Strollers...

[Stefani P.]

Do you bring one, rent one at the parks or rent from an outside service?

What is best?

Has anyone ever had their stroller stolen?

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

Depends on your kids, their ages, and what you want. Bring one if you need it at the airport, or if you are comfortable with what you have. Rent one from an outside company if you need it outside of the parks. The park ones can only be used in the park and are hard plastic.

 

[Klayfish]

This becomes a very controversial topic with lots of different opinions. The only "right" answer is the one that you want to do.

My own $.02 is that unless you're just going for one day, renting a stroller is one of the biggest wastes of money you can do at WDW. Bring your own, or if it's too big, buy a $50 one from Wal-Mart or even Craigslist and then sell it/donate it when you're done.

Stroller theft happens, but not all that often. When it does, it's one of those $500 ones typically (even at home, I never understand the thought of spending more than $100 on any stroller)...or a cheap one with valuable stuff left in/on it.

In all of our trips and stroller use (we still have one for our food/gear), we've never once had anything touched.

 

[sponica]

We brought ours, but we weren't flying non stop. If we had a non stop flight we would have rented from an kingdom strollers or one of the other stroller companies.

My friend rents from the offsite companies EVERY TRIP because she flies non stop and it's one less thing to deal with in the airport.

 

[emilyrachael]

We brought one from home. We checked it at the airport (not gate check) so we wouldn't have to drag it through the airport (at our airport, you change levels a lot, so it would be a PITA in always need to use the elevator.) It's a City Mini I got secondhand, so it's not like I spent a lot on it if something happened to it. I don't bring many valuables into the park. Camera and phone go with me on the rides, so if anyone tried to steal the bag left in the stroller, they'd get diapers and some baby snacks. I looked into renting one, but it didn't seem like a good value to me.

 

[Keeblerelf928]

We rented one from Kingdom strollers and will probably rent a double next time we go (we had one child last time, but will have two next trip). Honestly, I liked renting it because I wasn't putting the milage/beating on my own stroller. We also don't use them in the airport and I was afraid ours would get broken if we checked it.

 

[mco65]

We brought our own for years.. always 2 (twins) although we did have the double stroller when they were real young. We never had an issue with our strollers.. a bit inconvenient traveling to and from the parks but but super convenient inside the parks... still, i remember our first trip without the strollers.. i was a bit worried about how tired the twins might be later in the evening but it went real well and it was super nice to not have to chase the stroller any more.

 

[Stefani P.]

We brought ours, but we weren't flying non stop. If we had a non stop flight we would have rented from an kingdom strollers or one of the other stroller companies.

My friend rents from the offsite companies EVERY TRIP because she flies non stop and it's one less thing to deal with in the airport.

I am flying nonstop! And would hate to tote a stroller along.

 

[sponica]

I am flying nonstop! And would hate to tote a stroller along.

It's really a personal/budget preference.

 

[LuvMyEAR]

Many considerations here, we went through the gamut of them, back in the day!

Flying non-stop, so you probably don't need a stroller in your own airport. I am assuming you have enough hands to keep one firmly on your little one, and any carry-on bag(s) you will have with you. If your airport is really large and your child may tire, bringing your own would make sense. The Orlando airport is big and amazing and if you are collecting luggugae, getting a rental car, etc, having your stroller upon landing could be a godsend.

If you are being whisked to a resort on DME, a stroller will be pretty optional here.

If you will have a car, you have a world of choice for picking up a nice little collapsible stroller. You could even check models at your hometown Wal-Mart, order, and have pickup timed for your arrival date. There are several stores which would hardly take you out of your way driving from MCO to WDW.

If you are staying on property, with no car, look for one you like on Amazon (or any online source) and have one that is within your budget delivered to your resort.

We purchased strollers in a Kissimmee Wal-Mart on a very first trip with youngsters. Those strollers were cheap enough that we planned to leave them behind, but so nice that we took them home, and brought them back numerous times AND passed them along once they were outgrown. You will see tons of big, elaborate strollers in the parks, but when it comes time to board trams, etc, the small ones are the winners. We never had an issue navigating tighter spaces, either.

Renting can be convenient, IF your are onsite, and can have things delivered and picked up while you are not there. always pricier, and we needed to be budget conscious, so spending about $25 worked perfectly and we were happy with our choice. Stopping to rent one at a park each day is (to us) a PITA*, the most expensive and least flexible option, as you cannot take the stroller out of the park. That leaves you without at DS, around a possibly huge resort, etc.

* just another line! But, their process is quite efficient.

 

[daisy2013]

We always brought our own stroller. It was not that big of a deal. We used it in the airport to contain the children. Gate checked it and used it on the other end. For parks we subscribed to the backpack rule- every thing we brought in for in a backpack maybe two when they were really young. That way we could spend the time on line waiting for buses to get back to the resort repackjng the bags of needed and one took the bag and stroller, the other the kids and we hopped on the bus without holding the line up. Don’t be the person with the kitchen sink who waits until the front of the line to repackage everything they own. Our strollers were what you would consider high end. I couldn’t imagine pushinga cheap small wheeled stroller or umbrella stroller for miles. They were also comfortable for my kids who would nap for a couple hours at a time in the stroller each day while we took turns on rides or shopping. My husband is also very tall and I am not so these strollers had comfortable adjustable handle bars. We did have a stroller lock for the first trip but hardly used it. We made sure not to leave anything valuable in the stroller to attract potential thieves. Yes stroller can be stolen but so can a lot of things. I would rather deal with the very minute chance it would get stolen than deal with a week of pushing a cheap but hard to push stroller.
So if you like your stroller bring it

 

[MooseBucks]

We bring our own double city mini we got second hand - it’s easy enough and works well in the airport if you have late or early flights so the kids can rest. It’s great if you do late nights at the parks because you can put them in it as you walk to your room

Nothing has ever been stolen but we only leave snacks, extra baby outfits, and diapers/wipes in the stroller and we pack in clear ziplocks so people can see it’s nothing exciting plus speeds up security (end of day clear ziplocks go in the backpack we carry with us with any meds or kiddy costumes they wanted for the day)

 

[omniscientmommy]

I feel like this is the most asked question on this board. Wish there was a sticky for this topic. Personally we rent a stroller. One less thing to remember. Also we don't use a stroller at home any more. The only time we use a stroller is at a theme park. We just got back and used Orlando for Families and I didn't read the fine print. They will not deal with bell services for stroller drop off/pick up. Which isn't very convenient. However they are one of the few companies that has that push wagon for rent. It's up to you. We always rent a stroller. The WDW prep school has an awesome comparison article. https://wdwprepschool.com/disney-world-strollers/

 

[English Nassif]

Rented a double from Orlando stroller rental for our 2 & 4 year old. I’m renting again in September
For us it made sense and was easy enough to get around. I’d suggest renting

 

[Stefani P.]

Many considerations here, we went through the gamut of them, back in the day!

Flying non-stop, so you probably don't need a stroller in your own airport. I am assuming you have enough hands to keep one firmly on your little one, and any carry-on bag(s) you will have with you. If your airport is really large and your child may tire, bringing your own would make sense. The Orlando airport is big and amazing and if you are collecting luggugae, getting a rental car, etc, having your stroller upon landing could be a godsend.

If you are being whisked to a resort on DME, a stroller will be pretty optional here.

If you will have a car, you have a world of choice for picking up a nice little collapsible stroller. You could even check models at your hometown Wal-Mart, order, and have pickup timed for your arrival date. There are several stores which would hardly take you out of your way driving from MCO to WDW.

If you are staying on property, with no car, look for one you like on Amazon (or any online source) and have one that is within your budget delivered to your resort.

We purchased strollers in a Kissimmee Wal-Mart on a very first trip with youngsters. Those strollers were cheap enough that we planned to leave them behind, but so nice that we took them home, and brought them back numerous times AND passed them along once they were outgrown. You will see tons of big, elaborate strollers in the parks, but when it comes time to board trams, etc, the small ones are the winners. We never had an issue navigating tighter spaces, either.

Renting can be convenient, IF your are onsite, and can have things delivered and picked up while you are not there. always pricier, and we needed to be budget conscious, so spending about $25 worked perfectly and we were happy with our choice. Stopping to rent one at a park each day is (to us) a PITA*, the most expensive and least flexible option, as you cannot take the stroller out of the park. That leaves you without at DS, around a possibly huge resort, etc.

* just another line! But, their process is quite efficient.

Thank you for this. You have really helped.
My home airport is tiny. Super easy to do without stroller.
If baby continues at her current rate of growth, she is pretty small. One of us could easily wear her in a carrier in Orlando airport.
My resort, from what I hear, is very laid out. I feel like I need one for the resort and the parks so renting may be the best. At a place that delivers to the resort!