call from Disneyland

Yesterday I got a call from Disney.

I have never gotten a call from them. Since it was an unfamiliar number I not take the call and a message was deposited on my phone. When I listened to the call I was pretty sure it was a scam.

“We have a lost cell phone. One of the entries is ‘dad’ and it is your number,” the lady, who identified herself as Lauren, said.

I called daughter 1 to see who of my kids might be in Disneyland. Ahh daughter 3. Tried to get in touch with daughter 3’s husband or son. I called two of my daughters to see if any useful phone numbers. I sent a text message to daughter 3’s husband, who was someplace else on business. He has a smart phone and I knew he would see the message soon.

Then I called Disney Lost and Found. Had to wait a fair time to get to the operator (“your call is important to us. . .”). But the lady was very professional and very helpful. She wanted me to describe the phone, which I could not do.

I explained that daughter lived in San Francisco and I was in Idaho. The operator had determined that the daughter was Deanna and she said they would keep the phone for about 3 weeks.

Then I got an email from Curtis (Deanna’s husband) that he had called the hotel where she was staying and left a message for her.

This morning there was an email from Dea saying she had talked to the lady at Lost and Found and she would get the phone. She thanked us for our efforts.

I am not a great fan or Disney, nor for that matter a great foe either. They are a medium gray in my lexicon of companies. But I have to say I was impressed with all of this.

The Lost and Found lady said that a lot of phones are lost each day. She said they turn the phone on and look for “dad” or “mom” or “home” and try to make contact.

I did not ask her how often she is unable to find the owner, but my guess is that they have a pretty high success ratio.

Thanks Disney, you are now a light gray. (I still have no interest in going to your parks, though!)