Stroller Graduate - now what to do with our stuff?

[maxiesmom]

Wow - you have been fortunate to have left all those things in the stroller for those many years and not had them bothered or taken. If your kids are big enough to not need a stroller they should be able to handle a string bag or small backpack with their things. Scale back what you take and divide it up between all of you. My guess is you will quickly find out you don't need to take everything into the park if it means someone (besides mom) has to haul the stuff around!

My thoughts exactly.

 

[monorailsilver]

We are stroller graduates 2013! I dreaded it at first but it wasn't bad. My kids were 12, 9 & 7 at the time. They each had a bag as did dh and I.

My oldest and youngest dd's had a baggalini and my son used his cinch sak. They kept their water, phone (oldest), ipod (son), a park map if they wanted, chap stick and that was pretty much it. Their water was their thermos lunch water containers and their water was still ice cold with ice at lunch time in the August sun.

I had a baggalini as well and kept my water, sometimes dh's water (we had the bike water bottles that are insulated, our water was cold but there was no ice by lunch), my dslr and occasionally the video camera, phone, park map, id.

My dh was going to use his travel back pack that he uses as a carry on, thick and heavy...and August... I did talk him out of it as I have a very thin and light weight one and he used that. He would carry his water (if I didn't), my youngest dd got tired of carrying her stuff so he took her water and he kept extra water bottles to refill our containers. He would carry the rain ponchos most days, well except for one evening we went to Epcot and said to ourselves it was just going to be a little rain, sure thunder and lighting and pouring rain but it did stop for illuminations.

I think the kids even carried their snack which was just one thing.

2 or 3 of us carried hand sanitizer, I had the Benadryl and epipen.

But boy do I miss the stroller cup holders!

And if you think that they are going to be carrying these bags all day long in reality they are constantly putting them down for rides.

 

[cruisingtwins]

Have another baby and you solve the proble for the next 5 years

 

[kimbe21]

We got the Hikpro waterproof backpack. It is teeny tiny to fit in your suitcase and it unfolds into a backpack and then at the end of the trip you fold it back in to a teeny tiny package! It is lightweight and did not make our backs sweat. It has space for 2 water bottles and 3 zippered compartments. We brought a ziploc bag for phones for Splash Mtn, etc just to be safe. In it we carried - sunscreen; a pouch containing stuff like bandaids, aspirin, moleskin, wipes, kleenex, hand sanitizer, lip balm, extra ponytail holders; autograph books; pin lanyards; penny presser money; frogg togg cooling towels in a gallon ziplock; snacks and fruit for the kids. We attached our O2Cool mister to the outside zipper. Honestly, it really wasn't all that heavy! I also felt liberated not having a stroller!!

I just looked up this bag on Amazon and it is only $19.99! It looks fantastic. I'm ordering now. Thanks!!

 

[scrapquitler]

Sadly, this will be out first trip in 10 years without needing to bring a stroller. The stroller was the best thing because we used it to store all our stuff. We would leave our backpack, towel, souvenirs, popcorn, drinks, etc etc in the stroller whenever we went on a ride. We are just coming to the realization that we are going to have to scale back big time what we bring to the parks. We always brought snacks, water bottles, a towel, first aid stuff, sun block, light sticks, hair brush, other things in our backpack. We would leave the bag with the stroller with the towel over it an go on a ride. All the little things the kids were given by cast members or bought throughout the day would stay with the stroller. We would bring those squirt bottle fans and hang them on the stroller. Now I don't know what to do! Without resorting to fanny packs... ... does anyone have an advice or strategies they use to deal with your stuff throughout the day?

'
I carry a small crossbody bag. I have my small coin purse/wallet, my phone, some tylenol, travel size sunscreen, extra phone battery and some gum in it. That's it. Have souvenirs sent to your room via the service that Disney provides. I am not a pack mule, I'm not carrying a bunch of stuff for everyone else in the family. You can have your kids carry any essentials in a string backpack or fanny pack. I would give a lot of serious thought to all that other stuff that you seem to be carrying and ask yourself do I really need them all? Put the kids hair in a pony tail, and you don't need a hairbrush. Get the free water from QS, and you don't need a water bottle. etc, etc.

 

[cruisingtwins]

I did see someone pushing a mesh shopping cart and I thought that was brilliant.

 

[kdwhite]

Kind of off topic, what ages did you stop using a stroller? My boys are 6 and 4 and I know we'll need one for the 4 yr old...trying to decide if I should bring our umbrella stroller or rent a double. My 6 yr old never rides in one now but I feel like at the parks we'll want one for later in afternoon/evening when he's wiped?! I'd hate for them to fight over the umbrella stroller!

 

[maxiesmom]

Kind of off topic, what ages did you stop using a stroller? My boys are 6 and 4 and I know we'll need one for the 4 yr old...trying to decide if I should bring our umbrella stroller or rent a double. My 6 yr old never rides in one now but I feel like at the parks we'll want one for later in afternoon/evening when he's wiped?! I'd hate for them to fight over the umbrella stroller!

Unless you have a very nice umbrella stroller, I would leave it and rent a double. They are much more comfortable to push through the parks than a cheap umbrella stroller. Plus you will then have a place for some of your stuff, and for your older child should he get tuckered out.

 

[cheribear]

We used these:

I ordered them from Land's end and had them shipped to our resort. They were less than $10 each (sale) The first day we just had a regular LE backpack that we had used for carry on luggage and it was heavy and uncomfortable. These little string bags were awesome because they have a zippered front pocket and two stretchy side mesh pockets for water bottles, etc. I found it was easier to wear it on the front instead of on my back, so I didn't always have to take it off if I wanted to get anything. I stored my camera/phone right in the front zipper pocket for easy access.

These string bags pack down into a tiny little bag so I often threw another string bag into the bottom of the first one, just in case we ended up carrying more stuff and needing an extra bag, or when we packed one with lunch stuff we just packed down the bag when we were done.

For 6 people in the middle of August when it was hotter than I could even imagine - we managed quite easily with two of those bags. It poured rain for awhile in the middle of most of the days so we bought the flimsy $1 ponchos and I had a travel umbrella in there. Then we each had one of these Contigo bottles from Costco:

They are amazing and will keep liquid cold all day! I would put ice in it and then refill it with water in the parks when needed. Sometimes we had a few plastic water bottles and it didn't matter if they got warm because we'd pour the water over the ice in these bottles and it would get cold quickly.

I did usually kept the following items in the bags:
- autograph book and pencil/pen - I shoved them in a bubble mailer envelope so they didn't get lost or damaged
- pill bottles full of quarters and pennies for the penny press machines and the shooting gallery
- small travel size kleenex, wet wipes
- our pin lanyards, and each kid had their own Disney gift card in the card holder part. If they wanted to buy something I didn't have to mess with money
- small stick of sunscreen - we sprayed sunscreen thoroughly before leaving each day
- baggie of glow bracelets, sticks, flashers etc for night events
- pill bottle with Advil, Imodium, Tums, Reactine and Dramamine
- wallet-sized first aid kit - it just had moleskin pre-cut into squares, band-Aids and alcohol wipes

That was about it! The bag was somewhat heavy at the beginning of the day because we'd shove 2-3 extra water bottles in there, but those were gone quickly. On the days we brought a lunch, I also packed one of these insulated bags into a cinch sack and it kept the sandwiches etc. cool until we ate.

I found that the key to keeping it organized is to have big and small Ziploc bags to shove stuff into. When 6 people wear ponchos, and then want to pack them back in the pack you need a place to keep them from getting everything else damp - so they went into a large ziploc and I squeezed the air out and it was dry and compact. I kept all of the lanyards and pins etc. in a ziploc when the kids weren't wearing them so that the backs didn't get lost.

It took a few days for me to realize that I really did not need my purse/wallet at Disney. Everything went on Disney cards or magic bands and I carried a few bills in a tiny change purse, just in case. It lightened my load considerably once I quit trying to shove my wallet in my backpack!

Most of all, the bags weren't too heavy or bulky and no problem to bring on the rides. The small size kept us from bringing stuff we didn't really need. When I went through bag check and saw what other people were bringing and I could not imagine carrying some of those huge bags all day!! If I needed to pack a bigger backpack I swear I'd just get one with wheels. I saw a few people with those and it seemed like such a smart idea. I would not mind hauling a bigger bag around all day as long as it wasn't aways on my shoulders.

The other thing I recommend is a lanyard-style case for your phone. I was always rummaging for mine or tucking it away in the bag for wet rides and rollercoasters. If it just hung around my neck that would have been great!

Hope that helps! I felt like we had everything we needed and as one of the designated bag-carriers, I didn't even mind carrying it.