Strollers...I gotta ask!

[DisneyPhD]

My oldest (age 5 now) is a stroller girl. She loves being in it (but pops out as soon as we stop.) In fact when we don't bring the double stroller, but bring a single for her 2 year old sister she is a major pain in the bum. We only do this for short trips and places with out a lot of walking. I can't stand to be in a grocery store with her now a days. She is too big for the cart, but a has such a difficult time staying close by, but out of the way. People are always running her over in the busy store. (she is rather tiny, like her mom.)

I wouldn't dream of going to WDW at this point with out the double, it is just way too much walking, too many large crowds for her to get lost in and too long of days. They both often "rest" in it. Also is one kid rides (the youngest really needs a stroller) they both want to. I remember strollers from WDW when I was a kid. I don't think my parents rented one when we visited when I was 3 years old. Mostly I think because they were cheap and I had 3 older brothers who carried me everywhere. Actually I have very fond memories of walking around MK holding on to my older brothers pinky fingers and them "swinging" me around. One of the few things I do remember about the trip. We have pictures of my DH and his older brother in a MK stroller.

The day will come when she declines using a stroller, just like the day will come when she no longer feels the need for her comfort objects (blanket and stuffed toy) and the day did come when she gave up the pacifier and became potty trained. Why do people feel the need to push kids into growing up so fast now a days? BTW my kids are not over weight at all, or lazy. Just the opposite.

 

[ilovejack02]

You know, I remembered reading that other stroller thread, so when I was in WDW two weeks ago, I made a special point of sitting down on a bench and looking for them (while I was waiting for DD to finish a ride.). And, by golly, there were TONS of older kids being strolled around!!!!! So, I really made myself examine my feelings about those kids and their parents. And I was amazed to find that I DIDN'T CARE AT ALL!!!!!!!!! I'm so relieved - from reading the stroller debate I thought this must be a terrible thing that I would have to care about with the same passion I usually reserve for refillable mug abusers and illegal pool hoppers. But nope, I didn't care a bit - and I'm not sure why anyone else would, either.

LMAO

My DS 4 yr old will be in a stroller for part of the time. He isnt a child that runs from you, but darn it he has got to be the slowest walker in the world. He stares at the clouds, picks up the bugs and flowers,people watches etc... and im just not gonna be screeching at him the whole 10 days we are in WDW to "COME ON JACK"
Plus as someone else said how on earth am i gonna cart around all that junk im gonna be buying lol

 

[Becky2005]

Hey, where is the "old wdw photos" thread? I missed that one! That sounds like a neat thread to look through.

As far as the stroller issue, I'm not sure how old these photos are, but could they be old enough that only MK existed? Or even just MK and epcot? I know when we went as kids, we only did two days at MK because that is all there was! That is a lot less exhausting than doing 6,7, or 8+ days worth of parks! Even when epcot opened, we did 3 days total (1-1/2 days in each park).

That's what I was thinking, that maybe it was only MK.

I didn't really pay attention when we were there. We had the stroller from home for our littliest but everyone else walked. Then again, DH pushed the stroller all the time (unusual for here at home -- I later found out he liked pushing it so it gave him something to lean on while walking. ).

 

[disneypharm]

Heck-I put my 8 and 6 yo in a double. You have too much time on your hands if you care what others are doing. Next year I'll get 2 doubles b/c I know my 4 kids will get tired from walking. I'll make sure to pass you too just to get your blood boiling! Do you really care?

Ditto. I agree that it is so much easier to keep track of your children when they are sitting in the stroller. I also rather have a happy, rested child than a tired cranky one.

 

[mytwotinks]

LMAO

My DS 4 yr old will be in a stroller for part of the time. He isnt a child that runs from you, but darn it he has got to be the slowest walker in the world. He stares at the clouds, picks up the bugs and flowers,people watches etc... and im just not gonna be screeching at him the whole 10 days we are in WDW to "COME ON JACK"
Plus as someone else said how on earth am i gonna cart around all that junk im gonna be buying lol

That's funny! My 4 yo dd (actually 4 &3/4!!) is a turtle too. She walks like a little toddler that just learned how. She looks at her feet the entire time. I am sure that those around us will appreciate us having a stroller so they don't have me running into the back of them because I will have to face backwards to keep my eye on dd the whole time. It doesn't matter how slow we walk, she walks slower! My kids are big too, so she might look like a 6 yo to some. If my 8yo was as tiny as some of her friends and she wanted to ride, I would let her too. What's the big deal? It's not like I stroller them into school 5 days a week.

 

[natenapril]

I guess the reason I have a problem with "the great stroller debate" is that I get tired of being judged. I have 3 children all bigger than the "average" child.
When my DD was 2, but looked 4 or 5, and cried in the store people were quick to judge.
I now have an 17 month old DS who weighs over 40 lbs and looks like a 3 or 4 year old and people again are judging.
Look for me at WDW next year with my big boy in a stroller!!!!!
A little kindness goes a long way.

 

[glass slipper girl]

I'm another Mom of "big kids." By that I mean TALL kids, not overweight kids lest we get in to the stroller contributing to childhood obesity debate as well. My oldest 6 years, 2 months old is almost 51" tall and my 4 year, 5 month old is pushing 47". So basically when you look a the growth charts (and when you see them around kids of other ages), my 6 year old is the size of an average height (50th percentile) 8 year old and my 4 year old the size of an average 6 1/2 year old.

Our trip in January will be the first one that our oldest will not have a stroller. If he were shorter and would fit in one, I'd be OK with it for when he needs it. As it stands now, we will go with 2 strollers and will have a buggy board on the back of one of them. We will have a 4 month old on that trip so he will be in one stroller and our older boys will be able to take turns sitting or riding on the buggy board. We anticipate maybe just renting a double for our Epcot Day.

My kids are active at home. They do karate, they play t-ball and soccer and are always riding their bikes around the cul-de-sac with friends. My oldest is NEVER in a stroller other than on our trips. My youngest occasionally is in a jogger if I go for a walk with him while his older brother is in school. Like others have mentioned, he's a pokey on so there is no way Mom gets any exercise if we stop to count ants, pick dandelions, look to see if the chipmunk is still around looking for nuts, ask if that cloud looks like a train to me too etc. He loves strollers though so he would be upset if we didn't bring one for him. Our oldest is a whiner though. If he gets even a little tired, he whines. We are not a commando family. We visit often enough that we don't feel like we have to do the open to close thing so we do lots of half days and on our full days we take breaks so it's not as if we are running him ragged. In crowds and having to keep up with us (normal pace, just not including stopping to look in every trash can and dragging his feet) he gets whiny fast. we always felt like if we have a stroller he's not being fussed at to keep up or to stop wandering off so he whines less and not only does that make things more enjoyable for us, it is more enjoyable for those people who have the "good fortune" of standing in line near us or being seated near us for meals etc.

We do things like we stroll the kids in to one area, say for instance Fantasy Land, and we park the stroller then we do everything we can in that area without going back to the stroller untill we are ready to leave for a different area. We go to Toontown and park the stroller then do the Barnstormer, Mickey and Minnie's houses, character festival, play at Donald's boat etc. then get the stroller and move on to say, Frontierland. We park the stroller and do Splash, Thunder and see the Country Bears show. So the kids are doing a fair amount of walking...we basically stroll them when we have to go the "big distances" where we want to move quickly.

I guess I look at our stroller decision the same way I look at people who disagree with nursing in public...I have the choice to upset you, a complete stranger, or to upset my child. My child wins. No, I don't give in to every wish or whim of my kids just to avoid upseting them, but this is different...this is vacation harmony! I can stay at home and fuss at my sons for wandering off or not keeping up, listening to them whine and argue so I prefer not to go spend $4000+ on vacation to do it there too! If strollers bring some harmony to our family time, then strollers it is! (and if I could find a way to have DH stroll my tush out at the end of a long day...I'd be happy to hop in for the ride! )

 

[lpandorf]

I've got a DD 6 and DS 2 and I am taking them by myself and have a Caboose stroller to use when my daughter gets tired. This is the only time she gets a stroller - for a trip to Disney World. We live in Cincinnati and go to Kings Island amusment park about 1x per month and I just take the single for my son. She does not even ask for it. Same for the zoo or waterpark. 2 year old in stroller only. But when we go to Disney we stay out at the parks late and it was nice for when she got tired. Also we can only go for about 4 days so can see more if she can sit when tired and go at my pace. This is the first time I am taking DS so I want to have the stoller for 2 even more for my own sake. Just in case it gets packed I can put them on the stroller and keep track.
Thanks,
Lisa

 

[badblackpug]

I am not judging by size...my kids are HUGE for their age and always have been. I have 6 that I have to keep track of, so that also is not the issue. ...and I KNOW some of these kids in wheelchairs are not disabled because on more than one occasion, with more than one family I have seen family members, adults and children alike, "trading off" the wheelchair. Which included the previously "disabled" child running behind the wheelchair pushing a sibling at full speed! (...and what about the person that was TRULY in need of that wheelchair?) Honestly, and I will be flamed to death for this, I think that if your older child, say over the age of 4 or so, is that tired or cranky, then it is time to go back to the room for a rest, or to call it a night. Truly, how much fun could they be having? ...and believe me, I am no health nut, but I truly believe as a society we are getting WAY lazier, and we are passing this on to our children. I hear a lot of "I put my kid in a stroller so I don't have to deal with whining, keeping track of my kid(s), ETC," (parenting?)
That being said...I don't care if you want to push your 13 y/o in a stroller. Just don't use it as a battering ram, or run up my heels with it!

 

[Natalya]

My son will be 3 when we are at WDW. He doesn't use a stroller now but in the parks my Husband and I talked about it and we are going to get him one. WDW is SOOO big and overwhelming that I know halfway through the day he is going to get tired (and he normally has a TON of energy)...he is going to get cranky....and he is going to want to be carried.

He is 3 but he is off the charts for height and weight. He is 50 pounds and looks like a 5 year old. He is also super smart so he speaks like a 5 year old....many times he sounds as if he is even older than 5 with the way he interacts with people. I am not about to carry a 50 pound 3 year old all over Disney because he is tired.

We are staying at a monorail resort so that we can have some down time with him but for our own sanity we will have a stroller. He may not even sit in it...but I'd rather have it ready than get the whole family testy because we have to carry him.

 

[mom_2_boys]

We (dh, ds4 and ds2) just returned from a week long trip to Disney. Whenever we go somewhere here at home (zoo, store, walk around the block) we only take one stroller for ds2. Even then, he ususally jumps out when we stop. They are active, busy young men!

However, for Disney, I BROUGHT two strollers from home for my boys. My mother thought that I was crazy for lugging them to the airport and back, but I couldn't have made it without them! At the airport, it was super easy to get them in and then move quickly to wherever we needed to go. By the second day in the parks, my ds4 was ASKING to get in. Yes, he got out alot but it was a lifesaver to have that available, especially at closing time when thousands of people are trying to leave at the same time.

I think that every person has to do what is best for their family. The rest of us need to respect that decision and remember not to judge one another.

 

[DVCLiz]

I am not judging by size...my kids are HUGE for their age and always have been. I have 6 that I have to keep track of, so that also is not the issue. ...and I KNOW some of these kids in wheelchairs are not disabled because on more than one occasion, with more than one family I have seen family members, adults and children alike, "trading off" the wheelchair. Which included the previously "disabled" child running behind the wheelchair pushing a sibling at full speed! (...and what about the person that was TRULY in need of that wheelchair?) Honestly, and I will be flamed to death for this, I think that if your older child, say over the age of 4 or so, is that tired or cranky, then it is time to go back to the room for a rest, or to call it a night. Truly, how much fun could they be having? ...and believe me, I am no health nut, but I truly believe as a society we are getting WAY lazier, and we are passing this on to our children. I hear a lot of "I put my kid in a stroller so I don't have to deal with whining, keeping track of my kid(s), ETC," (parenting?)
That being said...I don't care if you want to push your 13 y/o in a stroller. Just don't use it as a battering ram, or run up my heels with it!

Attention, all parents of strolled children over four - if you were worried about whether or not you'd be labeled a bad parent, now you know.

 

[bartleby1]

Attention, all parents of strolled children over four - if you were worried about whether or not you'd be labeled a bad parent, now you know.

Lol! Yup, and my 4 and 6 year olds had mickey bars for lunch WHILE sitting in their stroller!

I must really be parent of the year!

 

[sha_lyn]

I am not judging by size...my kids are HUGE for their age and always have been. I have 6 that I have to keep track of, so that also is not the issue. ...and I KNOW some of these kids in wheelchairs are not disabled because on more than one occasion, with more than one family I have seen family members, adults and children alike, "trading off" the wheelchair. Which included the previously "disabled" child running behind the wheelchair pushing a sibling at full speed! (...and what about the person that was TRULY in need of that wheelchair?) Honestly, and I will be flamed to death for this, I think that if your older child, say over the age of 4 or so, is that tired or cranky, then it is time to go back to the room for a rest, or to call it a night. Truly, how much fun could they be having? ...and believe me, I am no health nut, but I truly believe as a society we are getting WAY lazier, and we are passing this on to our children. I hear a lot of "I put my kid in a stroller so I don't have to deal with whining, keeping track of my kid(s), ETC," (parenting?)
That being said...I don't care if you want to push your 13 y/o in a stroller. Just don't use it as a battering ram, or run up my heels with it!

1 If you visit the disabliites board here, you will read dozens of stories of people being judged by those like you. Many many times medical needs warrent a wheel chair when the person isn't confined to one. Just what do you suggest they do with the chair when the person who needs it wants/needs to walk around a bit. Does it hurt you in any way if they allow someone else in their party to be pushed around in it. Oh I know the person should just go off in a little out of the way corner and walk around the chair a few times

2 If they are riding in the stroller instead of being made to walk around, then they aren't "that tired and cranky" now are they?. Whey should someone spend their vacation in the room with their child to make you happy?

3 your posts have made it very clear that you do care.

 

[Brooknwdw]

You know, I remembered reading that other stroller thread, so when I was in WDW two weeks ago, I made a special point of sitting down on a bench and looking for them (while I was waiting for DD to finish a ride.). And, by golly, there were TONS of older kids being strolled around!!!!! So, I really made myself examine my feelings about those kids and their parents. And I was amazed to find that I DIDN'T CARE AT ALL!!!!!!!!! I'm so relieved - from reading the stroller debate I thought this must be a terrible thing that I would have to care about with the same passion I usually reserve for refillable mug abusers and illegal pool hoppers. But nope, I didn't care a bit - and I'm not sure why anyone else would, either.

This is funny because it sounds like me...I am not usually noticing of others while I am on vacation, much less how old a child is in a stroller. But I am not bothered by it at all.

I have boys that on our first trip a couple years ago were too old for strollers at home, but not at Disney. Even active, fit children have a hard time with all that walking/activity for a week.

 

[Brooknwdw]

also...maybe people wouldn't care so much if it wasn't called a stroller (which conotates a baby/toddler)...but in Disney this doesn't really apply.

I will not even touch the wheelchair comments at all...

 

[MrsJ Henry]

The only reason I would possibly care is if older kids (who can walk) were using wheel chairs and the park ran out and there were none for people that needed them. This is the ONLY reason I would care.I don't see how children of any age in strollers would affect anyone.

 

[PrincessAlways]

Our family includes my 3 nieces (3,5 & 6). Would not do WDW without strollers! It's a good way to keep track of all 3 & we don't hear that they're too tired to walk -- let's face it, walking at WDW is not like walking around the block!

 

[sha_lyn]

LOL.... according to the OP you should be parenting them instead of using a stroller.

and believe me, I am no health nut, but I truly believe as a society we are getting WAY lazier, and we are passing this on to our children. I hear a lot of "I put my kid in a stroller so I don't have to deal with whining, keeping track of my kid(s), ETC," (parenting?)

OP... did you ever consider that using the stroller is their way of dealing with it?// Of course not. If they aren't parenting your way, then they must be lazy and chosing to not parent.

 

[Groovee]

The day we arrive, we plan to get to the park and rent a double for my 4 and 7 year old as they will be shattered after a 9 hour flight. It will be the only time we actually do it. I do plan to get a lightweight stroller for my 4 year old for night times and early mornings though.