Stroller rental questions - WDW

[Djm_in_buffalo]

Hello,

I searched prior to posting but didn’t have much luck. Two questions, both on renting strollers directly from WDW (not a third party).

1. What time do they open: normal park hours? When early entry starts? Earlier? We would like to get in early for early entry and ideally already have stroller in hand when it starts. Or, if we want to do EE, would we then need to double back to the rental area later in the morning to get one?

2. I get there’s a small per-day savings to do a “length of stay” rental. What exactly is a “stay”? We will be staying on property for 9 nights but only doing the parks with a 6 day pass. I’m hoping the “stay” is park days and not true stay days. Would be useless to rent a stroller for days on property but not in the parks.

Thank you!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Hello,

I searched prior to posting but didn’t have much luck. Two questions, both on renting strollers directly from WDW (not a third party).

1. What time do they open: normal park hours? When early entry starts? Earlier? We would like to get in early for early entry and ideally already have stroller in hand when it starts. Or, if we want to do EE, would we then need to double back to the rental area later in the morning to get one?

2. I get there’s a small per-day savings to do a “length of stay” rental. What exactly is a “stay”? We will be staying on property for 9 nights but only doing the parks with a 6 day pass. I’m hoping the “stay” is park days and not true stay days. Would be useless to rent a stroller for days on property but not in the parks.

Thank you!

to your number 1 last I knew you will be renting as they open then gates which means you would be losing part of your EE and will be behind anyone who does not need a stroller/wheelchair. stroller rental is on other side of gate. I would check out off site rentals if for no other reason than price. if you do not want to stop at beginning of EE you will need to circle back to front of park to get stroller

 

[AprilsZoo]

Hello,

I searched prior to posting but didn’t have much luck. Two questions, both on renting strollers directly from WDW (not a third party).

1. What time do they open: normal park hours? When early entry starts? Earlier? We would like to get in early for early entry and ideally already have stroller in hand when it starts. Or, if we want to do EE, would we then need to double back to the rental area later in the morning to get one?

2. I get there’s a small per-day savings to do a “length of stay” rental. What exactly is a “stay”? We will be staying on property for 9 nights but only doing the parks with a 6 day pass. I’m hoping the “stay” is park days and not true stay days. Would be useless to rent a stroller for days on property but not in the parks.

Thank you!

When we were there last year, Length-of-stay was basically any multi-day rental that is pre-paid. We didn’t rent on our first few days there, but we still got the discount when we pre-paid the remaining days. I don’t remember them scanning our MB to confirm how long our park tickets were, but it’s possible they did.

Something to consider, they usually have umbrella strollers for sale as well, right next to the rental counter. They may have gone up, but last year it was $40 to get a Minnie or Mickey Mouse “character” stroller (it has ears on the canopy— super cute)

If you didn’t want to take it home, you could still save money by getting it, and then pay-it-forward & give it away on your last day at the parks, or at your resort.

They were out of stock of the Mickey version when we were there, or that’s what we would’ve done. DGD has some philosophical objection to the color purple.

Iirc, you can also buy the umbrella strollers at various gift shops in the park. We didn’t realize this or we would’ve held off on renting one at the front of the park. I think it was at AK that we saw them near the hub/ tree of life.

 

[lanejudy]

Stroller rental is fairly close inside the tapstiles. It will be open as soon as guests are allowed through the tapstiles. You can confirm on the TPAS Forum, but I’m pretty sure all 4 parks (definitely MK) open to all guests prior to official “Early Entry” hours, with a holding area at some point inside. Depending on how many others are renting first thing, it could put you at the back of the pack for early entry.

Length of stay should be a multi-day rental paid in advance. I don’t believe the days would need to be consecutive.

 

[Djm_in_buffalo]

Thank you all for the helpful answers!

A concern that I have on renting from 3rd parties, while (hopefully) very unlikely (I read here that stroller theft is up - but what does that truly mean, 1 in 100? 1 in 100,000?) is that if the stroller is taken, or even recorralled elsewhere by a CM, at best, that’s a search and wasted time, and at worst, it’s more money that I owe the 3rd party, and/or hassle of replacement and/or a day without a stroller. While I do love the idea of renting a superior stroller at less cost, this is what’s holding me back.

As for those stick strollers - thank you for the tip! I didn’t know that was an option. That might well be the route that we take. At those prices, jeez would need to have a couple of them stolen and repurchased to equal the rental cost. Providing it for the next family would be great too.

Again, thank you all!

 

[tseitel]

to your number 1 last I knew you will be renting as they open then gates which means you would be losing part of your EE and will be behind anyone who does not need a stroller/wheelchair. stroller rental is on other side of gate. I would check out off site rentals if for no other reason than price. if you do not want to stop at beginning of EE you will need to circle back to front of park to get stroller

This exactly!!!!!!

 

[tseitel]

to your number 1 last I knew you will be renting as they open then gates which means you would be losing part of your EE and will be behind anyone who does not need a stroller/wheelchair. stroller rental is on other side of gate. I would check out off site rentals if for no other reason than price. if you do not want to stop at beginning of EE you will need to circle back to front of park to get stroller

This exactly!!!!!! I’ve seen the line for stroller & wheelchair rental be crazy long in the morning

 

[lanejudy]

A concern that I have on renting from 3rd parties, while (hopefully) very unlikely (I read here that stroller theft is up

FWIW I’ve never read of anyone having a third party rental stroller stolen. Not to say it can’t happen but not at all common.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Thank you all for the helpful answers!

A concern that I have on renting from 3rd parties, while (hopefully) very unlikely (I read here that stroller theft is up - but what does that truly mean, 1 in 100? 1 in 100,000?) is that if the stroller is taken, or even recorralled elsewhere by a CM, at best, that’s a search and wasted time, and at worst, it’s more money that I owe the 3rd party, and/or hassle of replacement and/or a day without a stroller. While I do love the idea of renting a superior stroller at less cost, this is what’s holding me back.

As for those stick strollers - thank you for the tip! I didn’t know that was an option. That might well be the route that we take. At those prices, jeez would need to have a couple of them stolen and repurchased to equal the rental cost. Providing it for the next family would be great too.

Again, thank you all!

that concern would be true with any stroller being moved by CM to clean up parking area which will happen many times all day every day

 

[AprilsZoo]

Find something distinctive— ribbons, a bandana, a pinwheel…. anything you can notice easily from afar. Attach that to your stroller, whether you use a rental, or buy one. That will save you much headache in searching for your stroller. If it’s not immediately, easily located… it’s very helpful to be able to tell the cm nearby, yeah, it was a Mickey umbrella stroller with a couple small green balloons tied to the handles. (If you use balloons, bring some small, non-helium ones to blow up yourself and tie on tightly, close to the handle. Trailing helium balloons are a pain, and it’s the only thing in more than 30 years, that we ever had stolen from a stroller while we were on a ride.

Some off site rental companies may offer or include loss or damage “insurance” in their price. Rental strollers do tend to be on the heftier, heavier side though… and do not look like fun to get onto or off of the busses. I’ve never actually used one though, so maybe someone who has will have a different perspective.

 

[sponica]

I think the ones that tend to get stolen are the more premium models, not the 1 citymini parked in a field of cityminis. Seriously, there are basically a handful of stroller brands that seem like they are everywhere. The CityMini, CityMini GT (both single and double), Bob strollers (single and double) and the Summer Infant 3d Lite.

 

[Rory607]

I wouldn’t really worry about a stroller being stolen. I know it happens, but we rented from a third party rental company many times and never had any issues. I would be more worried about having items stolen out of the stroller, which is why we never left anything of value behind. The City Minis are so much more comfortable and easy to navigate than the park strollers. I would use an umbrella stroller before a park one any day if a third party rental wasn’t an option.

 

[bffdisney]

The rental ones in the park, as well as umbrella strollers, don't recline. Is your kid a stroller napper? That would be a no deal for me, but you know your kid.