Stroller for twins. rent or bring?!?!

[kfkruse]

I will be going at the end of July with 13 month old twins. Should we rent the disney strollers or just bring ours? We are trying to figure out what we need to bring for them. Pack and play, 2 car seats (definitely), and stroller. We have 4 adults going and so we have four extra "bags" that can be checked. Any suggestions?

 

[jayhjay]

When I went with my 7 month old we brought our stroller. We are going again this fall and are bringing our double for my the kids (who will be 3 1/2 and 1 yr old).

I found that we used the stroller a lot out of the parks and it really came in handy at places like the hotel, walking to the bus stop, downtown disney and boardwalk, etc. It also was nice not to have to keep renting them if we switched parks during the day. Plus, it was helpful to have it in the airport.

The other thing is the the strollers vary by park. Many are hard molded plastic strollers that are low to the ground with no recline. If your kids will only be a year, you might want something that is more comfortalbe for sitting in for long periods of time and (hopefully) for dozing while you are walking around. I don't think my little one could have handled most of the park strollers.

 

[shelly3girls]

I would definitely bring a stroller for babies that age. The stroller will make it easier to contain them especially in the airport. We brought our Combi Twin Savvy on several trips, would not have even thought of leaving it at home.

 

[mushck]

I would definitely bring a stroller. ( Maybe you could rent the car seats when you get to Orlando.) I have twins and we travel frequently. One thing you might consider would be to buy two good but light umbrella strollers and connectors that keep the two strollers together when you need a double stroller. Then at other times you can 'stroll' separately. This worked best for us because the strollers would be easy to fit in the trunk, we could take it to the door of the plane without a lot of problems, and it was lighter and easier to close and carry.

HTH

 

[Jacksmom99]

The park strollers are not good for 13 month olds. They don't recline and are very hard plastic. Since you have 4 adults, I might think about 2 lightweight strollers. They would be easier to use than one big double, but then I've never used a double and you are probably used to it. Anyway, I saw a Combi stroller at BJ's wholesale for $38.00. It was like an umberella stroller, but had a nice canopy, a basket, and it reclined.

You didn't say where you are staying. Off-site or on? In a condo, house, or hotel? That info would help everyone give you ideas about what to bring. When we rented a house, we also rented a highchair and a crib. When we've stayed onsite, we have used Disney pack 'n plays. We drove when DD was only 3 months old. We had the stroller, two car seats (DS was 3), and the bouncy seat plus all the ususal "kid" toys and car amusements (not to mention DH's golf clubs.) I knew Disney had pack'nplays so I didn't bring mine, poor DD had to sleep in the stroller the first night on the road.

Oh, since it's July when your going, bring a package of swim diapers for the pool. They are very expensive at the hotel.

 

[tjmw2727]

I will concur with the above posters that for children that age your personal stroller will be best. The rental strollers are hard plastic and wouldn't be comfy for little ones. There are pictures and a great faq about traveling with babies and toddlers at allearsnet.com.

It depends on where you are staying what type of stroller to bring but at that age the most comfortable stroller would be ideal, especially if they will nap. One help will be to keep all your stuff in a backpack you can grab quickly instead of using the basket for lots of little stuff. This way you can fold up the stroller quickly for bus or tram. Keep your valuables in a smaller bag to take on rides and leave the other stuff (diapers etc) in the stroller - knock wood our stuff have never been touched.

Since you have a few adults folding and bringing the stroller and kiddos on the transportation should be ok. When using the monorail or boats the kids can stay in the stroller unless its very crowded.

WDW resort hotels provide pack n play free of charge but you may have to call housekeeping for the second. I always brought my own sheets to be sure they fit and felt and smelled familiar.

If your children won't sleep in the pack n play and your resort has room for two full size cribs my sil used a baby's best friend - abbf.com for rental stuff.

I would bring carseats from home - we have had bad luck with renting, either poor quality or none available. If possible I would try and use the carseat in the aircraft.

TJ

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

I'd recommend that you bring your own double stroller. The strollers in Disney aren't really good for the little ones. It will also be helpful to have one in the aiport and back at the resort, since that will involve a lot of walking.

The only problem we had toting along our double stroller was that it was bulky on the buses!!! We also had extra adults during that trip, so one of us had both hands available to fiddle with the stroller.

Have a wonderful time!!!!!

 

[Blondiex46]

My twins are 10 and would I bring a double stoller, which I am assuming that you are driving, nope I would not. Do you have 2 umbrella strollers cause if you do I would take them. I had a double stroller and then 2 umbrella strollers if I was going somewhere that there were 2 people going. The double one is way too bulky and what if the party wanted to break up and go in 2 different directions. The double stroller takes up too much room and on the busses you would have to fold it up, etc. They also have the stroller exchange which I would look at, and if you were driving it would give you more room. If you are flying and want to pack it in the plane I still wouldn't take it. You need to take so many 2's of alot of stuff, I would eliminate what you could. JMO

 

[Mommyto4Ds]

When we went with our 4 boys last year ages 9,8 ans 2 year old twins we brought a stroller with us. I bought the peg prego side by side off Ebay and I loved it. It was very light and easy to move around. When we went in May last year it was extremly hot for May especially and my hubbie and I were glad we had the stroller for them. One so we didnt have to hold them and two for them to have a shade from the sun. So when you go in July make sure what ever you do is to have a stroller with a top visor at least.

 

[ThwTwinsMom]

I took my twins the first time when they were 4.5 yo. We didn't have the monster stroller any more. However, we took 2 umbrella strollers. I would highly recommend taking them. I also had the "Connect 2" connectors on them. So I could connect the strollers and push them myself, or seperate them and hand one off. We usually had them seperated. This made it a lot easier to get through the crowds. It also was really easy to colapse them for the bus.

At 13 months, you'll probably want one that reclines and has a sun shade. I don't know if they make reclining umbrella strollers or not. I never had any trouble with people messing with my strollers while I was there. However, there are a lot of places where you have to leave your stroller behind. I wouldn't have wanted to take the chance that my "good" stroller was taken. I also wouldn't have taken it because of the size/weight.

 

[kfkruse]

Does anybody know of a good umbrella stroller that does recline and with a visor. Also I haven't seen the connect 2 for them, where can you get those?

 

[Jacksmom99]

The Combi strollers are the best I've seen. They recline and have a visor. Try Babies R us.

 

[ThwTwinsMom]

Back when I got my connect 2, you could only get it through mail order. I found the ad in Twins Magazine and on their web site. However, I have seen a lot of similar devices pop up over the last couple of years. I know I saw one at Babies-R-Us a long time ago. I think Toys-r-us had them too. Good luck!

 

[excitedmom]

i've seen the connect 2 on ebay. tons of them as a matter of fact. just do a search on umbrella stroller and they pop up