Stroller Debate - Which to bring for 5 1/2 month old

[Rand0mTh0ughts]

We are leaving in a week with our almost 6 month son for Orlando (Disney World) followed by a cruise.

The question? Which stroller to bring!

Travel System (Evenflo Journey Elite):
Pros: His car seat clips into it, so it is one less thing to carry through the airport/hotel/cruise
Bigger basket to carry stuff in.
Cons:
Bulkier/bigger/takes up more room

Maclaren Umbrella Stroller:
Pros: lightweight
smaller / less bulky
Cons: Have to carry car seat separately
Not a lot of room to hold extra stuff (such as his diaper bag, which can go across the handles on the back but isn't the most ideal as this causes the stroller to tilt when DS is not in it.)

Other thoughts/considerations:
Both strollers have the same recline and are comfortable for him for all day use (we've been alternating stroller use this summer to test this)

We are staying off property in a condo and are renting a car, so we won't need to rely on Disney transportation, although we may use it occasionally.

Restaurants:
At this point, our son can not use restaurant high chairs because he can't sit up on his own - and although he is close, we can't count on it for the vacation. What to do in restaurants? At home, we bring him in his car seat - much easier to do with the travel system - however, he really is too big to go around the parks all day in his car seat, but this point maybe helpful on the cruise. As far as I understand, strollers are not allowed inside restaurants at WDW - so I guess he'll mostly be sitting on our laps then (other thoughts?)

So any advice/thoughts/additional points would be greatly appreciated!

Thank You!

 

[2binak]

I would bring the stroller that is going to be most convenient & comfortable, which sounds like the Evenflo. Less to worry about trekking through the airport & plenty of storage room are always pluses when traveling.

As for restaurants - that's a tough one. Our DD didn't sit up well in restaurant high chairs until she was 7 months old. Even then, we had to pile sweatshirts or blankets behind her. If your DS is asleep, some restaurants will let you bring the stroller inside, just ask at the host/hostess podium.

 

[wishtdream]

I don't know which cruise line you are going on, or even if you have cruised before. I have only sailed Royal Caribbean 3 X with a small child. On The Ships that I have sailed there was very little room in the cabins to store the larger Travel System Strollers. There is also very little room in the hallways for them to navigate. For these reasons I would take the smallest stroller your child is comfortable in.

 

[Nennie]

We took DS when he was 6 months, and just brought the whole travel system.

It was nice to have the carseat for the plane, and made it easy to get around the airport with him in the carseat, clicked into the stroller.

We ended up using the entire travel system for the whole trip. I liked having him in the carseat b/c he was facing me, and I could look at him as I pushed the stroller. I also liked having the carseat for the restaurant issue that you mentioned, as he couldn't sit up in a highchair yet, so we could flip the highchairs and keep him in the carseat.

Finally, I liked having the bigger basket to carry our gear! We are going back in Sept when he'll be 10 months, so obviously he won't be in the carseat part anymore, but we are still bringing the large stroller just for gear carrying purposes!

Have a great trip!!!

 

[AmyBWV99]

I would go with the Mac. It won't hold the car seat but a baby in a travel system in the heat will be miserable they need room to wiggle and not be srcunched in half.

You'll also be tripping all over a full sized stroller in any size cabin on the cruise ship unless you're in a suite.

If you have a convertable car seat bring that, it can be rear facing and you can get a strap for only $15 to attach it to a rolling carry on suitcase and makes moving it thru airports, etc so easy. I LOVE ours. http://www.amazon.com/Traveling-Toddler-Seat-Travel-Accessory/dp/B000JHN3AS this is the strap that we have. If you don't have a convertable seat yet we got one for travel that's light FAA approved and was only $39 at Target. It's a Cosco Senera.

We've taken small babies to WDW multiple times and they've ALWAYS allowed us to bring the stroller in if they cannot sit in a high chair yet.

 

[laughinplace199]

We took our youngest DS at 5 mos and we brought the travel system. The main reasons we brought the travel system were that we could snap the carseat onto the stroller and not have to lug the carseat through the airport and we could use the carseat in the restaurants as DS was not sitting well enough for a high chair at that point. We did make sure to take him out of the car seat a lot while touring the parks so that he wasn't sitting in the car seat for too long.

We went again when he was 9 mos and still brought the travel system for the ease of not having to lug the carseat through the airport. By that trip, we did not needthe carseat for restaurants, so we just left it in the hotel room until our return trip to the airport.