Advice on younger kids

[ltkl7]

We are coming down to Disney the second week in August. We have four kids: 16, 14, 6 and 5. My wife things we should bring strollers for the 5 & 6 years old. I am not necessarily against it but I also want to bring two smaller soft side coolers on wheels to carry food and water in. Just seems like a lot to pull/push around. We were going to bring a wagon but luckily I read that wagons are not allowed. We are staying off property, so anything we bring we will have to carry back and forth.

Looking for any advice or other suggestions.

 

[nilla]

Can you get the food and water into backpacks?

We brought strollers for the kids at those ages.

 

[3Gsandme]

Actually, you may not be able to bring in the wheeled coolers. I'm pretty sure they don't allow wheeled bags of any kind.

 

[Mikie]

I would definitely try to get by carrying less if I were you. Your older kids, well all of them actually, can easily carry a waist pack or cross-body bag with their own necessities (autograph book, souvenir money, phone, sunscreen, snack, etc) so no one has to be the pack mule for everything. I'm assuming (correct me if I'm wrong) that your littler guys don't use strollers in day-to-day life. When my daughter was 5.5, she walked everywhere at Disney and we went at her pace as needed while toddler son had a single stroller. Only in Epcot did we use a stroller - rented a Disney double for 2.5 year old and 5.5 year old to share - it is a large park and was late in our trip after many days of walking and she was quite glad to use it there.

In your place, I'd try to use a backpack cooler for water/essentials, put the second cooler in a locker until needed and skip strollers. Parking in the stroller parking and retrieving strollers after rides eats a lot of time I'd avoid if I could!

 

[ktlm]

DD is 9 now she has always been a very high energy kid. She did not set foot in a stroller anywhere other than WDW from the time she was 12 months old and took her first steps. She still needed the stroller at age 5 at WDW. Her stamina just wasn't quite there to make it in the parks all day without it yet. We did it without the stroller at age 6, and while it was still a fantastic trip, she did get tired feet and legs and complained. By age 7, she was going from morning to night with no breaks in the parks with no complaints. I think your wife's idea to bring the strollers is a good one. You can always park them somewhere if you don't need them and pick them up later, and if you really decide you don't need them after a day or 2, you can just leave them in the room. Unless things have changed, WDW does not allow coolers on wheels.

 

[Jess_S]

If you have a stroller, I agree that you should bring it. My first trip to WDW was when I was 5 (and hair was big and clothing was neon). In all of the pictures, I'm riding around on some tired adult's shoulders because I didn't want to walk anymore.

 

[ajwolfe]

My kids were out of strollers by then (and personally wouldn't bring a stroller) but if you really feel you need to bring one I would only bring one not two. That way they could take turns in it when they were too tired to walk.
I'm pretty sure you cannot take in wheeled coolers. I would get a couple backpacks and divide up the stuff between the older kids and parents. Or at very least rent a locker to hold a cooler. We don't tend to drag anything other than backpacks in with us and even those can be a pain sometimes.
You don't want to weigh yourself down.

 

[JennyDrake]

You are going when it is going to be HOT ad crowded. Will your kids be cooler inside a stroller or not???

What are you planning to do with those coolers while the family goes on rides? Will someone have to stay with them? PPers are correct that you may not bring wheeled coolers.

I agree that the older kids can each carry a small fanny pack. But first of all, what do you REALLY need to carry??? I find most people arrive looking like pack mules and by midday are sick of it all! Wear shorts with pockets and they will easily accommodate phones (or better yet leave them back at the room and TALK TO EACH OTHER!), a small tube of sunscreen and any money they need to carry.

_I_ would get a cheap water bottle for everyone and refill them throughout the day.

 

[momof2n2]

Bring a stroller. Or better yet - rent theirs. I have six kids (15, 13, 11, 9, 5, 2). I've had TWO strollers some trips!

 

[tink9702]

I'd bring one stroller that can fit little coolers (soft sided ones) underneath it. the kids can share and it gives you a place to put the food.

 

[ttintagel]

Although people do manage to slip them through security, bags on wheels aren't allowed into the parks. If you do decide to go with the strollers, you can fit small coolers in or on them. Or, you can put a small cooler in a locker in the train station. Or, you can divide up all your cool item among the teems and adults.

 

[Jojo h]

How much is it to rent a stroller there?

 

[ELSA711]

I'm odd man out, we stopped with the stroller when our kids were about 2, almost 3. My kids get hot in the strollers, never wanted to be in them and we were stuck trying to push a stroller through a larger group while trying to keep up with those little minions.
We don't do rope drop to close though. We stay for 7-10 days and take our vacation slowly. Typically 7-8.5 hour days in the park which usually includes sit down meals.

 

[myrheille]

I'd do MK without a stroller (you'd always be parking it anyway) and probably the other parks with one. There's a lot of walking in AK and Epcot. Just the one seems like a good idea, particularly if you put your cooler in it.

 

[Ermise]

Your wife is right. Bring strollers for both of them. My wife and I had the same conversation last November. Our boys were 10, 7, and 5. I thought we wouldn't need a stroller at all and was excited about the prospect of not having to push it around and park it everywhere. We ended up bringing one (if for nothing else, just to carry our stuff), and our biggest regret was not bringing two. We had many fights between the 7 and 5 year old over whose turn it was to ride in the stroller. I would think the kids would be even more tired in the August heat.

 

[lizard1]

My youngest was 5 this last trip and we did not bring a stroller. She kept up with us all day, every day without complaint and we don't walk that much at home. We took a backpack that had a cooler built in and put water and the other misc. stuff in there. I agree with the others that I wouldn't bring that much extra stuff that you plan to carry around all day....it is too much of a hassle to decide what to do with it when you want to ride something as a family and there isn't that much additional space for it on some of the rides (we had trouble with our backpack on Space, 7DMT, etc.) and there aren't lockers or anywhere else to store belongings at the rides.

 

[Shannon12]

My kids are 4 & 5. We haven't used our stroller at home in about 2 years, but we will be bringing it on our trip in August. We are driving down so its just another thing in the car and if they don't need it on our first day or so thats where it will stay but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[AshleeH]

My kids used a stroller at that age. Disney is A LOT of walking on tiny growing legs. Add to that, imagine having to hold an adults hand all day? Seriously - hold your arm straight up in the air for ten minutes - now imagine a child having to do that for hours on end. We used a stroller until the weight limit was exceeded and my kids have NEVER had a meltdown in Disney. I credit the stroller for a giant portion of that good behavior.

As for the coolers - people do bring them in, but if you can afford it, I wouldn't. Less is more. But I'm the type that likes to splurge on vacation, so we eat all meals in the parks or resorts. Having to lug our meals around would not make for a relaxing vacation for me.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

You know your children better than we do. Both of my boys stopped riding in strollers at age three, but we are a very active family.

 

[AP1209]

My DD was 6 when we went in 2011 and we did not use a stroller. She probably hadnt used one at home since age 3. She did fine. We took breaks when needed. I will say that we went in December so we didnt have to put up with heat so maybe it would have been a different story if we went in August. Personally, I wouldnt bring one. If it turns out you need them you can always rent.