Double stroller v/s 2 strollers

[MerMermaid79]

Hi,
I have a 7 yr old and a 3 yr old and we are going for the 1st time during spring break (Mar 18-26). They are both out of the stroller stage but just to make life easier (for us mostly), we are planning on taking / renting strollers for them. we are planning on driving and are staying at AKL.
Given the crowds during that time, I am wondering if it will be better to rent a double stroller there (non Disney) or take 1 stroller from home and rent a single stroller there from a maneuverability stand point. Since we are driving, space is not an issue. We do have an older single peg prego stroller which isn't that easy to fold but isn't that hard. We are planning on being there all day, and hoping my 3 yr old just naps in the stroller if she needs to - the girl can literally sleep anywhere when she's tired.
would appreciate any guidance / help / what worked for you.

Thanks!!

 

[Klayfish]

For me, that's an absolute slam dunk answer...double stroller. Our kids are now 12, 9, 9 (twins), but we used a stroller for them until my oldest was 10 or 11 and the twins were 8. The double stroller is definitely a bit harder to maneuver and is heavier, but it's just so much more convenient than having to push two separate strollers. We tried using two once my oldest walked the entire time and it was just the twins. After day one, we realized it stunk, and we went back to the double.

I'd never rent one from WDW...far, far too expensive. Buy a cheap umbrella double from Target/Walmart/Costco. Use it and sell it for $10 on Craigslist when you're done...or even throw it out. For our last trip, we bought a double stroller from the Disney area Craigslist for something like $45...the seller met us right near WDW. We used it for 2 weeks and sold it to another family who was on vacation for $40. $5 net cost.

 

[DisTXMom]

I also say double- only one stroller to manage. When we did strollers, we just rented the Disney one for the length of the trip, so we didn't need to cope with strollers on the monorail/busses and could just grab one whenever needed. It was more costly, but easy.

 

[firefly_ris]

Last time we went (Thanksgiving 2015) we took our Sit n Stand Double stroller -- and put all three of our kids in it, but they were 5, 4 and 2 at the time and they are small/undersized kids. Worked out fine. The only trouble was that it is heavier and couldn't exactly stop on a dime -- we had a lot of people walk/cut right in front of the stroller and give me a look because I couldn't stop instantly to avoid them -- I never actually ran into anyone, but I came close a few times and it stressed me out. Hoping when we get back there I can get away with just the single umbrella and anyone who is tired can just take turns in it since the kids will be a little older. But, we did need the double for that trip and I'm glad we had it. We flew and it was much easier than dragging 2 separate strollers with us.

 

[MerMermaid79]

Thanks everyone. I was also leaning towards the double but had never used one so wasn't too sure.

 

[Dis703]

Definitely a double stroller. My main issue with using two singles is that you have to have two people to push them so it's hard to split up and leave one adult with both kids, and depending on what kind, you may need two people to carry them on the buses as well which leaves less hands for the kids. We bought a Citi Mini double for my twins specifically with Disney in mind and it's been the perfect park stroller.

 

[Kerriowl]

I debated this for a while on our first trip with kids (ages 2 and 5). We eventually decided to go with a double stroller as it gives the ability for one adult to have both kids. Otherwise, one adult is always with one stroller. Also, with a double if you split up, you can always just send the older kiddo with no stroller and it should be just fine.

 

[brockash]

Hi,
I have a 7 yr old and a 3 yr old and we are going for the 1st time during spring break (Mar 18-26). They are both out of the stroller stage but just to make life easier (for us mostly), we are planning on taking / renting strollers for them. we are planning on driving and are staying at AKL.
Given the crowds during that time, I am wondering if it will be better to rent a double stroller there (non Disney) or take 1 stroller from home and rent a single stroller there from a maneuverability stand point. Since we are driving, space is not an issue. We do have an older single peg prego stroller which isn't that easy to fold but isn't that hard. We are planning on being there all day, and hoping my 3 yr old just naps in the stroller if she needs to - the girl can literally sleep anywhere when she's tired.
would appreciate any guidance / help / what worked for you.

Thanks!!

I'd def. just rent a double.

 

[JPKnapp]

Just make sure you rent a double with two front wheels. There is a single wheel double that we rented recently and it was impossible to fold up. We get the Citi Mini double. I'd recommend Kingdom Strollers. They are right off 192 and about 5 min out of the way on the drive in. Good customer service.

 

[Running Mama of 3]

Last time we went my girls were 7 and 3 and we rented a City Mini with a glider board from Baby Wheels. It worked out perfectly that they could take turns sitting or standing and we could flip up the board when no one was riding. We are going again next week now with an 11, 7 and 3 year old and reserved the same set up for the 2 younger ones.

 

[mrsbmacdonald]

I might to disagree

But first: How many adults do you have?

I asked this same question before our first trip and ended up going with 2 strollers. It worked well because we could split up and also sometimes we only took one stroller for my youngest when we were going places that my oldest could easily walk (Disney Springs, Meals at other resorts, etc.)

However!!! (And back to my first question!) I think that this likely only worked because we had four adults. I can certainly see it being difficult, especially when the strollers need to be folded (like on buses, boats, etc) to not have an extra set of hands to corral kids while each adult deals with a stroller.

But I just realised that maybe there is an easy solution for you since you are driving and said space isn't an issue: Bring your stroller and rent a double. Then you have the best of both worlds

 

[stace1214]

Last time we went my girls were 7 and 3 and we rented a City Mini with a glider board from Baby Wheels. It worked out perfectly that they could take turns sitting or standing and we could flip up the board when no one was riding. We are going again next week now with an 11, 7 and 3 year old and reserved the same set up for the 2 younger ones.

We're going with my 7 and 5 year olds and was thinking about getting a glider board for our City Mini. Was it still easy to push with the board attached? I'm worried my son will be too tall and it'll be hard to push around.

 

[MerMermaid79]

I might to disagree

But first: How many adults do you have?

I asked this same question before our first trip and ended up going with 2 strollers. It worked well because we could split up and also sometimes we only took one stroller for my youngest when we were going places that my oldest could easily walk (Disney Springs, Meals at other resorts, etc.)

However!!! (And back to my first question!) I think that this likely only worked because we had four adults. I can certainly see it being difficult, especially when the strollers need to be folded (like on buses, boats, etc) to not have an extra set of hands to corral kids while each adult deals with a stroller.

But I just realised that maybe there is an easy solution for you since you are driving and said space isn't an issue: Bring your stroller and rent a double. Then you have the best of both worlds

We're going to be only 2 adults. So I think a double stroller is the way to go.

 

[ComixGirl]

I can only speak from personal experience on our last two trips to WDW (we have a 3 and 5 year old): we did two separate strollers last time, and it actually wasn't too bad. We went with the compact, lightweight umbrella strollers- they're super affordable, they open and close easily, they take up minimal room to park them, and it was easy to navigate around the parks because we weren't taking up double room on the sidewalks like the double strollers tend to (not to mention there were times where we'd separate to do different things, so the two separate strollers really helped in that regard). Having said that, for our last trip we purchased a used double stroller and it went incredibly well- this was one of the double strollers that's longer than wider, and has a traditional stroller seat in the front for our 3 year old, and a bench seat directly behind it for our 5 year old. I think we'll use this double stroller again for our trip this year, as our 5 year old really liked sitting on the bench seat (I think it made her feel like a big kid despite actually being in a stroller lol). It's all about personal preference and what works best for your family- have a great vacation!

 

[MissMet]

Our kids are only 17 months apart and were still pretty young on our last trip. My husband & I often split up as we're usually there during F&WF so we like to split up to bounce around to beat the lines. Also, we both have family that come and visit us so we sometimes split up to make it easier. Having said all that we prefer 2 singles, for now. Soon, our oldest will be at an age where he is much more capable of walking. At that time we'll probably switch to a double and if we split up, our son can just walk. So I think it really just depends on the factors of your vacation. I don't think there is one definite answer, it can even change from trip to trip. So think over your style of vacation, if you'll split up & don't want to be stuck with both kids... Another factor that was helpful was we stayed at BLT. When the monorail is crowded it was very hard for people with those big double strollers to find enough space to get on board. We had two small, good quality umbrellas so we never had that problem. We'd just split up & easily found room to fit. So there are a lot of factors to consider. Either way, I think they'll be times you wished for the other option.

 

[4Hawks]

My kids are 5 and 2. We went last year and rented a city mini double stroller (very compact and can fit through regular doorways). It worked out great. We used it everywhere. My 5 year old has always hated strollers, but loved riding in it during our trip. In fact, I bought a used one as soon as we got home that we have used for other trips and will take to WDW when we return this October.

If you decide to rent, DO NOT go with "Apple strollers"...they're terrible. Lots of attitude on the phone, the stroller was in pretty poor shape, and they made some duplicate charges on my credit card (and then took forever to return them).

 

[momto2js]

I think there is one CRITICAL piece of information missing from the discussion. How heavy are your children. If their combined weight is pushing 80lbs, pushing the double gets old!! Mine hit that mark at 7 &5 but I had light kids. We bought a single that we travel with when they were 8 and 6 because my oldest get migraines and can still at 10 ride in the single if he gets sick in the park (which unfortunately happens at least once a trip.) For us the weight was right at 80 lbs when it was just to hard to push and maneuver.

 

[marisabuzz]

I'm going to side on the two singles. We have a Britax b-ready double and two gb pockits (smallest folding stroller). We've tried both options and prefer the two singles. They are smaller and easier to maneuver and are lighter to carry on the busses/monorail. You don't need to spend the same kind of money we did on our smaller singles, I think having any kind of umbrella stroller will due.