First trip to WDW for the family, and I haven’t been since I was a kid (very excited).
We have planned all along to get a double stroller at Magic Kingdom for our DD5 and DS5, who will almost be 6. Although they could walk, I know they will lose steam. And it seems to make sense as we go from attraction to attraction in MK, let alone leaving the park.
We also plan to spend a day at Animal Kingdom. Between looking at all the animals on the trails and playing Wilderness Explorers as we go, I’m starting to wonder if we will want a stroller there at all. But having never been there, I have no real sense of the scope of the park.
Oooh, you definitely want a stroller. AK is a large park, attractions and shows are spaced out, and there are days where I believe the surface of the sun might be cooler than Discovery Island. If you think they’ll need it at MK, you’ll want it at AK for sure. Probably at Epcot, too. World Showcase is a lot for little legs.
Have you considered just renting one for the full trip from an outside company? You could bring it with you every day and just leave it at an attraction until you need it. At MK, there’s a lot of stroller parking in Fantasyland. At Hollywood Studios, you could probably leave it by the Disney Junior show. You’d want to tie something on it for identification, as it will almost certainly be moved by CMs.
MK is actually pretty compact. AK is much larger…if you think they will tire out use a stroller.
My sister had a step tracker and I was amazed how much we walked overall. Our MK day was the least though at about 4-5 miles. I think AK was about 8 miles and then we hopped over to Epcot to get at least 12 miles that day.
We took our five year old in November and ended up not needing a stroller. She did get tired at the end of the evening needing to ride on my husband’s shoulders for the last half hour of some of the longer park days. She ended up being so excited about everything she saw there she forgot about how tired her feet and legs were until the end of the day. You know your little one best, though. They do have strollers to rent if they just get too tired to handle it. I also did a lot of walking before our trip with our 5 year old so she could build up some endurance. I will say that it seemed like a big hassle to deal with a stroller in crowds, but I also know how a child having a complete melt down could be even worse.
Ok, good. Thanks to all for the perspective and sound advice.
Right. I need to keep in mind that I can always park that thing once we get to where we’re going in the park and then get it later. Probably don’t need it so much to move from attraction to attraction – or animal to animal – but need it to move from area to area. And to exit the park. Thanks.
We went stroller-less! The night before, we sort of eyeballed MK from the outside and decided to go for it. Our almost 6-year old twins really stepped up. And by the time we got to DAK, they were old pros. We never carried them all week, except when we were leaving MK once during the electric parade, and that was as much so they could see as anything else. I couldn’t (and still can’t) praise our kids enough for walking everywhere. And what a relief to not have to worry about a stroller. Thank you all for the advice and encouragement!
(Circling back on some of these very helpful forum responses, now that we have returned from a spectacular trip.)
I will say that it seemed like a big hassle to deal with a stroller in crowds, but I also know how a child having a complete melt down could be even worse.