Another stroller WWYD

[jess98ac]

We're getting ready to plan a trip for May 2013. When we go, our girls will be 5 (she'll likely turn 5 on the trip) and 21 mos. We're going to need/want a stroller at the airport, so we're planning to take our Graco Literider. We already know that DD5 will walk a lot, but we do want to have a stroller for her on our long park days. Would you rent a double for the parks and plan to use our Graco for DTD, shopping, etc.? Or would you rent a single for DD5 and bring 2 to the parks? FWIW, we'll be staying offsite, and my parents and possibly my ILs will be with us, and we plan to rent 2 cars.
I think I know where I'm leaning, but am curious what others think.

 

[Lilliputian]

I would want a double stroller if I planned on having the 5 year old in a stroller. With that many adults, you'll probably end up splitting up, and it just seems like a pain to have each group taking a stroller when the older one won't need it often.

Will you have room to store the extra stroller? Are you staying in a little hotel room, or in a vacation home with some extra space? I would be concerned about that. If you have a small umbrella stroller, you may want to take it to the airport.

 

[Nanu57v]

Get a little umbrella for the 5yo. You can always stash it in a closet if you don't need it.

 

[cel_disney]

We bring our inglesina zippy from home for younger dd in airports and my 4,5, soon to be 6 year old walks for that. At 5, he still needed a stroller for some aspects of our park days...not all the time, but enough to make it worth having one without changing our touring style...we have rented the bjcmd from magic stroller and orlando strollers 3 times now and highly recommend it! It was great to have the single for when it made sense and the Double for when that was best!!

 

[laughinplace199]

We bought a First Years Ignite stroller for our trip when DS had just turned 5. It's a "nicer" umbrella stroller with a decent sunshade, canopy, basket, etc. DS fit well in it and even fell asleep a few times (it reclines too). We got it for $50 at BJ's.

I'd buy one of those strollers (or something similar). When my older kids were small, I never liked having a double in the parks. I liked having two strollers so that if DS was asleep, I could park the stroller next to a bench and he and I could relax while DH took DD somewhere else in the park for some more rides.

You could also plan to have her walk and if she needed a stroller, buy an umbrella stroller in the park.

 

[jess98ac]

We will be staying in a vacation home, so storage shouldn't be an issue. I did consider buying a bigger umbrella stroller, but am on the fence about lugging 2 through the airport. DD is already 40 lbs and over 40 inches, too, so I don't know if the "cheap" strollers will work for her.

 

[pooh4brains]

If space isn't an issue, I would bring the Graco and rent a double - that way you don't have to drag two strollers thru the airport, but you have a place for your older DD to sit when you are touring the parks. It's great to have a place for tired legs to rest comfortably. I also like strollers for big kids in crowded situations. We used a sit-n-stand stroller for our oldest kids when they were 5 and 1, and it was great when we were trying to navigate through a parade crowd, or trying to leave the park at night - I knew where everyone was, and that they were safe and comfy. Plus, Disney parks are large and very exciting! Even if your DD usually walks a lot on outings, she might tire more easily than usual.

 

[ammag]

hi! i am in a similar situation- dd will be 5.5, ds 15 months. When we go to the bronx zoo- which is basically a 10 hour day with tons of walking- the closest thing to WDW we've done with kids-we take 2 strollers. we find that its not a big deal for one of us to push an empty stroller when DD is out most of the time. we like the under storage anyhow. Some people have cautioned me that at WDW if DH and i split up to do different things with ths kids one of us will be stuck with 2 strollers to push. so now Ive been rethinking it. I +think+ we will stick with two- bring our maclaren (our other is a bigaboo and travel/foldng makes it a PITA at the park i think) and rent a second one. We are also off property in a large timeshare! seems like everyone here stays at the resorts.

another negative of the double is the weight- right now dd is 49lbs, ds is 24. that with our stuff? no way am I doing that all day I dont know whats right, may got o the store and test drive the doubles they rent to see what its like soon. any how good luck! Now how will you deal with your youngest running off? Thats my next concern! He just started walking and all we do is chase chase chase...then again hes young enough to use a baby carrier time to time...

 

[jess98ac]

The weight of the double has me concerned for sure. I figure we'll be looking at about 70 lbs of kids by then...I'm not sure anyone will want to push that all day. I think if we were going alone, I'd be just about sold on renting a double, but the fact that we'll have at least 2, and possibly 6 other adults with us is making me lean towards just renting another single.

 

[shopgirl78]

Would you rent a double for the parks and plan to use our Graco for DTD, shopping, etc.?

We did that. I brought an umbrella for the flight and rented a double but i have 3 kids. We rented a jogging stroller from the Orlando place and it was super easy to push, even with my 6 year old and another kid. I did like having a seat for her as it kept us together. There was just 5 of us, 2 adults + 3 kids. I also loved that they dropped off at our hotel but we stayed onsite.

Or would you rent a single for DD5 and bring 2 to the parks?

Two singles would be nice if you thought grandparents would want to take the kids to a separate attraction. We did a double, we knew we wouldn't split up

Have a blast! We went at similar ages and it was a blast!