Age for no stroller needed?

[scrappinginontario]

YDS will be a month away from 6 on our next trip. We are trying to decide of we should bring a stroller, rent a city mini, or rent a park if needed. Do almost 6 year old need a stroller in the parks?

I will apologize now and say that I have not read all 6 pages of responses and discussions.

My DD will be 6 1/2 when we go in September and I have already rented a stroller for her. We go long and hard at the parks and when she's tired she just falls asleep. While she may not need it much during the day (we sometimes park it for hours at a stroller parking location), we do need it at night both in the parks and upon returning to our resort.

If your child is one who will fall asleep either late at night or on the bus ride home, a stroller can be a blessing!

 

[Nennie]

We went in January when DS had just turned 6, and he was in the stroller quite a bit. Went again a couple weeks ago (at 6 1/2), and he didn't need the stroller at all. We didn't stay at the parks very late, but would do rope drop til 2pm or so, and he did fine. For us, it seemed like 5 definitely needs stroller, and 7 definitely can walk, but 6 is a gray area...at least for my family!

 

[Julylady]

Our last time for the double-wide umbrella was when the girls were 7 and barely 4. We could have gotten by with the single umbrella for the youngest, but I knew when the oldest got tired there would be issues. We parked it a lot during the day...but it held our coats and snacks nicely. I was really glad to have the stroller during and leaving the night time parades and fireworks. And I was right. It was the older one that just crashed in the stroller on the way back. Right after that trip, the stroller broke and we had to recycle it. We did a Disney cruise the next tear and when when they were 9 and 6 they were fine walking.

 

[maramarrie]

I have been asking myself a similar thing regarding whether to rent a stroller for mine. We always have, and they seem to live for the stroller, but we could do a whole day at the zoo without one...and we finally sold both our home strollers. That said, my kids will probably have a stroller this year; one is 6 and the other 4.5. It makes it easy to get around without having to keep track of each head, and I'll use it to store our extras (water bottles, spray fans, etc.) so I don't have to haul them on every ride in my backpack. Also, my younger will take a nap in the stroller still and at the end of the day we can wheel them to the hotel without having to haul their sleeping bodies over our shoulders.

 

[ATLbelle]

My youngest two are 6 and we still take a stroller. They sit in it when walking a lot (mainly at Epcot) and I use it as a place to store all of my stuff (snacks, bags, ponchos, etc).

 

[Kmedders]

My kids are 4 and 2, and I'm considering leaving our stroller in the car and just going out to get it when we need it. Is that silly?

 

[ATLbelle]

My kids are 4 and 2, and I'm considering leaving our stroller in the car and just going out to get it when we need it. Is that silly?

At Magic a Kingdom? It would be a HUGE pain and time suck to go to the lot just to get a stroller. The lot is far from the entrance and you have to take the tram and monorail/boat to get there. It is more doable at other parks but still would take a long time. With a two year old I would definitely just bring the stroller in.

 

[Kmedders]

At Magic a Kingdom? It would be a HUGE pain and time suck to go to the lot just to get a stroller. The lot is far from the entrance and you have to take the tram or boat to get there. It is more doable at other parks but still would take a long time. With a two year old I would definitely just bring the stroller in.

Ah, ok thank you! This is our first time... logistically, I'm a moron. )

 

[hsmamato2]

My kids are 4 and 2, and I'm considering leaving our stroller in the car and just going out to get it when we need it. Is that silly?

With kids that age, bring your stroller into parks,and you can also just park it at rides conveniently, sometimes you can just let it stay at one ride parking area,and let the kids walk, then go get it when you need it too,like in MK where the rides are close together we used to do that....it's a convenient place to store coats,etc too- just don;t leave anything valuable in the stroller and walk away!

 

[hsmamato2]

No, my kids did not need a stroller at 6.

I believe my youngest was 4 or so at the last time we used one.

Us too....

 

[tink9702]

I thought for sure we wouldn't need a stroller for our 5 year old in November. But by day 3 he was TIRED and got a ton of piggy back rides from Daddy. We could have rented one at that point, but DH preferred to "work out". And that was a week with lower humidity and in the 70-80 degree range. DS would have actually needed a stroller in hotter weather. DD isn't much of a walker at all & she's painfully SLOW. She was 3 years and 11 months on our trip and used the stroller a lot. There was no way we would have had fun if she was walking the whole time.

I'll add that I think you need one more at AK & Epcot than MK & HS. HS is small so much less walking around and MK the stroller parking is annoying plus they are in/out too much since there are so many rides. You could always plan on bringing it for AK and Epcot only.

 

[bookgirl]

My nephews were done with a stroller by the time they were three or four, at least on a day to day basis, but when we went to the zoo or festivals or walking events we still had umbrella strollers for them as a day of walking at an event/attraction is different from the normal play, sit, watch, run in the yard, eat, nap, play, walk to the park, play, walk home, sit eat, watch tv, etc.

I'd say any preschooler or younger could use a stroller at Disney and maybe up to 6 or 7 if they need it.

 

[ammag]

I am trying to figure this out as well, because my DD although 8 has stamina issues.

However I say absolutely use one for a six year old! Even if it a just for the long walking sections and the end of the night, I think for us it eliminated the chance for any meltdowns. Not one! I regret the day when we don't have the stroller to carry our stuff! Her younger brother was stil in diapers on the last trip I loved not carrying a big bag all day.