Disney Buses and strollers

[KPtoys]

I plan on bringing a double stroller for my 2 smaller children. How much of a pain is it, getting on, being on the bus and getting off with a double stroller (and 3 small children)?? I am trying to decide if I want a car or not.

 

[Ariel8676]

It's not really that bad...unless its REALLY crowded, then we would just wait for the next bus. You do have to fold it up, but its not that bad.

 

[VickiVM]

In my opinion, it's worth it to rent the double stroller at the parks. We've done the umbrella strollers and when you're trying to manage being in line for the bus, collapsing the stroller, getting on the bus, finding an available seat where you can fit everything, holding on to your stroller, etc...

For us it was money well spent to just leave the stroller at home. If you take a car, even better.

 

[mnasmom3]

He found it a pain too. We rent in the parks now. When we did have our own stroller, we did our best to make sure the kids were out of it and it was collapsed before we got in anyones way. No small feat w/ small kids. People can get rude and usually no one offers a hand.

 

[dcgrumpy]

Seeing that the OP's youngest is 6mos renting a stroller won't work. I know a lot of people say it's not a big deal to take strollers on the buses. Personally i find it to be a huge PITA. We took the buses once when DS was 6mos and we only had one stroller that was enough for us.

We now have 3 little kids and a double stroller and we always rent a car. Once we're done with strollers and diaper bags we'll probably stop renting.

 

[KPtoys]

Thanks for the help. I would love to rent a stroller in the parks but with the baby I don't think it will work for us. I need something where I can strap the little one into. I think we are going to rent a car. Thanks for the help!!!

 

[dcgrumpy]

If you rent a car I would recommend half of you taking ME from the airport so I don't have to deal with the luggage. I know what it's like trying to get from the terminal to the rental car with 3 little kids, strollers and luggage. Not fun

Now I take ME with two of the kids and DH picks up the rental with the other. We always get to the resort at the exact same time.

 

[dunbarfamily]

Wow! Lots of different opinions here! We didn't think it was much of a pain to take Disney busses with our double. The last time we were there, I was 6.5 months pregnant with our third. It wasn't too bad, even when the busses were crowded. One time we waited for the next bus, which was five minutes later. Just have the stroller unpacked and folded while you're waiting for bus.

Lots of things are a pain in the butt, but I don't think the strollers are. To me, its more of a pain to have to rent them. Plus, since your baby is small, the rentals wouldn't work well in my opinion because they do not recline.

Have a good trip!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We've been fine with a stroller on the buses. But I think it helps if - A.) you have a relatively lightweight and compact stroller (Maclaren - well worth the money) I wouldn't want to take one of those huge 50lb strollers to the mall, let alone to WDW. Going back and forth with one of those would be a PAIN.
It's worth it to have a stroller that folds relatively easily.
and B.) you have a system. By the end of our last trip, we had it down to a science! Mind, we had a group system (one person took the children, another took the stuff, another took the stroller). I think it's easier if you can take the stroller all the way to the bus stop at each park and have it to get around the resort (unless you're on the fourth floor on the AB side of POR - no elevators there! "Rustic" is not so cute after a day in WDW!)

In terms of bringing items, we also had a system. We put the necessary items in a compact backpack (Jansport half pint http://www.jansport.com/js_product_detail.php?cid=20&pid=TDH6 ) -or even minimize the valuables down to items that will fit in one's pockets. It helps of DH wears cargo type shorts with lots of pockets!
Then the water bottles/baby bottles/diapers/wipes (non-valuables) went in gallon ziploc bags each day.
Then we dumped the ziploc bags into a Disney shopping bag...and everyone carried any sweaters or anything they had.

The Disney plastic shopping bag is good cause it has handles, and you don't care if you lose it. Boy, are those things sturdy!

When you get off the bus, dump the contents of the Disney bag (ziplocs) into the bottom of the stroller. Tuck the Disnety bag underneath. Security then won't ask to 'see inside' your stroller bottom, because they can see everything already. So minimal unpacking at teh security checkpoint - everyone loves that!
After security, you can maybe add your sweaters to the bottom of the stroller, depending on the size of your stroller basket.

This all sounds a little complicated, but actually it can be done really fast. Not only that, but packing up for each day is a snap in the morning. Any undrunk water can go right into the fridge, The diaper/wipes ziploc can be easily repacked, etc. And ziplocs have 101 uses! We don't like to carry around lots of 'stuff' - we really like to minimize, but they have come in handy any number of times - like when a diaper leaks...

 

[TJA]

Your sig indicates you're staying at the Poly? You won't need a car/bus if you stay at Poly. You will have the monorail for MK and Epcot (just roll your stroller right on the monorail). You can also boat over to MGM if you are at the Epcot countries (just walk thru the International Gateway and take the boat to MGM -- just roll your stroller right on the boat). There are ways to work around the bus/car thing. We have twin toddlers and always take our double stroller to Disney -- 8x so far and it works great. We do take buses whenever necessary and no it's not "easy," but we manage.