stroller for 6 year old?

[cattywampus]

...

 

[happymommy]

I brought one for the last time when my kids were 7 and 9 - a single that they could share if we needed it. We needed it BIG TIME, so to the OP I'd definitely look into renting one if you even think you may need it. I'd rather have it and not need it a lot then need one and not have it!

One day at DHS, my DD wanted to ride. She fell sound asleep, and when I felt her forehead she was burning up. We were at the Dolphin, so she could sleep while we took the boat back (and called a Dr. that makes house calls - turned out she had step throat). It was so good that I had the stroller! Same trip, a couple days earlier, my DS got sick - severe ear infection. I was so glad he could take a break in the stroller for a bit so we could get him back to the room (fever also).

I had kept my old good one just for trips to Disney, then after that trip I finally gave it away.

My DD doesn't have much stamina, and gets sick very easily, so for a long day at Disney it was nice for her to have somewhere to take a break and a quick nap even, while we stayed out and enjoyed ourselves.

 

[*sarah*]

The first time we took our son, he was 4 years old. We took a stroller just in case, but we never used it. You should be fine taking a 6 year old and not using it. If they get too tired, maybe go back to the resort and take a nap.

 

[MandiC]

I think this is just one thing that you know your kids best with. Our girls were 7 and 9 on our trip and if I had even suggested a stroller they would have been offended. They had no issues with navigating the parks on their own two feet from park open to park close 6 days.
My goal for our next trip is no stroller at all and our younger two will be 4 (not newly 4 though) and 6. Judging by our last trip and their personalities I don't think it's unreasonable. The only park I think we *might* want one for is Epcot, we do have a First Years Ignite I might just bring with to have in the room as an option if we feel our youngest will need it.

 

[dpswift]

We went when our twins had just turned 6 and I thought we might need one. I decided to wait and see how they did and I was SO glad I did. Both of them walked from park opening to closing, no complaints! Plus it was SO much easier. No folding to get on and off the bus, no worries about where to put the stroller, no trying to squeeze through the stores/crowds/ small walking areas. IT WAS OUR BEST TRIP EVER. I cannot tell you how nervous I was, and how amazingly freeing it was after. I loved it!! And my kiddos are not big. My DD is actually a 32 lb 7 year old now! We did take a few more resting breaks, but if your 6 year old has been walking at home and hasn't used a stroller in a long time, my thought is they can do it there. It isn't as bad as our imagination lets us think it is. You might be pleasantly surprised...and if it doesn't work out, you can always rent when you are there. Good luck!

I agree with this I hated the stroller at Disney. It seemed like a good amount of time was wasted back tracking for it. Also DH went through a time when he was just as happy to stay home. So I would take my youngest and one older child. It was a hassle carrying him and the stroller.

 

[Laura66]

Since you're asking for opinions - if it's a normal, healthy kid ditch the stroller!

 

[MandiC]

We went when our twins had just turned 6 and I thought we might need one. I decided to wait and see how they did and I was SO glad I did. Both of them walked from park opening to closing, no complaints! Plus it was SO much easier. No folding to get on and off the bus, no worries about where to put the stroller, no trying to squeeze through the stores/crowds/ small walking areas. IT WAS OUR BEST TRIP EVER. I cannot tell you how nervous I was, and how amazingly freeing it was after. I loved it!! And my kiddos are not big. My DD is actually a 32 lb 7 year old now! We did take a few more resting breaks, but if your 6 year old has been walking at home and hasn't used a stroller in a long time, my thought is they can do it there. It isn't as bad as our imagination lets us think it is. You might be pleasantly surprised...and if it doesn't work out, you can always rent when you are there. Good luck!

This one sentence puts it better than my previous post did I was really worried doing park open to close with my kids after reading about blisters and buying special shoes and all the walking people seem to talk about on here. I will say I specifically planned our park days so that we weren't doing a lot of back and forth but seriously...it was MUCH less walking than I had anticipated. The only park that was as much walking as I had expected was Epcot, the others were about equal to what we'd walk in a day trip to any other amusement park/zoo around home. Considering much of your time is spent waiting in line (if my kids were tired they would sit in line) or on the rides there is a lot of 'rest' to break up the walking.

 

[SaraMc]

Depending on the size of your six year old I would suggest renting a stroller. My 5 year old refuses to use a stroller and we take a mid day break so we don't have melt downs.
When we did need strollers for both our kids, we used Orlando Stroller Rentals and they were awesome.

 

[Pookasaurus]

My son is a little younger (he will be turning 5 a week before we leave for our trip) and he hasn't used a stroller in ages but we will still be renting one for this trip. It will be nice to carry the added stuff we have, and when he gets worn out. We went to great america this summer and he actually ended up tiring out a lot more and a lot sooner than I had expected. Additionally, his little legs couldn't keep up if we had to get somewhere in a hurry so the stroller will be nice for that. I figure we can always leave it in our room if we don't end up needing it or have mid day breaks planned and grab it for evening, but it will be nice to have

 

[cattywampus]

I'm a stroller fan at Disney. Strollers for us have resulted in zero meltdowns over 25 trips age 1-6. ZERO. I would like to know the stats with those that claim an older child should never use one.

Also two bad backs mean we can't carry a child when they tire out. I notice many times when someone is saying they went stroller less, they also talk about carrying a child back to the bus, etc. That's not a solution to me. I've seen a lot of exhausted parents carrying a child to the exit, in the heat and no one is happy. Pass.

You may plan to take a break/nap back at the hotel but child tires out earlier than normal, and you are in far end of the park. If I have a stroller, I just bought time to have the child take a break with perhaps a snack (maybe even falls asleep in stroller), while I get us back to the hotel. Again, a record of ZERO in park meltdowns and never carrying an overheated child ready for a nap back to the exit.

I also absolutely love knowing exactly where my child is during crowded conditions and he likes having his own space. He will often walk but wants to jump in stroller as crowds increase. He can't get separated, trampled, or lost and that is valuable to me. I also think I take up less room even with the stroller than the family strewn across the walkway, with exhausted weaving children who keep lagging behind making the parent continually stop to regathering their child. I don't think they should necessarily use a stroller, anymore than someone telling me I shouldn't.

I also don't understand accusatory tones about child fitness. Disney, particularly for days at a time, has no basis in reality. My child runs daily in the morning at school, swims, is a blue belt in karate, and has just started riding lessons on my horse. I wish I had his low body fat percentage -- there is no place to "pinch" anything. He knows he is incredibly lucky that I still let him have a stroller at Disney and that this is probably his last year and he has fun with it. So what?

Many posters advocating no stroller use have a holier than thou/we are raising our kids better undercurrent to their posts. They act shocked that someone would even consider it -- afterall, Little Suzie has been running laps around Epcot since She was two! Many posters... not all and not just on this thread. I appreciate posters that offer their own experience of going stroller less and having it work well, but leave room for those that may want to go the other direction and use one.

I couldn't care less what other people think, but some will get talked out of a stroller that could really benefit from it, thereby having less of a good time, which is a shame. After all, isn't that why we are there in the first place?

 

[luvmy2babies]

A lot depends on when you are going as well and what kind of touring attack you have. It also depends on the makeup of your traveling party.

If you have a relaxed style at a time of year when it isn’t crazy hot, your child may make it fine. If it’s warm to hot and you like to keep it moving and stay out late, you may face an issue. Also depends on the length of your trip because you may not see it on day 1 or 2, but by day 3 and 4. And depending on the makeup of your party, leaving the park may not be an option or one you want to take, especially if it is some time of the year when the park closes earlier.

My son has walked a bit on each trip since he could walk. At age 2 he walked quite a bit because we were in a tropical storm and the stroller cover kept getting blown off resulting in a soaked stroller. When he asked for his stroller though we would go and get it. I put plastic on the seat for him.

My son I believe probably could have walked most of our last trip (age 4); but, I rented a City Mini. I have one at home; but, after many outings I decided not to bring it as it was starting to show signs of significant wear. My son uses his stroller as more of a retreat than anything else. He’s really prone to sensory overload which is in plenty at various places and everywhere at Disney World. The stroller and his noise cancelling head phones make a lot of things possible. It was also nice on our 2 late nights to have. He fell asleep instantly as we applauded the last pop of fireworks at Wishes and there was no way I would have made it out of the park, much less all the way back to our standard room at All-Star Movies carrying him. I had to hold him during MSEP so he could see and with the heat, I was really starting to not feel very well by the time it was over.

He’s very active. I have had offers in case I ever figure out how to bottle his energy; but, he’s also short for his age (apparently 41 inches is short for 4 if you’re also 41 pounds). Depending on how his evaluation goes to find out about his sensory issues we may be stroller folks past age 6.

 

[happymommy]

A lot depends on when you are going as well and what kind of touring attack you have. It also depends on the makeup of your traveling party.

If you have a relaxed style at a time of year when it isn’t crazy hot, your child may make it fine. If it’s warm to hot and you like to keep it moving and stay out late, you may face an issue. Also depends on the length of your trip because you may not see it on day 1 or 2, but by day 3 and 4. And depending on the makeup of your party, leaving the park may not be an option or one you want to take, especially if it is some time of the year when the park closes earlier.

My son has walked a bit on each trip since he could walk. At age 2 he walked quite a bit because we were in a tropical storm and the stroller cover kept getting blown off resulting in a soaked stroller. When he asked for his stroller though we would go and get it. I put plastic on the seat for him.

My son I believe probably could have walked most of our last trip (age 4); but, I rented a City Mini. I have one at home; but, after many outings I decided not to bring it as it was starting to show signs of significant wear. My son uses his stroller as more of a retreat than anything else. He’s really prone to sensory overload which is in plenty at various places and everywhere at Disney World. The stroller and his noise cancelling head phones make a lot of things possible. It was also nice on our 2 late nights to have. He fell asleep instantly as we applauded the last pop of fireworks at Wishes and there was no way I would have made it out of the park, much less all the way back to our standard room at All-Star Movies carrying him. I had to hold him during MSEP so he could see and with the heat, I was really starting to not feel very well by the time it was over.

He’s very active. I have had offers in case I ever figure out how to bottle his energy; but, he’s also short for his age (apparently 41 inches is short for 4 if you’re also 41 pounds). Depending on how his evaluation goes to find out about his sensory issues we may be stroller folks past age 6.

You make good points!

Our trips tend to be long, so after two or three days, yes kids may be fine, but by day 7 (or 10), I am fine walking 10 miles that day, but many kids need a break.

I figured one trip that typically I log at least 10 miles walking in a day. I LOVE to walk a LOT, but it's a bit much (a couple trips my folks came up from Naples to join us, but it was hard as they needed to sit and rest more than half the time). I needed a mom and dad stroller!

 

[Ava]

On our trip last month we rented a City Mini from Kingdom Strollers. It was ostensibly for the 1yo but she prefers being in the carrier so my 5yo ended up using the stroller a lot. It was a pain to haul on & off the bus but I was glad we had it. The 5yo is a wanderer and does not like to hold hands, so sometimes we'd have her ride just to get from one place to another without needing to stress about where she was the whole time. And it was nice for those late nights when her energy was dwindling.

We'll have a stroller again next year since our youngest will still be just 2, but I'm sure the older will ride in it as well.

 

[capeseal]

It is a tough choice and I think it depends a lot upon touring style and the weather during your stay. When DD was 2 and 3, we brought a stroller but she walked most of the trip. When she was 4, we went in September and we were sad to only have a single for our 1-year-old because she was wiped and it was too hot to babywear her brother too much. At 5, she shared a single (very occasionally) with her 2-year-old brother in November. This year, we finally decided to get a double. The kids are 6 and 3 and extremely active at home and at school. However, we are staying at an Epcot area resort and we prefer to walk rather than use Disney transportation. I know the walk back from Hollywood Studios after Osborne Lights or our choice to walk through Epcot and use the monorail to get to the Magic Kingdom because we enjoy the sights, will get to her at times and I want to have the option to let her ride. This will probably be our last trip with a stroller as we don't plan to go back next year so I guess we are going big, using a double for the first time, lol.

 

[clshirk]

There are a lot of good points made here.
we are going this February and ours will be 6 (almost 7) and 8.5yrs old. My kids hike weekly with me- 3-4 mile hilly (live in the mountains) hikes.. and I'm not sold that after 3/4 of a day they aren't gonna be begging to be carried. Luckily dh and I are fit and uninjured so can likely throw them on our shoulders for a while, but still... trying to decide if a stroller is a good idea or not. Also we'll probably pack at least 1 lunch per day, so that'll account for some baggage on our backs too if we don't bring a stroller.

This age is hard to decide on this for those of us who don't go to Disney (or theme parks) but every 3-4 years.

And I'm a motivated fast paced park mover. It was a blessing 4 years ago when we could just throw the boys in strollers and 'go'.

 

[SFRN97]

When we went to Disneyland DS was 6 and DD was 3 we decided (against my better jugdement) against taking our double jogger since it was so cumbersome and only took a umbrella stroller since DH felt DS was to old for a stroller was I sorry. The only time we really needed the stroller for the 6 year old was at park closing when he was exhausted from walking since park opening and so were we. The walk from the park to Paradise Pier was sooooooooo long with DS asking for stops to rest his tired feet by day 3 I was giving him piggy back rides to the hotel. No fun for anyone. And again DS is very active he is on baseball, soccer, and basketball teams, swims and does karate but with the long 12 to 14 he days his feet just hurt. Mine even hurt so this year we are taking a umbrella stroller for both and leaving it in the car until the parade where we will get it so we can have it at night. And for those who feel my 8 year old should not be in it that's your opinion but for me it's what works for our family.

 

[mickey1234]

Thanks to all the advice here we have decided to bring a stroller for our 4 and 6 year old to share with our 4 month old.

Do you recommend 2 singles or a double. The double is easier since only 1 person will need to push but is it too bulky to get through the Disney crowds.

Thanks