our stroller or theirs?

[monkey Q]

I thought it would be easier to rent one of theirs. My husband likes to bring everything we own everywhere we go. He may be the reason airlines now charge for baggage.

What are the advantages/disadvantages to renting their stroller?

 

[Elmo888]

What are the ages of your child/ren?

The big advantages of bringing your own are saving money and having the stroller outside the parks. Park strollers stay at the parks. Carrying a tired child from the bus to your resort room at the end of the day isn't fun, esp. if you are tired, too. With your own stroller, you just get off the bus/boat and pop your child into the stroller and go. With the monorails and some of the boats, you don't even have to fold your stroller - just roll it on with your child in it.

Airlines don't count strollers or car seats as baggage, and they aren't charging for these (so far!). Just gate check your stroller. Take the stroller to the gate, they will ask you to fold it and tag it, and then they take it from there. When your plane lands, they take the gate checked strollers out right there and you have the stroller when you get off the plane.

Have a great trip!

 

[arielmomma]

I would recommend bringing your own stroller:

A stroller can be gate checked and does not count as baggage.
It is likely far more comfortable than the hard plastic ones in the parks.
The park strollers must remain in the parks - it can be a long wait for a bus back to your hotel
And it is free! The strollers in the park are expensive. Use that money to do something fun!

 

[JimR24]

I agree about bringing your own. The Disney strollers are great but my son just could not get comfortable. If we would have brought his stroller, he would have napped everyday in it.

 

[mjkacmom]

I rented, even though I owned a few doubles. However, my kids that used it were 4, 4, and 6, and we used it more as a wagon that they could easily hop in and out of, plus carry a backpack, than a stroller they could nap in. I didn't want to deal with a stroller on the busses, and I didn't need it outside the parks at all.

 

[liznboys]

We take our own umbrella stroller so that we don't have to pay for rental.

I agree that it depends on the age of your child though. 3 or under, I'd bring your own. 4 or older, they may be doing a lot of walking on their own, and you probably wouldn't need it outside the parks, so you may feel like just renting as needed.

 

[Tiggerlovinggrandma]

We just rertuned from DW. I would suggest bringing your own stroller. We brought our GRACO Stridelite for our 21 mo old grandson and it was much more comfortable for him. It was easy to get on and off transportation. We attached a name sign to it and had no porblems.

Disney has redesigned their rentals. The single are very narrow. Both singles and doubles have lvery imited storage and are made of hard plastic. Neither recline. For a young child especially I would not recommend the hard plastic ones. We have never rented one and have always brought our own for our daughter when she was young and now our grandson. We find our own to be more comfy, easier to nap in and have much more storage.

I hope this helps.

 

[TwoRoos]

If you can make it to your resort without one (meaning you don't need one for traveling through the airport, etc.), I would suggest renting one from Orlando Stroller Rentals (www.orlandostrollerrentals.com). We rented a double from them in November for about 1/3 the price we would have paid to rent from Disney, and IMO their strollers are FAR superior to Disney's. (For our 2 year old, we did use an umbrella stroller brought from home in the airport and just left it in our room all week and used the rental in the parks.) The rentals from OSR are awesome! They are delivered to and picked up from your resort. You can use them anywhere you go on your vacation and don't have to turn them in when exiting the parks like you would if you rented from Disney. The strollers recline very far back and they have an awesome sun shade. There is a good bit of storage room on them. (I also bought a double stroller organizer from Babies R Us to hang on the back of mine to hold things.) These strollers push very easily and they fold up easily, too. We were very pleased with our rental from OSR and will definitely use them again for future trips.

 

[bellaphia]

do you have any pictures of the double you rented from orlando stroller with the kids in it? thanks-I know the stroller but haven't seen any pic with kids in it

 

[TwoRoos]

do you have any pictures of the double you rented from orlando stroller with the kids in it? thanks-I know the stroller but haven't seen any pic with kids in it

I don't have any readily available, but there are some on the website I mentioned above. If you click on double stroller rental, it will take you to the info page for that stroller. Then on that page there is a link to click that says Click to see stroller in action. There are some short detailed video clips of the stroller in action where you can see kids in the stroller. Also, there are some other posters who have done detailed reviews of OSR that include pictures. You may want to start another thread specifically asking for pics with kids in the strollers.

 

[all4fun]

I think it may depend on which airline you're flying with whether or not they will charge for a stroller as baggage. This site here has links to many airline baggage fee pages.

In the past, most airlines did not consider childrens items like strollers and car seats as luggage and one could check them for free. This is still the case with many carriers despite the new added fees. Check on your airlines website, they may specifically address it.

Just thought you might find that helpful.

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

When we flew SW they didn't include our stroller as baggage but as the pp said it depends on the airline. On another I would consider either bring your own or renting from www.orlandostrollerrentals.com and not from disney. they have a better stroller at a better price JMHO.

 

[TheAngelForever]

We are opting not to bring ours. We do not have a double and would like it for our 5 year old to go in with our son who will be 2 while at Disney. I posted this question to everyone and we opted to go with Orlando Stroller Rentals. Here is my thread so you can see the responses. There was someone who included her review with photos of her two boys in it.

 

[DisneyGrandParents]

A Baby's Best Friend rentals is the one most recommended on these boards, and I can personally do that.

We have used them on very trip for the past 5 years (they have been in Orlando for over 10) and we have been pleased each time. Their service is above and beyond, their equipment is immaculate, and their prices are very reasonable.

Highly recommended here. www.abbf.com

 

[ecross23]

I'll have to check out the stroller rentals. That's a great idea. The rentals from Disney are so expensive. How much difficulty did you have getting the strollers off and on the buses at Disney? I remember them being very crowded at times.

Thanks

Eva

 

[DisneyGrandParents]

All the strollers we have rented from ABBF (jogger, double jogger, and double side/side) are easily manageable through all doors and on and off transportation. If the bus or monorail is a little crowded, their strollers fold quickly and very easily.

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

The stroller from orlando stroller rentals is considerably smaller and lighter than the one from abbf and they have the exact same weight limit. The stroller from abbf would be like the instep jogger.

 

[DisneyGrandParents]

The stroller from orlando stroller rentals is considerably smaller and lighter than the one from abbf and they have the exact same weight limit. The stroller from abbf would be like the instep jogger.

Out of curiosity I looked up the specs on both: They are within couple of pounds and an inch in width from each other.

We enjoy the single wheel in front of the ABBF stroller. It turns and is very manuverable. Also, the large storage basket underneath is great. Seats are very roomy for the little ones, and the drawstring backrest is a nice feature.

 

[TULIPS1726]

I had the same dilimma when we went last February and I figured up how much it would cost me to rent one and just put that money on a Joovy Caboose Stroller. My 2 1/2 yr old is so independant and I just knew he wouldn't want to be sitting the whole time so this sit & stand stroller became a lifesaver! He was always too tired to stand in lines at the end of the day, too tired to walk from the bus to the room...it was wonderful! I was a little concerned about getting it on & off the bus, but it was no hassle. And everyone on the bus was so nice and it seemed all the busriders were always in a good mood! The sit & stand stroller came in handy with the bags underneath & in the front seat and he stood in the back....but when he was tired, we threw him in the front and just kept rolling...

This is us arriving in Disney at 1am!!! Our plane was delayed about 3 hours!

Patiently waiting...

On our way into the park!!!

 

[PrincessPeyton]

I think it depends on what age your children are. We took our FULL size stroller on Airtran without any extra luggage charge in September '08. On our third day it poured while we were eating, didn't cover up our stroller, and ended up renting on the following day while ours dried out at the hotel. The Disney one did the job, it got us from one place to another with a 2 year old. In her stroller she took a nap every day and in the rented one she couldn't get comfortable because they are hard plastic.
Also another consideration is if you will be doing alot of walking outside of the parks such as Downtown Disney or other resorts. We had that planned so it was nice to have ours with us since you can only rent inside the park!