Disney Stroller Rental vs Other stroller rental

Heckah

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 8, 2014
Inside of 20 days so the planning is getting serious now. :cool1:

Talk to me about your experiences with stroller rentals. I like the idea of the other stroller rental places, however the agony at Six Flags of trying to get the stroller into the tram from the parking lot to the front entrance is all I can think of when getting on the busses. Is the in park stroller rental a pain or pretty easy? Am I making to much of having the stroller with me on the bus?

Thanks
 
I find stroller rental in the park to be a piece of cake. The strollers also fit on the trams, but I always feel bad for the people trying to do it. I prefer to just pay the ridiculous prices to rent from the park.
 
Just back, rented 2 City GT's from Orlando Stroller for the week, we liked 2 singles as compared to a double.

We stayed on site at Beach Club, so WDW transport with a stroller was easy. We walk to Epcot, so stroller was great for that and great to have a stoller in Epcot at night so kids could sleep while we food and wined. We mostly walked to HS, but took boat once. It is a long walk, so stroller was great especially since it was basically a jogging stroller and rolled real easy, much better than the Umbrella Maclaren stroller we brought from home in the past, and infinitely better than a cheap umbrella stroller with too short handles. As for boats, we did not need to fold stroller on the boats, just park them open in the back of the boat.

For MK, we mostly would walk thru Epcot (and grabbed a drink on the way) from our hotel to the Monorail and took that to MK since we have annual passes and can park hop. On Monorail, you do not fold the stroller. For AK, Downtown Dis, and when we had to bus to MK, we had to fold the strollers. The rentals where easy to fold, the only issue is that you need to take the stuff out of the bottom of the stroller for it to fold. We found that having all the stuff in the bottom of the stroller in a bag made this process much easier, just pull the bag out, fold, and get on bus. Strollers were not too heavy, I could carry both no problem.

As for the strollers themselves. Very clean, very new, came with rain covers, had nice handle set up with adjustable handles, and a parent carrier thing mounted on the handles with 3 cupholder sized areas great for beverages, sunscreen, phone, sunglasses, etc... The storage on the bottom was relatively large and useful, however it was hard to take a bag out or put it into storage area with a kid sitting in the stroller, had to ask them to get up, bag could be accessed with a kid sitting in stroller just not taken out easily. large canopys on strollers, reclining seats, and kids often passed out in them.

Stoller rental was really really easy, booked online for a fraction of the price as in park rental, the rental company had dropped it off prior to our arrival and bellman brought it out while we checked in with only a simple sign out sheet to get it. Stroller rental company also sells bottled water, so we had 2 cases of that delivered with stroller, a huge money saver in parks. At check out, we simply rolled the strollers over to bellman, signed them in, and left, stroller rental people picked it up a few hours later.

So ridiculously easy and cheap. Definitely pay the extra $10 for the week to upgrade to the GT as the single front wheel is much better as are the adjustable handles. Folding the actual stroller is easy and taking it on the bus is easy, just make sure to have the storage area organized, if you just throw crap in there then you will have to organize it all when it is time to fold it up. Quality and ease of use is so much better than in park rentals. It is smaller, more maneuverable in crowds, easier to push, better cup holder area, and much better for sleeping children, and infinitely cleaner.

I would not do it any other way, just wish I had tried it sooner as last trip we used umbrella strollers which were a pain and had to be lugged with us on the plane.
 


I will say first I have not used the park strollers.

In making the decision I would take a look at a few things.

Will you be out late? Late enough that your child may be asleep or sleepy when you exit the park.
How far will you be walking to get to the bus upon exiting the park? How far to your room upon getting off the bus?
Are you physically able to carry a sleeping child to the bus or to your room?
Will you be visiting Downtown Disney?
How old is your child? Do they or could they nap? The park strollers are plastic and don’t recline.

I have rented from off-site only. Our first trip my son was just 10 months old and the park strollers are not infant friendly.
Later trips I either brought my stroller from home or rented from off-site because we have generally 1 or 2 nights we are out late and I could not carry my son to our room.

One night he watched Wishes and was ecstatic the entire time. But he was instantly asleep as we applauded the final pop of fireworks. Another he while jumping up and down asked for a final ride on the carousel and nodded off during the ride. Off-site rental was simple. Reserve and pay online. The stroller is waiting upon arrival. It is returned to the same place when you leave so the company can retrieve it.

I use and rent the Baby Jogger City Mini. Folds and unfolds instantly with one hand and will fold with a few items in the under seat basket.
 
We went to Disney for 10 days in July and I figured it would have cost us $110 to rent a single stroller from Disney for the duration of the trip. We decided to purchase a fold up stroller from Amazon. It was durable and very compact for our two year old. We will be taking it along this trip again in July. The nice part is that it folds up nicely and because you are taking it with you, you have a stroller to walk to the buses. There were some nights where there was no way that I felt like carrying her to the buses after walking around all day in the parks.

We bought The First Years Ignite Stroller, rain cover and luggage bag for about $80 total so we saved $30 over Disney prices and we can use it over and over again. The stroller was very well built and not very heavy or big when folded.
 
Renting a stroller from Kingdom Strollers was hands down the smartest thing we ever did at WDW. We rented a City Select Mini. It was waiting for us at concierge when we checked in and when we checked out I gave it to the bellman. Super easy to fold. I detest the park strollers. They are clumsy and made of hard plastic.
 


We rented a city elite from orlando stroller because it's exactly what we have at home and I was not willing to risk my stroller at disney or with airline/airport baggage handlers. I spung for the insurance on the rental for my own peace of mind.

My daughter was 2.5 at the time and we were staying at Boardwalk, so we used the stroller all over that area, and she even rode in it from the bus stop to our room or vice versa. She could easily (and did) fall asleep in it between parks or even walking around in a park. I also cannot say enough about the large canopy.

The stroller was comfortable for her and could travel out of the park, which. Was useful with a 30 pound toddler.
 
IMO...

Park Strollers:
The park strollers are uncomfortable for the kids and bulky.
They cost more than some of the rental places with nicer strollers.
They can not leave the park.
Two sample scenarios where that's inconvenient:
1: you are there late & JR falls asleep, you have to remove the kid from the stroller and then carry to the bus/tram and hold them til the ride comes. Then once you get to the resort you have to carry JR back to your room too. Or make your tired kid walk. Not magical. lol.
2: You want to hop to epcot from MK. You have to return the stroller, make sure you hold onto your reciept bc then when you get to the second park you now have to grab another stroller. Playing devils advocate- if they don't have anymore strollers, you're outta luck.

Bringing your own:
Another thing to bring on the plane.
If you check said stroller, You are looking at baggage fees at around $50/rt anyway.
And if you do so you have to either go to baggage claim to get the stroller or wait for it from the Magic Express which could take a while.

The pluses I can see are that if you don't check it, you have it with you at the airport so you don't have to deal with carrying your little guy/making him walk. And the fact that you have a stroller that you know where it's been and that the germs on it are his own. lol (Although I rented one from Orlando Stroller Rentals and it was very clean)

Rental:
Cheaper than park strollers. (In my experience- saved about $25-30)
More comfortable than the park strollers.
Delivered and returned at your hotel. (Convenient)
You have it with you the whole week.

We went with a rental and were very happy with the quality and price of the stroller. It was much nicer than the cheapie stroller I have at home! haha

Just my two cents... Good luck :)
 
I have never had an airline charge me to check a stroller. So it isn't necessarily saving money to not take your own (call your airline to be certain)

I prefer to take my own, but I own a city mini so it doesn't make sense to essential pay for half a brand new stroller to rent one.
 
I've rented from Orlando and at the Parks.

There are advantages either way.

I liked pushing the Park stroller more, and sitting seemed a like more comfortable.

However, you do have to take time to get the stroller.... and can't take it outside the parks.

Oddly I found the stroller at the Parks worked for us when we stayed off site.

On the other hand, having a stroller out and about is nice.

We always drive, not use Disney transportation.
 
I prefer to rent from an outside company like Orlando Stroller Rental. The Disney strollers are more expensive and less comfortable. I think it really depends on the age of your kids. If they are older than 3-4, you will be ok with the Disney Strollers in the park. If they are younger, I would definitely go with an outside rental company. The park strollers are made of hard plastic...almost impossible to nap in them. The rental strollers are much better for napping...they recline and have a nice shade. If you rent from the parks you will have to carry your kids or they will have to walk to the transportation or parking area, which can be quite a long walk.
 
We've used Kingdom Strollers twice and were not pleased this last trip.

The brake would not hold, kept releasing on it's own and the rain cover had holes and tears in. In general, the stroller was just wore out. We could've called and complained but it was a very short trip and we just didn't want to waste the time. I shouldn't have to waste valuable park time dealing with a bad stroller- this was something they should have caught with the inspection and cleaning they say they do with each return.

We took the stroller with us to Universal for the last 2 days and had a 5pm pick up scheduled on our departure date. They sent my daughter a text very early in the morning instead, they were in the lobby wanting to know if we could go ahead and bring it down so they could have it to exchange with another guest.

We'll use someone else next time.

I wouldn't use park strollers- they're uncomfortable, not much storage space and more expensive than renting.
 
What about for older kids? My son will be 6 and my daughter will be about to turn 4. Normally, my kids would be too old for strollers, but I want to get them to be on the safe side with all that walking and standing around. Would renting from an outside company work?
 
We went to Disney for 10 days in July and I figured it would have cost us $110 to rent a single stroller from Disney for the duration of the trip. We decided to purchase a fold up stroller from Amazon. It was durable and very compact for our two year old. We will be taking it along this trip again in July. The nice part is that it folds up nicely and because you are taking it with you, you have a stroller to walk to the buses. There were some nights where there was no way that I felt like carrying her to the buses after walking around all day in the parks.

We bought The First Years Ignite Stroller, rain cover and luggage bag for about $80 total so we saved $30 over Disney prices and we can use it over and over again. The stroller was very well built and not very heavy or big when folded.

This!

It amazes me that people will pay more to rent a stroller for a week than it costs to buy a good one.

We bought a Joovy Caboose double (inline) stroller from Walmart.com before our last Disney trip. Works perfectly for 2 and the older child can stand and ride if they wish.

If you don't need it when your trip is done just toss it on Craigslist and sell it. Your "stroller rental" will be virtually free.
 
Taking my will be 5yo for our first trip. Stuck on if we should bring or rent a stroller or if we will even need it. anyone take a 5yo for 5 days and have success without a stroller?
 

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