not wanting to arrange pick up for stroller

[mistysue]

It's been years since we needed a stroller - later this year a guest is bringing a 2 year old... they used to just leave the stroller at luggage services but they all seem to want me to arrange an exact drop off/pick up in-person now. Are any of the stroller rental companies allowed to dump them anymore so I just pick it up when convenient?
I really didn't pay attention when this change happened and had no idea how frustrating it would be to arrange a meet up window months in advance.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

The change took place way back in 2019.

The only 3rd party that Disney has partnered with to accept pickup/drop offs at bell services is Scooterbug. They do have strollers for rent. So check them out.

If its inconvenient for you to choose drop off and pick up time in person then I suggest the person in your party needing a stroller brings their own or rents from the parks.

 

[mistysue]

The change took place way back in 2019.

The only 3rd party that Disney has partnered with to accept pickup/drop offs at bell services is Scooterbug. They do have strollers for rent. So check them out.

If its inconvenient for you to choose drop off and pick up time in person then I suggest the person in your party needing a stroller brings their own or rents from the parks.

Thank you! I'm just remembering how handy it was and they have the expensive strollers. We tried to use the cheap ones we get away with at home and actually broke two of them on the main street train tracks before giving up and renting forever after! I was going to rent it for them as a sort of gift to make all of our trips a bit more pleasant. (there's a selfish bit in there for sure) Especially going in August, they are going to need that full canopy and rain cover!

 

[lanejudy]

PP is correct that ScooterBug is the only vendor allowed to utilize Bell Services at the WDW-owned resorts. If you are flying in, Kingdom Strollers has a location at MCO if that might be easier, you would time it to your arrival/departure flights. There maybe at least one other at MCO; any others will arrange to meet you at your resort. Some have a set delivery schedule (X-resort @ 1pm, Y-resort @ 1:30pm, Z-resort @ 2pm, etc.).

 

[miksicnarf]

We had a great experience with Scooterbug. Stroller was waiting when we arrived, and when we unexpectedly departed a day early we left it at Bell Services and Scooterbug refunded 1 day’s rental fee, which we didn’t request or expect.

 

[WinterSolider]

I don't really understand people not wanting their own stroller in the airport. Renting one is framed as avoiding hassle but to me it just adds another headache to 1) plan, 2) pay for, and 3) be without on the airport legs of your trip.

 

[mistysue]

I don't really understand people not wanting their own stroller in the airport. Renting one is framed as avoiding hassle but to me it just adds another headache to 1) plan, 2) pay for, and 3) be without on the airport legs of your trip.

In this particular case they are driving and we are flying, but I just know the group well enough that I'd rather just manage this one or some mysterious slip up is going to factor in.

But "way back when" we didn't like the stroller in the airport because we didn't trust gate checking. Lots of people get destroyed strollers, wheelchairs or car seats that way so we avoid it because we can. One of our personal strollers had the wheel snapped off on main street but had been working great until after our flight when the wheel started malfunctioning, so that was likely what actually caused the total fail. Back then Kingdom strollers saved the day- I called and they had one waiting at our resort by the time we got back that afternoon.

 

[WinterSolider]

In this particular case they are driving and we are flying, but I just know the group well enough that I'd rather just manage this one or some mysterious slip up is going to factor in.

But "way back when" we didn't like the stroller in the airport because we didn't trust gate checking. Lots of people get destroyed strollers, wheelchairs or car seats that way so we avoid it because we can. One of our personal strollers had the wheel snapped off on main street but had been working great until after our flight when the wheel started malfunctioning, so that was likely what actually caused the total fail. Back then Kingdom strollers saved the day- I called and they had one waiting at our resort by the time we got back that afternoon.

I guess I was just lucky. Our oldest is 10 and youngest is 4, and we travel often, so we've done at least 40 flights with a stroller to Disney and elsewhere. Never had any damage beyond minor scuffs and dings.

 

[Rory607]

I don't really understand people not wanting their own stroller in the airport. Renting one is framed as avoiding hassle but to me it just adds another headache to 1) plan, 2) pay for, and 3) be without on the airport legs of your trip.

When our kids were little we traveled with an umbrella stroller for the airport, then rented a better one from Kingdom Strollers. It worked well for us. No big deal if it got broken and then we just put it in the closet once we got to the resort. And once our youngest was about 5 he didn’t need the stroller in the airport, but we still wanted one for the parks.

 

[jo-jo]

Just throwing an idea out there......No idea of cost of renting, but what if you ordered one from walmart/ amazon etc. to be delivered to the resort a day or two before you arrive. Not buying a super high or super cheap. I knew someone that every year would buy one for use at disney and then just passed it on at the end of the trip. Of course if your trip is only a couple of days, this plan probably isn't worth it.

The one issue with renting a park stroller, at the end of the day, you are carrying perhaps a sleeping kid while waiting for transportation.

 

[HopperFan]

I don't really understand people not wanting their own stroller in the airport. Renting one is framed as avoiding hassle but to me it just adds another headache to 1) plan, 2) pay for, and 3) be without on the airport legs of your trip.

Learned the hard way when airline permanently broke our expensive stroller.

 

[jenkel]

A few years back ( wow I guess it has been 10) we just purchased one from amazon and had it delivered to resort. It was cheaper than renting one for the 10 days we were there. When we were leaving we gave it to another family to use. they couldn't thank us enough and said they would pay it forward.

 

[WinterSolider]

Learned the hard way when airline permanently broke our expensive stroller.

Every parent I know has like 5 or 6 strollers. And it's not like we're rich, most of them are hand-me-downs from family and neighbors. There's always been one stroller in my car, one in my wife's car, one in my mom's car, one or two umbrellas in the basement, one or two doubles in the garage, a jogger somewhere, etc. When the kids grow out of them, people throw them up on the town's Facebook Buy Nothing group and a new family gets the benefit.

So I guess I never had the risk of ruining my one good stroller because we always had a ton of strollers and none of them were very good.

 

[mistysue]

Every parent I know has like 5 or 6 strollers. And it's not like we're rich, most of them are hand-me-downs from family and neighbors. There's always been one stroller in my car, one in my wife's car, one in my mom's car, one or two umbrellas in the basement, one or two doubles in the garage, a jogger somewhere, etc. When the kids grow out of them, people throw them up on the town's Facebook Buy Nothing group and a new family gets the benefit.

So I guess I never had the risk of ruining my one good stroller because we always had a ton of strollers and none of them were very good.

A piece of me is so envious of this working out where you are. There's little that gets given away around here, and even that didn't start until my kids were old enough that we were done with the type of things people swap around. We usually just had one good stroller and a cheap umbrella backup.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

I’m a bit confused - why doesn’t the family with the 2 year old just put their normal stroller in their car if they are driving anyway? Why bother to rent one at all?

My favorite Disney stroller (and we had 9 by the time it was all said and done - the joys of being a “city mom” where your stroller is your transportation) was a City Mini.

 

[mistysue]

I’m a bit confused - why doesn’t the family with the 2 year old just put their normal stroller in their car if they are driving anyway? Why bother to rent one at all?

My favorite Disney stroller (and we had 9 by the time it was all said and done - the joys of being a “city mom” where your stroller is your transportation) was a City Mini.

So super long story short, 2 year old lives with mom. This is dad, dad's fiancé, and dad's mom bringing the baby for the trip. They don't want to take mom's stroller and have never had a nice one. "Fiancé" is my daughter, so I'm insisting on a stroller because it's August heat and humidity and I just know they will need to set him down without him running off sometimes. It's pretty much me saying they're not using the super cheap thing and we're going to walk around with one that lays flat, can mount a fan and hold a cooling pad, and collapses for the busses.

It's all me, I'm causing my own problems because I'm insisting the baby rides around like a little spoiled prince partly so I don't end up on and off carrying a small heat generating baby. It will totally be worth it. I've had my eyes on craigslist and FB marketplace but I'm picky so it hasn't come up yet.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

If they are driving do you intend to use Disney transportation or will you drive from park to park (ie how important is a really good fold)? Is this trip one and done or perhaps the start of a great tradition? How tall is the kiddo? Would your daughter be able to use the stroller in their real life? If so perhaps it’s worth sucking it up and buying a nicer stroller, particularly if more grandkids are in the future.

The last stroller we took to Disney was our Bob jogging stroller. That thing was a BEAST but it could hold a couple of kids if needed once my son was too old for a stroller but still needed a ride from time to time.

I know people like umbrella strollers and we took a Maclaren once to Disney but I didn’t find it nearly as user friendly as my City Mini.

 

[jo-jo]

So super long story short, 2 year old lives with mom. This is dad, dad's fiancé, and dad's mom bringing the baby for the trip. They don't want to take mom's stroller and have never had a nice one. "Fiancé" is my daughter, so I'm insisting on a stroller because it's August heat and humidity and I just know they will need to set him down without him running off sometimes. It's pretty much me saying they're not using the super cheap thing and we're going to walk around with one that lays flat, can mount a fan and hold a cooling pad, and collapses for the busses.

It's all me, I'm causing my own problems because I'm insisting the baby rides around like a little spoiled prince partly so I don't end up on and off carrying a small heat generating baby. It will totally be worth it. I've had my eyes on craigslist and FB marketplace but I'm picky so it hasn't come up yet.

Nothing about getting a stroller, but a tip for those hot days. We had those cooling towels. DGS was about 3 ish. Asleep but was flushed. I laid the wet towel over him like a blanket and held a battery fan over him. Cooled down his body without disturbing his nap.

 

[mistysue]

If they are driving do you intend to use Disney transportation or will you drive from park to park (ie how important is a really good fold)? Is this trip one and done or perhaps the start of a great tradition? How tall is the kiddo? Would your daughter be able to use the stroller in their real life? If so perhaps it’s worth sucking it up and buying a nicer stroller, particularly if more grandkids are in the future.

The last stroller we took to Disney was our Bob jogging stroller. That thing was a BEAST but it could hold a couple of kids if needed once my son was too old for a stroller but still needed a ride from time to time.

I know people like umbrella strollers and we took a Maclaren once to Disney but I didn’t find it nearly as user friendly as my City Mini.

That's a great set of questions, the only one I know the answer to is that my daughter is going to be happy to be in the bubble where she doesn't have to drive constantly for a week, so busses (and monorail/skyliner) will be part of her plans. The kid is on the smaller size, not sure how long it would be before other kids, which was giving me a bit of resistance to buying anything, and we were always happier renting at Disney and using a cheap one at home because our normal terrain is rural/suburban mix where strollers just don't come out enough. We loved using the citi minis at WDW.

Nothing about getting a stroller, but a tip for those hot days. We had those cooling towels. DGS was about 3 ish. Asleep but was flushed. I laid the wet towel over him like a blanket and held a battery fan over him. Cooled down his body without disturbing his nap.

Smart- we always have those towels too for the rest of us, then I saw on Amazon they make mats (most of them advertise for animals) but one mentioned a stroller and I realized we could get something he sits on that might not feel wet but would feel cool.

 

[BostonEd]

I don't really understand people not wanting their own stroller in the airport. Renting one is framed as avoiding hassle but to me it just adds another headache to 1) plan, 2) pay for, and 3) be without on the airport legs of your trip.

When we used strollers at WDW, our kids were old enough to walk, but not "Disney Walk". They could get through the airport and such. Renting a stroller was a much better situation for us. That also allowed us to rent a double-stroller, which we did not have at home. We have taken strollers with us on airplanes, and it worked out OK, but admit it: it's yet another thing to deal on a travel day that would be nice to avoid.

I've never heard of anyone having 5 or 6 strollers.