Strollers. Adults and families with children who have outgrown their strollers hate them. Parents with young children can’t live without them. Internet message boards heat up with emphatic opinions on both sides of the stroller—front and back! So this week we asked the Parenting Panel: How old is too old for the stroller? How old is old enough to walk? What worked for you? Boy, did our Panel respond!
Parenting in the Parks columnist Adrienne Krock’s three boys are now 12, 10, and 7. They’ve been visiting Disneyland since they were each just weeks old and Annual Passholders since their 3rd birthdays. Adrienne writes:
We started to transition our children out of the stroller at the parks when they finished kindergarten, as they reached 6. The transition started naturally for our eldest: When he was in kindergarten, his youngest brother arrived! We only had room for two of our three children in the stroller so we evicted the eldest. Every now and then, we might have carried the baby in the sling on a late night back to the parking structure but not often. When our middle son was about the same age, he preferred to walk and I became tired of dragging the double stroller. We easily transitioned to a lightweight, single stroller for my youngest at that point.
Before my youngest hit about 6, we still had reasons to let him use the stroller:
- Frankly, a young child has a hard time keeping up with big legs at a large theme park.
- The stroller gave his legs a rest and helped him last longer during our visits.
- Younger children need more gear, which is easier to haul with the help of a stroller. Now that my elder sons are 12 and 10, I love loading up their backpacks with hats, sweatshirts and water bottles. Last Sunday, they carried so much in their bags that my husband left his backpack at home and I kept my smaller backpack purse instead of transferring my haul into my “Big Mama Backpack”.
- Bringing our own stroller meant that for the long walks back to our car at the end of longer days, that precious little pumpkin was a lot easier to push in a stroller, than to carry!
- And, probably, most importantly, in large crowds, we found it much easier to keep track of our young sons when they rode in the stroller.
Our youngest was 5 on our first visit to Florida. Living in the Southern California desert, we truly appreciate the meaning of the term “dry heat.” We faced several hot and humid days during our visit to the Walt Disney World Resort (WDW) and our sons had a hard time adjusting to that humidity! (I did, too!) Besides that, WDW is just plain huge! Having our stroller for our 5-year-old in Orlando just made sense to pace his energy level during our 11-day visit.
By the end of kindergarten, we also found they were happier to walk more than ride. That does not mean that the transition has gone smoothly. My now-7-year-old starts to whine at the end of a day at Disneyland. Fortunately, I have the luxury of being an Annual Passholder to afford me two strategies: First, we can visit for shorter days without worrying about missing out on too much. But second, when he whines, I remind him that if he wants me to bring him back another day, he better stop whining. He knows that the promise of whine-free (or at least reduced-whining) trips will result in more frequent visits.
Chris, also known as GusMan, is always planning his next family trip to WDW and loves to help others plan their trips as well through sharing his experiences. Chris writes:
Using a stroller is a rite-of passage for any touring family who has a young child. They act not only as a mode of transportation for the youngest in your group, but they also act as a napping place, and a place to get distracted from the ambient stimuli, as well as a place to store necessary travel items for everyone else in the group. They become the focus of controversy, as well as the saving grace for families who want to stay out till the very end. If the question comes up as to when is the right time to ditch the stroller, I would love to say as soon as possible. However, I’m not convinced that is the best answer for everyone.
My own personal experience demonstrated that while I wanted to have my son start walking at the parks, on his own, around age 5, I saw how it was going to be a fight. He did not like walking the far distances required for touring and he just did not have the stamina to stay out later. I can say first-hand that trying to make the long journey to the buses with what equates to a 50 pound “sack of potatoes” is not what I would call fun. I realized that we can view the stroller as a tool to help us all enjoy Disney at our own pace and not have any issue with it.
In essence, we learned that, in our situation, it was best to let our son make the decision for us. I know that may seem like a cop-out to some, but I do believe that when it comes to the family vacation, you can pick and choose your battles in order to keep up the vacation atmosphere. Anti-stroller training can easily be done at home in-between trips, and you can then gauge what mode of transportation is going to be best for your child. What we did to help work this out was that we started walking as a family while talking about Disney trips. It was a nice distraction and good exercise, but it also disguised how we were “training” to ditch the stroller for the next trip. Once we knew that the kids could consistently deal with walking a little over a mile without complaining, we felt like their stamina was at the point where we may not need the stroller anymore. To help make our point, we did have a stroller with us during the trip when he was 6, last year and we ended up not using it all that much.
Upon our return, we decided that the stroller was no more. Our son was a little reluctant, but he realized that he did not need it and that he could have a little more independence. The following trip, and he was stroller free! We paced ourselves so that none of us would get tired and it seemed to work very well. The key thing in our situation was that while I wanted the stroller gone, I needed to not force the issue. I think that if I had made a big deal about it, the transition would not have been so peaceful.
Emily Loftus is a wife, mom of 2, portrait photographer and Disneyland fanatic from Reno, Nevada. Emily writes:
We have visited the Disneyland Resort at least once a year, every year, since our son was 17 months and our daughter was 2 months old. Obviously a stroller is necessary when you visit Disneyland with a baby, but it’s nice to have with an older child, as well. It’s a great place to stash jackets, water bottles and other things you’ll need during your busy Disneyland day. Our method was always to keep all of our personal items in a backpack that fit in the stroller basket then we would take the backpack with us when we left the stroller. I have nephew, who is 5 years younger than my daughter, and, sometimes, we still use his stroller for some of our personal belongings, as long as there is room.
All this said: We quit using a stroller at Disneyland when our kids were 3-and 4-years old. We were driving to Anaheim from our home which is about a nine- to 10-hour drive. When we packed the car the night before we left, we decided to save the room in the car and not pack the stroller. We still regularly used a sit-and-stand stroller, and had never taken even a short trip without one, but we had a plan. We would try a half-day or so, without a stroller, then go rent one when the kids couldn’t take walking anymore. At the end of our vacation, my husband and I suddenly realized that we had never gone to rent a stroller and we never even missed having one.
Going without a stroller is significantly less cumbersome than going with one. We save time and footsteps because we no longer have to walk around to park and retrieve our stroller, before and after every single ride, attraction, show and meal. We found that our kids were a lot happier being able to walk, too. They enjoyed a little freedom, but they were still light enough to carry when it was necessary, which wasn’t often. We also found that their physical exhaustion matched our own, which helped us immensely, because they napped in the afternoon and slept when we got back to the room at night. During our stroller using days, they weren’t as tired at the end of the day and in their Disney-fueled excitement they heavily fought sleep. I can only assume they did so because they hadn’t been up and walking all day, like their dad and I had been.
During that visit to Disneyland, there never came a time where we felt like we were desperate for a stroller, so without even intending it, we weaned ourselves from it swiftly. I haven’t looked back for one second. I truly believe that a younger stroller weaning is much easier than an older one. At 3 and 4, both of our kids longed to be free of the stroller, they never missed it.
Mary Kraemer is an avid Disney fan and travel consultant with CruisingCo/MouseEarVacations who loves to travel with her husband and children to Disney destinations as often as possible! Mary writes:
My oldest child was just younger than 3 on his first trip to Disneyland and we did not use a stroller. He’s an active child and we just didn’t need it. I do remember a subsequent visit with him, maybe at about age 5, when he fell asleep in line while we were waiting for Splash Mountain fairly late in the evening, and while I was carrying him to the car (ah, the good old days, when the parking lot was right outside the front gates), I dearly wished I’d had a stroller.
My next three kids started visiting Disneyland at a much younger age than their brother, so strollers were a necessity for us since they were infants. And I think a lot had to do with the fact that we had twins and then our fourth baby 14 months apart. How could you manage without a stroller, really? We carried a lot of stuff in diaper bags, snacks, etc. so being able to wheel around the kids and all their stuff was a no-brainer.
We began averaging three or four trips to Disneyland per year with our kids and really had it down to a system, packing spare clothes and necessities for the day. Strollers were a convenient place for the kids to nap at times, so we almost never returned to our hotel midday to rest. Our kids learned how to read maps while they were still very young, and demanded to have them from the time we’d enter the front gates of Disneyland so they could “navigate” us through the park.
When the twins were about 5 and their little sister was 4, I began taking them to the park solo every once in awhile. That was quite a bit trickier than when my husband was at the park with us because we generally took our double and single strollers—and that was not manageable with only one adult. So, I flattened out one of the reclining seats on the double stroller and had two kids sit back to back on it; it wasn’t the most elegant (or probably ergonomic) solution, but it enabled me to get three kids from Point A to Point B all together. It was not so much that my kids needed a stroller at that point to get around but more that I needed the stroller to keep everyone together, especially when we needed to move through a crowd.
That system lasted about a year or so before we gave up our (very battle weary) strollers. We missed them very much, because of the amount of stuff that we’d bring into the park on a regular basis…sweatshirts for the cool evenings, a cooler with snacks, etc. And now, we were on our own to carry things…right to the convenient lockers at the park!
When clients ask me about renting strollers or bringing their own, I always advise them to bring their own stroller. First, they are familiar with it and know how much stuff they can pack into it, and it’s a familiar place for their child. The second (and perhaps more significant) aspect to me, as a parent, is the ability to not leave the stroller behind at the park gates when it’s time to leave…the very time when you and your child are the most tired and in need of the stroller’s convenience!
If you travel by air, it’s easy to ‘gate check’ your stroller, so you have it all the way until you board the plane, and then it’s ready for you as soon as you get off the plane. And if you’re driving, you’re probably used to having the stroller in the car anyway!
Some folks are worried about losing their expensive strollers at the parks, and if this is a major concern for you, my recommendation is to stop off at a local WalMart or Target to purchase a cheap stroller for your time at the parks; it’s likely to be less expensive than renting a stroller and you can take it with you at the end of the day. Whether you take it home with your or not is up to you!
MousePlanet columnist Chris Barry his wife Diane, 11-year-old Samantha, and twin 8-year-olds, Casey and Alex, live on Long Island and are all major Disney and Walt Disney World fans. Chris writes:
This has always been a no-brainer for our kids and for us. Strollers in WDW are a must. Each of our kids were 4-years-old on their first trips, so I can’t comment on anything younger than that. But, between the ages of 4 and 7, we happily rented Disney strollers for the kids, and they happily rode in them.
Disney strollers are big and roomy and easy to push around. It became part of the trip for them. They had their “guys” or their stuffed animals down in there with them. When we went on a ride or visited an attraction, they set them up in the seat or in the pocket so they would be waiting for them when we returned. There has always been one of those water fans tied to the handle within easy reach of hot faces. The stroller was their little car and they loved it. For late nights, the stroller became the crash pad for them. How many nights did we let them fall asleep in the stroller while we took turns going on attractions or watching a parade or fireworks that they just couldn’t stay up for? Too many, I’m sure. It was nice to have. Sometimes I actually miss it.
So, that becomes the question. When did we give it up? My daughter was the litmus test. She has three years on the boys, so we figured her quitting age in the stroller was a good benchmark. That age turned out to be 7. That certainly sounds old for a stroller, but remember, these are Disney strollers. They are larger and roomier and I think, made for kids up to age 7 or so. It was really size with them, not age. They’re tall and they just got too tall for the strollers. When my daughter was 6 and 7, we rented her a double size stroller. She fit just fine. So did the boys. However, the twins in the double stroller at age 7 were a little tight, but they wanted it and never complained. Sometimes they would take turns having it to themselves and we worked out a fair rotation.
The disadvantages of renting a Disney stroller are small. They are pricey. Although, renting for extended stays helps out the price a bit. The other main disadvantage is that the Disney stroller stays in the park. Now that may seem like a problem to some and I can sympathize. Sometimes that walk out to the buses, or worse, the walk back to the room from the buses was a bit much for the kids. Let’s face it; it was a bit much for us, because we were usually carrying them. But, I’ve never had to struggle folding a stroller and then try to fit myself, the kids and the cumbersome stroller on a crowded bus either. Plus, it was good for the kids to walk. The strollers became a part of the park experience for them, and unless they were asleep, we tried to get them used to walking once we left the turnstiles. We weren’t cruel. If they were exhausted, we carried. But, it was nice to know the option of them walking was always there.
Many people base their stroller use on their home life. If the child is out of a stroller at home, then they are out of the stroller in a place like Disney. Our opinion is that this is a mistake. Home is not a Disney park. The hours and the miles of walking, not to mention that charming Orlando heat can wreak havoc on any grown-up, never mind a child. Case in point, my best friend Lou. He has two sons as well, a year apart, close in age to our boys. They came with us on their first Disney trip. Day 1 at the Magic Kingdom and the younger guy wanted a stroller. I advised a double. He scoffed at the price and the need. He was sure the older guy was fine. I warned him. He ignored. Within half an hour, the older guy wanted in and he had to walk back to stroller rental for an upgrade. Yes, I agree, only you know your children, but do you know them in a Disney park? It’s a different environment. Our advice has always been to budget a Disney stroller into your trip if your child still fits in one. It’ll make them happy and when they’re happy, you’re happy.
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