The year of Disney

[taaren]

Hi! I'm going to be there the same time as you! (We're going from Nov 30-Dec 15.) And I have the same Coach crossover (though mine was a gift, I'm usually not a label kind of gal).
Its awesome that you guys are going to have some couple time. We usually ditch DS5, this will be our first trip taking him for the entire Disney weeks (in California the in-laws usually snatch him up after the first few days, but its too far to do that in Florida). Its so wonderful to enjoy Disney as adults, and enjoy each others' company without the stress of the little 'uns.

I actually came over to your PTR from your Villas at the GC Lovers thread post. Just wanted to say if you have any Disneyland/DVC questions, I'm happy to help with those since I'm also a WDW virgin, but know lots about the West Coast park. If you're going to rent points for the May trip, though, you probably want to set it up soon with a VGC owner (not me; I'm always out of points!) soon, as usually at the 7 month window when all the WDW owners can book the villas are gone. So definitely before November 5, if you can find someone in the next month or so you'll probably be fine.

 

[bellaally]

Hi! I'm going to be there the same time as you! (We're going from Nov 30-Dec 15.) And I have the same Coach crossover (though mine was a gift, I'm usually not a label kind of gal).
Its awesome that you guys are going to have some couple time. We usually ditch DS5, this will be our first trip taking him for the entire Disney weeks (in California the in-laws usually snatch him up after the first few days, but its too far to do that in Florida). Its so wonderful to enjoy Disney as adults, and enjoy each others' company without the stress of the little 'uns.

I actually came over to your PTR from your Villas at the GC Lovers thread post. Just wanted to say if you have any Disneyland/DVC questions, I'm happy to help with those since I'm also a WDW virgin, but know lots about the West Coast park. If you're going to rent points for the May trip, though, you probably want to set it up soon with a VGC owner (not me; I'm always out of points!) soon, as usually at the 7 month window when all the WDW owners can book the villas are gone. So definitely before November 5, if you can find someone in the next month or so you'll probably be fine.

Thanks for commenting! I know I will be just fine leaving them as they are spoiled rotten by their grandma and my sister. Thanks for the advice I am gonna start stalking those boards like crazy, starting now there aren't that many ppl on dis boards dvc section that have GCV as their home don't know why they look awesome and they views are better then anything else I have seen, in pictures of course! I will be stalking your ptr now lol, maybe we will bump into each other at WDW, I will be the one running from ride to ride, darling hubby will be the one with a "snack" in his hand lol.

 

[bellaally]

Okay I need to stop being lazy and finish planning this trip so I can start to focus on my two things my classes and my may trip. I keep researching for this December trip and my California trip and it's getting me nowhere lol. Here is everything I need to finish.
Finish the whole itinerary December 10-15( including all ADRS as well as must do CS) finished 9/12/12
Plan print and laminate mini touring plans
Print all conformation items thus far( plane tickets, room assignment, MVMCP voucher)finished 9/12/12
Buy the iron on paper for our custom WDW shirts
Make shirts
Make a list of everything left to buy for trip
Buy items
Pack check on bags
Sent up and pay for long term parking
Pay for photopass share Paid woohoo
Pack kids bags
countdown calendar finished 9/23/12
Call hotel and make request


I can get half of these things done by Friday, wish me focus ness and luck lol!!

 

[taaren]

Okay I need to stop being lazy and finish planning this trip so I can start to focus on my two things my classes and my may trip. I keep researching for this December trip and my California trip and it's getting me nowhere lol.

Just so you know, California will be a lot less detail-oriented to plan. No ADRs, or if you really want them you can make a reservation about a week or two out. So pretty much once you get your hotel and flights secured, you can just go with the flow from there. No need for detailed touring plans in DLR either, just hop as often as you need to and keep your FPs as long as you like. I'm not sure how I'm going to go back to planning (or not planning) my DLR trips after experiencing the organizational frenzy of WDW ...

 

[bellaally]

Super sorry I have been M.I.A for a long time. School is getting into high gear.....it's kicking my butt currently. I need to post the rest of my plans for the parks which are finished. I ordered my kids halloween costumes today, they will be buzz and woody yippee, can't wait to get them in the mail bought them from disneystore.com. I will be having a professional photo shoot with them in there outfits as well as a brothers shoot and family pictures. Will be back tomorrow with my plans for our second day at MK. What are your kids gonna be this Halloween?

 

[bellaally]

On this our second day at WDW. I will wake up my husband hopefully without being attacked by a sleepy bear. I want to take advantage of the short time we are there and ride a lot of rides this day. So i want to be there early enough for rope drop. Also i am gonna wing it this day. If i see that everyone is headed towards fantasy-land, then we will head up all the other lands first. I was plaaning on eating breakfast in our room, eating lunch at BOG, then catching the monorail, to get to the Contemporary Resort, to check out there decorations and get us some cupcakes, then off to DTD for some shopping!!!!

Rides must ride today
Ariel Undersea Adventure
Big thunder mountain
Buzz Lightyear
Carousel of Progress
Hall of Presidents
Haunted Mansion
It's a small world
Jungle Cruise
Mickey philharMagic
Monster's Inc Laughing floor
Pirates of the Carribean
Prince Charming Carousel
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Stitch's great escape
Tomorrowland transit authority
Winnie the pooh

Must eat
Mickey pretzel
Waffle with fruit and nutella
Contemp cupcake
Dole whip


Fun Day can't wait

 

[taaren]

On this our second day at WDW. I will wake up my husband hopefully without being attacked by a sleepy bear. I want to take advantage of the short time we are there and ride a lot of rides this day. So i want to be there early enough for rope drop. Also i am gonna wing it this day. If i see that everyone is headed towards fantasy-land, then we will head up all the other lands first. I was plaaning on eating breakfast in our room, eating lunch at BOG, then catching the monorail, to get to the Contemporary Resort, to check out there decorations and get us some cupcakes, then off to DTD for some shopping!!!!

Rides must ride today
Ariel Undersea Adventure
Big thunder mountain
Buzz Lightyear
Carousel of Progress
Hall of Presidents
Haunted Mansion
It's a small world
Jungle Cruise
Mickey philharMagic
Monster's Inc Laughing floor
Pirates of the Carribean
Prince Charming Carousel
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Stitch's great escape
Tomorrowland transit authority
Winnie the pooh

Must eat
Mickey pretzel
Waffle with fruit and nutella
Contemp cupcake
Dole whip


Fun Day can't wait

Wow you're ambitious! That's a long list. Although, about half a dozen of those will have very short-no line I think.
Your DH sounds like mine, he does not want to wake up on vacation. And I'm just like, let's go ride, that's what I came here for! So I've gotten in the habit of just heading into the park with whoever is awake when I want to go, then DH and whoever slept in catches up with us later.

 

[bellaally]

Packing some are great at stuffing everything into a bag and being on there way, others tend to over think and pack way to many things, on this trip I have set a challenge for myself. I will not be checking any bags. I absolutely hate checked bags, we have had plenty of troubles every single time. I have had countless suitcases destroyed by airlines. If there is one thing you need to know is I am a bag lady lol. I love purses yes but the bigger the bag the better for me, I love travel bags, tote, duffle bags, and suit cases I don't buy anyone I pay money for designer travel cases and what does American airline do they drop it off the plane.... I have had two different trips where my luggage has been lost, and every other time my luggage is torn, broken, or has some weird liquid spilled on it.

So what's a girl to do.....handled my own luggage. We will be taking two carry on luggages as well as my tote.

What do you pack for a six day Disney vacation trip

Basics
Hubby
4 t shirts
2 polo shirts
2 long jeans
1 khakis
1 khakis shorts
2 basketball shorts
6 pair socks
8 under Roos
6 undershirts
1 belt
1 hoodie
Backpack
Mickey ears
iPhone
Camera

Me
5 T-shirts
2 dresses
2 jeans(blue & black)
2 shorts( black & white)
1 swim suit
1 coverup
1 Sandals
6 pairs socks
1 hoodie
8 underwear
4 bras
Minnie ears
Minnie Santa hat
Cross body bag
Maps
Passporters book
Vacation journal
Kindle
iPad
Chargers

Pack for both
Shampoo
Conditioner
Soap
Deodorant
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Pins and lanyard
Sunblock
Sunglasses
Ponchos
Camcorder
Baseball caps
Lip balm
Brita water bottle
Brush
First aid travel kit


I will be updating and adding to the list if I am missing something, I am also just thinking I should just mail myself all the things that might be to much hassle with TSA, like toiletries..... We are getting liquor and some food items like cereal bars and stuff shipped to our resort as we will be solely relying on Disney transportation.

 

[bellaally]

Wow you're ambitious! That's a long list. Although, about half a dozen of those will have very short-no line I think.
Your DH sounds like mine, he does not want to wake up on vacation. And I'm just like, let's go ride, that's what I came here for! So I've gotten in the habit of just heading into the park with whoever is awake when I want to go, then DH and whoever slept in catches up with us later.

Lol since its just us I have no problem going solo, but he promised me he wants to see a lot of rides I told him in wdw to do so you must commit to getting up early.....he said he would we will see lol

 

[bellaally]

Our third day December 12,2012, and according to some he end of the world, now I heard of the 21st but never 12/12/12. I don't believe it the world was suppose to end so many times. So our plan will continue as planned. Today will be our Disney Hollywood Studios day. I actually think this will be my favorite park because of the rides and especially shows. Also I am a huge Pixar fan and husband is a huge toy story fan, We definitely want to meet and greet some of our favorites as well as watch the Pixar pal parade. We plan on seeing fantasmic but I didn't get the package because we didn't really find any on the restaurants appealing, plus I wanted to experience Sci Fi, we will still be lining up for fantasmic hopefully they have two showings. Lunch will probably be at starring rolls for a sandwich and a cupcake, also hubby wanted to try pizza planet. My extra day which is really a half of a day I don't know if I want and extra day at Epcot or at DHS or leave this day for AK and have another full day at Epcot or DHS.

Must rides
the great movie ride
Magic of Disney animation
Muppet vision 3d
One mans dream
Rock n roller coaster
Star tours
Toy story mania
Twilight zone tower of terror


Must see shows
Beauty and the beast
Voyage of the little mermaid
Fantasmic
Indiana jones epic stunt show


Must eat
Peanut butter cupcake
Butterfinger cupcake

 

[bellaally]

Something that I have loved about Christmas since being a little time is the lights at Christmas. My mother use to have a light set on the tree that wood play Christmas songs. We use to make some hot chocolate and have cheese and crackers and just sit on the couch with all the lights turned off and watch the Christmas tree. Also my most favorite movie of all time is National lampoons Christmas Vacation. I have always wanted to decorate my house with those European 1000 watts bulbs lol. Just gorgeous. Why am I talking about lights well because Walt Disney Hollywood Studios has one of the biggest displays of lights.... The Osborne Dancing Lights. I am very excited and want to be there when they get turned on.

I have been doing my research on the lights and I can't wait to take pictures and hoping there are plenty photopass photographers.
Here are some pictures...

Here is some history on the lights.
Jennings Osborne (1944-2011), along with his wife Mitzi, founded the "Arkansas Research Medical Testing Center" in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1968. The business' success allowed him and his wife to eventually purchase a large estate in the middle of town in 1976. In 1980 the Osbornes had a daughter, Allison Brianne Osborne (nicknamed "Little Breezy").
In 1986, Breezy made a very simple request of her parents for Christmas ... to decorate their home in lights. Jennings gladly complied, stringing 1000 lights around their home. "Each year after that, it got bigger and bigger," Osborne would later recall.[6] So big, in fact, that Osborne purchased the two properties adjacent to his own and expanded the display into them.
By 1993, the display had over three million lights. Some of the more prominent features included:
an illuminated globe, with Little Rock and Bethlehem marked, mounted in the back yard;
two rotating carousels of lights, placed on each end of the estate's circular driveway;
a 70-foot (21 m)-tall Christmas tree of lights with 80,000 lights in three colored layers, mounted atop the home's kitchen; and
a canopy of 30,000 red lights over a section of the driveway.[7]
The lights were a wildly popular attraction, both in Arkansas and around the world, as news crews often visited to film the display.
Mr. Osborne's barbecue benefit (unrelated but notable in its immense scale, comparable to his light display) was featured in an episode of the television travelogue Man v. Food.[8]
[edit]Legal issues
The display grew bigger every year, and by 1993, was lit for 35 days during the Christmas season, from sunset to about midnight every day. Six neighbors filed a lawsuit, saying traffic congestion made trips to the corner store take two hours, and they feared emergency vehicles could not get down the street. Osborne responded by adding three million more lights.[9]
The county court ordered an injunction against the display, limiting it to 15 days and directing that it be lighted only from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Osborne appealed first to the Arkansas Supreme Court and lost, then in 1994 to the United States Supreme Court, where Justice Clarence Thomas refused to halt the order. In 1995, the state Supreme Court shut the display down altogether.[10]
[edit]Display Acquired by Disney
The story of the light display's court case brought national attention, including offers from several cities to host the display. Walt Disney World project director John Phelan contacted Osborne's attorney about moving the display to the Orlando resort, and eventually discussed the potential move with Osborne himself.
Osborne was intrigued by the offer, but initially understood that Disney wanted to put the display on another residential street in Orlando. What Phelan actually offered was to install the display on "Residential Street," a backlot section at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park (then known by its original name, the Disney-MGM Studios). Being a fan of the resort himself, and realizing where the display would go, Osborne accepted Disney's offer. In 1995, the display was set up on Residential Street as "The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights," becoming an immediate success.

Can wait till I finally see the light!!

 

[bellaally]

So I have a serious update, really it's super major. So our trip for May, you know California/LA and lets not forget Disneyland........it's postponed until further notice. Actually I am not that upset truth be told. What happen actually really sucks. We were suppose to be going down for a family wedding but it just so happens that they called off the wedding. Also by the sound of it, there is no possible way to repair. I say better now then later right.....from what I was told the groom has already moved on.....so anyway nevertheless. I would love to do California its just not meant to be in the year 2013. But reading others threads and PTR"s has got the gears turning. We are going for December , and I talked my sister who has never gone to WDW either to take my niece and nephews and have a big old family vacation in September. So that is set and I started thinking it will be cheaper to just get AP's. Then I was talking to my husband yesterday and I was like we should go away for our anniversary in May. So we have another Disney trip scheduled and the deposit is in. We are going from April 28- May 6 we are staying in..".........AKL. But all bets are off if I get a better discount. Stuff planned for this trip I have a list. Plus honestly this makes our December trip more relaxing. I mean we can enjoy things knowing we will be back in May. I know right...... Who knew!!!

 

[taaren]

So I have a serious update, really it's super major. So our trip for May, you know California/LA and lets not forget Disneyland........it's postponed until further notice. Actually I am not that upset truth be told. What happen actually really sucks. We were suppose to be going down for a family wedding but it just so happens that they called off the wedding. Also by the sound of it, there is no possible way to repair. I say better now then later right.....from what I was told the groom has already moved on.....so anyway nevertheless. I would love to do California its just not meant to be in the year 2013. But reading others threads and PTR"s has got the gears turning. We are going for December , and I talked my sister who has never gone to WDW either to take my niece and nephews and have a big old family vacation in September. So that is set and I started thinking it will be cheaper to just get AP's. Then I was talking to my husband yesterday and I was like we should go away for our anniversary in May. So we have another Disney trip scheduled and the deposit is in. We are going from April 28- May 6 we are staying in..".........AKL. But all bets are off if I get a better discount. Stuff planned for this trip I have a list. Plus honestly this makes our December trip more relaxing. I mean we can enjoy things knowing we will be back in May. I know right...... Who knew!!!

Sad that you'll miss DLR, but definitely better for the couple. Always better to call off the wedding than have a miserable marriage. Plus those AP's could make a second WDW trip very affordable! Then maybe the following year (Dec 2014/Nov 2015) you could get a DLR AP and do 2 trips over there instead! That's my plan for the future, to get AP's and do 2 trips 11 months apart in order to maximize the value. Tickets are just getting so darn expensive.

 

[bellaally]

Sad that you'll miss DLR, but definitely better for the couple. Always better to call off the wedding than have a miserable marriage. Plus those AP's could make a second WDW trip very affordable! Then maybe the following year (Dec 2014/Nov 2015) you could get a DLR AP and do 2 trips over there instead! That's my plan for the future, to get AP's and do 2 trips 11 months apart in order to maximize the value. Tickets are just getting so darn expensive.

Thanks for all your help. I really wanted to do a big california trip. There is always next time.P.s I love how you think my husband will be sick of WDW by the end of 2013. So we can go to California for like two weeks, I really want to take the kids and My mother so she can watch them when we want to do something just us. Plus the way people talk about WDW compared to DL, I think DL would be more kid friendly in reference to how easy it would be to tour the park since everything is closer and your not traveling miles and miles with them.

 

[bellaally]

Hello long time no see.....

So everything is happening all at once but thats a great thing really! I got a new job it is Fabulous. I get a higher pay and i am a supervisor. I took the boys this past weekend to Sesame place and they wore there toy story outfits.

Here are a couple of pictures......

Jesse(DH) with Nicholas(buzz) and Jordan(woody)

Getting ready in the car!!

Nicholas with Elmo

Nicholas and I

Jordan and I

Kisses

Jordan had a great day!!

Now one to the crazy all at once part. So Jesse grandmother is sick in the hospital she is like 87 years old, she was doing really bad but has gotten better and they will be placing her in a nursing home. I honestly feel really bad for her. She is so alert and with it, she jogs in the morning and usally called me once or twice a week. So Jesse's father and his brothers has decided that she needs more attention and they placed her in a home. She wants to see the kids. Their grandma lives in florida, Wewere thinking of just taking them on this trip and going to visit her but she wants us to come in January and is paying for the tickets for the kids.so we will be going back to florida in January. We will be spending a two weeks and are planning on visiting WDW fro 1/21/13- 1/29/13. we will be visiting granny in Miami for the following week. My husbands family are planning on visiting florida as well and are bringing grandma except she will most likely stay their vacation home near WDW. So i am really planning both trips since there pretty much back to back. I dont think i will start a PTR since I will probably be talking about both trips. I am really excited i thought I was going to have to wait till september to take the kids.

I will not lie I am terrified to be taking both an 7 month baby and Nicholas who will be just shy of twur plan for this December trip has changed with a much slower pace and only having to do rides that they can't do which I have counted and its like 12, i also want to do shows that i know they won't remain seated for. I need lots of help so if you have any tips,hints or input plese don't hesitate to add.

 

[bellaally]

Stroller their so trivial, I mean when picking out my stroller for my boys I did a lot of research. I have way to many strollers for one family. I have my evenflo traveling system that is a heavy duty stroller and the carseat snaps in

. I have my lightweight Chico stroller which I love because it's light weight but holds up to fifty pounds

, I just bought a tandem stroller front to back which fits both the baby and nic, it's jeep looks great and is sturdy but weighs a ton.

I didnt really think to take my strollers with me I mean how expensive can renting a stroller be?

Like everything else at Disney expensive.
A single stroller is $15 USD for one day use, $13 USD for multiple days
This is what they look like,borrow picture

Jordan will be only seven months so I didn't even have to bother looking up the double, these plastic strollers which are pretty much standard at every theme park does not have any support for a small baby.

I have also researched Orlando stroller rentals, There are a lot of positive reviews all over the boards. They use the city mini stroller which are popular around these boards too.they charge around $105USD for 8-10 days. That's around 50 dollars cheaper then DIsney.

Then thinking to be at the airport with our early flights with all of our luggage and two babies without strollers. Then it hit me stroller connectors, they are really inexpensive and it's what I really want. We can take the evenflo travel for the baby and the lightweight chicco for Nicholas. When we need to it can become a double so only one person has to push and if we want to separate we can. Plus both kids are use to their own stroller. I have order the connector should be coming in the mail, going to test them to see how well they work with my strollers. I already have stroller tags lol.

 

[bellaally]

So I have been rearranging everything for our December trip to try and do everything we want to with out the kids. I added a whole bunch of ADRs reason YOLO. Yea my husband is getting sick of me saying that as for our January trip everything is falling into place.

We are getting AP passes in December so tickets are paid for. We already bought our plane tickets. $198 total two adult round trip tickets. We were thinking about buying a ticket for Nicholas but there was not guarantee of getting seats together plus he doesn't do well with strangers. He is under two so he is a lap baby. So that's two down.

Third is car rental full size car for 9 days for 145, not bad at all we are looking into where we are going to stay we were thinking about renting dvc points and staying in AKL. But there rooms are tiny and we don't get a full kitchen up less we upgrade to a one bedroom instead of the studio. ( but I promised my hubby we would keep it affordable) I was also looking into a condo at Windsor hills. It gets mostly good reviews and it's dirt cheap compared to AKL. I need to do pros and cons list.

Lastly and taken care of is most of our ADRs we picked 4 character ADRs for the kids to get to met some characters without having to wait in long lines. The only special thing I wanted to plan was a family photo shoot at the poly. I have already purchased photopass for this trip. I am honestly trying to keep the cost under 1,500 total since I convinced my husband that we should go back sooner and we still have a whole week in MIA visiting with grandma.

Plus I am still trying to get a long weekend in May and we have our super family trip in September with the extended family.

Running total for January 2013
Airplane tickets 198
ADRs 200
Car rental. 145
Photopass share 20
Accommodations ??

But back to December we will be adding about 5 TS ADRs to our trip was really trying to get le chellier but it was completely booked for our week in December, it's okay there will be other times. Hopefully something in may for our anniversary....

 

[bellaally]

Changes

 

[bellaally]

There are millions and millions of choices for accomadations when deciding where you would like to stay while vacationing at Disney World.

For most it isnt actually staying onsite the majority decided to save money and inherit space. The minority being here on Dis.

And while I would love to stay onsite for January 2013 Trip I have to weigh the Pros and Cons.

Now I narrowed my search way down in the beginning. We are bringing out two babies one Nicholas will be almost two(2/4/2013) its his birthday vacation. Then second is baby jordan, he will be 7 months on this trip. So I need space a good amount so Nicholas can play inside and we can relax. So almost immediately most Disney Resorts and all hotels where out the window.

That left me DVC Resorts, Condos, townhomes and houses. Next was proximty to Disney World. I didnt feel like traveling more then 20 minutes anywhere. So many houses were cut out as well as we need space but not a 5 bedroom house and most houses for rent in Florida are big houses.

Now DVC Villas are great and renting points are actually very affordable. So we have narrowed on AKL One bedroom villa. Its not cheap cheap but cheap for disney at around 1,500. Also we narrowed down our search for offsite for a condo. They are way to young for me to have a townhouse with a pool in the back, also it cost extra to heat the pool up in January so we cut those out. We liked the idea of a condo Big but not a whole house, we can us the clubhouse pool and have amenties, which in my opinion are better then a home, and much much bigger then a resort room or hotel room.

So i had narrow it down to a 2 bedroom condo in windsor hills( which is one offsite really close to the parks and recommended by a ton of dis'sers.

Animal Kingdom Villa | Mickey's Hangout(condo windsor hill)

Transportation | Proximity to Disney Parks
Proximty to DPs | Cost (atleast 1,000 cheaper)
Pool Hopping | Amenties(high chair,play pen,stroller)
Animals Views | 2 Bedrooms, 2 baths
Disney Bubble | Cool Club House Pools(AS Well as Near POOL)


The negatives were only 1 thing each. AKL is a lot more then what I wanted to spend. Mickeys Hangout its not Disney.

Crunch tim, since I pulled this trip out of thin air and my DH agreed to it, I wanted to Sae the money. The Disney transportation didnt matter because carrying with two babies and two strollers I need to rent a car.

So for a total of $685 for 9 days, Mickeys hangout was the winner hands down! Sorry AKL i definitely want to stay in May.

Here is our home away from home. from January 21-29.
Mickey's Hangout

 

[taaren]

Wow that is a gorgeous property. I may have to contemplate staying off-site if we decide to upgrade to the DVC PAPs on our December trip. I've been looking at Bonnet Creek, but I think we'll also be okay with renting points for a DVC studio if I can find any. Since it'll be a shorter trip and there's only three of us for any *potential* trips, I'm leaning towards a DVC studio since it'll be park intensive, and my first stay in one this past June it was just fine for me, a girlfriend, and the two boys 6 & 10 for a few nights.

Great that you're bringing your own stroller. We decided to go with the in-park rentals for two nights, because at 5, 6 , and 7 we didn't think the kids would use them during the day and we only have 2 nights in the park planned. Its sort of that odd age when they haven't used a stroller in over 3 years, but we know they're going to fade around 9p, so I'd rather bite the bullet and get one in park than order one for the whole week and spoil them. Will definitely feel the need to disinfect the park one though, maybe throw a blanket on it before the kids get in. When they were small we never used anything other than an umbrella stroller, our house was on a hill that had stairs so it was really inconvenient to use the car seat/stroller combo. By the time DS was 3 only the stuffed animals rode in the stroller; I have no idea where it might be now.