Thousands Stolen From Family's Safe At Disney Resort

[Tagrel]

I'm thinking Disney is definitely on the hook for THIS one! :shock: I would be SOOO mad if this happened to me, and I don't even have to try to get OUT of the country to go home! I'll bet someone gets fired if this story turns out to be true!

Original Article: Thousands Stolen From Family's Safe At Disney Resort (http://www.wftv.com/news/3287714/detail.html)

Thousands Stolen From Family's Safe At Disney Resort

POSTED: 11:29 am EDT May 10, 2004

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A family from India says its visit to the happiest place on earth has been miserable. The family says someone broke into their Disney hotel suite and cleaned out their safe, stealing thousands of dollars.

The family says, instead of helping, the resort staff added insult to their injury.

Kaajal Anand says the plan was to end their trip to Disney World with a visit to one of the theme parks, but she says that plan drastically changed when she walked over to the safe in her suite to grab some cash.

"When I reached the safe, there was a second key in the safe and the safe was open and everything was gone," she explains.

Her passport, airline tickets, $3,000 in cash, $10,000 in travelers checks, Anand says the thief packed it all in her $3,000 Louis Vuitton travel bag and walked away.

But, Anand says, what is more shocking is how she believes the thief got into her room. She says hotel managers practically invited them in.

Anand says desk clerks at the Wilderness Lodge told her someone called from the room claiming to have lost their safe key.

"So, they actually sent an engineer up who made a second key for this person," she explains.

Anand says she could not believe this, since she was so thoroughly screened when she checked into the resort.

"It was such a procedure for me to get checked into my room. How come it was so easy for somebody to get a key to the safe without ID?" she wonders.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office is investigating the burglary.

A Disney representative told Channel 9, they are cooperating with the sheriff's office and conducting their own investigation as well.

As for Anand, she says she is borrowing money from friends in hopes she can fly to New York on Monday and get another passport to get home to India.

"I'm stranded. I don't have money, I don't have credit cards and I don't have my ticket, and the airline won't allow me out of here without photo ID," she says.

The sheriff's office says, since this is a property crime and not a violent crime, it could take several days before a detective is assigned to the case and they get to the bottom of this.

[DisneyBUff]

Umm can we say some one would be on this now not in a few days but NOW..!!! my money , my pasport, my traverls checks,my everything get your A$$ out ther and figure out who got there hands on it .. and they do not require id to get u another safe key. well atleastteh dolphin didn't when our key worked to lock our stuffin but wiouldn't unlock it .. good thing it waa non park day .. and it was really us getting it back out .. i won't leave money in the safe only thing we left the last time were meds.. lol ok ok my narcotics didn't want mouse keeoping taking them as a tip.. lol just joking. we use our debit card instead of cash for this reason .

[LuvmeDisney]

Unbelievable!!!! I really thought this was the safest and most trust worthy way to go. Just shows me how naive I really am. Don't know why these things come as a constant shock to me, but they do.

Linda

[Lou-Ann]

Something is fishy here......First of all.........Operative phrasing here is someone called from the room...........They can tell which room is ringing and they went to that room to help. How did someone get in the room in the first place??? How did that someone happen to know what all was in that safe??? Most of us do not carry that kind of cash and for a thief to expose himself (face to the staff to get the key ) is stupid. Would you expose your identity on the chance that "maybe" these folks have something in their safe? I think not. I never use their safe. I am sure many do not. How did the thief know which room was a good one to use to rob the safe??? There is more to this story than we are being told, I think. Guess I did OSI (Office of Special Investigations) for our Welfare office for too many years. We caught a lot of theives. Surely the deskk clerk knows what this person looks like if they went to the room to help them. Have you ever seen a $3000 piece of luggage? Not even Coach is that much. Could this theft be a bit padded??? Surely the lady who was robbed has some picture ID she carries on her person........a driver's liscense??? Even with Annual passes you need ID.........With ID the airline will replace your tickets. Who travels without a photo copy of their passport left somewhere in their luggage or on them??? Now you guys have me going........I feel sorry for the woman if this happened but so much does not ring right with me...........Disney is very careful..........Not perfect but not stupid either.... :shrug:

[WillCAD]

I'm with you Lou-Ann. Something is definitely fishy.

A thief would have taken the cash, the credit cards, the travellers checks, maybe the airline tickets, but not the foreign IDs or passports. And yes, I can certainly see a Louis Votton bag costing upwards of $3K.

I wonder, however, how someone could still have $13K in cash and travellers checks still in the hotel safe on the LAST day of thier vacation? That's an AWFUL lot of money to have left over, unless you are extremely well off; in fact, you'd qualify in my book as "rich" to even have that much money to take with you in cash and travellers checks for your whole vacation, let alone to have that much left over!

Perhaps these folks truly were ripped off as they claim, but the huge amount of money suggests that the claim is a little inflated.

[MissBianca]

I don't know Will, clearly this family was targetted probably because they were staying in a suite and displaying other signs of wealth. Since they aren't from the US, and were clearly wealthy, perhaps they did bring more cash that we expected they'd use but maybe they didn't know or maybe they were going outlet mall shopping on the way to the airport ;)

I hope they do get to the bottom of it and I hope that there are no Disney employees involved. Calling from the room is suspicious to me, too, but again I can think of arguments on both sides.

And who would steal passports, etc.? Someone who did not take the time to sort what they were stuffing in a bag.

Funny, though, all the hotel safes I've ever used (and that's not many) had combination locks...

[Tagrel]

While the real investigation will be handled by the police I don't find the details of this theft that hard to believe. This was a family from India - obviously well to do - staying in a suite - big bucks and MANY travellers from other countries don't have our credit cards or even if they do, don't want to play the exchange rate game where they loose lots of money. For someone used to spending large sums of cash - $3000 cash and $10,000 travellers checks could be very normal. (Not for ME, but hey...) ;) And it seems likely this family was targeted. As to the bag - THAT sounds like they grabbed the very expensive suitcase to carry the stuff they grabbed out of the safe. It didn't say the BAG was in the safe. But, the police will work through these details.

MY problem with this story is that Disney seems to have opened this safe without proper identification. (All the rooms I've stayed in on WDW property have had a key for the safe except GF - I think that was a digital combo) Still - if you call the front desk and they open it for the thief - it doesn't matter WHAT kind of lock it has...

How many people have returned to their room with housekeeping inside? Have they asked for ID to prove you belong in that room? Have you ever left your room key and ID in the room and hit the front desk for a replacement? They ask name and room number and print you a new key! :shock: Not good...

However this story turns out, I hope that Disney changes how they handle these sorts of security issues.

[WillCAD]

I agree, Dave, I hope Disney revises policies on handing out new room keys and safe keys.

Personally, I've never understood the idea of leaving your ID in your hotel room while on vacation. I never go ANYWHERE, on vacation or at home, without my ID.

I've always been a little wary of leaving everything in my room safe. I don't like to carry all my cash with me when I'm on vacation, but I always carry my ATM card and leave one credit card in the safe in case I lose my ATM card.

It's also a good idea to photocopy all your credit cards, ID, and even your park passes, and keep those photocopies in your luggage instead of the safe, so that you will have all the numbers, and the 1-800 phone numbers, needed to report a lost or stolen card. Some credit card companies will send you an emergency replacement overnight if you lose your card away from home, but you need your card number and the phone number to report it.

[Tagrel]

All good ideas Will! The only time I have left ID in the room was when swimming in the pool. I always take it to the parks, etc. Think I'll be taking it to the pools too... I need a good waterproof carrier... Those plastic things you wear always seem to leak...

[LuvmeDisney]

Great ideas Will, I will remember them next time. The other interesting thing here is that when it comes to your ID, I was told a number of years ago when we activated our AP's, we needed to show ID. DH had it, but I didn't have mine, and the fellow at the Guest Services told me it was Florida law that you MUST have ID on you at all times. Ergo, we have always carried it ever since. The other thing, that raised some suspicion with DH after hearing of this is with the persons checking into the room with a foreign, ethnic origin, wouldn't it possibly have been unusual for someone other than the same or similar ethnic origin to be in the room. The name on the article for the family was Kaajal Anand. Now, I'm sure we don't have all the story, but that does seem a bit suspicious as well. Especially, as stated, they had to show so much ID upon checking in. Either way, though, OOOOOPS on Disney for not checking at the room.

Linda

[Lou-Ann]

It will be interesting to see what happens here. I should think the Disney employee would have asked the caller which one of the registered guests was calling from the room............ :shrug: If the thief did not have the right name that would be a clue............