How's That High Stroller Treatment?

[Sadiebird]

we know that you can no longer find honey mustard at DHS

This is very disappointing news for me.

 

[Laura]

Good Luck Laura...I think the piece of advice that I have heard the most that would seem to apply in your case is just GO SLOW...and understand ahead of time that you will be going slower and maybe not seeing everything.

To your point about renting vs. buying...as you know with a child going on 7 there are not any (that I know of) strollers that can handle a 5 and a 7 year old the way the Disney doubles can....most strollers have a bar across the front that make them too hard to get in an out of for an older child...

Anyway....no ill will intended in my previous email and good luck to you

4 days and a wake up!!!!!

See, my almost 5 and almost 7 year olds still fit perfectly in the $10 umbrella strollers, which are essential little chairs on wheels that fold up to the size of, well, umbrellas. By the time they outgrow the umbrella strollers, they won't need strollers anymore anyway.

Obviously a double stroller would be handy for me in June seeing as I won't have a second adult with me, but again, there's no way I'll be paying $30 a day for a rental so they're gonna have to learn to walk. :shrug:

 

[mousermerf]

A few notes on stroller levels..

There were definately fewer at some places in Epcot (like the ramp to The Land for example) but overall it didn't seem like a major drop, just a small reduction.

Far less doubles, maybe even more singles to compensate, and I do believe there were more personal strollers too. Essentially the parking lots full of doubles are a thing of a past.

There did seem to be a minor reduction in total number, as places like the ramp at the Land and Philharmagic didn't have their usual brigade outside but rather a more manageable lot, but it's not scientific by any means.

I'm sure if disney starts losing money do something about it.

 

[Rob562]

Just to let you know, If you chain your stroller to anyting in the park Cast Members WILL still move it, and cut the chain to do so. We have to move strollers to keep enterances, exits, pathways, and even locations you assume are just walls, clear. There is a reason for this, and it's quite simple: The Safety of every guest and Cast Member in the Theme Park.

Chape (and any other CM who wants to weigh in),

While I don't have any kids (nor do I plan on having any anytime soon), I have a question about chaining strollers... I know and understand why they can't be chained to fences and poles for the obvious reasons you give.

But what about chaining or locking the stroller to itself? I'm envisioning a bike chain around one wheel and the handle, or a padlock of some kind around the bulk of the tire. It would act like a "boot" that they put on illegally parked car tires.
On the stroller, it would make it near impossible for another Guest to take it and use it for themselves, but if a CM needed to move it, they could lift the back wheels off the ground and roll it around on the front wheels. (Or perhaps lock the front wheels so that the easier-to-steer-with back tires are free to roll)

What would a CM reaction to that setup be?

-Rob

 

[Boray]

Another suggestion for those who have kids that are typically too old for a stroller, but don't want to rent one due to expense: start daily walks about 3 months before your trip. We've done this every year before our trips and our son (who will be 9 on Friday) hasn't used a stroller since he was 4. We also have a daughter who will be 6 in July and she hasn't used a stroller at Disney since she was 3. We also do the parks hard core, we are at the parks at rope drop, and usually leave around 7:00pm. We don't take a break in the afternoon to return to a hotel (actually, we usually rent a vacation home), we are at the parks the full day. These family walks, as we call them, condition the kids extremely well. We don't hear complaints about sore feet or legs either. We walk 1-2 miles every day before our trip. Meals, snacks, attractions and shows are really the only "breaks" we take while in the parks. It works for us, and I will not pay for a stroller (when we needed one, we always brought our own). Maybe this suggestion will work for one of you too! Not only do we save money, but it's great family time and great exercise!!! :wave:

 

[MousDad]

A few notes on stroller levels..

There were definately fewer at some places in Epcot (like the ramp to The Land for example) but overall it didn't seem like a major drop, just a small reduction.

Far less doubles, maybe even more singles to compensate, and I do believe there were more personal strollers too. Essentially the parking lots full of doubles are a thing of a past.

There did seem to be a minor reduction in total number, as places like the ramp at the Land and Philharmagic didn't have their usual brigade outside but rather a more manageable lot, but it's not scientific by any means.

I'm sure if disney starts losing money do something about it.

Very interesting info. Let us know if you make any similar observations in the other parks. This does, however, somewhat contradict what coasterphil had to say. coasterphil, which park(s) were your observations in?

 

[coasterphil]

My observations are coming from the Studios. However, trying to judge the numbers of strollers really is a inexact science so who knows what the real answer is. The only way to tell is look at rental figures from the actual outlets.

 

[magicmom1]

OK so I get the whole thing about safety but I will definitely lock them together like previously suggested. I will feed the chain through the wheels so the theives will find them useless but the CMs will still be able to move them. I had also tied my previous strollers together with a shoelace that had a lunchbox attached to it with some wipes and diapers in it so the idea of leaving a personal marker to ward off any confusion of strollers didnt work!:brick:

________________________________________________
5 days and wake up!!!!

POP Century here we come!!!:sohappy:

 

[havoc]

Havoc, are you security? In my experience it seems like personal stroller theft if pretty rare. You do agree or am I living in a dream world?

I think the problem is that a lot of people have personal strollers that look exactly the same, they pick it up and walk off not knowing that it is someone else's.

To answer your question, stroller theft is rare if you look at it that way.

 

[Mrs.PhD]

I think the problem is that a lot of people have personal strollers that look exactly the same, they pick it up and walk off not knowing that it is someone else's.

To answer your question, stroller theft is rare if you look at it that way.

Thank you, that is kind of what I figured. I have heard reports of people coming back to find strollers that look a lot like there, but isn't. I always try to make ours "stand out". My kids have stickers all over it. At this point it has been to WDW 6 times, so it might be a higher priced one, but no way someone would mistake it for their new one. :lookaroun

 

[MousDad]

If you are interested in this topic, please read Kevin Yee's excellent article dated 4/24, link is:

http://miceage.micechat.com/kevinyee/ky042408a.htm

I think this is one the best articles of his that I have read. Very thorough discussion of the topic and implications.

Of note for this thread: Kevin states that rental strollers have "all but disappeared" from the WDW parks.

My assertion from the beginning was that Disney's rationale for this move was trying to eliminate the double strollers. Kevin takes it a step further and suggests that the motive is trying to eliminate all strollers completely.

There's a lot of people on this board who should be very happy if this is true. :wave: I'm not one of them though. I agree with Kevin that alienating, even to a slight degree, any portion of your customer base is never a good idea.

 

[Mrs.PhD]

interesting read, thanks for posting it. :animwink:

 

[mousermerf]

Too bad it's not very true..

The parking lot at Seas with Nemo was full the other day, a mix of rental and non-rental. The doubles seemed to not really exist though.

They're not doing it to cut labor. It doesn't take very many people to do stroller rental, now they're just not working quite as hard. I' be surprised if they reduce staffing in any meaningful manner.

 

[MousDad]

He went on to state in the chat that he has observed that the banana strollers that WDW sells in the shops are becoming much more present in the parks, at the same rate the rentals are disappearing.

 

[cooleo]

Pretty good article, thanks for the post.

 

[coasterphil]

Yee is absolutely full of it, there are still plenty of strollers out in the parks. I made a special point to really keep watch of it today at work, and there are still plenty of them out there. If there is an actual difference, it's negligible. I've also yet to see a bunch of the umbrella strollers sold at the shops.

 

[MousDad]

Yee is absolutely full of it, there are still plenty of strollers out in the parks. I made a special point to really keep watch of it today at work, and there are still plenty of them out there. If there is an actual difference, it's negligible. I've also yet to see a bunch of the umbrella strollers sold at the shops.

Respectfully, I think you might have misinterpreted. He never stated that stroller usage in general was down. He observed that "rental" stroller usage was down.

He goes on to state, in the article chat (link at the end of the article), that he has not observed a general decline in stroller usage, but rather an increased usage of personals, specifically the model people can buy in the stores.

 

[coasterphil]

Respectfully, I think you might have misinterpreted. He never stated that stroller usage in general was down. He observed that "rental" stroller usage was down.

He goes on to state, in the article chat (link at the end of the article), that he has not observed a general decline in stroller usage, but rather an increased usage of personals, specifically the model people can buy in the stores.

I think you misinterpreted my post, as I was referring to rental strollers. Those haven't gone away at all like he'd have you believe, but since most people reading the article aren't going to be at WDW in the very near future he can get away with lying to better make his point about Disney's business model.

 

[mousermerf]

I think you misinterpreted my post, as I was referring to rental strollers. Those haven't gone away at all like he'd have you believe, but since most people reading the article aren't going to be at WDW in the very near future he can get away with lying to better make his point about Disney's business model.

Yup yup, people switched to singles mostly. But they still rent en masse.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Interesting article. Not sure if he's exactly right on some of the reasoning as to why prices have jumped so high, and I highly doubt rentals have all but "disappeared" from the the park (previous posters have already refuted this claim).

Still, I think he's dead on point at the end about the customer's reaction. First time customers, and probably even repeat customers, will be shocked when they see the price for renting a stroller. What once could be considered, dare I say it, reasonable for a stroller rental has progressed to a point of highway robbery. While people who need a stroller will grudgingly pay the fee, they will remember the experience in a bad light. Will it necessarily prevent them from coming back? No, I don't think so. But no one likes to go some place and feel like they're being cheated, but with prices like these, that's exactly how many people will feel as they enter the park with their rented or purchased stroller.