Help!! What kind of shoes for children?

[sshudson99]

I was wondering what kind of shoes your children wear to the parks. I was planning on buying my kids (DS 11 and DD 7) new walking shoes a month or 2 before we leave and also carry some sandles, flip flops etc for the resorts. Then after reading the disboards, some parents state that your shoes, socks, etc may get soaked on some rides and you might want to carry sandles to switch out before riding. SO, is it better to wear a comfortable sandle or crocs, or wear tennis shoes then change them before getting on a water ride . I really do not want to haul shoes but I will if needed. Is there a really comfortable shoe for kids that will not wear blisters? Any suggestions? By the way, we go in June, HOT, HOT, HOT!!


Susan

 

[woodkins]

We have done WDW 3-4x per year since dd7 was born & she has worn crocs on every trip for the past 3 years with no problems. I also wear them and love them.

 

[Perditamarie]

Crocs have worked out well for us also...plus, if you get wet or caught in the rain, they should dry fast. I don't want to be a pack mule hauling a bunch of shoes around...especially as we will be stroller free. Crocs may be on the way "out" as far as Dis fashions go, but they work for us

 

[Loritlc3]

We went for our first trip last July and brought Crocs for me and both kids(5 and 7). They worked really well. We did start to get a couple of blisters toward the end at the sides where the strap connectors are but bandaid and wearing socks a couple of days helped. We walked a lot. My brother and his family ended up having a lot of problems with their feet wearing tennis shoes and sandals and two bought crocs while at Disney which was much more expensive.

When we go again it will be Crocs for us.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

DD has always done great in crocs since her first 'walking' trip at 26 months. She has never slipped, gotten a blister, or complained. For our trip in 3 weeks I am packing her a few pairs of crocs and will have her wear sneakers on the plane.

Watch Crocs.com outlet. I stocked up over the winter for DD and DH, I didn't pay more than $9 a pair and got free shipping on all of them.

 

[KelnRon]

Another vote from Crocs! I bought them for the entire family last year ... husband included & we loved them! I was in my 3rd trimester also and they worked so well! I can't say enough about them! I bought the Disney ones and they were so cute! We are going again and I bought new Crocs for everyone.

 

[sshudson99]

Thanks!! I will definately get some crocs for me and the kids, I know DH will wear only tennis shoes, oh well Now to do some online shopping

Susan

 

[mfulk]

I bought my son (he was 2) teva sandals and my daughter (she was 4) ecco sandals. Both could get wet. It was the first time I'd ever spent that much money on a pair of shoes for them (the ecco ones anyways, the teva were less expensive) but it was worth it. They didn't complain once about their shoes hurting.

 

[NotUrsula]

The walkers in our family don't do Crocs for parks, we do athletic sandals with a back strap. The toddler wears Crocs, but she's in the stroller most of the time.

Sneakers are just a bad idea at WDW. They get damp (or worse, WET) and the become uncomfortable and sometimes smelly. A good sport sandal is your best bet.

I had to convert my DH to sandals, but he's gone over the wall big-time now. The deal with him is that he thinks that his toenails look ugly, so he wants the front of his foot covered. Right now these Teva Omniums are his park shoes:

 

[deerhart]

my oldest wears crocs or tennis shoes, my youngest wears sandals or tennis shoes.

They really don't care if their shoes are wet. if they are wearing socks, they will just take them off if they get wet.

 

[monkey30]

We had good walking shoes but did not go on the water rides, we also bought crocs at the outlet mall... 4 pairs for $66 my mary jane style were just 7.49!
The kids have used crocs each time we were down there and only complained about thier feet the last day at the end of Epcot!!

 

[NHdisneylover]

Crocs are not comfortable to either of my kids, but they love the LL bean sport sandals and always have them at WDW.

 

[sshudson99]

I bought my son (he was 2) teva sandals and my daughter (she was 4) ecco sandals. Both could get wet. It was the first time I'd ever spent that much money on a pair of shoes for them (the ecco ones anyways, the teva were less expensive) but it was worth it. They didn't complain once about their shoes hurting.

I truly believe in spending money when it comes to comfort. I don't want hurting feet and neither do my children. I do not want to hear a whining kid all day because they have shoes that cause blisters.

 

[Tiger926]

No Crocs as we think they are horrible. My kids think they are comfy, but after too many spills and such, no more! We've taken many spills in them, and we were a family who would replace them all of the time. I kid you not, we had a ton of continuous new Crocs around here so as to handle the slippery bottoms, but quickly realized that by the very nature of that material on most surfaces, you get unsafe situations even with brand new pairs!

We spend tons on our kids' shoes, so we buy New Balance shoe/sandal hybrids, Teva (kids don't like them as much though), Keen (we don't care for them either - so uncomfortable), Columbia, and running shoes. For us, the NB are my kids' favs, as well as good quality running shoes (eg. NB or Stride Rite). We look for waterproof/resistant as we mostly go in July, so water is an issue for us at that time of year.

Good luck - you have more choices in the US than I do in my Canadian city, so have fun shopping!

Tiger

 

[sshudson99]

No Crocs as we think they are horrible. My kids think they are comfy, but after too many spills and such, no more! We've taken many spills in them, and we were a family who would replace them all of the time. I kid you not, we had a ton of continuous new Crocs around here so as to handle the slippery bottoms, but quickly realized that by the very nature of that material on most surfaces, you get unsafe situations even with brand new pairs!

We spend tons on our kids' shoes, so we buy New Balance shoe/sandal hybrids, Teva (kids don't like them as much though), Keen (we don't care for them either - so uncomfortable), Columbia, and running shoes. For us, the NB are my kids' favs, as well as good quality running shoes (eg. NB or Stride Rite). We look for waterproof/resistant as we mostly go in July, so water is an issue for us at that time of year.

Good luck - you have more choices in the US than I do in my Canadian city, so have fun shopping!

Tiger

Thanks a lot for all the input. I know for everyone, shoes are different. My DD is EXTREMELY picky when it comes to shoes, socks, underwear, pants, shirts. (yup, think that is everything) My DS on the other hand, could care less. However, I do want them to be comfortable and no blisters. I guess I will have to take them shopping soon to pick out some shoes. I definatly want to get them early enough so they have time to break them in.

Susan

 

[starsweeper]

My two DC will be wearing sandals and tennis shoes in May to WDW. We don't plan to do water rides. I like crocs for playing in the backyard, but they can be very slippery if it rans. I wore 2-3 croc styles all over Guatemala but had a very hard time walking on any wet sidewalks.

 

[goofy53073]

No Crocs as we think they are horrible. My kids think they are comfy, but after too many spills and such, no more! We've taken many spills in them, and we were a family who would replace them all of the time. I kid you not, we had a ton of continuous new Crocs around here so as to handle the slippery bottoms, but quickly realized that by the very nature of that material on most surfaces, you get unsafe situations even with brand new pairs!

I have never had an issue with my children slipping or falling in their crocs. We are boaters in the Summer and they wear them all the time on the slippery deck surfaces of our boat with no problems.

 

[Tiger926]

No Crocs as we think they are horrible. My kids think they are comfy, but after too many spills and such, no more! We've taken many spills in them, and we were a family who would replace them all of the time. I kid you not, we had a ton of continuous new Crocs around here so as to handle the slippery bottoms, but quickly realized that by the very nature of that material on most surfaces, you get unsafe situations even with brand new pairs!

I have never had an issue with my children slipping or falling in their crocs. We are boaters in the Summer and they wear them all the time on the slippery deck surfaces of our boat with no problems.

I know many people say this, but all 4 of us have slipped. We've also seen many people slip at WDW, as well as neighborhood kids. I totally believe that you've had a good exprience with them, and being experienced boaters, you would need non-slippery shoes, but we seriously find Crocs to be the most slippery shoes we've ever worn!

Tiger

 

[maiapapaya]

I will never have the kids wear crocs at WDW again. I don't know if it was the heat/humidity but they both had blisters in less than an hour. We were really surprised because they are normally croc wearers at home (my DD7 normally lives in them all summer).