Parking, trams, and strollers - - please help!

[TheLittleRoo]

Since double strollers now cost more than a car rental per day, we will be using our double stroller or getting in on a swap this year.

I thought I was going to be slick and avoid the hassle of breaking down a stroller and boarding a bus back to the hotel b/c we're driving this year. But now I see that parking lots use trams! Which isn't going to save me the breaking down part, is it?

I'd love to hear from people about parking up close and walking in, or how bad is the line to get on a tram, how big are they and how hard to load a double stroller? Which do you prefer then, bus or park/tram?

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

I'm going to move this over to the Families forum. There are a lot of members on that board who have been there, done that and can offer you some suggestions on how to handle strollers on trams and buses.

 

[pjzkent]

We had a double jogger on our last trip, and tried a couple of different things.
1. Walk to tram, breakdown stroller, board tram (usually had to be in the front row or the car for the stroller to fit). Keep in mind that if you are folding the stroller, most of the stuff in the basket will have to come out.

2. Divide and conquer-depending on how far away from the entrance we were parked, DH would take the fully loaded (bags, snacks, anything that would fit in the bottom) stroller and walk to the entrance. Sometimes a kid would ride, mostly they wanted to ride the tram. Usually DH would already be through security by the time we got to the entrance.

We avoided the busses and drove pretty much everywhere because with 3 under the age of 7 it was just simpler. Mostly walking to the gate was easier than the trams. The down side was the walk back to the car after the day in the parks....

 

[TNMouseFan]

We have a Joovy Caboose double stroller. Rode the tram everyday from the parking lot. It was a pain for sure, but managable.
We had a "divide and concer plan" I grabbed DD18mos and DH folded stoller and sat with it. We only took in a bag that strapped to the side of the stroller so we didnt have to take it off.

We were there at a time that wasnt incredibly busy (end of May) so stretching out on the tram was fine. In crowded times it would have been much more difficult and probably almost painful to have to get the family and stroller squished in the seats.

 

[Tiffany_MommyOf3]

We have 4 children under 6. LOL. So we have a good bit of experience here and I refuse to use the trams or busses unless we only have 1 kid with us or we rent a stroller from Disney and don't have to lug it around. We will only be staying at monorail resorts from now until our children outgrow strollers because of this. Luckily, my mom goes with us to Disney every time so we get to use her handicap and park close - not a bad walk from handicap parking to the entrance. We have done it once from regular parking - which depending on where you park (and you don't have much of a choice haha) is HORRIBLE!!! It is the last thing I want to do at the end of the day leaving a park after walking all day long.

 

[*Seanaci*]

Honestly, divide and conquer works best with any stroller (double or single) for bus or tram. We used that the whole time we were in WDW back in December and it worked really well.

 

[Faldred]

We're earlier risers, so with 2 (full size) strollers, we're going to be very glad that we get to all the parks well before opening so we can park close enough to walk!

 

[TheLittleRoo]

We're earlier risers, so with 2 (full size) strollers, we're going to be very glad that we get to all the parks well before opening so we can park close enough to walk!

This is my plan too. Always get there 30 min before rope drop. But do the CM's direct you to park somewhere other than the front? If they're pointing to the middle, you can't go to the front of the lot, right?

 

[sdfamily]

Being a DLR veteran, I now realize that transportation at WDW is much, much, more complicated.

After much research, I've decided to stay at one of the DVC properties so that we can have a kitchen. I've also decided that we want to be 'close' to the theme parks. So, we're looking at Bay Lake Towers, Boardwalk Villas or Beach Club.

It's nice to know the divide and conquer approach to using the parking lots. Previously, I have not been able to find information that you can actually walk to/from the lots with the stroller. That's good to hear.

At DLR, if you WAIT for the special H/C row, you can put a stroller in that aisle w/o collapsing it, but you have to take your kid out.

 

[mareed]

This is my plan too. Always get there 30 min before rope drop. But do the CM's direct you to park somewhere other than the front? If they're pointing to the middle, you can't go to the front of the lot, right?

When we arrive prior to park opening, we've always been parked close enough to walk at every park, and that's what we do almost all of the time now. We definitely walked when we had strollers because I hated to have to empty the basket and fold the stroller to board the trams. Even now that we don't have strollers, we'll often find that we get there faster than the people who waited to board the tram unless we're one of the last ones getting on the tram. This is because they wait until the tram is full to leave so if you're one of the first to board, you may wait 5-10 minutes before it leaves.

With all the walking that you do all day long at WDW, the small amount of extra walking to/from the parking lot really is nothing!

 

[livndisney]

Disney parking is directed by CM's. That being said there is not really a "front" to park in. And different parking lots are used. For example, you may get to the TTC parking lot well before park opening. But they may be using the parking lot behind the CM lot and behind a tree line. They may not use the lot across from the CM lot at all, or they may not use it until much later in the day.

The same for AK. The parking lots are after the bus load zone and CM lot. Epcot's has a lot of "events" in the parking lots and entire lots may not be used. You will often be parking behind the treeline. The studios has a small lot behind the medical lot that is used often in the morning. But they funnel everyone back toward the tram area.

That being said, you CAN choose to not use the trams and walk in.

 

[brymolmom]

If you are worried about it - find a nice, more portable, easy-to-fold down stroller at a garage sale or craigslist. it will be worth the investment. We used a cheap Graco side by side that we got 3rd hand and loved it at WDW. It was way easier than our double jogger. IMO the trams are more more difficult than buses because on buses you CAN stand and hold a pole and lean the stroller against it, but on a tram - everyone's sitting and you're basically trying to find a place to put the stroller while making sure the kids are on the INSIDE (or they won't leave).

One thing that helps us is to have a largish shopping-bag type thing that we keep in the under-basket of the stroller. When it comes time to board bus or tram - it is very easy to grab it and throw into it anything that has ended up in the basket throughout the day - wet socks, empty popcorn bin, hats, sunglasses, etc. Much easier than trying to hold all that PLUS the kids PLUS break down the stroller.

It is a pain and the lines are big or small depending on time of day you're there (after fireworks, etc - VERY LONG). BUt just plan for it in case you're not parked close enough to walk.

 

[mareed]

Disney parking is directed by CM's. That being said there is not really a "front" to park in. And different parking lots are used. For example, you may get to the TTC parking lot well before park opening. But they may be using the parking lot behind the CM lot and behind a tree line. They may not use the lot across from the CM lot at all, or they may not use it until much later in the day.

The same for AK. The parking lots are after the bus load zone and CM lot. Epcot's has a lot of "events" in the parking lots and entire lots may not be used. You will often be parking behind the treeline. The studios has a small lot behind the medical lot that is used often in the morning. But they funnel everyone back toward the tram area.

That being said, you CAN choose to not use the trams and walk in.

I've parked in all the places described except for at Studios (& I'm not sure about that one), and we've walked from there just fine. At the Studios where we end up parking, it does help to know your way around and know that there's a place where you can cross the street and walk in through a sort of back way that doesn't go by the bus & tram stops. What I'm calling the "back way" is to the left of the entrance and there is a security guard there. There is also a walkway the entire way, so I know it's fine to use this way, but the place to cross the street to get to the walkway isn't really clearly marked and it would definitely be a longer walk if you didn't cross there. Perhaps someone else who understands can give a better description of this!