Share Your "We Didn't Bring a Stroller" Stories

[camdensmom]

We're taking a quick weekend trip (Fly down Fri night and back Tues morning) so our kids can experience the parks at Christmas time. We have a 7 year old and twin girls (they turned 3 on 8/31).

We're staying at the Polynesian and do plan to rent a stroller in the park if we need it, but are thinking we'll leave our strollers at home for this trip to make the airport easier.

My inlaws will be meeting us for the weekend so there will be 4 adults.

I'm hoping it's not a mistake.

Do you skip the stroller for traveling and rent one in the park. I would love to hear your experiences.

 

[snoopy5386]

The 7 yo will be fine, but I'd want a stroller for the 3 yos. I'm assuming that since this is a quick trip you are going to try and cover a lot of ground in a few days and stay out late? Also if you are going, the Osborne Lights area of DHS is a madhouse and very, very crowded. No way I'd want to try and keep track of 2 three year olds there.

 

[snoopy5386]

I would have no problem using a park stroller for a short trip, but they are hard plastic, the twins will be right next to each other (not sure if that will be an issue) and you have to carry the twins home at the end of the night. One of the huge advantages of staying at the poly is the ability to roll your sleeping kids onto the monorail from MK or Epcot and right into the room and to bed.
Have you thought about renting a BJCM double from an offsite company? That might be your best bet. Cheaper than the park strollers, more comfortable and you have it for the whole trip.

And FWIW, we checked our stroller with our luggage this trip and it was fine, stroller was free and we didn't have to haul it through the airport.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I'd recommend taking a stroller(s) for your twins. Your 7 year old will be fine.

The issue with renting one of the park strollers is that it doesn't help you when you go back to your resort. When DD was 3, she and I took our first multi-day trip to WDW together. We did 3 days in the parks and I rented a WDW stroller. The problem came the last night we were there. She fell asleep on the bus back to the resort (and it was only 7:30pm) and I hadn't had dinner yet because I wasn't hungry when I'd gotten her dinner. My plan had been to stop by the POFQ food court before heading to our room. I couldn't wake DD up when we got to the resort so I carried her while getting my food and walking back to the room. I thought my arm was about to break off by the time we finally got to our room.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I'm interested in hearing some "success" stories as well from those who did alright without a stroller at WDW with children who were 5 years of age and under during the trip. Our youngest will be 4 on our next WDW trip and he hasn't used his stroller in quite some time. We did several amusement park and zoo trips over the summer and early fall where he did a lot of walking on his own without a stroller. I know that those places don't compare to the amount of walking at Disney; but it gives us an idea of what direction to take with this. Our youngest DD was 4 on our last WDW trip and she didn't really use the stroller at all (except for during the night shows). So, I am leaning towards just renting a park stroller for youngest DS for Epcot (definitely there if no where else ) and for when we plan to stay late at MK for MSEP/Wishes. I don't really want to commit to renting from a stroller company for the week or hauling our own from home if we aren't really going to use it much. Really interested in some feedback

 

[scootch]

I used to take my girls by myself starting when they were 2 and 5. I always rented the double ones as it was just too difficult for me to get them on/off buses and such(I did that the first year and had a really difficult time getting the kids off the bus AND the stroller.. it was a mess). I never had any issues with the rented doubles. They are EXTREMELY easy to push. Have pushed them when they were 6 and 8 in one(no flaming... got it for the 6 year old but the 8 year old rode at time... merely explaining how easy they are to manuever). As long as you have arms to carry them back to the resort should one fall asleep, you should be fine. I only had me, so tried to leave before they were completely exhausted. THe renting too goes from park to park and no checking it back in, you just leave at the entrance where you rented it. Yes, they are hard ones, but even with that.. when my dd was 3, 4, and 5, she could still manage a quick nap if needed and she never complained about them being uncomfortable.

 

[Leajess99]

I'm interested in hearing some "success" stories as well from those who did alright without a stroller at WDW with children who were 5 years of age and under during the trip. Our youngest will be 4 on our next WDW trip and he hasn't used his stroller in quite some time. We did several amusement park and zoo trips over the summer and early fall where he did a lot of walking on his own without a stroller. I know that those places don't compare to the amount of walking at Disney; but it gives us an idea of what direction to take with this. Our youngest DD was 4 on our last WDW trip and she didn't really use the stroller at all (except for during the night shows). So, I am leaning towards just renting a park stroller for youngest DS for Epcot (definitely there if no where else ) and for when we plan to stay late at MK for MSEP/Wishes. I don't really want to commit to renting from a stroller company for the week or hauling our own from home if we aren't really going to use it much. Really interested in some feedback

My youngest was 5 on our first trip to WDW and she never once used a stroller. She walked the whole time and never fell aslep. We did drive to the parks as we stayed offsite.

I have friends who took their kids for their first trip last year with one being 6 (shorter than the average 6 year old and still short for his age) and the other being 5 and they did not use a stroller either. The kids did awesome with keeping up with the adults (the one dad stands way over 6 ft tall) and never wanted a stroller. These are soccer kids too.

I will say that we saw many bigger kids in the rented park strollers and some in what appeared to be personal strollers.

 

[serene56]

our 5 year old always seemed to managed to fall asleep on the bus. thank god'for the stoller as it was a long walk from the bus to the room.
carrying her is out of the question...she was dead weight.


going at christmas time....the parks will be super crowded....
do you really want to be weaving in and out of people with walking toddlers?

 

[RMulieri]

We never used one...Our Daughter has been walking the parks with no issue since 4 yrs old

 

[maxiesmom]

Here is my don't be too set against renting a stroller story:

My first trip to WDW was as an adult. I went with my sis, her husband, and my just turned 4 yr old nephew. Brother in law wouldn't hear of renting a stroller. Insisted he would carry DN when he was tired.

To his credit, BiL didn't complain (much) about having to haul DN around on his shoulders. My sister sure did complain, as it seemed every time BiL went to put DN on his shoulders, one of DN's feet would fly out and catch my sister in the face. Time and again BiL would go to swoosh DN onto his shoulders, and time and again DS would get a foot in the face.

Then there was the night when DN was up on his dad's shoulders as we were leaving MK. Dad is around 6'3 tall. Add onto that a child ridding in your shoulders, and some of those signs hang pretty low. SMACK went DN's head into a sign! He screamed bloody murder, poor thing!

My sister had 2 more children after DN. Two girls. And if they needed a stroller in the parks, we darned sure rented them one.

 

[clm10308]

Went to DW many years ago when my DS was 4 and then again when he was 5. We had 2adults, and an older child as well, so you situation is different with more kids than adults.

We flew and it never even occurred to me to take our own stroller. I do think we still owned one at that time but never used it at home. When we might be somewhere that we would need a stroller (such as the zoo) we just rented one there.

On the first trip my DS was not feeling well the first several days so he spent a great deal of time in the stroller rented on site, but as soon as he was felling better he spent more time pushing the stroller than riding in it which was a big pain.

On the next trip, again, we rented on site. What a waste of money. We spent the first two days fighting with him over pushing the stroller. We were not about to let a 5yr old push his stroller around the parks. After two days, we did not even pick up a stroller even though we had pre paid for length of stay.

We never had to carry hm back to the bus. If he was too tired to walk, we just stopped for a rest some where. Sitting on a bench watching the birds and having a snack can be as much fun to a kid as racing to the next big attraction.

It really just depends on your style and your kids.

 

[chris31997]

DS was 5 for his 2nd trip. He walked the entire trip, whole week most days were about 8-9 hours. When he was done so were we

Christmas time is going to crowded, with 4 adults. I would rather have a hand on the kids than push a stroller around. Knowing it would be a short trip, I would list the most dos

 

[gtpoohbear]

DD was 4 on our first trip, we hadn't owned a stroller in over 2 years and it would never have occurred to me to use one at Disney. (She would have been mortified at the thought anyway). We were all over all 4 parks for a whole week, and never carried her once, and she never complained about walking, but again, it's what she was used to.

Next year, we will have DS(2), so we will probably bring the stroller, but I'm guessing we'll end up leaving it in the room some days. On local outings (zoo, amusement parks, etc) we always bring it, but he ends up walking about 90% of the time anyway. And unlike DD at that age, he doesn't weigh much more than a feather so I don't mind carrying him occasionally.

If you don't want to have to deal with it, you could go without, knowing that if you get desperate you can rent a park one. A lot just depends on what kind of physical activity the kids are used to. We are very active, and the kids have always been accustomed to walking several miles at a time. Sometimes the little ones surprise us and have more energy than the grown ups

 

[kthruz143]

we went in sept we had 1 stroller with us. we just figured that if out 2 and 4 year old would switch out. nope my 4 year old did not sit in a stroller once, and did not complain at all. she did better them us adults

 

[Lilliputian]

We don't take strollers for kids over 4. The youngest we've done it is a child who had turned 4 a month prior. It was fine. We do always take a break in the middle of the day, though, and we never do EMH. We'll stay till the parks close, but we go in the off-season, so Epcot is the latest close.

3 year olds walking would be a bit much for me. Their legs are too short to walk fast, and it's just a lot of walking. And a stroller isn't always all that bad at the airport. You can carry a lot of stuff in it.

 

[ktate82]

My DS has a joint disorder, so we took the stroller the first year when he was 4 and used it every day. The next year, we took it, only had to break it out one day. This year, it went and stayed in the hotel room the entire stay ! We usually go at his pace and find a way to take a break in the day, but it is doable.

 

[poohj80]

We also still take a stroller for our 6 year old (hasn't used a stroller at home since about age 3). We enjoy the night time activities such as fireworks, parades, and Christmas lights but no way DD will stay awake during late hours especially after a possible early morning even with a break during the day. If we want to enjoy the later hours, we just admit its easier with a stroller as she's too heavy to carry for hours especially when we're tired too.

That said, next month will probably be our last stroller trip.

 

[Boadicea]

When my oldest was three, I would take her without a stroller and just carry her if I needed. She would occasionally get tired, but she was small, portable and my only child, so no problems. By the time she was four, I was pregnant with #2 and couldn't carry her, so we did the stroller thing and it was much better. Now with two, I wouldn't dream of going without a stroller, but do keep in mind I go to the parks as the only adult with two kids under 6.

I would say to rent a double from outside the park for your trip so you can bring it wherever you need it. It would be a shame for one small thing to spoil an otherwise enjoyable trip.

 

[NJShoreDad]

I would say to rent a double from outside the park for your trip so you can bring it wherever you need it. It would be a shame for one small thing to spoil an otherwise enjoyable trip.

Agree with this quote above - for our most recent trip (11/8-14) we had planned on bringing 2 strollers with us. We live in NJ, so in the span of about a week we dealt with a hurricane and then a snowstorm that dumped 6 inches of snow on us the night before we left... Needless to say, I forgot to to pack both strollers in the car, and we realized this on the way to the airport. So we figured we'd rent once we got to WDW. It turns out that maneuvering in the airport was easier without the strollers - go figure.

We rented a double in AK the first day, but at $31 we needed a better option than the park strollers. So while waiting on a line in the park, we stumbled upon a family that had a nice double stroller that they had rented from Baby Wheels Orlando. We got the number and I called right away. They delivered a stroller to our resort (Contemporary/BLT) the very next morning (I had just missed their delivery for the day.) The stroller worked out great - they threw in some accessories, and it was very comfortable for the girls. At the end of our stay we left the stroller at Bell Services and the company came to pick it up. It was super easy, and only $63 for the 5 remaining days of our stay. Having a stroller that we could use to walk around outside the parks or to/from the parks was really a plus. Especially for the latter - we love staying at BLT so we can walk to the MK. The stroller keeps the children from getting worn out before they are in the parks.

Yes, the girls are getting bigger so they should be able to walk around themselves, but it certainly helped get through long park days allowing them to have an occasional respite in the stroller. Plus, it doubled as storage with the under-seat compartment and console that had drink holders.

So what ended up being a goof up on my part ended up working out great, and I would recommend using Baby Wheels Orlando to rent a stroller rather than bring one. I know some of this may sound like an ad, but it really worked out well and I was very happy with their service (not so much with groceries and Garden Grocer... but that is a different post.)

 

[Skippy918]

I am still unsure about renting a stroller in disney. DS will be 4 1/2. I will have the stroller for my 2 year old.
We just took a vacation this week and I was very impressed that DS walked everywhere without complaining especially at the Miami zoo which had the 3 mile walking trail. He did pass out in the car on the way back to the hotel.