This is a travel blog dedicated to all things Disney, but mostly Walt Disney World. Our goal is to pass along Disney travel tips so others may enjoy their vacations as much as we do. We have over 15 years of experience visiting and planning Disney vacations and we are here to help.
1. Bring your own, don't rent
2. Avoid double strollers if at all
possible
3. Go as lightweight as possible
4. Avoid the buses if you have
kids in strollers
If you have kids in strollers, the management of them will be a large part of your day. Parking them, finding them again, getting from the room to the car/bus, pleading with your children to get into/out of them, etc. You'll want to do everything in your power to make it as easy on yourself as possible. We have Disney specific strollers at our house. They certainly get used for other things, but they were bought with Disney in mind (with all that money you saved by not renting, remember??). For infants or very small kids who will need to nap in the stroller, take a "real" stroller. The one with all the bells and whistles. Try and pick one from the onset that folds quickly and easily but take it regardless. We like the Britax B-Agile or the Peg Perego Pliko series. They fold quickly but have great back support and padding for little guys. Plus they recline flat and have big shades. After they are a bit older, 2+ usually, they aren't taking full on naps in the stroller. It's then time to invest in a good, lightweight "umbrella" type stroller. Don't make the mistake of getting the $30 ones that hang on the giant circular display at Babies R Us. You will be miserable and so will kiddo. They have no support/shade/recline and are usually too short to push easily. Go ahead and invest (buy second hand) in a sturdy brand. We like the McLaren Triumph series. You can put big kids in them for quick park crossing, but they are still comfortable enough for little guys as well. They work easily with the stroller links we mentioned in part one. They turn well and fold like a dream. **TIP: on the first day buy a giant Mickey balloon and tie it to your stroller so it's easy to spot. If it breaks or pops, they replace it for free anywhere they sell them**
Ok the buses. We'll talk a great deal more about this, but we really don't recommend using the bus system if you have little guys, strollers, or multiple kids. Disney offers guests staying on property the advantage of in-house bus systems to and from all the hotels and parks. At the value resorts there is one main bus stop, at the moderate and deluxe hotels there are often multiple stations. Since there is only one station, if you are at the value resort, you can often wait in line for 30 min + at peak times. This is true about getting back to your resort as well. Even with multiple stops at the other resorts, leaving the parks at high traffic times is miserable. I can't tell you the number of times we watched the fireworks at a park, booked it to the the bus stop, waited 45min with tired, miserable kids only to have to stand on the crowded bus holding sleeping children while balancing folded strollers.Horrible. If you have bigger kids who are good at waiting, don't mind standing and don't need strollers, the buses are a huge help. But renting a car changed how I felt about Disney. It took away a huge source of stress and crabbiness. My sister tried for several trips to get me to rent one and I always held fast to the buses. Then I tried it. OMG ya'll. It changed the trip to and from parks from one of dread to a pleasure. We could leave all our park junk in the car. Strollers, light sabers, fans, sunscreen, pin lanyards all in the car! No more balancing act with sleeping kids after a long day, no more spending a ton of time in lines before you even get to the parks. No more debate about if it was worth battling the crowd to watch the late night shows.And parking at the parks is free if you stay on property! The rental car isn't very expensive, it usually only adds about $150-250 to a trip, and it is BY FAR one of my strongest suggestions.
Jambo everyone! On this cold, wet morning I'm dreaming of Animal Kingdom's Kilimanjaro Safari ride. Your entire party boards an open air jeep and you spend 20 min driving through the African savannah. Make sure you go first thing in the morning to catch the animals before the heat makes them sleepy and you can see elephants, giraffes, lions, hippos and more right up next to your vehicle! It's one of my family's favorite things to do and great for any age. The link above is the song that is playing in the background and it never fails to make me wish I was there! Happy Disney Dreaming!
The stroller question is probably the number one question I get when friends ask me for Disney advice. We've used (still do) strollers for all my boys, including my 7 year old, every time we go. It just makes traveling through the parks easier and faster. You can easily cover 5 miles a day wandering through the theme parks and it is just too much for little legs. And I'm sure your kid has walked all over Europe and Asia when they were only 3 and then ran a marathon the next day, but trust me, they will be whiny, hot, tired, and sore after standing in lines and crossing the parks all day. Do yourself a favor, keep them in a stroller for as long as you can! Not to mention it gives me an added sense of security that no kids will wander off in the (sometimes massive) crowd of Mickey admirers. So what are our recommendations?
1. Bring your own, don't rent
2. Avoid double strollers if at all possible
3. Go as lightweight as possible
4. Avoid the buses if you have kids in strollers
Renting: There are two options when it comes to renting strollers at Disney. You can rent from Disney themselves at any park and return the stroller at the end of every day or you can rent through an outside company and keep the stroller for the duration of your trip. The Disney strollers are great for older kids, like maybe 6 and up. They are a hard plastic shell like stroller that doesn't offer much shade and doesn't recline at all. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/stroller-rentals/ (see photo below). They have double and single stroller options. Renting is extremely easy, often just inside the turnstiles at every park. You get a large name placard that stays with your stroller all day and you simply drop the stroller off when you are done. **BONUS you can drop them certain places in the park and simply get a new one later i.e. the train through Magic Kingdom**. They are fairly pricey, with single strollers at $15 a day and double ones $31. For an average 6 day stay, that comes to a grand total of between $90- 186!! And you don't even get to use them to and from the parking lot or in the airport! For the same investment, we recommend you purchase a good, lightweight stroller (more to come on that) that you can reuse on subsequent trips. The second renting option is to go through one of several local companies and rent a stroller at a set price for the duration of your stay. They often deliver it to your hotel room and pick it up as well. You can choose from several makes and models and the price is fairly equivalent to Disney's rentals. We still suggest bringing your own though to help with airport transport and to get the most out of your investment. If it is the same $100 regardless, might as well own the stroller at the end of the trip.
Double or Single: Many people with more than one child often assume that a double stroller is the way to go when traveling to WDW or DL. Incorrect my grasshopper. Double strollers are bulky, hard to turn, and hard to navigate through the large crowds of people. I don't care how amazing your triple level, platinum edition BOB type double stroller is, it is harder to use than a lightweight single stroller. Every single one is hard to collapse to get on and off buses and monorails, a central part of your trip and one that can cause incredible stress. Plus, double strollers make it very difficult to split up when you need to. EVERY DAY that we are there we split up for something: bathroom breaks, nap time, snagging Fast Passes, big kid vs little kid rides, etc. We recommend getting two lightweight strollers and purchasing clips that can turn them into double strollers if needed like these Stroller Connectors or Stroller Links. That way, each parent can quickly and easily maneuver/fold/separate a single stroller but you can link them and have one parent do double duty if necessary! What if I have more than two kids oh Disney oracle? Well it depends on the ages. For my boys, (7, 3, and 6 mon) We do a regular stroller for baby so he can recline and nap if needed, and a lightweight stroller with a stand board for my middle and big boy. I would also consider a sit and stand before I did a double stroller. It gets us all where we need to be, no double stroller fuss, and we're able to split up if need be!
