All that walking and 8 yr old

[tmonferdini]

We were there at spring break last year for 2 days & rented the double stroller both days for my 8-1/2 yrs old twins (boy/girl). They LOVED it and acted like the were supposed to be in them). We're going again this summer and I'm not planning on the stroller (they'll be 9-1/2 for crying out loud). I'm just not sure how they'll take it.

Get the stroller. It was the best money we spent on the whole trip!!!

 

[ILoveDisney&Cruising]

My kids don't complain at Disney at all.....it is only at places that aren't that exciting to them! LOL!

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking! Heck, even I sometimes get 'tired' at museums & such! But can go all day & half the night at Disney!!!

 

[hsmamato2]

I have 2 kids,one is 8 he has done WDW trips since he was 6 without a stroller,the very thought offended him
one year(we stay 2 weeks) when he was beat at the end of a LONG MK day- we discovered that hundreds of people ditch their rental strollers at the end of a fireworks show...so we just 'helped' out the staff,and let him hitch a ride up to the front gate,we still get a good laugh at the picture of our 'newborn' in his stroller,knees all sticking out and big shoes
I think any able bodied kiddo would be fine most of the time at 8 years old....barring a disability.....just MHO

 

[_queenie_]

I would see how he is the first day..if you need to rent one you can always grab one.

That's what we're going to do with my DD. Even with only one kid I still reccomend renting a double, that way there's lots of room.

If your DS throws a fit over riding in a stroller just tell him he has two options, he can be miserable and walk or he can sit and in the long run be happy.

 

[deedeetoo]

My dd started walking at 6 and she was fine with no complaints. I have to admit we were a bit surprised. We thought she would say something about the fact that she was walking and her younger brother was getting wheeled around but she never did. She was quite a trooper.

My ds was 6 last year and so and that time we insisted he walk too. We ran into much more resistance with him. He was begging for a stroller. We refused and he ended up being just fine walking around.

 

[disykat]

I would go assuming he'll be fine, but rent one if it's clear he isn't. Then I'd be hightailing it to the doctor to have him checked out for health issues.

 

[douglisa]

I wonder if it could be asthma, when he was a baby he had to be on a nebulizer but then it seemed as if he outgrew it and the doc said he was fine. I have asthma and was not diagnosed till I was in my late 20's. I remeber having a hard time in gym and feeling as though my lungs would burst and I would get a strange taste in my mouth. I probably had it even then. Maybe I should have him checked,it would not hurt. Thank you for suggesting that it may be health related. I did not even think of that cause I can count on my hand how many times he has been sick. We are very fortunate that he is seemingly healthy as a horse, but then asthma is not always apparant. Thank you, Lisa

 

[ConnieB]

If you're not going until January 2009, then you have a whole year to get him trained,

Seriously....one of the best pieces of advice I got when I first came to DIS was to get out and get walking to build up muscle and endurance. Sounded a bit weird to me, to exercise ahead of time for a vacation, until I started reading about the size of WDW!

So...make it a family thing, get out and take a walk around your neighborhood every evening. Start out with just a few blocks, then increase that as his endurance builds up.

I also agree with the previous poster who said their kids only complain when they're somewhere they aren't having fun! For my kids, I can judge their fun level by how many times we have to wander off to find the restroom. While my kids love most museums (we homeschool so we're in them a lot), there have been a few places where we really weren't having fun.....and they seem to need a potty break every hour, lol.

If your son doesn't have this endurance problem places other than that museum it might be more a boredom reaction than a true tired of walking problem. Try taking him to some places that he'll truly enjoy, maybe a zoo or something and walk him as much as possible to see if that makes a difference. It couldn't hurt though to build up some endurance for everyone! We're at WDW right now and it's a LOT more walking than I even thought from reading the DIS boards and guidebooks. I think my number one tip for anyone will be get your legs and feet ready for WDW first and foremost.

 

[MSSANDRA]

It is so true that walking at WDW is so different than any other kind of walking, For some that is easier, others harder. My DH can run circles around me at the gym, but i can out last him any day at WDW. .

My Ds has some asthma that was very hard to catch. He rarely wheezes, but has a decreased lung capacity, and it is sometimes hard to catch his breath. Exercise, heat and humidity trigger it. I am the one that posted that we encouaged a stroller at 8 but he dd not want it, (DH did )but we have a rule even today when anyone is tired we all take a break. That might be two minutes on a bench, a long snack break or back to the resort though we rarely need this. Follow what is best for your family!!!

 

[alicenwonder99]

I went on a WDW trip with just me and my dd9, and ds7. The kids are small. I started out with no stroller, and they were fine the first day. I ended up getting a single stroller for my ds7 for the MNSSHP. By the 3rd day, my dd9 was getting tired and wanted her brother to get up from the stroller so she could sit down in it...lol. On our last day (at Epcot), I ended up renting a double stroller. Not only was it so much easier for the kids, but it was easier for me to enjoy walking around Epcot. I was able to really look around the park and enjoy the surroundings, instead of constantly keeping one eye on each kid. Even though my children are NOT the kind to wander off, I definitely had to keep an eye on them. It was a big difference knowing they were safe in the stroller. KWIM?

Just get the stroller. It's nice to have someplace to store all the jackets/sweatshirts. Also, sometimes we just park it somewhere (like in Fantasyland), and not use it for a couple of hours while we are riding all the rides in that area.

HTH

 

[mommytoe]

My son will be 8 when we go to Disney next Jan. I worry he will not be able to handle walking all day. We went to the museums in Chicago and it was not long before he was begging to be carried!!! He is just to big for that! He kept stopping to rest and annoyed our eldest. He is small and skinny for his age and we were wondering what we will do when we go to WDW and be walking even more.

I worried about my girls when we went to WDW. They were 4 and 8 at the time . My 8yr is also very small (she can even wear my 4yr's clothes) and has asthma. Both girls ended up having no trouble with the walking. On the other hand I ended up with problems from my bad knee.

 

[TinaLala]

We're getting a double stroller for our DDs 8 & 5 because I know that at the end of a long walking, fresh air day they are both going to be exhausted. You need to do what's right for your child and to hell with what others think about his size or age in a stroller. Plus it's not really a 'stroller' for a baby, it's more of a CTV - child transportation vehicle.

 

[SueM in MN]

Of course he fractured his foot and has a walking cast and we leave in 6 days for our next trip We are going to see if he can handle walking and if not we're renting the poor kid a wheelchair.

Just so you are aware, the WDW wheelchairs are adult size and may not be very comfortable for a child.
They are quite wide, with sling seats. If you put 2 kids in one wheelchair, their weight tends to slide both down to the middle of the seat together.
Also, the footrests would be way too low for your son to rest his foot on unless he's a really big 8 yr old, so the foot would be hanging there unsupported.
If you think he'll need a wheelchair, there are some places listed on the disABILITIES FAQs thread that rent child wheelchairs or special needs strollers (kind of like giant umbrella strollers).
He might also do well in a WDW stroller - the double would give him more room.

Thank you all so much! I was thinking about the stroller thing too but assumed they would be to small. .........................................LOL I wish they made something that does not look like a stroller for the older kids.
Thanks again, Lisa

The WDW strollers are large and don't look like regular strollers. If he's too big for a single WDW stroller, you can always rent a double. Here's what the WDW strollers look like, single and double (picture from allearsnet.com)

Also, keep in mind that "I'm tired" in kid language often really means "I'm bored", so he may do much better than you expect.
We took my niece and her not quite 4 yr old DD with us one year. She didn't have a stroller with and we didn't mention the possibility of a stroller. On the 4th day of touring, she said "My legs are all out of walk." That was the first time she had complained and we did get a stroller after that. I think if we had not done 4 days in a row, she may have been able to do the trip without a stroller at all.

 

[douglisa]

Thanks for posting a pic of them!! We have not been to WDW for over 13 yrs so I had no idea they had changed!! They do not look like the average stroller and I doubt he will have a problem w/ them. Ty, Lisa

 

[douglisa]

If you do end up getting the 8 yr old a stroller, don't be surprised if you end up having to push him all by yourself since you have said you baby him and your husband wants to 'toughen him up' - can you handle that?

Has your son had his blood levels checked to make sure he is not anemic? If he can't walk the museum, he's got a pretty bad endurance problem. Does he complain of leg pain, does he complain about running in gym class? When he's home, is he active, or sedentary? Has he grown a lot recently? Does he eat healthy food 95% of the time, or does he eat empty carbs if he can get them? I'd take him in for a check-up, just to make sure it's just a whiny mama's boy and not something more serious...

The museums in Chicago are huge. And we had gone to 2 that day.

 

[douglisa]

Aliceace said:

I think that might get you into trouble.

I don't know when you're going, or for how long. But I do know that, unless you're there for a LONG stay during an uncrowded time (is there any such animal??) you're pretty much bound to miss something. Either that, or have memories of a crying 8 year old one consistently annoyed sibling, and 2 frazzled parents.

My reply: We are going after New yrs in early to mid Jan. We are planning on 7 days. Will that not be enough? I thought Jan during that time is not crowded.

 

[Aliceacc]

I haven't been there in a bazillion (OK, 18) years.

But I'm not sure that it's possible to see it ALL without losing your mind.

You'll have a much better shot than we will-- we're going for 7 days in August (we're teachers, and don't vacation during the school year.)

But I think, for us at least, that we have to find a balance between seeing and doing it all and enjoying our family time together. I'm kind of a compulsive planner, so that's going to be a challenge for me!!!

 

[disneyjunkie]

OP, define what you mean by seeing it all.

Do you mean trying to see as much as possible at WDW or just in the major parks?

If you mean the major parks (rides,shows, parades, fireworks), I believe it can be done. We've done it more than once. Of course we're at the parks when they open, use fast pass, and take advantage of all EMHs.

We only visit when school's out, so the parks are always open late during our trips.

We've always been able to hit all major and minor rides several times during our trips, with little or no wait.

 

[douglisa]

You have a cute pirate! LOL I would like to be able to do all the rides except a few we have no interest in, hit the parades and fireworks. Is 7 days enough? We plan on doing a park a day no water parks or any extras.

 

[disneyjunkie]

You have a cute pirate! LOL I would like to be able to do all the rides except a few we have no interest in, hit the parades and fireworks. Is 7 days enough?

7 days is more than enough time for what you want to do. As a matter of fact, you'll be able to do your favorites several times.

Since you're going during a slow time (parks will close early) I think heading back to the resort for a break will eat up valuable park time.

If your son gets tired, take a break in the parks.

Epcot
Universe of Energy - about 45 minutes sitting in a dark, cool, room. (I fall asleep every time I hit this ride)

American Adventure- again you're sitting in a dark cool room - I love this show, but I have to fight to stay awake

Magic Kingdom
Hall of Presidents

MGM
Sounds Dangerous

Animal Kingdom- I have no idea - we’re never there long enough to need a break.