Captain Barbossa
Well-Known Member
I saw like 2 or 3 of them last week (can't remember which parks). Idk how they're getting through security, but Disney needs to crack down on them.
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News Disney's Animal Kingdom tests a new stroller parking system
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Ciciwoowoo
Well-Known Member
Disney markets itself toward the young children crowd, so strollers are to be expected. It would behoove Disney to create a better management system for strollers. Honestly, a magic band system for strollers wouldn't be the worst thing. If I was asked to pay $5 a day for it, you bet I would. Searching for your stroller at the end of a ride of show stinks!!!
jakeman
Well-Known Member
Maybe if your kid is still crapping themselves and won't remember it anyways, a day at Walt Disney World isn't for you?
EDIT: Taking a kid that young to WDW is for the parents, not for the child.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
Haha.
ABQ
Well-Known Member
The gear thing seems to become an issue every time I'm boarding a bus and the driver looks to the parent with the double wide Winnebago stroller packed with more gear than a sherpa takes up Everest and tells them they need to collapse the stroller before boarding. The parent looks at the driver like they have 3 heads and begins the slow process of removing everything one by one with no plan on how to carry everything off the stroller. I know, this is a parent with no clue, but still, it seems to happen every time I board at a resort. ECV's take less time getting stowed than these things.
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
Gotta agree with you here. I hate all the Nickel and Diming Disney is doing, but maybe it's time for a per seat toll, similar to bridges. Any type of wheeled vehicle is going to cost you. Strollers, ECVs, whatever. The parks are not designed for carts. They are designed for people, and the amount of carts has had a hugely negative impact on the park going experience. Maybe if it was $50 a day to bring a vehicle into the park, we'd see less of them.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
ParksAndPixels
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
Didn’t think much of it at the time, but they did this for the land & Seas pavilions when we visited Epcot at end of April
Captain Barbossa
Well-Known Member
No you can't!
FerretAfros
Well-Known Member
Remember when Disney marketed itself not just toward young children, but visitors of all ages? Yes, they've always had things for children, but at one time it also had countless features geared toward teens, parents, and even (gasp!) adults without children. Given that the parks were originally designed for an older audience, it shouldn't be a huge surprise that they struggle to keep up with the massive numbers of preschoolers they now have
While all Disney parks have shifted focus in recent years, the change has been particularly acute in WDW since the late-90's. Attractions have been tamed down, meet & greets and character "dance parties" have become ubiquitous, and advertising is aimed squarely at young families. WDW's marketing has uniquely positioned itself into a rite of passage for small kids in a way that Disney's other parks haven't. While there are strollers at the other parks (especially DLR), none of them have the massive stroller parking zones that are so common in WDW.
The change is particularly dramatic, considering WDW was arguably the most adult-focused location Disney has ever built for its first 20-ish years, and now it's easily the most toddler-focused. If only current management realized that small kids aren't the be-all and end-all of the destination vacation business.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I would agree that small children, below the age of the ability to feed themselves, use bathrooms reliably, etc. does require a lot of hauling and a lot of missed things at any theme park, Disney or others. That, friends, is why years ago we all decided that we wouldn't go to a theme park until we didn't need all that stuff and all requirements were satisfied by some small pieces of green printed paper folded neatly in our pockets. It made for a much more enjoyable visit. Just a thought here, but, I wonder if the influx of infants had any connection with the creation and acceptance of disposable diapers. Can you imagine the fun that could be derived from carting around "used" cloth diapers all day in the Florida sun and humidity?
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I wish for the sake of a reasonable discussion that we all assume that we are not referring to people with special needs. I, for one, if I ever refer to the age, I usually always make reference to ability at the same time, but, it should be automatic that this is what people mean when they say limit by age. It is inferred that ability is also in consideration. Contrary to popular Washington image projecting, most of us are not heartless individuals.
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Good job my paperwork for my emo support donkey classes it as an animal and not a vehicle.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
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?
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Tom P.
Well-Known Member
I love this argument, which seems to keep recurring around these parts. The idea that if, ten years from now, the kid won't remember the trip to Walt Disney World, then there's no point in taking them. Which is absurd.
Breaking news: Sometimes parents do things that will be fun, exciting, and entertaining for a young child today regardless of whether or not they will remember it years from now.
How about this? If a bunch of parents bringing little kids, and their strollers, into the parks irritates you, then maybe a day at Walt Disney World isn't for you?
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
That's a fine choice for you. I've taken my three year old six times and had a blast every single time. That was the right choice for me and my family.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I'm sure you did... after the age of three or before? If before I'd say it was OK because of disposables.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Along with fewer guests. Universal's marketing department would be high-fiving in the office that day as they plan their Southwest airline approach to their next marketing campaign: All day cup refills and the first stroller entry is free!
xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
If you ride the donkey it's a vehicle. Don't try and exercise a loophole in my imaginary and totally unrealistic policy.
The Donkey is there for my emotional wellbeing and not to be ridden.