Stroller for 5 year old?

[nextbigthing]

DS hasn't been in a stroller in 2 plus years. But, he's the type that on the weekends if we're busy he will hit a wall around 2 and tell me he wants to go home and take a rest.

I'm worried about all of the walking bug I realllllly dont want to fool with a stroller.

What do you think? Rent one when there if needed? Bring my umbrella stroller? He's over 50lb so carrying him is not an option for any major distances.

[kittycatlove]

We rented a stroller for DS when he was 5, and were so glad we did. We rented from Kingdom Strollers, they deliver and pickup to your hotel.

[nmosrob]

DD will be 4.5 when we go in October. She hasn't been in a stroller for 2 years as well, but we're renting. I plan on using it to/from the parks, and then probably just stroller parking for most of the day, and as we need it we'll use it. Not sure if that's a good plan, but that's what we're going to attempt.

[nicolewi]

I vote stroller for sure!! It is kind of nice to have one for all of your gear. We rented a double from Kingdom Strollers for our just-turned 4 and 6 year olds. Both rode in it a lot. We did long park days and the stroller was a big help.

[mainelyfoolish]

I took a stroller last December for a 6 year old. It is so much more walking than anywhere else we ever go, so even for a kid who hadn’t needed a stroller regularly for over three years it was still useful, both to carry the kid and our stuff (jackets, snacks, water bottles, etc).

I would bring your own stroller or rent from an off site vendor (but since you still own one, you might as well save money and bring it) so that at the end of a long day when you still have a long walk to your car or bus stop, you’ve got a place for the kid to rest. If you rent a stroller at a park, it has to stay inside the park.

[curbsideprophet]

We went in May and rented a single for our 4 year old and 7 year to share. I was glad we had it.

We are going again this weekend and are renting one.

[VillainV]

We brought a stroller for our 5yo. He still barely fits in the Summer Infant 3D Lite....he definitely doesn’t fit in the CitiMini anymore unless it’s reclined, then it gets really tippy. But he’s a big kid.

There is no way he would have been able to hang without a stroller.

[revolution]

Wehn DS was that age, we went without one and planned to get one at the park if we needed to. We ended up getting one at each park and I am so glad we did. Rent at the park and drop off on the way out so no need to fuss with it much more than that.

[Patsy Baloney]

I'll go against the grain and say no stroller. We took DD at 5 without one, and she did fine. She rode on her dad's shoulders a few times when we stayed out late for fireworks, but otherwise chugged right along. A few days we went out, came back in for a nap, and went back to the parks, but most of the days we just soldiered through all day and had a great time. I think because it's not a super-high-impact day, because you're just strolling from ride to ride, character to character, off to lunch, etc. it's totally doable without a stroller.

I generally am a stroller hater in all walks of life. It's just one more thing to keep track of. And, because we don't need one, we're giving more room on the walkways to people who do.

[was5]

We used one for our twin 5-year-olds in December. H didn't think we needed it but we pulled it out of the garage and dusted it off. Best decision we made!

But, we have one child who gets overwhelmed with crowds and new experiences, so it was nice to have the stroller as a way to keep him moving along if he was reluctant. It was also nice at the end of the day for the walk to the bus. It is a bit of a hassle to get it on the bus, but dealing with 2 grumpy children who are complaining about being tired is more of a hassle.

[Deleted]

We’re going strollerless our next trip. My kids will be 7 and 4.5. I figure we can always rent one at the parks if they need them. I also hate dealing with the stroller on the busses, parking it, finding it, etc. We had a single last time and my older daughter didn’t ever really use it (she turned 6 on the trip) and she’s a pretty lazy kid lol.

I actually don’t think it’s a whole lot of walking in MK and DHS, Epcot is large though and AK can be if you don’t go in a circle but the other 2 aren’t that large of parks. We seemed to spend way more time walking around trying to find the stroller than going to a new area lol.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I bought a super cheap stroller for $10 from a local consignment store to take when we went when dd was 6, and she used it SO.MUCH. And then I gave it away before we left the last day so I didn't have to bring it home. I was so glad we had it, she would have been miserable and made us miserable if we hadn't had it. But she is one to get whiny when tired and want to stop and rest or even still ask to be carried.

[alleinesein]

A healthy 5-year-old should not be in a stroller at the parks. If your kid is wiped out after running around for 5-6 hours, you need to take a break and go back to the hotel for pool time and a nap or adjust your expectations. Kids do not have the same park stamina as adults and to expect them to be able to go 10-14 hrs without getting tired/cranky/worn-out is unrealistic.

The amount of strollers in the parks is already obscene and keeping perfectly healthy, able-bodied kids capable of walking in them is only adding to the congestion.

[VillainV]

Aug 27, 2019 18:47:18 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

A healthy 5-year-old should not be in a stroller at the parks. If your kid is wiped out after running around for 5-6 hours, you need to take a break and go back to the hotel for pool time and a nap or adjust your expectations. Kids do not have the same park stamina as adults and to expect them to be able to go 10-14 hrs without getting tired/cranky/worn-out is unrealistic.

The amount of strollers in the parks is already obscene and keeping perfectly healthy, able-bodied kids capable of walking in them is only adding to the congestion.

Wait, what?!

My child is perfectly healthy. When we go to Disney we don’t stay on property, because my ILs live 45 minutes away. So going to the hotel/pool isn’t an option. We get there when they open and usually leave around 4-5, and do a sit-down lunch for an hour or so of rest. But yeah, it’s a lot of walking and standing in line, and even healthy kids sometimes can’t hang. Also, my kid gets super nervous in large crowds where everyone towers over his head, and a stroller makes him feel more secure. So keep on judging.

ETA: Also, people who go to places FOR KIDS and complain about too many strollers get major side-eye from me.

[minniemouse]

Bring your stroller. Your back will thank you when you don’t have to carry a heavy child who is tired. Remember their legs are short - they are taking double to triple the amount of steps that an adult takes!!

[covergirl82]

When we took our kids at ages 5 and 7, I wish we would've had a stroller. It's a lot of standing and walking, and it would have been good to have a stroller for them to take turns riding/sitting. And I agree with minniemouse - they are taking 2-3x the number of steps of an adult.

I especially wish we had had a stroller on that trip to save the kids from walking because DS (he was 7) got a severe confusional migraine at school (which included an ambulance ride and 3-day stay at the hospital to rehydrate him and diagnose him, because at first they didn't know it was a migraine he was so disoriented and confused (for example, he couldn't remember DD's name)) 2 days after we got home from our WDW trip, due to dehydration and exhaustion from the trip. Both my kids are generally healthy, so we never gave a thought to this happening.

[PatBenatar]

I am here right now with my 2 and 7 year old. We rented a double and I'm very glad we did, especially since the 7 year old isn't feeling well.

Also it's very hot here.

[dancingirl21]

We are going next month with our 3 and 6 year olds and bringing our double stroller. Neither really love riding, but I do know they won't be able to handle all the walking.

[wesleycrusher]

We've done day trips to parks and don't use the stroller then, but going for a week we've always had one. Mine are 6 and 7 now. They'll mutiny when they don't have it- they love it (with all the walking sometimes I wish I had a stroller, too, so I don't blame them) but the time is coming soon.

[nicolewi]

Get.the.stroller. Really.

It is just going to keep everyone happier and give you more options/flexibility.

We also liked having it at night in crowds to keep the littles contained. I didn't find it to really be much of a hassle. Then again, DH had to deal with folding it to get on and off the shuttles. We loved stashing all our gear in the stroller. Extra jackets, princess dresses, popcorn bucket, etc.

[debatethis]

An average adult walks something like 8 miles per day at WDW. Double that in steps for a kid because they walk ~2 steps for every 1 an adult takes. We're renting a single stroller, mostly for our toddler (ditto everyone else about Kingdom Strollers). But if my newly-six-year-old needs a place to rest his feet for a bit you'd better believe I'm not taking him all the way back to our hotel - he can trade off with little sis for a bit and hop in the stroller, and she can walk or ride in somebody's arms.

(FWIW, the two highest height/weight limit models that KS rents are the CitiMini GT and the BOB. Based solely on weight/foldability for trams and the monorail, we're doing the GT)

[sangria]

So do you guys think the stroller is a must-have for WDW and DL or are we just talking DW since I know it's much bigger?

I have an 8yo and a 5yo (turning 6 while we are there) and I'm on the fence about the 5 yo. After lots of walking she will start getting tired and ask to be carried and we sure as hell are not carrying her lol

Not worried about the 8 year old. She can hang

[Zoly]

I've only been to DL once, but when I compared my steps with our DW trip, I walked pretty much the same amount. Part of that is because we would walk back to the hotel mid-day for pool time or rest, but also because the parks are so close together, we would just hop on over to the other one if we wanted to.

[Deleted]

Aug 30, 2019 11:46:32 GMT -5 sangria said:

So do you guys think the stroller is a must-have for WDW and DL or are we just talking DW since I know it's much bigger?

I have an 8yo and a 5yo (turning 6 while we are there) and I'm on the fence about the 5 yo. After lots of walking she will start getting tired and ask to be carried and we sure as hell are not carrying her lol

Not worried about the 8 year old. She can hang

I personally think you don’t need one at DL past 4. My 2 year old barely rode in one at DL. Basically just to and from the hotel each day. WDW is a lot bigger but I think plenty of 4/5/6 year olds could hang there without a stroller.

[dulcemariamar]

I went with my 6Y0 and we did not use one. She is used to walking since we live in a city and take PT but I think generally speaking you can go without if you take breaks and are not running around like crazy. Just having to park it and then getting seems like a hassle.

[mmmomof2]

My 6yo didn't use one at WDW last August but I will say she had a few meltdowns and we rested more than I (park commando by nature) wanted to. I mean, it was August so we all needed to rest and swim, but when you are paying a gajillion dollars you want to get your money's worth so I get it.


At Disneyland she hasn't used one since she was four, but we've either stayed on-site or were driving up for the day. We've never had to walk from one of the Harbor hotels, which would be a different scenario.

Bottomline - you do you. People are going to judge no matter what. I will say it's very freeing not having the stroller too.

[sent]

I did not like the rental strollers available at the park. After years of pushing my fancy stroller with great storage, I found it too low, hard to push and it had no storage. I rented the Disney stroller the first day because we left my stroller with my husband who was staying at the hotel with baby DS. It was a long walk from the non-Disney hotel bus drop off to the actual entrance of Magic Kingdom where you can finally rent the stroller and I regretted not bringing the stroller for newly 5 DD that first day. The next few days we took my stroller. DD could handle walking, but it was nice for her to hop in the stroller when we were covering long distances like back to the hotel buses or to jump onto her scooter attachment if DS was with us and already in the stroller.

Now she's getting closer to 6 and whines about getting on the scooter when we go to the mall and I tell her no, you have to walk. She's also not super thrilled that she's aged out of the stroller by weight just as baby brother is fully in stroller mode because it was her stroller first. I told her that the only time you can get on the scooter anymore is when we go to Disney again. That makes her happy LOL.

[sent]

Sept 4, 2019 8:55:27 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

Aug 30, 2019 11:46:32 GMT -5 sangria said:

So do you guys think the stroller is a must-have for WDW and DL or are we just talking DW since I know it's much bigger?

I have an 8yo and a 5yo (turning 6 while we are there) and I'm on the fence about the 5 yo. After lots of walking she will start getting tired and ask to be carried and we sure as hell are not carrying her lol

Not worried about the 8 year old. She can hang

Hmmmm, an almost 6 year old? We did disney with my DS when he was newly 6 and he did fine without a stroller. WE took lots of rest breaks as needed. For me, 5 is probably the dividing line.

I agree about taking breaks and this would work for my almost 6 year old. But at the same time, tickets are so pricey, I am trying to pack in as much actual park time and cut down travel time. We had 2 days of Park Hoppers and I planned the 4 parks according to Extra Magic Hours and to be there right when they opened to have the longest possible times at each. We did take a break in between parks, but the stroller just makes it faster to cover longer distances. Then we do rest days at the hotel where we don't go to any parks. 

[sagelily]

DD was 4.5 when we went last month. I was really happy we brought the stroller. It is not fun dealing with it on the buses from the resort to the parks but she was in there enough to make it worth the effort. We never use it at home but between heat, rain and crowds, she asked to ride all the time and that made things easier for us because I wouldn’t have wanted to be carrying her that much. A few times she didn’t even wake up when we took her out of the stroller to get on a bus at the end of the night and normally she isn’t a very deep sleeper.

[goldengirlz]

I think it really depends on the kid. We took DD at almost 6 and she did great, no stroller. But then again, we’re avid hikers so she’s used to walking long distances. At least at Disney, she got a lot of breaks!

I also think it depends on you. If DD had hit a wall in the afternoon, I would have happily left for the pool. I’m not a Disney person, lol. We let her lead the whole itinerary. But if you want to maximize your time at the park, then maybe a stroller is a good backup plan.