3rd Pary strollers... to rent or not to rent?

[GeekDad]

Hello everyone and thank you ahead of time for any help you can provide.

MY DW and I will be taking our DS (will be almost 20 months) to the world in October. We are on the fence right now about either bringing a stroller from home or renting one from a 3rd party like kingdom strollers so that we have it for DTD and the resorts. We are bringing an FFA approved car seat with us for the flight down and back and I plan on getting one of those wheeled racks for it so that we can just pull it through the airport. If we also bring a stroller through the airport then we have both of those along with our carry on's that we have to haul through the airport. However from what I've seen the cost for renting for our entire trip (10 days) will be about $70 which is not much lower then actually buying a similar stroller to the one we would be renting.

I'm looking for some pro's and con's to both options that maybe we haven't thought of already as well as some general opinions from some people with more experience in this then I have.

Thank you.

 

[journ116]

Hello everyone and thank you ahead of time for any help you can provide.

MY DW and I will be taking our DS (will be almost 20 months) to the world in October. We are on the fence right now about either bringing a stroller from home or renting one from a 3rd party like kingdom strollers so that we have it for DTD and the resorts. We are bringing an FFA approved car seat with us for the flight down and back and I plan on getting one of those wheeled racks for it so that we can just pull it through the airport. If we also bring a stroller through the airport then we have both of those along with our carry on's that we have to haul through the airport. However from what I've seen the cost for renting for our entire trip (10 days) will be about $70 which is not much lower then actually buying a similar stroller to the one we would be renting.

I'm looking for some pro's and con's to both options that maybe we haven't thought of already as well as some general opinions from some people with more experience in this then I have.

Thank you.

I have traveled to WDW 12 times, 10 of which were with one or two children in tow. We've brought our own stroller, rented one, brought a car seat, rode with our DD's on our laps, and rented a C.A.R.E.S. system. Based on those experiences, I'd go with renting a stroller from a 3rd party, and here's why:

1. It sounds like you'll have your hands full between the car seat (its' trolley), a toddler, and I'm assuming a couple of carry-on bags. When my DD6 was 20 mos. old, we took our 2nd trip to WDW and decided to bring her car seat and her Combi single stroller. I can't say it wasn't doable, but needless to say, we never did it again. One of the biggest hassles was going thru security: car seat, stroller, diaper bag, carry-on bag, taking shoes off, emptying pockets and wrangling a toddler was too much. The less you have, the less stress.

2. The strollers rented through non-Disney sites (i.e. Kingdom Strollers, Orlando Stroller Rental, & Magic Strollers) are $200+ strollers...the Cadillacs of strollers if you will. With my family expanding, I decided to rent a City Mini Double stroller through Magic Strollers in March 2011(had no problem with them or the stroller), and my DH and I preferred the rental compared to our at-home tandem stroller or even our Combi. That stroller was a little bit of luxury for both parents and children. The rental was waiting for us at our resort when we arrived (my DD's felt so special when Bell Services brought it out and said, "This must be for the Princesses!")

3. You'll at least have the car seat trolley to get you thru the airport.

Leave the stroller at home and take a ride in luxury...well, your son at least will!

 

[GeekDad]

My wife's concern with bringing a stroller is what you mentioned about trying to haul everything through the airport. The other points you make are very good ones as well and I think we will end up renting one in the end.

 

[DisDadEddie]

When we went with our son and daughter at that age we just held our children on our laps. We get early flights and they sleep in our arms the entire ride. We bring our own stroller because our kids are comfortable in it and they could sleep comfortably in it and take naps. Nothing against renting, but why rent when you already have what you need. Any way to save is good when the vacation cost so much.If you are taking magical express from the airport you are not required to have a car seat, and on disney buses it would be impossible to use one. I end up standing on the park buses with the stroller while my wife sits with the kids.Also we bring minimal luggage, we do laundry while we are there. First trip we really over packed for us, the kids we make sure to bring extra cloths.

 

[GeekDad]

Yea we considered just having him be a lap child but he is already so active and we have a 4pm flight down there and a 7:45 flight back. We tried to get an early flight down but the one we wanted was booked so we added another night to our stay and went with a flight down the night before we were planning on going.

 

[bethymouse]

My parents rented scooters from "off-site" and they deliver them to your resort. I'm not sure if they do that w/ strollers, but it's worth a look-see.

 

[olinecoach61]

We are renting from kingdom strollers for our trip this month. I didn't want to bring our BOB on a plane and deal with that through the airport, plus running the chance it gets damaged. So we are getting the same exact stroller from kingdom with o worries.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

My girls were also very active at that stage. While it cost more, it was usually a MUCH more peaceful flight if we had a seat for them and had them strapped into an actual carseat. So, I can see the value in buying a seat on the plane and traveling with the carseat.

As for the stroller...we rented from Magic Strollers last summer and loved it. We had gone with our Baby Trend sit and stand the previous trip and it was horrible. The City Mini MSRP is $239, so the rental will definitely be cheaper than buying one. Even on sale it's still about $199. They are EXCELLENT strollers. If my girls were younger, I'd totally buy one. It's worth the $.

 

[nsmom]

We recently rented from Strollers and Groceries. They were wonderful! It was so wonderful to get groceries delivered for free with our stroller rental. It was so much cheaper getting drinks & snacks for the kids from them rather than buying at the park and the strollers were so nice and clean! When we booked they were running a coupon for $5.00 off using code "summer" not sure how long it's good for, but it would be worth a try.

 

[journ116]

My wife's concern with bringing a stroller is what you mentioned about trying to haul everything through the airport. The other points you make are very good ones as well and I think we will end up renting one in the end.

You gave me a really good idea: the trolley for the car seat. I had been contemplating on renting or buying the C.A.R.E.S. system for our upcoming flight (which I used for our DD2, who was 31" tall & only 22 lbs., flight in Oct. 2011: did not work well for her at the time). However, after researching "stroller carts," I ended up ordering a Brica trolley from Amazon.com, and decided not to bring her stroller. Instead, we are going to rent the City Mini GT Double from Kingdom Strollers, which will give our DD6 the option to ride if she's tired or if there are crowds to get thru.

I'll let you know how this works for my family in my TR, which probably won't be posted until the 3rd week of November 2012!

Thanks again for the idea!

 

[GeekDad]

You gave me a really good idea: the trolley for the car seat. I had been contemplating on renting or buying the C.A.R.E.S. system for our upcoming flight (which I used for our DD2, who was 31" tall & only 22 lbs., flight in Oct. 2011: did not work well for her at the time). However, after researching "stroller carts," I ended up ordering a Brica trolley from Amazon.com, and decided not to bring her stroller. Instead, we are going to rent the City Mini GT Double from Kingdom Strollers, which will give our DD6 the option to ride if she's tired or if there are crowds to get thru.

I'll let you know how this works for my family in my TR, which probably won't be posted until the 3rd week of November 2012!

Thanks again for the idea!

I consider the C.A.R.E.S. system but in the ended decided to just stick with the care seat knowing that he fits in the car seat. I've been looking at the Britax travel cart but now I will have to check out the Brica trolley it looks like I might prefer that one over the Britax so a thank you back to you for providing me with another option to consider.

 

[journ116]

UPDATE: As soon as I get the Brica Roll n' Go Car Seat Transporter, I will post a review of it on this thread. I am slated to receive it between July 27-Aug. 1. I've already had the opportunity to check out the stroller we'll be renting at a local Babies R Us, but the single form one. It was pretty nice and so easy to handle!

You can also check out Hollie Schultz' YouTube videos or her website babygizmo.com! She does a video walk-thru of almost all the baby/toddler/children products out on the market.

 

[tracyandalex]

Please make sure you get a stroller that lays back! In order to save time in the parks we get DD to sleep in the stroller so DH and I can do some things. Usually we walk through what DD considers "boring" stores until she falls asleep, then we single rider line the rides we can't take her on. Oh having a cup holder and a basket underneath is great too!

 

[GeekDad]

So my wife and I finally decided to just go out and buy a really nice stroller. We got the Britax B-agile jogging stroller that is very similar to the City mini we would have rented but it was cheaper then buying the city mini. I'm going to get a strap from amazon that will let me strap the car seat to one of our pull behind carry ons to make getting through the airport a little easier.

We decided to go this route so that we would have a nice stoller for other trips that we may end up taking. We leave October 4th so I will report back how it all goes

 

[cameronmouse]

So far the two trips that we have done with our son who is now 4m we have brought our own stroller. Its a city mini single probably the easiest stroller to fold up and unfold and actually like having it in the airport with us. We now have 2 boys and for our December trip theyll be just under 5 and just under 16 months, we will be bringing our double stroller which is a city mini double side by side. These are pretty light weight strollers and very easy to maneuver.