you a new on one from the Emporium.”
DISNEY TODAY: “What’s that, Timmy - you lost your mouse ears in the Magic Kingdom? Well, have Mommy and Daddy file a report on our website, and if someone finds it, our contractor will get it back to you within 30 days. Have a magical day!”
We just got back from a trip to Disney World during which we left a bunch of lunch totes, plastic food containers, ice packs, umbrella, and rain coat in a rented locker. We didn't lose the stuff. We know exactly where it was left...secured in a Disney locker. We filed an online report the next morning at the park with the park, date, locker number and complete description of what was in it. Over the course of a week we received several e-mails saying they had not found anything yet, but they were still looking. Then after a week, we got an e-mail saying they were unable to find out belongings and they were closing our case. How does stuff that was left in a locker get lost? We had close to $100 worth of stuff in there. If they were any kind of organized, they should have been able to find our stuff immediately with the information we gave them. This wasn't a pair of sunglasses left on a ride that we're hoping someone turned in! These were items secured in a Disney locker! We didn't lose our stuff. Disney did!
Really Anton? People forget stuff in those lockers everyday.
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I wonder where the value is here...Does this new contractor represent a cost savings to Disney in labor costs to manage the current lost and found system manned by Disney employees? Is the contractor going to "clean the warehouse" more rigorously than Disney did, and are they encouraged to be more vigorous in the purging of items to reduce warehousing costs? Does the contractor reap the profits from auctioning off unclaimed items?
It's a bit of a ruthless business, but I can see why Disney would not want to deal with this anymore, and creating an online interface for guests is an extra perk Disney can use to differentiate itself from competitors. This could be a win/win, but handing something like this over to a contractor could create some bad blood.