Feeling like a horrible mother...lost my dd's at Disneyland.

[mykdsmomy]

I took my three older children to Disneyland tonight (we have passes). My dd11 (6th grade) and dd7 wanted to go on Star Tours.....my ds6 didnt. It was almost time for the fireworks and we hadnt gotten on many rides at all because of the crowds and ds6 wanted to sit down from all the walking. I walked the girls to the opening of the ride and told them i'd meet them at the Plaza restaraunt (right next door) when the ride was over. Ds and I got a snack from the restaraunt but then i started to panic thinking that they will be coming off the ride as the fireworks start and the park goes dark and they will be stuck in a big crowd of people unable to get to me.....so after 10 minutes, ds and I walk to the exit of the ride......(oh by the way....the wait time said 25 minutes). We sat for 30 minutes waiting for them to come out and they didnt....finally I asked a woman who was sitting at the exit how long she'd been waiting and she said only 10 minutes and her children walked out.....I was FREAKING OUT.....I ran back to the restaraunt and dd's were sitting there eating CHOCOLATE CAKE on the house and talking to the waiter there.....dd was on the waiter's cell phone calling my dh and my mil (God no....anyone but her) (dd couldnt remember MY cell #).
I felt like such a horrible mother.....the waiter said "well, we fed them and took care of them". I was so grateful but so embarrassed and like the dumbest most irresponsible mother on the planet for letting them go on the ride by themselves I told them we're never splitting up again....
I'm just feeling so incredibly horrible for my judgement. I am so comfortable at Disneyland. We've had passes for years and the kids know that place like the back of their hand and I took that for granted. Has anyone made a bad judgement call and then regretted it? Sorry for the vent mamas......just had to get that out

[Summerland]

Aww
That really could happen to anyone. I hope you dont beat yourself up over it.

[Joannarachel]

I really don't think you made a bad judgement call

I was reading that this is pretty common in Disney, and newer rides are being designed so that the entrance and the exit are in the same spot.

They're 11 and 7, right? Not 6 and 2

It was an accident, and I'm sure your eldest child is more than capable of handling a brief separation. Just program your number into her cell phone

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Sounds like your kids did EXACTLY what they were supposed to. They got off the ride and went to the restaurant to meet you. You weren't there, so they asked a park employee for help.

I don't think you did anything wrong, and I think your kids did great.

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

I think you are being way to hard on yourself. The only thing I would change is to make sure both children have a card with phone numbers in their pockets. Oh, and next time, you need to follow your own plan and stay where you said you would meet them!

[Mama Poot]

I got lost in Washington DC when I was 12. It was a school trip and my best friend and I had gone back to where the busses were "supposed" to be- well they werent there so we took it upon ourselves to search the nation's capital for them. We spent four hours walking around the Smithsonian and the Mall. Finally we were found and got yelled at by the chaperones and teachers. My mother was furious when she found this out. Umm HELLO why were the kids allowed to go off alone??? We were very scared and upset when they found us. the last thing we needed was to be reprimanded for something that wasnt our fault. Ehh....I guess what im saying is it could have been worse. And good lord to get lost in DC??? I'd feel much better if it was Disneyworld.

[runes]

first of all, !

pp's have made some good suggestions, i just wanted to second and add:

definitely have a card made up (you can even laminate it) with your cell phone number on it and tuck it into each child's pocket. we went to disney with the il's and as we walked in, they all of a sudden got paranoid about possibly losing their kids, i happened to have a few of my business cards on me and i tucked one in each of the little one's pockets, and told them that if they couldn't find us to go up to a disney employee and ask them to call me.

even though you had agreed on a meeting point for after this particular ride, as a family, decide on where to designate as the family's permanent default meeting spot.

[mystic~mama]

try not to beat your self up,,,,I always try and learn what I can and move on.

blessings~

[mykdsmomy]

Thanks for the kind words, mamas. I'm feeling a little better this morning

[chinaKat]

Don't feel too terrible. If it makes you feel any better, DH got lost at Disney when he was a kid -- his 2 older brothers were supposed to keep an eye on him, but they ditched him almost immediately! DH (maybe 6-7 yrs old) had a bunch of ride tickets (they used them back then) so he used them all up, going on rides... only after he ran out of tickets did he walk up to an employee and say he was lost!!

They paged his parents and they came and got him - my MIL always says how mortified and horrible she felt when they get to this part of the story. It's now a family legend, about the time they lost him at Disney!

Seriously, though -- this sort of thing happens ALL the time there. The park employees are trained with "what to do" when they find a lost kid. I don't think anybody stays lost for very long there. Don't beat yourself up over it, these things happen and everything was okay.

[Shelsi]

My dh worked at Disney World for years, both at the magic kingdom and epcot. They were trained to recognize "lost" kids and help them relocate their parents. Also they had protection in place to completely close down the park and keep people from entering or exiting if a kid was lost. He said they actually did it very often, at least a few times a week.

It's a humongous park for kids with millions of people there all the time. They know kids are gonna get lost (or parents ). I don't think letting an 11 yr old and 7 yr old ride alone is a bad judgement call at all.

[Kundalini-Mama]

Congratulations!!!! It sounds like you did a great job teaching safety to your kids b/c they were calm & waited for you in the designated spot. AND they found a cast member to help them out!!

Last summer we went to Sesame Place, my then 3 1/2 yr old was going up & down this slide, playground type, not a water slide or anything. Both me & hubby were right there, but DS couldn't see us for some reason. He immediately went up to a woman & told her he lost us & he needed help----I was so proud of him!!

Try Ridemax before your next Disney trip

[MyLittleWonders]

Judy. I know you and the girls ... you made a fine decision letting them ride alone. They did what they were supposed to do; you got worried and tried to cut them off at the pass, so to speak. I know I would have gotten worried with the approaching fireworks too ... I am so proud of them going to a cast member and asking for help (and in the future explain to them who they are and who they aren't allowed to call )! If you are to walk away with something, remember next time to maybe make the meeting point at the end of the ride ... ds could look around the store or even just sit in that hallway after the ride on the floor and put his head in your lap. You are a good mama!!! & to you and 's to them. (And tell them Ms. Brit said, "Well done.")

[AmyAngel]

I don't have kids yet, but I'm sure that kind of thing happens to all moms at some point, and a Disney park would be the place I'd be least worried about losing a child! It sounds like they knew exactly what to do (except the phone number thing) and did a great job of doing it! I can easily imagine myself letting kids of those ages ride a ride on their own at a Disney park, especially one they've been to often.

Disney cast members EXPECT to find lost kids, I think, it's part of their training and happens every day. The CM probably didn't think you were a bad mom at all, he probably just felt good that he was able to help your kids and brighten their day a bit with the chocolate!

I discovered early on in my Walt Disney World visitings to be VERY specific about where to meet, and not waver from that spot (not that I always follow this advice!). It's easy even with all adults to get the wrong bench by the wrong fountain, or to sit there and wonder if you missed everyone because no one's come by, and then you go look and they call wondering why YOU'RE not at the meeting place! We (all adults) lost my parents (who're not THAT old!) for nearly an hour last year at Magic Kingdom, largely because mom forgot to charge her phone, and we were too vague about exactly where we were meeting.:

[oldcrunchymom]

OP, you did NOT make a bad judgment call. In fact, a very similar thing just happened to me at Six Flags. My kids went on a waterslide and I moved our stuff from where were were and waited at the bottom of the slide for them. Of course it was the WRONG slide. The entrances to the slides were close, but they came out totally different places. Who knew? My kids went back to where our stuff was before I moved it and were of course perplexed. I found them after about ten minutes, just as they were going to ask a park employee for help.

Anyway, we used to live in Orange County and had DL passes too. My kids are 10 and 8 and I would totally let them go on rides by themselves at their ages. Disney parks are very very safe and IMO you did nothing wrong. My ex and I (and my kids) used to go to DL all the time and we had a meeting place (I believe it was in front of Town Hall) to go to if we got separated and couldn't find each other for more than 15 minutes. I think we used it twice, once before we had kids and once when the kids were babies. You might want to set up a meeting place like that with your kids in case you get separated like that again.

[oldcrunchymom]

double post

[chel]

my dd has a "dogtag" with my cell # on it. i also use the tag for luggage. cell phones have been a life saver when trying to locate people in large parks.

[Arduinna]

It's ok my mom lost my sister and I ( I was about 13 and my sister about 4 ) at WDW and we survived and no long term damage, lol.

As far as places go it's one of the safest to accidentally lose your child.

Oh and we once lost dd for a few minutes at Disneyland, too many people and trying to squeeze through and we got sperated. I think she was around 9 or 10 maybe? It was scary but luckily she knows the place well and we found her quickly. No lasting scars there either.

[bobica]

I think your girls sound like they have good heads on their shouldser & did the right thing! we have 1 dd & when she was 2, we lost her (very shortly) at Sesame Place. Both dh & I were there & we still managed to lose her!