Out of every theme park in Florida, Disney's are the only ones consistently suffering from stroller issues. You don't see this problem at either Universal park, Bush Gardens, Lego Land, or Sea World.
Disney can't start charging for something like this, the same way they can't really stop people from bringing in bottles of water without a slew of bad PR.
Last weekend at Sea World, I even saw them let in someone with a wagon and hard-sided cooler. I rolled my eyes but I saw them around the park a couple of times and there were no apparent problems being caused.
Now we can argue the whys and of course, Disney's are the busiest, most popular, etc. but that indicates they have the most resources to deal with something like this and frankly, there is plenty of room for them to innovate, here.
I'm glad they're doing a test in this park which at least shows they're attempting to look into solutions to the problem but more needs to be done.
As a parent, I can tell you the only thing I've loved more than parking our stroller in direct sunlight to come back and find it uncomfortably hot enough that my child doesn't want to sit back down in it, is coming back to find out that it rained while we were in line for more than an hour for an attraction and the stroller is now soaked.
The direct sun problem isn't exclusive to Disney but as the place that has parking lots and full-time employees to manage strollers, they're the ones that are in the best position to improve this experience for guests.
Even in the Safari where they are testing this, you go through a covered line where you drop your stroller off to be parked by a cast member in an uncovered area. You don't even get the chance to try elaborately draping a rain poncho or trying to pick the one or two shaded spots that might be available. How is that guest friendly? Why not put a roof or a canopy or anything over that area that could still blend nicely into the theme?
Feels like low hanging fruit to me.
Disney rents out strollers and for a lot of kids in the 5+ range that can't handle a full day of walking in the parks the way you have to now when uitlizing FP+, these are a solution but they also add to the problem, especially when you see a family with everyone walking and a parent pushing an empty stroller because their kid doesn't need to and doesn't want to ride at some particular point in the day.
You can argue all you want that this is a problem with the guests and those parents should be making their kids get in the strollers or they shouldn't even be renting them in the first place but you know what? That's about as effective as complaining that young folks need to pull up their pants. Maybe you want to go outside and yell at the clouds a little while you're at it.
Anyway, why rent a single stroller for the whole day when you only need it for those points when you're trying to trek from one end of the park to another or at certain times like the middle of the day when your kid needs a rest or the end of the day when you need to get them out of the park? Why have to push it around everywhere, keeping track of it everywhere and making walkways and stroller parking worse for everyone?
I mean, if Disney can copy Uber and Lyft to get people around the property, why can't they do the same thing with strollers in a park... or across the property for resort guests?
Length of stay stroller access - does that sound so crazy? Wouldn't magic bands which all resort guests have be a great way to manage something like this?
If you can rent a movie from any Redbox and return it to any other Redbox, if even at Disney, you can buy a battery charger for your phone and exchange it for another one in any park, why not set up a stroller service that allows you to pick up the next available stroller at convenient locations around the parks?
If people have to lug a bunch of stuff in for their kids, why not create better locker options in the parks that are more centralized and conducive to being used throughout the day instead of just putting them in the front where they're only convenient upon arrival and leaving? Why not use these as part of a bundle when renting out strollers to encourage their use?
If too many people are bringing coolers with a day's worth of drinks and food in, maybe it's time to revisit the pricing and quality of the products they are offering in the parks.* The two Universal parks, Sea World and Bush Gardens all offer affordable refillable cup options in the parks. Disney only offers an oddly restrictive version of this in the resorts, themselves. Why can a resort guest buy a refillable cup only good for their staying at Disney but not use it in the parks?
The answer to some of these questions is obvious - clearly, some tactics like improving food quality and making prices more reasonable* cuts into their ability to print money. So does the idea of offering a cup for $10-$15 a day with unlimited refills. They aren't seriously going to start exploring options like this until they hit a breaking point that costs them more than the profit they'd lose.
That said, better stroller parking is a matter of planning and design and things like improving the stroller/locker rental situation could help reduce congestion in the parks while improving guest satisfaction and encouraging people to rent rather than bringing their own stuff, thus making Disney MORE money in these areas.
I'm glad they are making efforts to improve the situation. My hope is that they'll do more.
They need to continue to work towards solutions that try to make all (or realistically, most) guests happy. Otherwise, all they're doing is moving the dissatisfaction around from one group to another.
Charging for stroller access would be seen as so consumer-unfriendly, especially given the core market they target that I think even a park run by a cable company - I don't know, just hypothetically speaking, someone like a Comcast - would have a field-day trolling in a social media marketing campaign and with billboards around Orlando.
When Comcast can publicly mock you for unfriendly consumer practices, you are an existential threat to yourself.
*When they're charging 3-4x the amount for a burger meal (with drink) as the closest McD's and the food from the McD's actually tastes better (and comes with free drink refills), that's not a premium experience. It's not magical. It's not even consumer-friendly. It's expecting to get a "pass" for abusing their guests because... well, what else would you expect from a for-profit company that is trying to make money for their shareholders, right? Why blame them, right? If you don't like it, don't go, right?
