jchop
November 11th, 2002, 22:30
I'm suffering from a severe case of post-Disney World vacation blues........sob....sob...
Just returned yesterday from a 6 day trip (5 days at the parks) and thought I'd share a bit about our stroller experience.
We took our girls, ages 4 1/2 (going to be 5 in February) and 22 months. I struggled with the stoller decision....rent at each of the parks or take our own from home? After much consideration, we purchased 2 Kolcraft Lite Sport strollers (a fancy umbrella stroller). The stroller has a one-handed folding mechanism, soft one-piece solid handle (versus the 2 separate handles), a generous basket, a large sturdy canopy, and a snack tray that we left on for the younger child but removed for easier entry for the older princess.
We assembled one stroller and used it at the airports getting to DW (checked it at the gate) but we left the second stroller unopened in the box since my almost 5 year old prefers to walk.
I can honestly say that I'm completely happy with our decision to take our own strollers. The baskets provided ample space to stow our backpack/diaper bag and camera bag. We were rained-on one day and the strollers dried very quickly (within 1 hour in the sun). We agreed that we would not have been happy standing in the stroller-rental line in the morning after standing in the line to get into the park at opening time.
Another big plus was that we had the strollers to use in the parking lots. Several mornings we arrived early enough that we were able to park close enough to not need to take the tram. We would have been pooped carrying our almost 2 year old!
I would also highly recommend cutting a strip of brightly colored fabric and tying it to the stroller handle. I had a piece of fleece that I cut into 12 x 3 inch strips with pinking shears. Every piece of luggage and the strollers had a piece of fleece tied to the top of the handle - made it super-easy to spot your stroller in the ocean of strollers as we exited rides and shows.
Hope this helps everyone!
One more thing - the stroller we bought did not have a recline feature. This was something I was worried about. The truth is, we agreed that we would return to our hotel at the first indication our younger child was ready for a nap. This is what we did and it worked beautifully. We forced ourselved to retreat and rest (mandatory shoe removal, climb into bed and relax!!!)
Also - the stroller was $29.95 at Target.......saved us $$$.
(A sweet aside - my 4 year old asked if I would please save the stoller for her to use when she has a baby. Said it was her special stoller since it was her "Disney World" stroller)
Just returned yesterday from a 6 day trip (5 days at the parks) and thought I'd share a bit about our stroller experience.
We took our girls, ages 4 1/2 (going to be 5 in February) and 22 months. I struggled with the stoller decision....rent at each of the parks or take our own from home? After much consideration, we purchased 2 Kolcraft Lite Sport strollers (a fancy umbrella stroller). The stroller has a one-handed folding mechanism, soft one-piece solid handle (versus the 2 separate handles), a generous basket, a large sturdy canopy, and a snack tray that we left on for the younger child but removed for easier entry for the older princess.
We assembled one stroller and used it at the airports getting to DW (checked it at the gate) but we left the second stroller unopened in the box since my almost 5 year old prefers to walk.
I can honestly say that I'm completely happy with our decision to take our own strollers. The baskets provided ample space to stow our backpack/diaper bag and camera bag. We were rained-on one day and the strollers dried very quickly (within 1 hour in the sun). We agreed that we would not have been happy standing in the stroller-rental line in the morning after standing in the line to get into the park at opening time.
Another big plus was that we had the strollers to use in the parking lots. Several mornings we arrived early enough that we were able to park close enough to not need to take the tram. We would have been pooped carrying our almost 2 year old!
I would also highly recommend cutting a strip of brightly colored fabric and tying it to the stroller handle. I had a piece of fleece that I cut into 12 x 3 inch strips with pinking shears. Every piece of luggage and the strollers had a piece of fleece tied to the top of the handle - made it super-easy to spot your stroller in the ocean of strollers as we exited rides and shows.
Hope this helps everyone!
One more thing - the stroller we bought did not have a recline feature. This was something I was worried about. The truth is, we agreed that we would return to our hotel at the first indication our younger child was ready for a nap. This is what we did and it worked beautifully. We forced ourselved to retreat and rest (mandatory shoe removal, climb into bed and relax!!!)
Also - the stroller was $29.95 at Target.......saved us $$$.
(A sweet aside - my 4 year old asked if I would please save the stoller for her to use when she has a baby. Said it was her special stoller since it was her "Disney World" stroller)