The Stroller Debate

[MamaBear58]

I know that this has been debated a lot here, but I'm curious as to the current thinking.

DD will be 4 years, 8 months. I can't remember the last time she was in the stroller, but am I correct that a week in Disney World will tire her out? If yes, and we rent a stroller, do I need to get some sit and stand combo so her brother--who will be 7 and 1/2--can jump on? Part of me think letting her have a stroller will open a can of worms and DH and I will be pushing these kids through the parks. That doesn't sound like a vacation to me.

 

[BubblyTrip]

My just turned five year old is never in a stroller, but we bring one to DW. It helps us move more quickly from area to area and through sometimes overwhelming crowds. He walks some too, and the stroller is parked for lines, etc.

We could break more for tired legs, but we are taking a short trip, and if we get to do more because he's better rested, we are all happy with that.

I'd guess this is the last stroller trip for us though.

 

[RookieLady]

I bought an umbrella stroller for my trip when my son was four. My older child was seven. We used the stroller at MK and Epcot. My older son also used it to sit in and rest in (although he was well past the weight limit for the stroller). I bought the stroller for the express purpose of relieving tired feet, with the knowledge that I was throwing it away when I left Disney (which is why I allowed the abuse upon it inflicted by eldest child). I am glad I had it.

They walked a lot, but they get tired like the rest of us. Its a lot easier to push them for some of the time in two parks than it is to listen to them whine about tired feet (or heaven forbid carry them at that age).

 

[worm761]

It will depend on your kid. If you guys are fairly active then I doubt either one will need one. Just start taking family walks, visit your local zoo, find nature trails and pack picnic lunches to get everyone ready for the walking.

DS was slightly older than your DD on his first trip. He had just turned 5 and we went for 8 days in July. We went at his pace and he did fine.

DD is 4 and we plan to go in either August or October for a short trip. We will go at her pace and take breaks when needed. No stroller. I have no desire to push one. I find them to be a pain and she never really liked it.

 

[goodeats]

There are pros and cons to the stroller decision with older kids. DD is 4 years 7 months and can handle a short day (10-5 or 6) at legoland or Disneyland no problem. It's great not to have to worry about the stroller. If we took a nap/break midday she could probably last longer. Oddly enough when we have the stroller (for DD2) she begs to ride in it!

We've never done a multi-day trip yet, but I think the stroller would be nice for spending late nights at the park. Carrying a sleeping kid while waiting for the transportation doesn't sound fun to me! It all depends on your touring style really.

 

[shanejoseph]

Now I'll try to choose my words carefully. Previously, I was set up in a previous thread sometime back in reference to the "great stroller debate" and slapped on the wrist for something that was considered "a minor personal attack". I feel that those ages are approaching the age that is too old for strollers. This is based on our personal experiences with "Kamikaze" stroller pushers who use them as battering rams to make their way through crowds! Nine times out of ten, the stroller was occupied by children that could have well walked, or even unoccupied. Yes, children get tired, but they are in the best place in the world, and should be disciplined enough to act accordingly. Midday breaks are highly recommended, and are best taken advantage of back at resorts. I have no problem with strollers, per say, but rather how inconsiderate many people are when using them unnecessarily! And before anyone tries to say otherwise, we have been going since my daughter was very young, and have never used a stroller. Anyway, my $0.02.

 

[Crystal824]

I would never go to WDW without a stroller for a kid under the age of 6. That being said, we often go commando in the parks spending 12-14 hours there depending on the length of our stay. One day a four year old might be able to keep up, 3-5 days of that...no way.

Will they use it all the time? Probably not. Will I know where my kid is when I am trying to exit an extremely crowded park after Wishes? Yes. Will it improve my vacation to allow my 4 year to have a place to sit when she is tired? Yes. Otherwise, you might be carrying her. It is a long walk to the parking lot/busses. As with anything else, many families approach this differently and have different opinions and ideas on this subject. You have to figure out what will work for you and your kids and what will provide you with the best vacation.

 

[SEA333]

It will depend on your kid. If you guys are fairly active then I doubt either one will need one. Just start taking family walks, visit your local zoo, find nature trails and pack picnic lunches to get everyone ready for the walking.

DS was slightly older than your DD on his first trip. He had just turned 5 and we went for 8 days in July. We went at his pace and he did fine.

DD is 4 and we plan to go in either August or October for a short trip. We will go at her pace and take breaks when needed. No stroller. I have no desire to push one. I find them to be a pain and she never really liked it.

This is to everyone, not just the PP -

In our experience, having a child who was in good shape and very active did not prepare him for walking for several days straight in DW with his older siblings and parents. My 7 year old finished his tackle football season, extended by three weeks because his team kept winning and eventually played in the league superbowl, literally 4 days before we went to DW. He practiced 3-5 days a week for 2 hours a day, and was still tired at the end of the day. We did not have a stroller with us, but boy did he wish we did at the time! LOL

The first time we went, for one day to MK, he was 5 and DD was 7. I rented a stroller because the same DS gets leg cramps that make him unable to walk, and we never really ended up using the stroller. We parked it in each "land" and moved it when we moved to another area.

It wasn't until days of straight walking that DS got really tired this time (again, after a season of football).

OP - I would bring the stroller and if you use it, great, if not, at least you have it.

 

[MamaBear58]

There are pros and cons to the stroller decision with older kids. DD is 4 years 7 months and can handle a short day (10-5 or 6) at legoland or Disneyland no problem. It's great not to have to worry about the stroller. If we took a nap/break midday she could probably last longer. Oddly enough when we have the stroller (for DD2) she begs to ride in it!

We've never done a multi-day trip yet, but I think the stroller would be nice for spending late nights at the park. Carrying a sleeping kid while waiting for the transportation doesn't sound fun to me! It all depends on your touring style really.

Oddly enough when we have the stroller (for DD2) she begs to ride in it!And this is my fear. If I bring it, DS7 will want a ride--he'll get tired too. So do we really need to rent 2 strollers or a sit and stand--or do we tell them both to suck it up? Part of me thinks tell them to suck it up. Do the companies that deliver to the resort do so on short notice? If Day 1 is a disaster, couldn't we just deal with it down there?

 

[MamaBear58]

Now I'll try to choose my words carefully. Previously, I was set up in a previous thread sometime back in reference to the "great stroller debate" and slapped on the wrist for something that was considered "a minor personal attack". I feel that those ages are approaching the age that is too old for strollers. This is based on our personal experiences with "Kamikaze" stroller pushers who use them as battering rams to make their way through crowds! Nine times out of ten, the stroller was occupied by children that could have well walked, or even unoccupied. Yes, children get tired, but they are in the best place in the world, and should be disciplined enough to act accordingly. Midday breaks are highly recommended, and are best taken advantage of back at resorts. I have no problem with strollers, per say, but rather how inconsiderate many people are when using them unnecessarily! And before anyone tries to say otherwise, we have been going since my daughter was very young, and have never used a stroller. Anyway, my $0.02.

Yes, children get tired, but they are in the best place in the world, and should be disciplined enough to act accordingly.
This is my thought. Yes, it's a long day, but YOU wanted to come here. Am I an awful parent for not wanting to have to push a stroller all day on my vacation???

 

[worm761]

This is my thought. Yes, it's a long day, but YOU wanted to come here. Am I an awful parent for not wanting to have to push a stroller all day on my vacation???

No. That doesn't make you an awful parent. But if you don't then you have to accept that you most likely will not be running from ride to ride for 12 hours a day, every day. I can easily say that I won't use a stroller for my 4 year old. I am more than willing to walk at her pace, stop to smell the flowers (yes she does this. Everywhere!), sit on a bench, whatever it takes. We also don't stay for the nighttime shows every night. I think if more children were never given the opportunity of a stroller they would be just fine. It never occurred to me to get one for DS when he was that age.

Like I suggested, just get them used to walking but be willing to go at their pace. Disney has a lot to offer and it isn't just in the rides.

 

[robndani]

I have 4 yr old twins and we just got back from another trip. We bring our strollers mostly for the walk to the bus, walk to the theme park entrance and to hold all of the crap we bring, buy and randomly somehow end up with. I would never want to carry our drinks, snacks, suntan lotion, hats, sunglasses, souvenirs, etc.... Personally that's way worse than pushing a stroller. Typically once were in the park, we end up parking the strollers and exploring the surrounding area, then move on to the next place.

Sometimes we leave the strollers if its just a few hours at a park, but for us, it's the easiest way!

Worse comes to worse, rent a stroller in the park or have one delivered to your hotel.

Enjoy!

 

[Disneylover99]

I would definitely bring an umbrella stroller for your four year old.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I think you will need one. For us, 5 was the age our very active, athletic DS was ok with out one. Any earlier and we would not have attempted it.

 

[charmed59]

We went with another family, the kids were 4, 5, 7, and 9. They didn't have a problem walking, though they were used to walking a lot in everyday life. In crowds the little ones were put on shoulders.

It made it much easier to get through crowds, and you never had to spend time looking for stroller parking, or finding your stroller in the crowds after a ride.

 

[kellyjeanie]

I definitely wouldn't bother with the sit-and-stand - that thing is a major pain. We had a side-by-side double with our kids (2, 5, and 8), the 5-year-old was in and out, it was nice to have for her but in retrospect she probably could have done without it. I think the 8-year-old asked to sit in it once? He didn't really care to. I'm one who doesn't mind pushing it around though, I like having a place for my stuff. After 8 years of various stages of stroller I'm not sure I would know how to pack without a stroller to put things in! lol

 

[kpgriswold]

When my kids were the age of yours, we found that we were OK without a stroller for all except Epcot. The other parks are either more compact or have more sit down rides and shows. Epcot, even though we split it into 2 days, was a tremendous amount of walking. Our preschooler flagged at the end of the first day, and had to be toted all the way from France to the front entrance by my husband. No one was happy about that! The next day we rented a double stroller and the kids took turns resting and riding as needed. It was SO worth the money.

As other posters said above, either rent the stroller or be prepared to shorten your park time. You cannot force-march little people and still have fun!

 

[MatoMany]

I have 4 children.. all very active.. We hike regularly as a family, take nightly walks, outside a lot etc. Im bringing a double and an umbrella.. I will only bring the umbrella for the nights that I know we will be in the parks late. For the most part it will be my 3yo and 1 yo in the stroller but if my older two (5 and 7) start to tire the baby can go in a carrier (ergo, best invention ever for a young baby) and they can take turns riding in the second seat. My 5yo will tell us if she is tired so it will be nice just to have in case she wants to take a nap. Going back to the hotel never seems to work for us, it just works them up more and makes the adults more tired.

The other thing I love about strollers is getting through crowds.. Ive had people push between my children and me while we were walking because they wanted to walk faster than we were going. Ive had people run over my daughters while they were holding onto my hands then yell at them because they didn't "move out of the ****** way" so if the crowds get bad we can load up our 5 and 3yos in the stroller and keep everyone reasonably together. My 7yo I just tell to hold onto my hand like crazy glue, poor thing still gets mowed down by impatient people at times.

 

[chrismb22]

What we are going to ATTEMPT to do this year is get a double stroller for my niece (who will be 3) and then my son (5) can get in it while waiting for parades etc. in the other times, it's great for storage.

We'll see if it works!

 

[PrncessA]

My kiddos are definitely over the age (7 and 9) that is recommended for a stroller but we most likely will be bringing an umbrella one for DS (9) this year. DS is VERY underweight, and under a doctor's care for it. He is active, but gets tired very easily, even with breaks. I am sure DD (7) will be fine. You just have to know your child(ren) and if they will be able to handle the heat/walking.