Why not bring a stroller instead of renting one?

[BostonRob]

(my usual I'm sure this has been covered but the search function stinks disclaimer)

If a double stroller costs about $200 to rent for the week, why don't more people bring their own? Seems like a no-brainer to me. What am I missing?

 

[chipndales]

I think most people from now on will be bringing with the price increase. I know for me when my DD was young enough for one, it was the convenience of it. She wasn't young enough to warrant a stroller anywhere BUT WDW, other places she walked. But 12 hours in the park wore her out so it was nice to be able to rent a stroller for those long days when we planned no break back to the hotel ect.

 

[Emily'sMom]

I agree, I am not renting at those ridiculous prices. But my other problem is the airplane baggage restrictions. They are charging now for strollers as an "extra bag"-- granted only $25, but I am still annoyed.

So I did a little research on the DIS and found out about stroller swaps and joined an awesome one. Check out my links below-- for $10 you could get a double stroller for the whole trip!! There are other single and double stroller swaps also, just look on the Budget Forum, the first thread.

 

[Jrabbit910]

We did a last minute trip a few months back and we almost forgot to bring our stroller... I made my Dh run back to the car and get it before we went on the plane... I AM SO GLAD I DID! Not just for price reasons but just for the comfort of having a stroller when I wasnt in the parks... Friends of ours always rents strollers there cause they worry about it getting taken... but I loved having ours with us.

 

[dburg30]

As others have said, before it was a lot less hassle just to rent one, but with these new prices.. WOW

 

[dlawallace]

This company delivers a stroller (many to chose from along with other baby items) to your hotel the day of your arrival and picks it up at your hotel the last day free of charge. It is very affordable compared to the ones for rent in the park. I got a double stroller for 8 days for about $100.00

 

[imthatgirl]

i have never and would never rent one.

which airlines arent letting you gate check it?i havent heard of any charging $25 to gate check anything?

 

[Emily'sMom]

i have never and would never rent one.

which airlines arent letting you gate check it?i havent heard of any charging $25 to gate check anything?

Since my daughter just turned 6, she does not use a stroller anymore while at home; however, I learned my lesson after our last trip-- I only brought a single stroller for my little guy and she wanted to ride it mostly in the evenings. My poor husband ended up with one kid on his shoulders most nights!

So, long story short... I was not bringing my double stroller to the gate- I was going to check it at baggage.

 

[imthatgirl]

Since my daughter just turned 6, she does not use a stroller anymore while at home; however, I learned my lesson after our last trip-- I only brought a single stroller for my little guy and she wanted to ride it mostly in the evenings. My poor husband ended up with one kid on his shoulders most nights!

So, long story short... I was not bringing my double stroller to the gate- I was going to check it at baggage.

oh, see im cheap, to save $25 i would have just rolled it to gate check.

 

[bradk]

and don't discount the fact that WDW sells strollers for $40.

 

[Disney/Universal Fan]

and don't discount the fact that WDW sells strollers for $40.

It sounds like a great deal to me. If you are staying for a few days, buy the stroller for $40 and then just leave it there. You are money ahead of the game, and it is a lot less expensive than renting. Sounds like a no-brainer!

 

[las3888]

I'm with OP on this one. I realize some kids are bigger and don't use a stroller at home, but it's just so much easier and cost-effective to take a small umbrella stroller or whatever from home and wheel it through the airport. Even if DC doesn't sit in it, you can then use it to put small luggage in it. OR, if you were able to, you could go to Walmart or Target or somewhere and buy practically ANY stroller in the place for cheaper, OR buy the stroller at Disney and just leave it behind. It does perplex me when I go every time, even with the higher cost, and see tons of people using the Disney strollers. To each his own I guess...

 

[Emily'sMom]

oh, see im cheap, to save $25 i would have just rolled it to gate check.

LOL, I am too except that I know my kids aren't going to ride it in the airport and my daughter is really too big for it except while in WDW. And some would disagree with that-- just read some of the other threads!!

Anyway, that's why I joined the stroller swap. For $10, I figure it's worth a try, if it doesn't work out for whatever reason, I will buy the $40 one for my son and hope my DD will not want to ride it.

 

[jamstew]

My two youngest DGC will be 3 and 4 when we go in May, and neither of them uses a stroller at home, so we don't have strollers to take. I'm looking into offsite stroller rental places. If that doesn't work out, we'll buy a couple of the ones that Disney sells if we need them. We just got back from SeaWorld, and the youngest still needed one. Although the now 3-year-old walked 90% of the time, somebody ended up carrying him the rest of the time, and that just won't work at Disney for a week.

 

[BostonRob]

and don't discount the fact that WDW sells strollers for $40.

Is that an umbrella style stroller? Those things are pretty useless because there's no place to store your stuff. Are you supposed to push the stroller AND carry a bag and hope you don't get thirsty because you don't have a fourth hand for your drink?
No thanks.

 

[DeblovesPoohbear]

We just got back July 15th and were planning on renting a stroller
( I already knew how much they were in advance)
Well, on our first day there, we decided to see how our ds4 would do
without one. He was fine!
It was hot too, but I think just the excitement of being there, plus we had him take naps, we ended up not having to rent one the entire time.
Think of how much $$ we saved!

 

[MomofKatie]

We always brought ours from home (we drive, so no $$ to do so), but several friends have flown into Orlando and just stopped at Wal Mart or Target on the way to their resort. They picked up a cheap umbrella-type stroller for $20- $30 and used it for the week, then either left it or passed it on to another family as they left the parks.

We found that even though they are pretty basic, the umbrella strollers are the best for ease of transporting on Disney buses, boats, etc. They take no time to fold right up and take up no room. We got one with a mesh basket on the bottom to hold extra items. To hold drinks, we just used a bottle strap and hung it on one of the handles.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Is that an umbrella style stroller? Those things are pretty useless because there's no place to store your stuff. Are you supposed to push the stroller AND carry a bag and hope you don't get thirsty because you don't have a fourth hand for your drink?
No thanks.

Depends on the stroller. Some umbrellas ahd cup holders and baskets. The $40 WDW ones don't, but....

Just hang the bag off the handles. If you are on property, you can have stuff shipped to your room. You can even tie sweatshirts to the handles too.

As for the drink...some strollers have back pouches where you can stick one. If you are drinking a water bottle, you can stick it in the bag. You can also buy a small pouch to stick on the side. If you get one water bottle, you can reuse it and transfer any other beverages to it.

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

I think one big reason people (used to) like to rent rather than bring their own is that they if it's not an umbrella stroller, they are a pain in the rear to haul on and off busses. This last year we bought a huge monstrosity of a double jogging stroller because my very athletic, skinny five yr old DS is still a huge whiner and if baby brother was strolling, he was going to, too. So we spend 180 on a Baby Trend Double jogger (with swivel wheel if anyone cares). It was a GODSEND! First of all, in the airport, the kids could ride (or all of our carry ons could ride instead). They could sleep on the stroll from the bus to the room. They even slept in it thru our entire dinner at OHana. (That was the most enjoyable dinner of our whole trip-so relaxing )!! We had a system that if we even saw the bus getting near, I grabbed the baby, the backpack and any other junk we'd collected thru the day, the 5 yr old had to get up, daddy folded up and was in charge of hauling the stroller on the bus. It was heavy and a little bit in the way of others, but for the most part it worked VERY well! Just don't wait until its your turn to get on the bus to start getting kids out of the stroller.

 

[krdindy]

For those of you flying, check the baggage regulations with your airline. We flew Continental last month and were surprised to find out that we could check our kids' car seats and stroller, and not have it count against our baggage limit. We were shocked that we could've brought 2 more pieces of luggage because their car seats didn't count! (We gate checked the stroller). I don't know if that is unique to Continental or if the other airlines have similar policies.