News Disney's Animal Kingdom tests a new stroller parking system

[FullSailDan]

True, but Disney needs to be responsible and set some rules on the use of wheeled devices. They are causing problems. For every one special needs kid in a special stroller, you see twenty kids being pushed around that ought to be walking.

I can't tell you the number of times I've been hit by a person using an ECV. (Strollers too but in the current crowd size its bound to happen) I'm sensitive to wheeled vehicles as my husband is a disabled vet and there have been times he's been wheelchair bound. So I get how difficult it can be, but there's a strong sense of entitlement with these folks. "I paid $80 for my hover-round today so I'll go wherever and whenever I want!" seems to be the name of the game.

I'm also surprised at the number of people who view strollers as battering rams in post fireworks crowds. Like.. they do realize their child is in it right?!

 

[MisterPenguin]

My three sons all survived my parental neglect for having them in "unsafe at any speed " umbrella strollers

Was this you?

 

[Incomudro]

Aside from medical necessity, strollers just seem to be more prevalent and larger than before. I have photos of myself as a toddler in what can only be described as a hammock style sling of fabric between two handles, resting on wheels as a "stroller." All the photos from the 90s and earlier that I've seen have FAR fewer and SMALLER strollers than now. A baby in 1991 craps, eats, and fusses the same as one now, so why do the strollers now seem equipped to handle a zombie apocalypse?

Like I said; it goes with the times.
People tend to overdo everything now adays - and I'm not just talking about strollers and Disney trip here.
A simple trip out of the house is packed for like a full fledged camping trip.
Many of the woman at my job (I work in Brooklyn) come to work toting three - count 'em - three large bags everyday.
That's without having their children with them.

 

[matt9112]

Wagons are already banned. Disney needs to enforce that rule.

Disney has lots of rules that are not enforced. remember now you cant upset a single guest. as an aside the rental kind they provide are huge and i know its for durability but thats an easy improvement (down size those puppies) i only have one child and he didn't go to disney til 3 and part of me wants to say stop bringing babys to the park but the other part of me says what if you have 6 kids and 5 are older.

 

[matt9112]

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.

this x100

 

[matt9112]

So what if it is? My daughter can't eat solid food but I take her to Chili's if I want a fajita. Get over yourself.

i dont drop 5k to go to chilis and eat next to you
just playing devils advocate here.

 

[matt9112]

That was a truly awful computer game...

a part of my childhood none the less.....your wagon has drown! like....woah what? theres not swimmers here?

 

[Herah]

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?

Wasn't there something like this at one time, or am I misremembering? This would have been around 2004, the first time we took our kids. You could pay to reserve a stroller and have your name put on it. But there were also unmarked strollers that you could pick up and abandon. They would be lined up under the train station as you entered (if you got there early enough). You could, for example, abandon one as you got on the train in Frontierland and take another when you got off in Fantasyland. If you left one outside a ride it might or might not be there when you got out. Does anybody else remember that?

 

[Myth Maker]

One thing that would really help this situation is more locker rental areas inside the park. I know when we brought our kids along the larger strollers were great because you could put any jackets or food or anything you need right in the bottom. It was very convenient. A few days we thought about not bringing it, but when I looked up if we could put our stuff inside a locker instead I was shocked that there really aren't any locker rentals inside the parks anywhere, certainly not near any of the central hubs. Years later when the kids were bigger we learned the value of bringing a backpack instead to shove those items into.

 

[ABQ]

One thing that would really help this situation is more locker rental areas inside the park. I know when we brought our kids along the larger strollers were great because you could put any jackets or food or anything you need right in the bottom. It was very convenient. A few days we thought about not bringing it, but when I looked up if we could put our stuff inside a locker instead I was shocked that there really aren't any locker rentals inside the parks anywhere, certainly not near any of the central hubs. Years later when the kids were bigger we learned the value of bringing a backpack instead to shove those items into.

The most useful locker rental locale I use, though who knows if it goes away post Skyway build, is the one at the International Gateway in Epcot. Not the center of the park, but better than the front gate. We go in the winter and tend to stuff warm outwear into them early and then retrieve once the sun sets.

 

[larryz]

That's it! Ban all kids from WDW! This is the last straw.

And foreigners! Get rid of all them foreigners.

And Floridians.

And people over 5'6" tall.

Thanks Mindy.

Like, no problem, whatsoever...

Was this you?

View attachment 287117

Complaint about exposing baby to second-hand smoke in 3... 2... 1...

this x100

101.

 

[glvsav37]

Strollers are a given. But I have to say, I really don't know how people drive the double wide or length ones in the parks? There was a point and time when we had 2 kids in strollers and my wife and I were always more nimble with 2 single strollers—we were like those choreographed car commercials with the multiple cars weaving in and out of each other. One was slightly larger then the other so folding them up was never an issue....fold the little one up and toss over your shoulder and fold the big one up and hold between your legs on the bus.

rocking the doubles just seemed miserable all the way around.

 

[MrPromey]

Wasn't there something like this at one time, or am I misremembering? This would have been around 2004, the first time we took our kids. You could pay to reserve a stroller and have your name put on it. But there were also unmarked strollers that you could pick up and abandon. They would be lined up under the train station as you entered (if you got there early enough). You could, for example, abandon one as you got on the train in Frontierland and take another when you got off in Fantasyland. If you left one outside a ride it might or might not be there when you got out. Does anybody else remember that?

This would have been "before my time" when it comes to paying attention to this sort of thing but sounds like a great idea. I'm sure there was some effort involved in making sure strollers stayed evenly distributed but this seems like something they should have been able to figure out.

 

[MrPromey]

Short and concise. Thank you.

Be glad I don't have your cell phone number. For me, text messaging is a long-form communication platform.

 

[MrPromey]

i dont drop 5k to go to chilis and eat next to you
just playing devils advocate here.

Instead, you drop it to go to Pecos Bill's and eat whatever they're passing off as fajitas/tacos while sitting on a stool/chair so close to the table behind you that you get inadvertently touched by someone if they push their elbows back a little too far.

I'd be testy in that situation, too, if I'd just discovered that no amount of toppings bar toppings are going to salvage that $20 "quick service" meal.

Been there, done that, and I continue to go back so not judging anyone.

 

[Magic Feather]

Anyone gotten any pictures or reports of this system in action?

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Strollers are a given. But I have to say, I really don't know how people drive the double wide or length ones in the parks?

Recklessly.

 

[Tom P.]

Strollers are a given. But I have to say, I really don't know how people drive the double wide or length ones in the parks? There was a point and time when we had 2 kids in strollers and my wife and I were always more nimble with 2 single strollers—we were like those choreographed car commercials with the multiple cars weaving in and out of each other. One was slightly larger then the other so folding them up was never an issue....fold the little one up and toss over your shoulder and fold the big one up and hold between your legs on the bus.

rocking the doubles just seemed miserable all the way around.

My family and I have been at WDW with two double strollers. As far as I know, we have never actually trampled anyone and we didn't find it all that difficult to maneuver around *and* be polite at the same time. I even got it down to an art of being able to fold the thing up, sling bags over my shoulder, and be on the bus in about 30 seconds. And, oddly enough, no one ever even gave me an angry look or said a cross word about us having the strollers. Now, they looked at us like we were members of some crazy cult for having five young children, but that's a different matter.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Anyone gotten any pictures or reports of this system in action?

An interim press release by the Squirrel Collective is tentatively reporting the new system as a plus. It help keep track of which strollers they have already raided.

 

[George]

No double-wide, no jogging.

I tend to agree with your bans on overweight people and working out at WDW. However, many may claim this is oxymoronic.

We all have a shared interest and I think (nearly) all of us would get along famously if we were in some dorky club that met once a month in person but behind computer screens, it's so easy to get the wrong idea about each other. :/

Ummmm......this club would be really cool.

Is this just Seven pages of Strollers in WDW Good or Bad Debates? Oy! On a more relevant note, AK, IMO, is always the park that got Stroller Parking Really right, and this change addresses what I found to be the system’s only weakness (other than RoL’s Asia Parking which is not bad, but not ideal) of there being separate stroller parking areas that can lead to minor confusion.
The only park that really needs a major overhaul for strollers’ sake is the MK. Old Fantasyland is a literal hellscape when it is a busy stroller day. As much as we would hate it, something needs to be carved out for non-pathway Parking.
The real answer isn’t to ban or restrict strollers, but to design adequate and well-placed stroller parking, and restrict areas where they can be parked. Whether that means to force all FL Parking to be by Belle, or remove Philhar’s dump shop, I don’t know, but something needs to be done.

Anyone gotten any pictures or reports of this system in action?

These two quotes seem odd. The first one actually addresses the new stroller parking system in DAK and gives a reasonable summary of current stroller parking practices and issues. The second is an inquiry into whether or not the new system is working. Specific. On point. Really weird.

Wait, you're smuggling in humanbreasts filled with human's milk into the parks?!!!

It's because of all those humanbreasts that we can't pack in enough people into the hub for the night shows!!!!

I've worked and worked to get milk filled of all types banned at WDW since MK is the single best place for me to move my black market breast milk (BMBM). I may need a better acronym than double BM.

Or if there were more attractions with more draw and capacity in lands that don't rhyme with "Mantasy".

Let's see, Fantasyland, Chantasyland with the monks, Clemencyland (not quite a rhyme, but maybe close enough), and the new Star Wars area, Banthasyland.

I think most concerns are issues would be easily addressed if strollers served their intended purpose. To transport and protect their precious occupants. Pics of my favorites appear below -

and