Jogging strollers in the parks??

[marcyinPA]

My friend and her family leave for WDW on Friday. She would like to borrow my Baby Trend jogging stroller for her dd, who is 7. The jogging stroller is large enough to hold an older/larger child. My question is, is there any problem taking these in the parks? Are they allowed (because of their size?) Any problems checking them in at the airport? Will they gate check it? It does fold, but the front wheel is quite large.

Thanks for any quick responses to my questions!

 

[Narcoossee]

We have not personally taken a jogging stroller. So I can't help you with the airport info. But on our last couple of trips (July/Aug). We have noted Several jogging strollers in the park. It surprised me because I had thought they were not allowed. But I saw way too many of them to think anyone had any difficulty getting into the parks with them.

 

[stacy6552]

Heres the thing with the joggers, they are very difficult to steer suddenly. People do not walk in a straight line and they stop short often, making fast reflexes and quick steering a neccessity.

Plus i dont think its worth the hassleon the plane and busses for a 7 year old. She will probably only need it one or twice, at which time they can rent one

 

[SueM in MN]

Originally posted by stacy6552
Heres the thing with the joggers, they are very difficult to steer suddenly. People do not walk in a straight line and they stop short often, making fast reflexes and quick steering a neccessity.

Plus i dont think its worth the hassleon the plane and busses for a 7 year old. She will probably only need it one or twice, at which time they can rent one

That's exactly what we saw when DH and I were there in July. One man was ahead of us going from Haunted Mansion toward Splash Mountian. During that time, he had to change direction at least 10 times. Each time meant coming pretty much to a stop and shifting weight off the front tire so he could "bump" it to turn in the right direction. He almost got run into several times. I'd imagine lifting the front wheel that many times with a 7 yr old in the stroller would get pretty tiring.
A year ago, there were posts from people who were stopped at the turnstiles with their big front wheel joggers. The CMs traded them for a WDW stroller for the day. Apparently, they are not doing that any more, but who knows if they will start again.

 

[crazywig]

i have a 16in jogger and wouldn't dream of travelling with it!

cons:

-the fixed wheel steering

-the size

-forget getting it on a tram, bus or monorail. they do not fold quickly or compactly

-how are you going to gate check it? it's a monster! even if you did, if you don't bag it, it will probably get wrecked because you won't be able to take the wheels off.

-you won't be able to go into a store with it. no way.

-they'll actually have more storage if the rent a stroller.

honestly i don't see a 7 yr old actually using it that much. we got a rental for my almost 8yr old nephew and he rarely rode in it. (i think my sister just wanted something to hold all her stuff)

 

[sophmad]

This is my first time posting so I hope I'm doing this right.

We're going to Disney in Nov and will have a 3 1/2 yo and a 1 1/2 yo. I was thinking about taking our double jogging stroller so if the older kid tires he can ride too. He's a great walker -- does fine at the zoo, and Busch Gardens. We are driving and could just drive to each park rather than taking the shuttles. So.... should we rent at the park? Take our double jogger? Take our large single Graco? Or our small single Combi?

Thanks,
Beth

 

[Disney_1derland]

I was planning on buying a double jogger and planning on taking it to WDW in March. It's one of the smallest ones they make and has a swivel front wheel. Since we drive, the airport, buses, shuttles and whatnot are not an issue for us. Do those of you who own joggers think that a swivel front wheel will make a difference?

 

[SueM in MN]

Originally posted by Disney_1derland
Do those of you who own joggers think that a swivel front wheel will make a difference?

The jogging strollers that are a problem are the ones with the large fixed wheel on the front. WDW has the jogging type strollers with the small swivel wheels on the front for rent at Disney-MGM Studios.

 

[FWFamily4Life]

We tried the jogger with our DS and it was awful for all the reasons posted. Getting on and off the buses and Boats from FW was way to inconvenient. We have since taken our regular graco with stroller because it folds up so easily. We drive to WDW so renting doesnt seem like much of a need.

 

[Fridye]

Disney_1derland:

I was wondering which double jogger you found. I did research several months ago on another computer, which is broken at the moment (argh!), but I'd like to buy a jogger now. I know Disney had a company make those strollers for them, and you can buy similar ones online (I just can't remember the make, and my broken computer isn't talking!). The key is to have a swivel wheel that doesn't protrude too much in front of the stroller, and the stroller must be able to fold for any Disney transportation.

 

[SueM in MN]

I'm pretty sure that the jogging strollers that WDW uses at MGM are made by Baby Jogger and the model is City Jogger . That's the one with the small front swivel wheels. I'm aware of it because that company makes a similar, larger special needs jogging stroller. The swivel wheels can be snapped off and the big front wheel snapped in for times when someone is actually jogging and would want the big wheel instead of the manouverability of the small wheels.

Additional Note: The The webpage for the City Twinner model says it was "designed for one of America's most famous theme parks", so it is definately the one WDW uses.

If you go to Deb Wills site and look at her stroller pictures, she does have a picture of the MGM single and double jogging strollers. But, be aware that the last time I looked, her pictures were old and showed the single front tire on the jogging strollers. The strollers were all changed over to small swivel wheels at least a year or more ago.

 

[bearloch]

I just bought a jogging stroller made by dell at kb toy works for $55.00 it folds up SMALLer Than my old 4 wheel stroller and steers better too! it has a langer handle and larger weight limit. I figured this was cheaper than renting every day. I checked with disney guest relations and theres no promblem bring it in the park and no promblem with the airline all the wheels come off in about 5 seconds and go back on jsut as easy. its alos only 9 pounds!!! were going in 17 days so ill let you know how it worked

 

[Disney_1derland]

InStep is the company I'm looking at. The Safari TT and the Schwinn (made by InStep) swivel wheel are the models I'm looking at. the Safari TT is a few pounds lighter than the Schwinn model.

We have several InStep products including a single stroller and I love their stuff. Holds up really well and washes good, the single backpack/stroller combo we have has held up beautifully through 2 kids.

Hope this helps. These are the only doubles with swivel wheels I have been able to find.

 

[bearloch]

I saw those strollers as well adn tried one out ( not the double). The one i got from dell folds up smaller that the instep one did and is lighter.

but no swivel front tire but that's not a big promblem it turn's really well and I don't have to lift to turn it. alos my daughter is very tall ( shes only 4) but in the 95 % for height andweight. anyway on the instep her feet don't fit she had to sit doubled up and on the dell she has tons of leg room its a lot higher of the ground.

 

[Disney_1derland]

I have never heard of Dell strollers. Do you know if there is a place online I can check them out? I want to explore all options. Do you know if they offer a double? thanks

 

[Fridye]

I'd also like to know about the Dell. I started my research again (curse you, old computer!). The Instep Safari looked good, but I've yet to find a website that has them in stock. You have to place an order and get on the waiting list and hope for the best. I noticed at joggingstrollers.com that they have found the shipments of Instep strollers to be unreliable and now will no longer take orders until they actually have them in stock. Otherwise, their review of the Safari double appeared to be favorable overall.

 

[bearloch]

I got mine @ k.b. toys works in chesterfield, Mi its a basic jogger but the handle was higher than an other i found. it turns really easy. But if you have your heart set on the instep, burlington coat factory's baby depot have them in stock i looked at one but it didn't fit my daughter well. hope this helps some

bearloch

 

[Disney_1derland]

but no Dell. Anyhow, did some research on the Dorel and it's a conglomerate company that makes products under several names including Cosco and Eddie Bauer. They do not have a double jogger at this point. Their strollers look great, but don't fit my needs. Their website is dorel.com A lot of their companys are in Europe only.

My dh used to work for KB so, speaking from experience if the Dell stroller was at a KB Toyworks it is probably a discontinued model that would be very hard to find and Bearloch got very lucky!

I have a burlington here in my town and they are not currently carrying any of the InStep doubles however they can be ordered from Burlington's warehouse(and the warehouse does have them in stock) so that is probably the route I will go!

I also looked at the City Twinner and though it is missing one important feature, it looks like a great stroller. I am going to see if anyone here in my city sells them so I can look at them up close. They are MUCH lighter than the InSteps but do not have reclining seats. It may be a trade off I am willing to make. Their total weight is also rated higher than the InStep.

 

[NotUrsula]

Just FYI, "Dorel" is Cosco, but anything with a Dorel name on it is meant for the Canadian market.

The smallest-folding full-size jogger on the market are the Keltys.
They don't have front swivel-wheels, but they do fold umbrella-style. It's pretty amazing.

The biggest stroller I know of that is not special needs is the Chariot X-Country, out of Canada. This is actually a folding bike trailer, with a conversion kit that gives it swivel front wheels underneath.

 

[SueM in MN]

Originally posted by bearloch
but no swivel front tire but that's not a big promblem it turn's really well and I don't have to lift to turn it.

If you haven't already, you might want to test it turning quickly in sharp turns (like going from far on one side of the sidewalk to the far other side within the length of the stroller). I know some people who tried it with their jogging stroller and decided that even though they thought it turned well under normal use, it didn't do well for that sort of use. The jogging strollers with the big front wheels are more designed for more gradual turns like you find in side walks or jogging trails. What you run into a lot at WDW is needing to make a sharp turn fairly quickly to avoid someone stopped suddenly in front of you. That's the kind of thing I see people needing to lift the front wheel to do.

I also noticed in another post that you mentioned popping the wheels off. If you are planning to do that for the airplane trip, you might want to think about protecting them and making sure they don't get lost. If it has wheels with spokes, the spokes can get bent (I don't know exactly what impact that has on the wheels, but when we had wheels with spokes for DD's wheelchair, we were told to make sure they didn't get bent). Depending on the size of the wheels, you might be able to bring them on the plane (as part of your carry on allowance) and put them in the overhead bin. I know from experience of taking a wheelchair apart and bringing it on the plane that 24 inch wheels don't fit in the overhead bin (but I'm not sure how much smaller they would have to be to fit). Even if you are carrying them on, it's helpful to have them contained in something - we use a nylon laundry bag to keep wheelchair parts together.
Also, if it doesn't have some type of strap to keep it folded up, you might want to look into something like that too. If a stroller unfolds during travel on the plane, it's more likley to get bent.