Hi there. We have done WDW a few times with our 6.5 year old but this is the first time also bringing along our 2 year old. My 6 year old will need a stroller as it is a lot of walking and I am hopeful he will be so tired that he takes a nap at some point or falls asleep at night in the stroller. I would love to hear your experience with either of these options …
Bring a single stroller for each kid. My thought behind this is if my 2 year old wants to take a nap in the stroller then my 6 year old won’t be picking on her or interrupt her nap and vice versa. My concern is when the kids don’t want to be in the stroller then we are stuck pushing two strollers and trying to keep our eyes or hands on a toddler
Get a double stroller they both can use. Concern is like I mentioned above where kids bother each other while trying to nap. Other concern is how heavy it could be pushing it as my older one weighs 48lbs and younger one is close to 25lbs. Also concerned it is hard to get around the parks with the width of the stroller. Concerned about how big and bulky it would be on the buses. We have never used a double stroller at home for some of these concerns.
Thanks for any experience you would be willing to share for either option. any strollers you have loved using at WDW?
My youngest girls (7 and 5) are very close to this and we used a double stroller this past summer and it worked great. We have used the same double stroller for all four of our kids:
I would definitely recommend a light weight, side-by-side stroller for this purpose. The nice thing about a double stroller is that you don’t have to use four hands to push two kids around, allowing the other adult to use the phone to book LLs and change ADRs, etc., carry a child in a contingency, and help the kids get off the bus while the other adult folds / unfolds the stroller.
These lightweight strollers are really easy to push and fold up. I would not recommend and have not used a more bulky stroller. I see people lugging those around and squishing them on their lugs on the bus and they look not fun.
Note: I wouldn’t recommend this stroller for children much heavier than yours. Ours are petite so it has worked until they are 6 or 7 years old. For other kids they might outgrow it by age 5 or possibly even younger.
You’ll know your kids, but we found that by the time our kids (we had 5 kids) were 4 or 5, they didn’t need a stroller. So, I wouldn’t, personally, want a double stroller. With a 2 year old, though I would still want to take a larger stroller (although one that folds easily).
If you are really concerned the older sibling would need to rest in the stroller, then I guess a double would be needed. Managing a double stroller in the parks doesn’t seem fun to me at all, and I would be more inclined to find a way to go back to the resort or something to allow napping.
When my girls were the same ages, I went with the two stroller plan, just because I had one we loved and wasn’t going to buy a double stroller for six and two year olds (since we may never use it again). We rented a baby jogger city elite many years ago on a Disney trip and loved it so much we bought one. I bought a second-hand baby jogger city mini for the trip when we wanted two. As long as you have two people able to push them it works out fine for all the reasons you said. And it allowed the group to split up at times if needed and still have a stroller. Getting the double stroller on and off buses would not be fun, although people do it all the time.
I would for sure have stroller space for both. If you think you may have shorter days or days with less walking that you’re 6 y/o won’t get as fatigued during you could always just rent two single strollers. That could give you guys the freedom to take one kid back to the resort to nap but not leave the older without a place to sit if they get super tired before you all are reunited.
The last time I had a double at Disney my younger two were 6 and 4 and I was glad to have it!
@ryan1 has a good point too however. When we finally gave up strollers altogether just after my youngest turned 7 I was pleasantly surprised how just fine she did. She may have been fine at 6 as well without. Her sister however had more trouble tolerating the long days of walking and I would not have wanted to try not having a stroller for her at age 6. The rest of us would have been miserable . You know your kids and your touring plan/schedule and have to decide what will work for your family.
One more thing to add, with the City Elite we have, the seat is long enough to put a 6yo and a 2 yo sitting one in front of the other for occasional breaks for the 6 yo, if the kids are tolerant enough of each other to sit that close for a time.
If you are even on the fence about it and have the space to bring it, I would bring a stroller so you don’t have to spend the time and cost to rent a Disney one. As for two singles or a double. We started with a double that was front/back because we were also concerned about the wideness of a double wide and maneuvering that through a busy theme park.
It worked while the smaller baby in it was still in a carrier carseat and so faced up to the driver. After that once she had to sit in the stroller seat with the view blocked by the seat in front, she was unhappy and switching back & forth between the two kids who had front was an extra fight so I highly recommend a double wide which we’ve used ever since 2016. And which we found was actually a little easier to get through the parks than the long one we’d been using. (But obviously not quite as easy as the single stroller).
We have sometimes done separate strollers and if you want to do that, I highly recommend looking for strollers that attach to each other so that you can have the option of snapping them together for when you are together so one person can still manage strollers when together but still having the flexibility to split up if need be. We had a stroller like this ages ago, but I don’t know where we got it (my SIL procured them and I paid her back), but they were even Mickey & Minnie themed and separately were a nice little bubble stroller but had latches that could snap to the other to be a double. They had zero cupholder or storage space though and one of the reasons I love the stroller I have now is for the carrying convenience in the parks.
Also, if your 6 yr old will only need this for this trip and you don’t have any other theme park trips planned, I wouldn’t spend a lot of money for it. Look for second hand or at rental options.
When we bought our first double wide, I LOVED that stroller and it’s price. It was the lightest lightweight stroller I could find and maneuvered well, fit through almost all doorways and entries in DL that could allow a single wide stroller and was super easy to fold, which is why we got it in preparation for our first WDW trip after having been to DL a bunch as passholders. They sadly don’t make it but they do make an upgraded version of it that is double the price so I would absolutely not recommend it unless you will use it for years to come.
So when we needed to replace our original after 6 years, we got this near substitute. It’s not quite as lightweight but is more durable, especially the wheels and basket underneath. And it drives just as well and fits through the same doorways. But I don’t know that I would spend that amount for one trip, so unless you have a home use, I would definitely look for 2nd hand or into rental options. Summer Double Stroller
For my 5 WW trips with 2 young kids, I have always done two single strollers. We find this particularly comes in handy when the kids want to do different attractions. With a 2 y/o and 6.5 y/o you may find this happening a number of times each day, especially if the 6.5 y/o decides he likes thrill rides.
Good luck with this one. When DS was 13 months old and 2 years old he napped in the stroller on occasion at WDW, but in three trips since he turned 3, there was no chance he was missing WDW time for a nap!
I always say two separate ones. Easier for Skyliner and bus travel. Also, you can be at two places, use one for storing park bags and backpacks and still park the other or have one napping. We are taking one in November and we have a DD9 and DD5 who can both walk the parks. But it is so handy for our “stuff” and drinks holders as well.
Yeah he only takes naps if he’s super tired. We are planning on pushing through at the parks so I’m thinking he will take one or fall asleep early. Last year at Disneyland he fell asleep at 7pm almost every night but that’s probably also because of the time change for us.
My advice is one double stroller. Two strollers is a pain on busses, etc. We’ve done the 2 separate stroller thing but ended up taking both basically everywhere because our older kiddo would need it for the long walk out of the park to the bus, etc. I think your older kiddo will be busy enough not to pester your younger kiddo.
Where are you staying? If at a skyliner resort then NOT a side by side double bc you have to fold it. Pita! I would do just one stroller with a ride along attachment for the older kiddo. If he’s never ridden on one before they are fun! A nice way to transition him out too so it’s not an expectation that he will always get treated the same as his sibling (and vice versa). (Still working on that at our house w 13 and 10 yo .)
We’re a rope drop until close kinda family. We used a city mini gt double stroller until my son was 8-9ish and my daughter was 6. My son certainly didn’t need it then, but we didn’t have a single stroller, and he never complained about the opportunity to rest his legs. Most of the time, we’d stash it in stroller parking and grab it after several rides. It was always a welcome spot for a nap as we were walking around.
Thanks so much for that insight. I didn’t really think about two strollers on bus and also carrying my toddler around haha. We decided to rent a double