.I did love the storage though
And, FWIW, by using a stroller as storage you are risking theft. We had two things taken from a stroller. Neither time was it something super-important, and the first time it was something we had just purchased, and a CM hearing DS's sad tale of a "bad pirate" taking his purchased-the-day-before hat ended up giving him a certificate to get a new hat. The second time it was a free balloon that DS loved, that was very obviously taken off of the stroller as it was parked.
Even though we weren't out anything, it still felt BAD. It felt bad to the adults and it really really felt bad to my son.
After the first time, we left nothing in the stroller but waters and, obviously, we tied a balloon to it. After the balloon and thinking about what/who might be touching our water bottles (this is after seeing squirrels in strollers LICKING things), we stopped leaving the water, too.
It's best to not use the stroller for storage at all, really.
I'm not a dishonest person, but even I would get these funny yearnings for all the $150 diaper bags I saw dangling on the backs of strollers, and I knew that unless I happened to make a move as the owner was walking up, there is no way I would EVER be caught taking a diaper bag like that. But then I was Petunia Picklebottom-deprived b/c we couldn't afford them, so those spendy diaper bags look to me like nectar looks to a bee.
We used a stroller for our 5 year old last year and really appreciated the convenience it offered our family. We got some strange looks from people but we didn't care because this was OUR vacation and we were determined to maximize every moment available to us. Instead of stopping to give our 5 year old son breaks we could continue our vacation while he rested in the stroller. Additionally, since he wasn't trying to keep up with our longer legs all day he was much more alert for activities late into the night.
Another benefit was that we could change our plan on a whim without having to slow down for a tired kid. If we were at Goofy's Sky School and we noticed that the Tower Of Terror was only a 20 minute wait we were able to hustle over to the ride without affecting our son. If he was walking we never could have done this.
I agree with the member that stated be prepared for a slow pace if you let you young child walk. We were way to antsy to slow down so a stroller was a must have.
Good luck.
Try not to overanalyze looks you're getting. Most people don't look askance at a 5 year old in a stroller. 8 year old, yes. Maybe your son was crying and you didn't know it (I have seen that so many times, especially at loud festivals with big strollers, a kid will be nearly dangling out of a stroller but it's so loud and the stroller is so big the one pushing it has NO idea what's happening...or a child squinting and tearing up from the sun, because the parents thought the canopy was in the right place but it wasn't anymore), or your child was adorable, or was making funny faces, etc etc.
Glad to know that other adults are too "let's go!" to deal with the "stop and look at and peer at Every Single Flower in the Land" stuff little kids want to do. Let's look at 10 flowers through the day, but the rest of the bazillion will be just the same, so let's go!
