Stroller for 4yo?

[notafan]

DW just told me she didn't budget for a stroller. Does it make sense to rent a double stroller for a 4yo and a 2 yo or just rent a single? What about those umbrella stollers? We never had one. Any experience with them?

 

[Disneymaniacs]

Two umbrella strollers work great for us. They are easy to manuever on the busses, monorails, trams, and in the stores and if you and your husband split for a while you both have a stroller. We bought 2 Kolcrafts just for Disney. They maneuver very well but don't cost alot ($40ish) and you won't care if they get damaged or lost. We once rented strollers from Disney thinking the kids would like them and we didn't have to haul ours around and my daughter cried for her stroller. Be sure to try out umbrella strollers before you buy them. The Kmart/Walmart/Jcpenney/Carter umbrellas that are $10-30 do not work well. You will be miserable trying to move them around.

 

[barbie78]

We rented a double for the week for DD2 and our friends' DD5, it was only $15 a day since we did it for the week. It worked perfectly for us. A couple of times, DD2 and I went to MK by ourselves and I just asked for the single. It was definately worth renting for us. We park hop a lot and I will never bring my own stroller again!

 

[sassymom]

I would say definately rent a double. It was a life saver for us on our trip. Not only did both kiddos get to sit whenever they wanted it also served as a place to plop our backpack when we got tired of carrying it. I will rent them as long as our kiddos can fit in them.

 

[robinb]

Renting a stroller is *very* expensive! Bring your own instead. I would definately bring one for the older child too. My DD is now 7 and we still need a stroller on late evenings. There have been many trips where she just zonked out and we were able to continue walking around, watching fireworks or parades and even "baby swapping" rides while she slept. I did break the news to her that this next New Year's trip will be the last one with a stroller . She took it quite well. Of course, it will be up to me to carry her back to the bus and then to the hotel because my DH has a bad back.

As Disneymaniacs suggested, buy 2 cheap Kolcraft umbrella strollers from Toys-R-Us for only $20 each. The price of both strollers is about the same as a double stroller rental for 3 days.

 

[alicenwonder99]

You'll need to rent a double stroller (or bring your own). A 4 year old is really too young to do all that walking.

I rented a double stroller in December for my 5 and 7 year olds. That was the first time they didn't need it all the time. Epcot is still way too big for the kids to walk around so we needed one there, but they really didn't use the stroller in MK or MGM. I didn't rent one for AK because we were going to be there just a few hours, and they were complaining their legs were tired.

We're leaving tomorrow (yeah) and I only plan on renting one for our Epcot trips.

Mary

 

[brota]

Instead of renting we purchased a double jogger from ebay for out up coming trip next week. my kids are 2 and 4. I think it was $180 shipped. and we get to keep it . We have used it so far for a few local amusment parks and I must say it was money well spent.

 

[blessedby3]

We bought a Maclaren Volo for our 7 yr old DD last year because it holds up to 55 pounds. Best stroller we have ever owned and wish we had known about these years ago when DD actually used one a lot. We have only used this one for the Disney trip and will take it again this Dec. to use when she wants it. I can resell it after that and recoup the money. I would take a stroller or two because you will need it with a 2 yr old when leaving the parks to go to busses/resorts. I got it for $64 on line as a previous year model. The also sell umbrella type strollers at the resorts (I saw them at POP) for $40 last year. These would be cheaper than a rental and they seemed nice. Definately will need one for a 4 year old in my opinion. Lots of walking

 

[poohluvrs]

BabiesrUs just ran a promo (not sure if still on)....spend $75 on baby items get free umbrella stroller, luckily I was shopping for shower gifts so spent enough to get 2 of them & thats what were taking, I dont care if theyre cheap I wont use them after our trip! HTH

 

[cybrkitn]

IMO each child is different, so I would say base it on what you think your child can handle. I have a DS4 who is very active. However, when it comes to walking alot his feet tire out very quickly. My DH and I stopped using strollers with our son when he was at about 3, 3 1/2. At that time we felt he was getting too old and too tall for his umbrella stroller.

We're going to rent a park stroller while we are down there. It's just too much walking for our 4 year old. Sure we will let him walk, but we'll have the stroller there when his feet hurt or he starts to get tired.

 

[reelmom]

Two things to consider with bringing an umbrella stroller: How tall are you and do you want to have to carry it back forth to the parks. As for the tall part, I am 5'8 ,husband is 6'3 and pushing an umbrella stroller is hard for us because the handles are too low. We have to slouch over and it is very uncomfortable for the whole day at Disney. Also, you have to fold up and carry the stroller on the monorail, trams, etc.

 

[monorailsilver]

I just bought a Joovy sit & stand.

My 2 older kids fight for the back (they are 5 & 3 tomorrow) & my 6 month old sits in the front until she screams.

It works out great for me since I have to walk to pick up dd5 at the bus stop & ds3 gets tired & dme is getting a sore back from carrying dd6mo in the bjorn since she is a bit on the hefty side.

So I plop them in that & we are off.

 

[Schucraig]

I just got the Maclaren Volo. My DS is 3 1/2 and he didn't fit well in any of the other strollers. The Maclarens go up to 55 lbs, and it only weighs 11 lbs.
Good luck!

 

[jaurban]

We are going to rent for our DD4 (we just went to the state fair and quickly learned that she will not be up for all the walking). It will be more expensive, but we do not want to carry it on the airplane or back and forth to the parks.

 

[mexican-mouseketeers]

We bought a Maclaren Volo for our dd who turned 4 two weeks ago in our trip.

It was awesome, and even if you have to carry it on the buses, it is great to have if you are exiting the park with the crowds, since you know where your child is at the time, and no one will slam into them.

And we love it for the airport too, when lots of people are pulling their bags and don´t look where they are going.

Julie

 

[pooh4evr]

We rented a side by side double for our DDs (4 and 2) and it worked out great! Got it from A Baby's Best Friend I think it was $75 for 8 days- check out their website, the stroller was waiting for us at our hotel when we arrived and we left it with the bell hop when we left to go home - no problems what so ever! We could not have done without the stroller both girls napped in it off and on and it was perfect for the parades- they both had front row seats, the girls did walk too but when it got crowded especially at the end of the night after a parade it was great to "keep them contained" ! Umbrella strollers for us (we are taller) are very uncomfortable to use, and they don't have the baskets, canopy or ability to recline the seats so we were much happier with the bigger stroller- We also don't split up to see different things in the parks so that was not an issue either.

 

[mecllap]

I jerry-rigged handle extensions for our cheap umbrella stroller -- with "pipe hangers" (big white plastic hooks) from the plumbing section at home improvement store -- used those round, screw-in clips (like for dryer vents) and duct tape to hold them on. My tall daughter added a sock to each handle with duct tape, to make it more comfortable for her to push. Looked crummy, made the stroller easy to find (and no one else would have wanted it, not that we'ver ever worried about theft of our stroller). Even at 6 yo, my DGS needed stroller breaks sometimes -- and it's handy for packing around a few extra things.
(i've heard that babies r us carries some type of handle extension).

 

[notafan]

Thanks for the suggestions.