Taking a personal stroller to WDW

[Shmily1]

Tuesday we will be heading to WDW with DGS4months. We are taking his stroller since I think the WDW ones will be too big for him to sit up in. I had rather use the WDW ones if possible, I think 4 months is too little to sit for that long and we can lay him down in his.

Anyway, when you carry a personal stroller, how to you mark it so it doesn't get taken by someone else? I know this happens rarely but it could. Also, do you leave the diaper bag in the stroller when on the attractions or carry it with you?

 

[mom2meiko]

for a 4 month old, definitely bring your own stroller. the wdw strollers won't be any good for a baby that size. we have never labelled our stroller before but may consider doing so this time around. (our new double is fairly $$ so we want to be careful.) i'm sure others will chime in with how they have helped to protect their stroller.

as for the diaper bag - i never worried about carrying it on the rides but i also made sure it didn't have anything valuable/sentimental (ie - nothing that couldn't be replaced) in it when we left it, just in case. keep those items on you at all times and you should be ok.

good luck and have a wonderful time!

 

[Keri]

we have taken a Maclaren the past 3 years. We didn't do anything really special to mark it, this time it still had the bright green Airtran gate check tag on it, which did help when there were 2 or 3 of the same one in the stroller parking!!

I generally will leave jackets or umbrellas on the stroller, but we usually carry our bags with us. Just less temptation for someone to take stuff, even if there's nothing valuable inside, per se, the diapers or drinks or sippy cups we have with us are obviously important enough for us to lug around the park, so I didn't really want to be without them.

DEFINITELY bring one -- those hard plastic things are NOT designed for babies at all!

 

[antsss]

We were just in Disney and we brought our red umbrella stroller. We have a big plush flower from the dollar store with a smiley face on it and with a wired stem. We wound the stem around the base of the handle with the flower sticking up above the canopy of the stroller. We also bring some binder clips to attach an open park map to the edge of the canopy. We also had a luggage tag secured to the side of the stroller with our names and cell phone numbers. These things helped a lot! We were there the day after Thanksgiving for 5 days and it was very crowded. Our stroller was always moved by the CM's doing stroller management. So these things helped make our stroller easy to spot and I figured it would discourage someone walking off with ours by mistake if there was this big flower staring them in the face!

 

[antsss]

Oh, and we left everything except camera, video camera and purses in the stroller. We left the stroller cover (in case of rain), jackets, food, etc in the stroller and we never had a problem.

 

[mousebymarriage]

When my kids were babies I always brought my own stroller because the Disney ones DO NOT recline and are a hard plastic (they are o.k. for toddlers). To mark it I would usually buy a large bright colored luggage tag (I think Target still sells them, they are big circles that are neon colored). We always left jackets, snacks etc. in the stroller and have never had anything taken. However, I would not leave my wallet or camera just in case. We have left the diaper bag in the stroller, in the bottom basket and covered it with a jacket just in case.

I also recommend bringing a beach towel, it works great as a cover for the front of the stroller when baby is napping (keeps the sun off but, air can still circulate).

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Tuesday we will be heading to WDW with DGS4months. We are taking his stroller since I think the WDW ones will be too big for him to sit up in. I had rather use the WDW ones if possible, I think 4 months is too little to sit for that long and we can lay him down in his.

Anyway, when you carry a personal stroller, how to you mark it so it doesn't get taken by someone else? I know this happens rarely but it could. Also, do you leave the diaper bag in the stroller when on the attractions or carry it with you?

Definately take your stroller! He'll be more comfortable!

Don't leave anything in the stroller that you don't want to lose. You can mark your stroller with a ribbon, bandana, scarf, etc.

Take some sort of rain guard, thanks to those pesky FL pop up showers! You can purchase stroller specific ones, I personally use plastic fabric (the stuff used to cover furniture back in the day) and I recently picked up a bicycle gift wrap bag that is big enough to cover our stroller while we have it parked - what's more noticable than gift wrap!!!

Have a great vacation!

 

[art010606]

As far as if you should bring your own, yes, i like the newer strollers they are using, the tan ones, instead of the old blue ones seeing they have lap belts now, but 4 mo is still too young imo and the nap time is good for laying down. as someone said, make sure to bring a cover, in FL you never know when its going to rain.

as far as "Marking" your own stroller, well, its up to you. an easy way with what you have is always leave your cover up when you park (so that way it doesnt get surprises from birds, or wet in surprise rain) and then you know yours is the one with rain/sun cover up. if that isnt enough for you, one last thing you can do is stop by guest relations, and get a pin, pin it to the top center of your sun cover, that way you can tell its yours.

personally, ive had passes for almost 3 years, and am at the parks litteraly almost 3 weekends out of each months and have never had my stroller mistaken and i dont take any precautions. not that it cant happen like you said though. the biggest thing you will have to worry about, is if you park to go in some place, and the cast members arange the strollers because they do like to keep them in order. so make sure you park where marked stroller parking, not just where you might see a bunch of strollers parked.

 

[Ldynred812]

We traveled with 3 other familes to WDW for Thanksgiving. My family and one of the other ones had a stroller. I bought a pkg of 2 rainbow colored pom-poms (they were in a department store luggage area) designed to put around suitcase handles for identification. WE LOVED THOSE THINGS!!!! SOOOOOO easy to spot the stollers and the CM's seem to figure out we were together with the matching poms so they would typically move the stollers together.

Our DH's would STILL be looking for the strollers if we didn't have the pom-poms on!!

 

[DisneyFamily123]

We took our own... a used Peg Perego bought through a newspaper ad for $40. Great stroller, no loss if stolen... but I saw some very expensive strollers in the parks. We just put a luggage tag on the handle with our cell phone numbers in case it were lost/misplaced and tied a color ribbon on the handle too. We left shoes/jackets underneath but nothing of value.

Someone mentioned a rain cover... We were not expecting rain but there was a 20 minute rain while our stroller was parked without cover and it was soaked. Took a few hours for it to dry.

 

[art010606]

yeah, being born and raised in fl you learn one thing. no matter when it is, what time of day or the season, it can be as clear as a bell outside, it will rain for 10 min, then stop. i did forget to mention, we use one out of 3 strollers, 2 combi, one single and a double (wide) and a graco double (one of the long ones).

 

[amv1605]

What's the best LIghtweight Double Stroller for Disney --- Sit N Stand included ....

I need to get one before I leave Tuesday AM and haven't decided what I want to get ....

Obviously needs to fold up easily and fit into the Trunk of My Car --- But I also want it to be able to Recline and have some type of underneath storage ... Any Ideas ??

 

[squirrel]

Perego P3-has an umbrella fold, but is larger than an umbrella stroller. Comes with large canopy, basket storage, cup holders and reclines.

I bought mine from www.albeebaby.com and had it shipped to the resort.

Just saw you need a double, go with the Aria double.

 

[puffkin]

I have a plain old blue Maclaren Triumph and we never do anything special to mark it. Never have a problem finding it. Not sure why others have such a hard time finding their strollers, but we always find ours quickly (if you rent though that is a different story finding yours in the sea of rentals).

I leave everything in the stroller except money/camera. Nothing has ever gone missing except a snack one time DS left sitting in the seat (I suspect a bird, LOL). We always cover ours if it even remotely looks like rain.

 

[Ldynred812]

I have a plain old blue Maclaren Triumph and we never do anything special to mark it. Never have a problem finding it. Not sure why others have such a hard time finding their strollers, but we always find ours quickly (if you rent though that is a different story finding yours in the sea of rentals).

My DH and I now joke that we have the Dodge Neon of strollers. We took a Combi Strollee and it was very hard to find at times. The CM's moved it a lot but they would put it next to or in between to full size strollers, making it difficult to see. Just like thinking you have found a parking spot only to realize a compact car is in there. LOL

FWIW, I LOVED LOVED LOVED my stroller down there...perfect size and so easy to fold up on the buses. Couldn't imagine bringing anything larger!!

 

[Derby]

Our "Disney stroller" is the Combi Helio. It is very lightweight and folds up and has a strap so you can carry it on your shoulder - awesome for the bus rides! We didn't mark it, but we did write our last name on the bottom in permanent marker. We had DD's birthday pin on it a lot and we would also leave jackets in it. If you are nursing, a nursing cover is a PERFECT sunshade - you do need safety pins or something to keep it from flying around (we used the birthday pin). Plus, the Combi has a velcro window on top of the canopy which I used to hold the nursing cover in place. One of my best friends has the double Combi stroller and she loves it!

 

[Mrs D]

To mark your stroller you can check out the creative boards - many DISigners customize stroller tags to say your family name or whatever. Or just PM me and I'll help you find a cute one. I print out my customized stroller tags on 8.5x11 cardstock, laminate it, punch 2 holes and use plastic cable zip ties to secure it to the stroller.

And I second (or 3rh or 4th) bringing the rain cover!

HTH!

 

[maxiesmom]

Do not leave anything of value in your stroller. I was once dumb enough to leave my cheapo camera in our stroller, and in the time it took to eat a meal, it was gone.

Actually if you take an expensive stroller it would be smart to take a lock and lock the back wheels together. People have been reporting stolen strollers. They are an easy sell on sites like e-bay, so they are an good score for thieves.

 

[zendisney]

We leave the diaper bag...
The only thing that has come up with our stroller is that it gets moved.
Sometimes cast members move the strollers to utilize the stroller parking.
That can be a little challenging but we usually find it quickly.
I have heard that some people use balloons or ribbons to make their stroller stand out.
Another tip- We love the combi stroller because it is light weight, travels well, and folds up easily.
I refuse to rent a stroller because they are way too pricey (my opinion)

 

[jpeka65844]

We have a Combi Helio as well. VERY lightweight and easy to manage. Always wear it on my back while managing the airport. Man, has that thing logged some miles at the World!!!!

We never leave anything of value in the stroller but so far, in 4 trips, have never ever ever had a problem. Sometimes, after coming out of an attraction, you have to hunt; CM's tend to rearrange them if they're getting in the way of traffic.

Last trip I invested in a Maclaren stroller organizer to hang from the back of the stroller.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2507973

LOVED it! Put all the non-valuable stuff like diapers, wipes, snacks in it and it left the bin underneath for my Baggallini in case I didn't want to carry it.

As for marking it, we had some Mickey stickers that we stuck all over the handle. Some people also tie balloons or hang fake dirty diapers from the handle to mark/deter theft.

This trip, DS is pottytrained so no diapers!!! BUT, his little legs won't be able to keep up all the way so it's coming with us again.