How to find your stroller 101

[Tomh]

We've taken two trips to Disney now, both times we used a stroller for DS. The first time around, we dutifully printed our name in crayon on the tags provided by Disney for the rental stroller, only to discover that it was nearly impossible to locate our stroller in the crowded parking areas. A couple of days into the trip, we customized a tag with some Sharpie markers, which made it a bit easier to locate, but still a chore.

Fast forward to summer 2009, our second trip. I scanned a stroller tag we had brought home with us from the previous year, then added my signature picture from the DIS, and our last name. I then printed it out, and glued the print out to the original tag to give it some strength, and used some clear packing tape as a sort of poor mans lamination. When we got to Disney World, we discovered that they had changed the design of their stroller tags. I was a bit disappointed at first that all my hard work wound up on an outdated tag, but soon discovered that was a blessing in disguise. Everyone else was using the new tags, and ours was the ONLY stroller with the previous years tag design. Quite a few of the CM's at the stroller rental locations commented on what a great idea it was, and even DS5 had no problem locating our stroller in a crowded parking area. Unfortunately, the new strollers had a slightly smaller pouch, which made our tag a really tight, difficult fit, and the torrential rains eventually outdid my poor mans lamination, causing the ink to run.

Now I'm starting to prepare for summer 2010, and decided to step it up a notch. Instead of simply reusing the 2008 design, with my DIS signature picture slapped on it, I decided to use some of the photopass pictures from our 2009 trip to make a truly custom stroller tag, then take the finished design to Wal Mart and print it up on real photo paper, which I will have laminated. I figure I'll make two copies of it, just in case, and we should be able to get through the trip with at least one intact. I started with two separate pictures, one of DS, the other of DW, DD and I, and put them together, then added the text.

Here is my design for our 2010 stroller tag.

 

[DISPrincessMom]

I've found that a hot pink bandana tied to the stroller handle makes ours easy to spot in the endless sea of strollers
However, I do LOVE your idea - how creative!

 

[L2DAVI]

I left the airline Hot Pink tag attached to the umbrella stroller and our mugs hung off the handle. No-one ever touched a dirty cup.(We started our mornings with coffee in our mugs). Also used a black sharpie and wrote our last name on stroller, tags can be changed.

 

[ms_missy66]

I'm a fan of the brightly colored, yet hideous, scarf tied around the handle club too. But that's a great pic!

 

[connie1042]

We had our own strollers, but they too can be hard to find. Especially if the CM's move them. I made Pom Pom like ties for ours out of ribbon. One of course was lime green and the other red, yellow and black. It is a lot easier to see things on the handles. The tags are good, but they are not visible unless you look behind the strollers.

 

[mainegal]

I like seeing all the creative ways people identify their strollers!

 

[Heidijs]

I'll be tying something obnoxious around our stroller so we can find it. Or I thought about taking a small american flag and using zip ties to strap it to the handles so it sticks up and out among other ones...and we're patriotic on top of it!

 

[Drusilla]

We have a bright colored bandana that we tie to the handle but other people also have hot pink bandanas... agghhh! So we are tying two different colored bandanas to the stroller and hopefully no one will duplicate those two colors together at the same ride on the same day!!!

I know I just jinxed myself

 

[Tomh]

It is true that I do have to look behind the stroller to see it, but no one will have a duplicate, for certain it is a one of a kind, and a quick and easy way to personally identify one rental stroller from the next.

 

[SnowWhitee]

I think my girls have finally out-grown the stroller stage, but I still have my 'construction orange' scarf from the $ store. I always tied it on the rented strollers and it helped us find ours so many times. It also goes with my 'construction orange' backpack from Target - a matching "Disney" set (LOL) .

I really like the flag idea too. Hey OP - you could glue your pic to a foam or stiff felt pennant, add a stick and make your own "family flag" for the stroller.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

We use an orange belt (came w/ some cargo shorts that DH bought) tied around our handle. It's bright enough to spot in a crowd and I have never seen anyone else w/ one.

We are going stroller free this year so I won't have to worry about it.

 

[jagafen]

Just wanted to add a tip for finding your stroller in the dark...

We invest in electronic glow sticks (battery operated). we bought ours at Bed bath and beyond, but I've heard they're availalbe a home depot too.

When we park our stroller at night, we turn it on to flash, and tie it to the handle....makes it simple easy to hone in on our stroller in the dark parked in a sea of strollers!

 

[Heidijs]

I should just bring some blaze orange camo from deer hunting season! LOL!

 

[Tomh]

I really like the flag idea too. Hey OP - you could glue your pic to a foam or stiff felt pennant, add a stick and make your own "family flag" for the stroller.

That is a good idea. I was kind of thinking about something like that when I first read the flag idea. I'll have to think about how I might implement it.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

An important thing is to park your stroller properly in a marked "Stroller Parking" area. If you park it properly it normally will not be moved, other than minor straightening or compressing of rows. If you park it outside of a stroller parking area it will be moved to one, and not necessarily the closest.

 

[Tomh]

That is very true, they do tend to get moved around if you leave them in the wrong place. That, however, wasn't a big problem for us, we managed to park it in legitimate parking area's, but they do get compressed, and the longer you leave it parked there, the more likely it is to not be exactly where you left it. Even if it is exactly where you left it, they all look the same, and it can still take a while to pick yours out of the crowd.

We might only save a minute or two searching for the stroller by having a unique tag on it, but repeat that minute or two ten times in a day, and you've saved enough time to fit in an extra ride.

 

[maj42169]

I also use a brightly colored child's "hair ribbon" that is all puffy and fluffy and then I wrap it around the handle. Of all the trips that I have been there, we never had a problem locating that big puff of colors sticking up above the sea of strollers!

 

[Redbudlover]

I love the flashing light idea for nite time finds! We bought my dgd3 a bright pink helium balloon at the start of our trip and tied it to the handle of the stroller. She loved it and we could spot it from a long distance away. Even better was that when I pushed the stroller it kept hitting me in the face, so my much taller friend pushed it instead! Yay!!!