Bring a stroller

[chipdale74]

My dd hasn't been in a stroller for two years (she'll be five in July). I decided to get a cheaper one for her because it is a lot of walking and with the August heat I would rather let her sit down then have a cranky kid I am glad I did buy it early because she hurt her ankle and has been in a cast for almost three weeks. That's a lot easier to get her around instead of breaking my back from carrying her everywhere. Bringing a stroller is not for everyone but

 

[ParrotBill]

I think the stroller debate is highly dependent on the child's walking ability and preference, and stamina, and your family's plan for the days.

When our daughter was 2, she was still in the stroller. At 3, we were not strollering her around at home any more, so we brought the stroller but I parked it in the closet. We modified our days so we would not be out all day. She left the room with us without even thinking about the stroller. Getting on the bus and being free to look around was worth it too her and she had no problem until after lunch. Then I might need to give her a shoulder ride back to the bus or monorail at the front of the park... so it worked out great.

At age 3 or 4 or even 5, if you routinely get the stroller out of the trunk at the mall at home, your child won't be able to do without it at WDW. If they are already past that stage, and you can slow down and take it slow, then maybe no stroller!

 

[Angiea1114]

I just returned from a 6 day trip to WDW and I have a 44 lb, 5 year old son. He had not used a stroller in a couple of years.
However, our other children are older so we knew they would want to stay later so we looked to purchase one before we left but couldn't find anything affordable that for him, so we forgot about it.
After two days, I saw the strollers that everyone rents and called the first company that came up on my Google on my phone (Apple). We were actually on the bus to MK! For $10/day, including insurance, I had a stroller delivered to us within two hours. It was a lifesaver! Apple even delivered it to the Contemporary for us since it was closet than going back to POR!!!

 

[saylorbunch]

Oh no! You are all now making me wonder if I should take one!! :-( My son will be 5 this week and we go in July. We were definitely not going to bring one for several reasons. He's been an amazing wee walker since he was tiny, we came to Florida when he had just turned 2 and he point blank refused to go in the stroller(we had to jump on a bus to get him to sleep then put him in it at the other end). We came again when he was 3 and he did go in it sometimes due to the novelty factor as by this point he hadn't been in one for over a year at home. But I HATE having to park the stupid thing, I hate having to fold it to get on and off Disney Buses. I hate how you end up carrying things you wouldn't otherwise bring with you then have to carry everything and a folded stroller on the buses. LOL! Plus last time someone took ours by accident and we ended up with someone else's. He really hasn't been in a stroller at home for about 3 years. Last time we often didn't take it with us if we knew were weren't going to be out more than a few hours. This time though we are probably looking at some longer days - doing Universal and IoA so will want to get everything done there rather than go for a few hours and back to hotel! Hmmm! May see how it goes and just buy a cheap one if necessary. Thought of dragging a stroller half way across the world again makes me feel quite ill.

mo x

Well, when we went 5 years ago, with a 3, 5, 8 and 9 year old we decided to only bring one stroller for the 3 year old. We did ok the first couple days, (with the 5 year old always 10 behind us - she could keep up the pace, but was consistently behind us) but on day three, when we lost her at the rope drop area of AK, we decided we needed to suck it up and buy a Disney stroller right there at the gate (more cost effective for us than renting because we still had 7 days left). Now we had to cart 2 strollers around when we could have taken a double!!! The slight inconvenience was worth it! Actually - we're going in August, and I'm panicking a bit about not having one for the first time! Where am I going to put all of our stuff!!