How old is too old for a stroller for WDW?

[quoo]

We're bringing just one umbrella stroller for our upcoming trip with our then 3 year old, and very nearly 7 year old (it's to celebrate his birthday). I hope this works okay. Even the little guy is out of strollers now unless we're planning on doing a ton of walking, and the almost 7 year old is used to lots of walking, although maybe not disney levels. I'm hoping we'll take breaks as needed (because I'll get tired too!) and can always pop the little guy on one of our shoulders and put the 7 year old in the stroller if we really need to, although he barely fits now!

 

[DisneyOma]

Depends on how much the kids weigh, and if you are comfortable pushing them around all day, lugging the strollers, and then having energetic kids at the end of the day and parents tired out from pushing the mass...

If you are physically fit enough to push them, sure, do it.

 

[deedubb]

Every child is different and I think you would be the best judge of what your child needs. We still did a stroller last March (age 8), but did away with it last Dec as I felt it would be too crowded to try to navigate with a stroller, and she did fine.

Pros:
- easy to keep track of your child if they are always in the stroller
- a place to store your gear! (clothes, snacks, water)
- some shelter from the sun if your child does not tolerate the heat (like ours)
- the obvious...a place for your child to get some rest

Cons:
- just another thing to lug around (bus, tram, etc)
- hard to navigate when the park is really busy
- nuisance to park your stroller for rides, especially when the CM's move them, or for rides where the exit is different from the entrance and you need to go searching for the stroller

 

[goodeats]

No stroller for us at age 6 1/2. I just don't want to deal with it on buses and what not. We just did 2 days (with late-ish nights) at the Wild Animal Park and Legoland and she did fine, but I noticed she was overly tired at the end of the day (she's the type that gets more and more animated when she's tired). I'd still rather take a mid-day nap/rest break than lug a stroller. To each their own!

 

[bigbabyblues]

I guess it depends on the kid. We stopped using a stroller with the youngest at 4. We took it when he was 4, but he refused to use it, saying he wasn't a baby. We told him he couldn't complain about the walking, and he didn't.

 

[verleniahall]

im an adult and there are days i want someone to push ME in a stroller at theens of the day - its just ALOT of walking

 

[Anthony Vito]

Thanks .. I think we will go the two stroller route! Appreciate the feedback.

As much as I would not like to add to having more strollers in the parks, I think it is probably a good call for a happier trip.
For me .. the main thing is the "speed" factor of getting from point A to point B. The walk from the car/bus and to the first rides are long (and you want to be moving quick at rope drop). After one day, if the boy doesn't seem to use it much .. we just leave it behind.

Although we haven’t done the double stroller, I think you’re making a good decision with going the two-stroller-route. We’ve now done trips when they were 2.5 and 4, 3.5 and 5, and 4 and 5 yr 8 mo. This last trip our son walked a bit more, but there were times, as you mentioned - for speed purposes - or when it was particularly crowded where we told him he had to get in the stroller.

We flew and brought our own strollers since they don’t cost anything to bring on the plane and have found them helpful in the airport at times as well.

The first two trips we brought our good Britax stroller and a cheap umbrella stroller - that umbrella stroller was nice because when it was folded up, the curved handle could hang over the handlebars of the Britax - made it very easy for parking and could even walk with it like that, albeit a bit awkwardly. That got pretty beat up on the trips though, so we bought a new one this time for the second stroller.

We bought this https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B017ERMTUK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1 this past time. We got a damaged box Amazon Warehoues deal so only paid $42 for it. It held up well and worked for both kids okay size-wise. It could be something that goes along with one of the suggestions I saw for buying a stroller and just leaving it there being cheaper than renting (I wouldn’t leave it myself, we haven’t used them other than Disney trips in a while anyway).

The two strollers method is very nice because it’s versatile - you can walk next to each other, or when it’s crowded or you’re in a rush, you can go single file or even split up to get through the crowds. As others have said, you have the option to split up completely, and as you said, you have the option of only bringing one at times.

There could be one problem that I didn’t see mentioned with two strollers - the FIGHTS!!! Mine are closer together in age, so you might be okay, but every trip we’ve had the fights over who was in which stroller, or even more frequently - OVER WHO WOULD PUSH WHOM!! (“I want Mommy to push me!” — Aaaaaaahhhhhh - bad memories - ha!). So just be prepared to have some kind of a system or be ready to negotiate that element - especially with grandparents - my parents came for one day and it switched to wanting one of my parents to push them.

 

[maxiesmom]

I don't think there is any one age where you can say that is the cut off. Each child is different. Plus, you have to take into account how your family does the parks. If you are go go go all day, don't head back to the resort for naps and don't like spending time sitting and watching, then you probably need a stroller more than a family who takes lots of breaks.

And a warning about thinking you can just pop your child up onto your shoulders and everything will be hunky dory. My first trip ever was with my sis, her hubby, and my then just 4 year old nephew. His dad said No Stroller! I will just carry him on my shoulders when he gets tired. Yeah. Dad was tired of carrying DN on his shoulders pretty quickly. And then there was the time we were leaving the park and DN's head caught the bottom of a sign.

 

[MomOTwins]

Our 6 year old twins NEED a stroller. We tried one day without and they were so exhausted, we had to let them take turns sitting in their little brother’s stroller with him in their lap

 

[NYCgrrl]

Our 6 year old twins NEED a stroller. We tried one day without and they were so exhausted, we had to let them take turns sitting in their little brother’s stroller with him in their lap

Okay.
As commonly said ...every child and family is different.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

How much endurance does your child have? How much endurance do YOU have?

I hate strollers typically but if this is an issue for your family in any way, it's WDW. There are enough reasons to have a meltdown at the Parks. Please rent the stroller.

 

[Lilsia]

At a kid’s pace, our 3 mile walks took over an hour. And also, endurance is a thing, and kids can build it, too.

With that said, every kid is different and results may vary, but there are at least two of us on this thread who had similar positive results without a stroller at 5, so it is possible. But the question was “how old is too old” and for us, the answer to try around 5. Thankfully, you can rent a stroller if it ends up not working out.

It’s not for everyone. It involves a slower pace (which we prefer anyway) and lots of breaks (fine by us).

This is how we toured also. Our kids are a year apart and so the last time we took the stroller they were 4 & 5 years old. The next year we went without because it was too much of a hassle and the kids were plenty old enough. That being said, we did not go from open to close. We never toured that way even before kids. We never set an alarm so whenever the last person was up, that is when we all got ready and had some breakfast at the resort before heading to the parks. We would do a couple of rides then sit and have a snack/rest/toilet break, go do a couple more rides, have a meal, and on and on. Not only for the kids sake, but also for ours. People also tend to just think of the physical aspect of going to WDW but the over stimulation and sensory overload is a big factor in kids(and adults) becoming miserable. No one would be happy going going going 12-14 hours a day. I work on my feet and can pretty much walk all day but WDW is exhausting, especially with the heat and crowds and just the shear amount of input. Even now that the kids are almost grown, this schedule still works for us. We never had the meltdowns and whining that others say are the norm, either from the kids or from daddy LOL. I know everyone has their idea of the perfect WDW vacation. I can still say that after 30+ trips that WDW is my happy place. I also shock people when I tell them that is where I can relax, mainly because of our slower, take in the sights pace. And we still manage to do every ride and show that we want to. But if grandparents are coming then the pace will probably be slower anyway. I think OP, that with your situation with having a smaller one and a 6 year old is on the boarder for being too big that I would probably just take a double. Have fun.

 

[DisLiss]

I felt like I was looking to oust my youngest from the stroller faster than my older one. If we were already carrying one stroller around, adding another was no biggie, since umbrella strollers aren't that big or bulky.

But, it's still nicer to have none at all, so once we were down to just our youngest in the stroller, I was thinking "Hurry up kiddo, get you butt out of that stroller!" LOL!

 

[Ashley Marie]

We don’t use a stroller at home, but I have a double to bring to Disney. My kids were 5 and 2 on our last family trip (but just a couple months away from turning 6 and 3). I’ve never noticed any weird looks, but my oldest is petite for her age.

The stroller is most helpful:

- At the airport since we tend to have a fair amount of bags to lug around and no spare hands to corral the the kids

- In the morning at the parks when you want to beat the crowds and quickly head to your first ride

- Navigating through the massive HEA crowds in MK (frankly, it scares me to have my little ones walking through that crowd in the dark; always worried someone is not going to see them and they’ll get hurt)

- At end of the night when they’ve totally lost steam. No way do we have the energy to carry them to the monorail/boat/bus at that point.

My 3-year-old also tends to fall asleep in the stroller earlier at night (bedtime at home is always before 8). For the rest of the day, the stroller spends most of its time in stroller parking.

Editing to add: I’ll totally miss the storage space a stroller gives you when we eventually start going without one! I don’t like having to carry much in my bag.

 

[MomOTwins]

We don’t use a stroller at home, but I have a double to bring to Disney. My kids were 5 and 2 on our last family trip (but just a couple months away from turning 6 and 3). I’ve never noticed any weird looks, but my oldest is petite for her age.

The stroller is most helpful:

- At the airport since we tend to have a fair amount of bags to lug around and no spare hands to corral the the kids

- In the morning at the parks when you want to beat the crowds and quickly head to your first ride

- Navigating through the massive HEA crowds in MK (frankly, it scares me to have my little ones walking through that crowd in the dark; always worried someone is not going to see them and they’ll get hurt)

- At end of the night when they’ve totally lost steam. No way do we have the energy to carry them to the monorail/boat/bus at that point.

My 3-year-old also tends to fall asleep in the stroller earlier at night (bedtime at home is always before 8). For the rest of the day, the stroller spends most of its time in stroller parking.

Editing to add: I’ll totally miss the storage space a stroller gives you when we eventually start going without one! I don’t like having to carry much in my bag.

This is a really good point, just because you have a stroller does not mean you are constantly pushing it around. We park the stroller whenever we get to a new land (fantasyland, adventureland etc) and leave in parked while we ride the rides in that land. We also leave the diaper bag with it so we don’t have to lug it on rides

 

[jcdeberry]

I am struggling with this as well. When my son was 4, we rented a stroller from an outside vendor. We pushed him in the parks all day and he would fall asleep every night on the way back to the hotel on the bus. If we didn’t have his stroller, we would have been up a creek without a paddle, since he is a large child. THis pic is him at 4! At 5, we rented again and pushed him all day. This time he stayed awake til we reached the room. Now, he is 7 and my husband wants to do without. He hates lugging the stroller on the buses. I am thinking of renting the Disney stroller for the parks. If anyone has done that for this age, what did you think?

 

[Klayfish]

I am struggling with this as well. When my son was 4, we rented a stroller from an outside vendor. We pushed him in the parks all day and he would fall asleep every night on the way back to the hotel on the bus. If we didn’t have his stroller, we would have been up a creek without a paddle, since he is a large child. THis pic is him at 4! At 5, we rented again and pushed him all day. This time he stayed awake til we reached the room. Now, he is 7 and my husband wants to do without. He hates lugging the stroller on the buses. I am thinking of renting the Disney stroller for the parks. If anyone has done that for this age, what did you think?

We used strollers for our kids until they were 8, and we wouldn't have done it any other way.

 

[jcdeberry]

Has anyone rented a Disney stroller? What is the process? Do you like it? Does it take a long time?

 

[Hope Soda]

We used a single stroller until our youngest was 4 and a half. It was freeing to finally go without it on our last trip. However, there was a time when both kids fell asleep during the MK fireworks. We put the 7 year old in the stroller and carried the 4 year old to the car. It sucked, and it would have been nice to have a double on that particular day. We'd been at the park from 7am until 10:30pm, and that is a long walk to carry a 4 year old. My back and hips were killing me by the time we got to our car. I would err on the side of bringing a stroller when you don't need it, rather than not having one when you need it. People might look at you funny, but at least you'll still be able to walk the next day. People are going to judge parents no matter what they do. If I'm getting judged for putting an older kid in a stroller at the end of an exhausting day of fun and excitement, oh well. My kids had a ton of fun, made a lot of memories, and we got to do it all again the next day because we (the parents) still had energy.

 

[MomOTwins]

Has anyone rented a Disney stroller? What is the process? Do you like it? Does it take a long time?

We did it on our last trip and will be bringing our own mext time. I thought it was pretty difficult to steer but granted we had a double. A bit expensive too. The check in and check out was very easy and quick though.