carseats on magical express

[kaysmommie]

If you feel better with your kids in a carseat then just drive your car to the parks it's that simple. But some posters should not make comments on others parenting choices. I have felt the buses were pretty safe for my 2 little ones while at disney. I always use a booster for DD6 and carseat for DS2 at home. But I always see people driving down the interstate and busy roads in Knoxville with small children in the front seat with no carseat or booster I do think that is careless.

 

[Cory's Gal]

What the heck, I'll put in my .02... I rode a bus to school for 12 years, w/o a seatbelt as did all Americans up to a couple of years ago. We are fine, I am a very caring and loving parent, my son gets his shots, he's fed, he's loved, and he's in a carseat in EVERY car/truck. When we go to Disney he will ride ME and Disney buses the whole time. That's my husband's and mine decision alone, and I could care less what someone would think of me. If you chose to take a car for the carseats, fine, great, that's what works best for your family and it's none of my business. All I know for sure is that I WOULD NEVER PUT MY CHILD IN DANGER! So for those of you who judge me SHAME ON YOU!! You are not giving your kids a good example by judging people.

 

[becca011906]

I'm working on becoming a car seat tech, not certified yet though i do know a great deal about them, and we do drive our own car down there, and around to all the parks, not b/c we are against busses but we stay off property and it's easier for us with 3 kids and everything, we LOVE getting into our car after a long day at the parks for nice cold drink and snack on the way back to our condo. personal preferance,

I will say that it was posted if you don't use any disney transportation at all it's not possible... we ONLY use the boat or monarail as transportation to MK other then that my kids are in our car in car seats, my almost 7 year old is in a hi back booster and will stay that way till he's 60 inches tall or 100lbs, as will all my kids...
but busses, FULL size busses they will ride with out seat belts, dd1 has a small bus at her preschool that has a harness system for all the kids, it's a short bus and has a higher chance of fliping/rolling compaired to full size busses so it has harness for all the kids that ride. My kids don't ride busses on a daily basis i take them and pick them up from school but i dont' drive the field trips and such...

 

[notafan]

Off topic but In response to a question....Alamo rental did have a good map and gave to us even though we weren't renting from them. Not sure if it is still available and with all the new construction down that way it probably isn't as good as it was.

 

[wrldpossibility]

I have been having the bus/car seat debate in my own head for the past couple of weeks. I'm not sure if you guys heard about it or not (it was all over CNN) about a horrible school bus crash in Alabama (my town) where 4 children were killed. The bus fell off the overpass. My knee jerk reaction was to take my DD off the school because I thought she'd be safer in my car. After doing lots of research (I'm an archivest for a large library so research comes natural ) I've found that statistically she's MUCH safer in a bus than she is my car....whether she's in a seat belt, car seat, booster seat ect. or not. Nationally there are less that 10 children killed in a bus a year. Anyone care to guess how many children are killed in cars related accidents a year? Alot more than 10 I assure you.

Laura,

I did hear about this; very sad.

If I lived right there and was close to that incident, I'd be re-thinking the buses too. How could you not? But good job researching and making a rational decision. Do they know how the bus went off that overpass? Seems hard to do. Just wondering if it was a mechanical problem or a driver error.

 

[dsneygirl]

I've found that statistically she's MUCH safer in a bus than she is my car....whether she's in a seat belt, car seat, booster seat ect. or not. Nationally there are less that 10 children killed in a bus a year. Anyone care to guess how many children are killed in cars related accidents a year? Alot more than 10 I assure you.

Of course your knee jerk reaction to a tragedy like that is to assume the worst and to want to take your child away from the danger but in reality your child is far more likely to be injured in the home. Drowning, falls, burns etc claim far more children's lives than a bus ever could.

From the CDC
Children 1 to 14 years of age: In 2000, 943 children ages 0 to 14 years died from drowning (CDC 2002). While drowning rates have been declining slowly over time (Branche 1999), it remains the second-leading cause of injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14 (CDC 2002).

You are absolutely entitled to make what you feel is the best choice for your children but to insult other parents and question "how do they sleep at night" because they would take their child on a bus is rather harsh and uncalled for.

 

[NotUrsula]

Just to be clear (since context is getting a little muddled), it wasn't a&c'smommy who asked how parents slept at night; that was said by another poster.

 

[dsneygirl]

edited. double post

 

[dsneygirl]

Just to be clear (since context is getting a little muddled), it wasn't a&c'smommy who asked how parents slept at night; that was said by another poster.

Thank you for clarifying what I meant. I thought a&c'smommy made a very good point.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Thank God it is manatory here in NJ. What makes a bus more safe then a car? You are only fooling yourself. I sleep better at night knowing our kids are safe. Woner how the rest of you sleep?

My daughter rides on a school bus to and from her school each day of the week. The school bus does not have seatbelts.

My daughter rides on the Disney Transportation system each day when we are in Walt Disney World. Once again, not a seatbelt to be seen.

Each time my daughter is in the car, she rides in her booster seat with the shoulder seatbelt.

My wife and I (and everyone on this thread who has posted about why buses generally do not have seatbelts) are able to sleep just fine because we have educated ourselves about the facts and construction of school buses, highway coaches and transit buses and don't just base our opinions on emotions or the belief that the legislators in the Garden State have a clue about seatbelts in buses.

 

[CleveRocks]

Laura,

I did hear about this; very sad.

If I lived right there and was close to that incident, I'd be re-thinking the buses too. How could you not?

It was a terribly sad incident.

However, I see it as an incident that demonstrates how SAFE buses are, not how unsafe they are. Four passengers died on a bus that plunged off a 30-foot high overpass. There were 41 individuals on that bus. That means that 10% of the people on board died in that terrible crash.

OK, now let's say we took any 10 random cars and SUVs, each with 4 passengers inside -- that would make 40 people, right?

If we took each of those smaller vehicles and sent it off a 30-foot overpass, does anyone here believe for even one second that ONLY 4 people total would die in those 10 crashes??? If, God forbid, my Subaru Outback wagon or my brother's Volvo XC90 SUV sailed off a 30-foot high overpass with 4 passengers seat-belted inside, I don't imagine ANY of the 4 people inside that one vehicle would survive.

So like I said, I see that horrible Alabama bus crash as proof of just how safe and well-built buses are. If I were to be in such a horrible predicament, put me in a huge steel cage over a small steel-and-fiberglass cage any day.

 

[a&c'smommy]

Laura,

I did hear about this; very sad.

If I lived right there and was close to that incident, I'd be re-thinking the buses too. How could you not? But good job researching and making a rational decision. Do they know how the bus went off that overpass? Seems hard to do. Just wondering if it was a mechanical problem or a driver error.

Yes, its so sad! My heart breaks for the families involved. There was another car involved. The car had a "mechanical failure" and side swiped the bus causing it to go over the guard rail and fall nose first onto the ground below. The reason the accident wasnt as bad as it could have been was that the bus didn't flip/roll over but it landed nose first. The 4 girls killed were all ejected from the bus because they were in the front.

As scary as that accident was I do know that my children are safer on the bus than they are in my car. Statistically, they are more likely to get mauled by a black bear in my back yard than to die in a bus wreck.

BTW, they WILL be riding the buses at Disney next week!

 

[luvwdw]

Wow. All I originally wanted to know was if the carseat could be used on the bus or would have to go underneath. Didn't mean to start a huge debate. Sorry.