Kudos to Walt Disney World's Lost and Found department

A few weeks ago we were on the trip of a lifetime to Walt Disney World with family and friends. We spent most of the trip at Disney's Polynesian Resort, and then spent one night a Disney's Port Orleans - Riverside. I accidentally left my Passporter Deluxe in a drawer at the Polynesian, but didn't realize it until the evening we were at Port Orleans, and we were heading home the next morning. I wasn't totally sure that I had left it -- most of our bags were already packed, and I didn't remember putting it in any of them, but I didn't want to totally unpack everything to check.

My husband called and left a message for the Lost and Found Department at the Polynesian. After we arrived home, we got a call from them saying that they had indeed found the book. They wanted to verify where we wanted it sent, and offered to send it either FedEx or regular mail. Since I didn't need it urgently (the trip was over!), regular mail was fine for us, and it arrived a few days later.

One of the coolest things about the whole process is the card that was taped to the box with our address on it. It is a postcard, and the reverse side says "We are holding an article(s) in our Lost & found Department which we believe may belong to you." It then gives you the number to call to identify the item and verify your address.

I have four kids, and even when we try to travel light, we still have a lot of things. I tell the kids that if they bring something they need to keep track of it, but as happened with me and my book, sometimes things do get misplaced and left behind. It's nice to know that the Walt Disney World Lost & Found department is looking out for me!

It also reminded me of the good experience we had with the Lost & Found department at another Disney resort several years ago, when my older son was much younger. He had a toy monkey that he really loved. We brought Monkey with us on vacation, and at some point he disappeared. We searched through everything in our room, but couldn't find it, and couldn't remember exactly where on the trip we had last seen him. We tried not to alarm my son, and tried to divert his attention when we asked about it. Eventually I went to the front desk and asked if by any chance anyone had turned in a toy monkey. He was there, and the people were so nice: "Oh, we were hoping someone would come for him! We had him sitting on our desk since we knew someone must be looking for him!" Again, we always try not to lose things, but it was really nice that they had Monkey, and my son was thrilled when he reappeared. Since it was my first experience with the Walt Disney World Lost & Found I wouldn't have been surprised if there was just a box of found items or something, but it was really nice to know that they took such good care of the items. This was "just" a stuffed toy monkey and a book; I hope I never lose anything really valuable, but I know that it will be in good hands if I do.