Hey, buddy, have you seen my teeth?
As the trail of tourists dwindles to a trickle at the end of the summer, our guests leave behind much more than their dollars, yen and euros.
By Katherine Snow Smith, special to the Times
Published September 16, 2007
As another summer winds down, thousands of visitors to Florida's theme parks and beaches go home, taking with them memories of a wonderful vacation.
They leave behind their phone chargers, cell phones, iPods, rain ponchos, strollers, hats, sunglasses, fully packed suitcases and the occasional blender, prosthetic leg and chandelier.
"Probably one of the two most unusual things I know of (being found) was the upper plate of a set of dentures," says Mike Patrick, vice president of operations at Busch Gardens in Tampa. "You can imagine someone riding one of our rides and oftentimes they are screaming with glee and if the PoliGrip didn't hold . . . that could happen."
The other most unusual lost-then-found item: an artificial eye.
"It does keep our staff busy cataloging and then storing it all so it can be retrieved," he says. "Sometimes we don't hear from them for weeks until they get back to England and they realize that they left their favorite Manchester United jersey."
Travelers stopping or starting at Tampa International Airport also leave behind important and strange things.
"We've actually found a lawn mower, an entire set of tires and a prosthetic leg," says Brenda Geoghagan, spokeswoman for the airport.
About 1,000 items are lost each day during the summer at Walt Disney World's four theme parks. The tally drops to about 500 a day when the parks aren't as crowded.
"We find more sunglasses and glasses than anything else," says Todd Evans, park operations manager. "We have racks and racks of glasses." One of the most unusual items found over the years at Disney World was a bowling ball.
"Anything you can take on a trip can get left behind," says Todd Maugel, executive housekeeper at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach. "People leave whole suitcases, bags of clothes, stuffed animals, children's blankets, phone chargers."
Housekeepers find an average of two phone chargers a day at the 390-room hotel. Any that don't get claimed are used as loaners for guests who arrive without theirs. With so many to choose from, a fit is never impossible.
Sometimes visitors call to request that their item be shipped to them. Other times e-mails or phone numbers lead proprietors to owners. But many items aren't marked and nobody ever calls looking for them.
Maugel estimates less than half of the items found at the Sheraton Sand Key are returned to the owners. Patrick at Busch Gardens thinks 60 percent are claimed.
About half the items left at Disney eventually make it home, Evans says.
If items go unclaimed at the Sheraton, the employee who found them gets to keep them after a waiting period. This is an incentive for employees to turn in items they find. Busch Gardens and Disney donate clothes, children's accessories, shoes, towels and more to charities. Eyeglasses are often given to the Lions Club for its vision programs.
Tampa International holds regular auctions that are open to the public. Items are only put on the block after a waiting period and attempts to reach their owners fail. The next auction is Nov. 3. (Look for upcoming details on the airport's Web site, www.tampaairport.com.)
The last auction in May 2006 included six iPods, one laptop computer, 18 Game Boys, 33 leather jackets, 43 digital or video cameras, 78 other photography items such as disposable cameras, 152 watches, 100 pieces of luggage packed with clothes, 130 toys, 346 cell phones and more than 1,000 pieces of jewelry. Then there were the more surprising items such as a chandelier, the interior of a car door, an electric guitar, golf clubs and bicycles.
All of these things and more were collected in about 12 months, Geoghagan says.
Katherine Snow Smith is a freelance writer based in St. Petersburg.
FAST FACTS
Where's your stuff
Llajjaira Diaz, a travel agent for AAA in Tampa, offers these tips to avoid losing belongings when you hit the road:
- Don't unpack. "One of the reasons people always leave things behind is they like to unpack everything in all the different drawers and cabinets. I refuse to do that," she said. After you wear something or use something put it back in your suitcase.
- Make everything, including your book and your sweater, fit in one tote bag for the plane. The same goes for children's items. If they carry Teddy in the left hand and their backpack in the right, there's a good chance something will be left behind.
- Label the inside of your luggage (with name, phone number, e-mail and address) because outside tags can be ripped off.
- Label numbers programmed into cell phones as "home" "mom" "spouse" or "office" so that if your cell phone is found, it's easier to know which number to call.
- Label cameras and other electronics. You might even note that you'll offer a reward if found.
Katherine Snow Smith