What stroller do you love?

[starshine514]

So, my sister is expecting her first child in December. The first boy grandchild (I have three girls). They like to Disney as well and intend on continuing once the baby is old enough. I am passing on a lot of my 3-year-old's baby gear. My full-size stroller (which we never use anymore), however, is pink. I am passing down her Graco Click Connect infant seat, but don't have the matching stroller (had a Safety First travel system, then were in a wreck and replaced the car seat with a Graco Snugride 40). We currently use a Kolcraft Cloud Sport for my daughter at Disney and I actually love that little stroller (full sized features, reasonably compact fold and wonderful price point), but that is not the stroller they need for an infant.

She considers me her baby-gear expert (lol) and would like me to recommend some options. But, I want some opinions from the real experts (you guys!). Looking for something that:

• They can use from birth, so either lays flat or has the ability to attach a Graco Click Connect Carseat
• Folds compactly - needs to fit in with a bunch of other packed items for Disney (driving there) trips.
• Not too short - Dad is like 6' 2", so something he won't have to hunch over to push
• Ideally - has a parent tray, child tray and decent underseat storage. It's ok if the trays need to be purchased separately.
• Bonuses: removable washable cover, good sunshade

What would you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[JulieODC]

We've loved our Baby's jogger city mini - have it as a single and a double. We've logged countless miles on that stroller over 6 years and it's in amazing shape. Big enough to hold stuff and be comfy for the kids, excellent sun protection, and not so huge that it's hard to navigate in busy places or fit in the trunk.

 

[Carlymouse]

We've loved our Baby's jogger city mini - have it as a single and a double. We've logged countless miles on that stroller over 6 years and it's in amazing shape. Big enough to hold stuff and be comfy for the kids, excellent sun protection, and not so huge that it's hard to navigate in busy places or fit in the trunk.

Have you used the City Mini in Disney? We have a trip coming up at the end of the year at WDW, and we are thinking about whether or not to bring ours. Most of the time, our daughter (2.5) refuses to use a stroller, but she did use it this past summer when we walked her a good distance to a local festival. We are wondering whether or not it would be worth it since there may be more walking at Disney. We LOVE the stroller! We used it all the time until 2.5, but now she always wants to jump out and walk or push it herself.

 

[JulieODC]

Yes! Many times!!! Again, big enough for my daughters to nap and get sun coverage, but super easy to fold up for the bus, etc.

Just put a colorful ribbon on it so you can easily distinguish it from others in strolling parking areas.

 

[Fosteringaprincess]

City minis are wonderful for Disney! We are on our 4th trip with this stroller! It still looks good! And it folds pretty Flat so doesn't take alot of trunk space. One hand push!

 

[BOST99]

I loved our rented Baby Jogger City Mini GT in Disney. So much that I replaced our BOB when DS came along and I now totally regret it. I think the Citi Mini is great for renting for travel because of the easy fold and almost flat recline but lots of things I miss in the long term.

I would buy a BOB over it for everyday use - IMO material is easy to clean, two step fold but I prefer this fold because the seat folds in and I think it is more protected. I like the parents console better and BOB has pockets in the stroller for items (toys/pacifiers) that Citi doesn't.

Also I would recommend EBay as you can often find great deals on new but last year models.

 

[kboo]

We always rent a city mini GT (double) when we go to WDW. It is the best all-purpose, all-ages stroller, IMO.

I know you didn't ask for this, but - For a super light and durable, excellent for travel stroller, I love our Maclaren Volo. It isn't super newborn friendly because it doesn't recline, but it is the lightest folding umbrella stroller that is decent for tall people and incredibly sturdy. We've gate checked it for over 50 flights over 2 kids, and it's gone to Europe, S. America, Hawaii 3x (from NYC), WDW 5x or so, and we've logged hundreds of miles on it in NYC. It's light enough to fold and sling over your shoulder if faced with an unexpected set of stairs with a toddler (so toddler can hold one hand and go up/down while stroller is over your shoulder), and light enough with an infant that I can pretty easily carry it with the baby up/down unexpected stairs. And it is SO tough. Never had an issue gate checking it and taking it all over the world.

 

[kboo]

Have you used the City Mini in Disney? We have a trip coming up at the end of the year at WDW, and we are thinking about whether or not to bring ours. Most of the time, our daughter (2.5) refuses to use a stroller, but she did use it this past summer when we walked her a good distance to a local festival. We are wondering whether or not it would be worth it since there may be more walking at Disney. We LOVE the stroller! We used it all the time until 2.5, but now she always wants to jump out and walk or push it herself.

You might want to take a look at the Maclaren Volo, or an even cheaper (throwaway) umbrella stroller if you are debating whether to bring your City Mini to WDW. They'll be a lot lighter and easier to take on the buses than even a single City Mini, and a super cheap one would probably cost less than a rental stroller for one day, or even the cost to check your City Mini (and then you wouldn't also have to worry about wear and tear on that one).

 

[starshine514]

Thanks for all the replies. It looks like the City Minis are highly recommended!

You might want to take a look at the Maclaren Volo, or an even cheaper (throwaway) umbrella stroller if you are debating whether to bring your City Mini to WDW. They'll be a lot lighter and easier to take on the buses than even a single City Mini, and a super cheap one would probably cost less than a rental stroller for one day, or even the cost to check your City Mini (and then you wouldn't also have to worry about wear and tear on that one).

If you're looking for a cheap umbrella with some features, I highly recommend the Kolcraft Cloud. It was less than $30 on Walmart.com, folds small, has a sunshade, an underseat basket and a cupholder. It's what we take when we are severely strapped for space.

 

[Dis703]

Have you used the City Mini in Disney? We have a trip coming up at the end of the year at WDW, and we are thinking about whether or not to bring ours. Most of the time, our daughter (2.5) refuses to use a stroller, but she did use it this past summer when we walked her a good distance to a local festival. We are wondering whether or not it would be worth it since there may be more walking at Disney. We LOVE the stroller! We used it all the time until 2.5, but now she always wants to jump out and walk or push it herself.

The Citi Mini is the perfect Disney stroller. We bought a double when my twins were 18 months and we had a Disney trip coming up. It worked out great! We've used it many times at Disney since and later on I found a used single Citi Mini to use for individual Mommy and Me trips. It has a great large canopy for shade, lies flat for naps, maneuvers so easily I can push with one hand or even one finger, has ample storage beneath and folds in one easy step. Definitely bring it. My oldest at 2 1/2 didn't use his stroller a lot but it was still very helpful to have. My twins used it a lot more. Hard to predict what they'll do in Disney but totally worth having.

 

[dalmatian7]

Our family has rented City Minis both single and double. They work great for disney and for the double, I think it is one of the flatter of the folding doubles. Those BOB stroller look killer getting on and off buses.

Our personal stroller is a Britax B Agile. I find it similar to the city mini, but lighter. The sun shade air vent is vented on the B Agile, the city minis we rented was plastic. I bought this stroller for Disney in 2013 after having lugged our Graco travel system stroller twice to Florida (only one day spent at WDW). The B Agile pushes with one hand, folds easy. I bought the cup holder bag and the kid tray (that we no longer use, I really should sell it), storage bag and the rain cover. The exact rain cover is a life saver. Our DD stays dry even in a huge downpour. Even at 6 and almost 48" tall, she still rides comfortably. I even allowed my DH to check the stroller as luggage this last trip. We packed it in the Britax bag and it arrived unscathed. Just note that when you use the kid tray, you have to remove it to use the bag. DH found this our the hard way the first trip. He lost the carry stap for the bag because he couldn't zip the bag shut with the tray on and was in one of his panic modes and just shoved the strap inside. It got lost under the plane. I am 5'7" and find the stroller comfortable to push. I could never stand the umbrellas because the handles are too low.

My biggest plus with Britax is their customer service. When we first got our B Agile we only used it a few times at home when we discovered one side wasn't locking. I had sent in my registration card. I called their customer service and they sent me a shipping label to return the stroller and they would replace the exact stroller, when it arrived I could use that box to return. A few days later I got a call from them that they no longer had the color we currently had. They had us choose a color they had, but also had us remove the cover and seat from the stroller (just returning the frame), so we would still have the color we originally purchased. We had a new stroller in a week, returned the old one. No problems. And I now have two different seats for my stroller.

For me I went to a Babies R Us, test drove a bunch of strollers, and then watched for a sale or discount. I think mine came from the old Diapers.com. In my opinion what works for one person doesn't for another. You really need to try a stroller out to get a feel for it.

 

[blackpearl77]

We had the Jeep off road stroller. Had the same look as a jogger. My husband is 6'3" and he could push it fine without bending over too far. But when we went to disney and rented the city mini GT - I wish I had bought that! It had a bigger canopy and was way easy to fold - could fold with just two fingers! My husband had no problem pushing that one either. And the height and weight limits on the city GT were bigger. I think the Jeep stroller we had was 40 pounds and my son is tall so he would be hanging out of it and it was really heavy to push him. But the city mini GT weight limit is like 60 pounds (or maybe even more). We rented one the last time we went when my son was 6 - we only used it once since he didn't really need it anymore but he still fit in it and it wasn't heavy to push. And he's over 4 feet tall but if you're going for what stroller would last the longest with a big kid - I would recommend the city mini GT. The only good thing about the jeep stroller was that it came with a toy bar that attached to the baby/kid cup holder bars and it had a steering wheel and horn. (and I'm 5'4" and I could comfortably push both strollers height wise)

 

[PlainJane]

I’m a jogging stroller fan, but it fits our lifestyle. I’ve always had one, so I can’t imagine not having the all terrain wheels. It’s a lot nicer to deal with on city sidewalks, sand, etc. While they are not the smallest strollers around, most will let you remove the back wheels for easier storage. Many have the ability to be a travel system with a separately purchased car seat adapter. Also, a lot of models have an adjustable handle for tall and short parents.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

I was going to get a stroller for my granddaughter. Disney was a wonderful place to do some research. I decided on the Bob jogging stroller and have never regretted the decision. One thing to take into consideration is the area that the stroller will be used on. Living in the country we have dirt roads and less than perfectly smooth yards. We would have been very unhappy with a stroller with small tires.

 

[tcufrog]

I tried a couple of different strollers with my older son before the City Mini came out and I fell in love with it. It's so easy to fold you can hold a squirming, pissed off toddler under one arm and fold the stroller quickly with your other hand. It's also easy to recline and the canopy is huge. It takes up very little space when folded. I've taken it on a crowded subway folded without any complaints from other passengers. The basket is huge although it can be hard to get stuff out when the stroller is fully reclined. It doesn't come with a parent console or kid tray but you can buy those. Another thing that's neat is that you can snap a small soft sided cooler to the back of the stroller basket by attaching it to the back snaps of the basket. The stroller doesn't take up much more room than an umbrella stroller which is great when you're going into crowded stores like to see at WDW. I've seen parents with BOB size strollers get stuck in such situations. The only downside is that if you want to use it with a infant carrier you have to get an adaptor. If I had to do this all over again I'd get an Snap and go stroller for when my baby has to be in an infant carrier and a City Mini for when he gets older.

 

[inamerryhour]

We have used a City Mini GT since my daughter was born. The full incline and good sun shade have been great at WDW, and the stroller collapses easily with one hand for transport. We did buy the kid tray, and we use a 3 Sprouts Stroller Organizer on the handle for extra parent storage (bonus: it makes it easy to locate your stroller after it's been relocated in stroller parking!). The fitted rain cover is worth buying as well; we've used it during every WDW trip.