Just curious

[wire0monkey]

What does Disney do with all of the stuff that ends up in the lost and found, but is never claimed?

(I've lost a diaper bag on both of the last two trips, and I didn't go back for it.)

:confused:

[BBrinkman]

A cast member could probably answer this better than me but here's what my experience has been. I lost a pair of sunglasses on one of my past trips and reported it at the customer service booth in Animal Kingdom. I left my name and contact info and they said they'd let me know if it turned up. I never got the sunglasses back but at least they tried!

[#1donaldfan]

Lost and found worked for me, or should I say my DS....he left his cap and sunglasses in the net bag on a ride and we reported it the same day, and about three weeks after returning home they showed up in the mail.......I guess it works for some....

[dolphinmickey9170]

I heard that after one year, unclaimed items are donated to a local charity. Who knows if thats true or not. Maybe someone with more info will come along soon.

[bleukarma]

I've heard that after a year it all goes to a store where cast members can buy the stuff. I don't know if thats an urban legand or not, though.

[McGoofy]

I'm not sure how long items are kept at the park lost and founds, but I have 2 experiences that I will share. The first time we encountered lost and found was when my son lost his Peter Pan hat during a MNSSHP. The next day my husband went to lost and found to see if he could possibly retrieve it. He said the place was incredibly organized. Items were dated as to when and where they were found. We were given a Peter Pan hat that matched the description of our size and where and when we thought we lost it. Our name wasn't in it, so I can't be 100% sure that it was ours. The CM told my husband that CM's are supposed to turn in any item, no matter what it is, that they find. If possible, they will contact the owner. If that is not possible, they hang on to the items and then they donate to charity. They did not specifically say how long.

Then my other experience is with lost and found at a resort. Housekeeping accidentally gathered up my son's blankie when she changed the linens in our room. Anyone who knows how precious a child's blankie is to them, can understand why I went to great lengths to track this blankie down!! Long story short, we were invited to come look in the resort lost and found. We were picked up in an AKL van and driven to the laundry facility. (We were even given a brief tour! FYI--Disney linens get VERY clean, but that's another story!:)) In the lost and found room, there was tub after tub of lost items that had been left behind in guests rooms. The tubs were numbered 1-90. Each number represented a day. After 90 days, if an item is not claimed, I was told that it was donated to charity. Fotunately, after searching the bins, we found my son's blankie, and it did not end up in charity. That would have been a sad day in this house if that had happened!!

[Jasper]

The evil dolls break in at night grab everything, fill diaper bags and the like with cotten candy and sparkles and use them in their war against humans!!!:D:D:D:thedolls::thedolls:

Just kidding, but I couldn't resist. I really don't have an answer to your question. Perhaps a cast member will read this and chime in.

[2Epcot]

One member of our group left one of our two-way radios behind on the Safari ride at the Animal Kingdom on our last trip. He went back for it almost immediately, and had to wait for the vehicles to cycle through, but he never found it. He did report it to lost and found, but it never showed up. It was probably picked up by a guest, and not a CM. It is nice to hear that the lost & found is so organized. I ended up replacing the radio on eBay, picking up 3 of them for the price of the original one cost ... not such a bad ending.

[Von-Drake]

My wife and I go to visit DisneyLand last year for one day, and were planning on flying out the next. We were in line for Splash Mountain and my wife realized she had lost her wallet. We went back through the park and the previous rides we had just been on all the way back to lunch time. No luck. By this time, we were both very concerned, she was on the verge of tears, scared, wondering how she was going to be able to get aboard the plane (this happened last August, when security was tightened up and they just implemented, 2 days earlier, the whole no more than 2 oz. of any liquid thing). I was too busy trying to keep her calm to get too show I was getting nervous also. We went to Lost & Found and after dealing with a very courteous and understanding Cast Member, we discovered that the wallet had indeed been found and was at Space Mountain (our last ride before lunch). We were told to go in through the exit and the wallet would be were the riders dis-embarked from the "spaceships". The Cast members returned the wallet to her and everything was still inside, including the money, They said a person turned it in when they were getting off the ride a couple of hours ago. So all worked out well.

[wire0monkey]

I'm glad that stuff goes to charity. I'm sure it's a metric ton of stuff that gets lost every day at every park.

I actually lost the diaper bag three times in two trips.

The last time, I left it in the Rose and Crown with my car keys in it. We walked all the way out to the parking lot, realized that we didn't have a bag or keys and hiked all the way back to Guest Relations. The intern at Epcot guest relations said "Hang on a minute." He went into the back and came back with the bag in less than five minutes. The restaurant staff sent the bag up to Guest Relations when they found it under the table.

The intern told us goes to a central "lost and found" for the parks after a day or two, but we didn't know where it went from there. Yay, charity! I wonder how many pairs of sunglasses Goodwill can actually take?

[Figgyluv03]

I'm not sure exactly how long they hold stuff, but yes, there is a store where cast member can buy stuff left behind. It's a small amount of stuff like water toys, cameras, and cell batteries. Majority of the stuff is sent to charitys and I believe the money made off of the cast member sales is sent to charity as well.

[irish1967]

I left our video camera on the monorail early one morning travelling to Chef Mickey's for breakfast. My DH convinced me that I left it in our room at the Poly so I didn't follow up until after we got back to the room.

It had been turned in by a guest to monorail personnel and we picked it up at the lost and found at the TTC before we went to the MK that day.

They did take steps to make sure the video camera was ours (since, bad us, we didn't have an id tag in the bag) but it was easy because my DH had put his football picks in the bag that morning to remind him to call them into his friend. It was funny because the CM was from Detroit and my DH had picked the Lions to lose that weekend :mickey:

[amd780]

I don't have an answer either about where unclaimed items go, but I would love to share my experience with Disney lost & found! :mickey:

DH and I were amazed by how organized and efficient Disney is, when the day after a visit to Epcot, I discovered I was missing my EpiPen. Since I am severely allergic to tree nuts, this could create a very dangerous situation. Anyway...we called central lost & found, and they said an EpiPen had been turned in the night before. When we went to claim it, the CM behind the counter pulled it right away. I believe that if this had happened anywhere else, we wouldn't have been as fortunate. Kudos to Disney for another job well done! :thumbsup:

[MinnieMommie]

I won't go into details but I did have a loss at Disney. I was vigilant in describing the missing items to Disney and called them several times to makes sure all the right people had record of my lost items (actually dear daughters). Disney called me back not too long after with the good news that everthing had been found. They mailed the items back to our home and everything was perfect. Alls well that ends well! :thumbsup:

[TinkerbellFan16]

I'm not sure where the lost and found stuff goes but less then perfect retail produvts go to this shop were CMs can go and purchase them at a discount.

[letsdoitagain]

I bet it all ends up in the attic scene at the Haunted Mansion. That bride looks a little shifty. That's the real reason it closed for rehab. She needed more room for more stuff.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

After a good period of time, a lot of it is set to a store located in the cast parking of MK. Along with all the damaged items which CM's can then buy at about 75-90% off the original retail value (and a lot of it is something sooooooo small like an ink stain).

But I remember one story of a guest who has lost their wedding ring at WDW and they called a few times afterwards to see if it was there, and there was nothing. So about a year later, they returned and figured it was a long shot and asked again if it had been found. Imagine how they looked when it had actually been found and the guest was given their wedding ring back after a year. So certain items, they most likely hold on to if it is of enough value.