I have a Bone to pick

[graphite1326]

We just got back from WDW and had a wonderful trip. This was the first chance I had to go on SE since the updates and loved it. I hated the update for "whatever they call it now...People Mover" I think this is one ride that is better left alone. All in all we had a GREAT trip. I have just one gripe. We have been going to WDW with our children since our youngest was 8 years old. He is now 20. We noticed that there is an overwelming number of strollers. Much more now than there ever was. When our children were young, we never used one. And it seemed that the other parents made their children walk on their own also. HOWEVER, now we noticed some parents had children there were 8,9,10, and even older in strollers. Don't get me wrong some children do need assistance getting around the park, but these were perfecly healthy children who could walk,run and skip about the park. Everyone knows it is difficult enough getting down MSUSA after the fireworks and now with this overabundance of strollers it's just crazy. Does anyone else feel this way about this?

 

[djdan]

I'm 32. If someone were willing to usher me around all day while I get to sit, I'm game! Seriously though, kids are fat. :lookaroun

 

[marni1971]

Yes. As do my ankles and shins.

 

[TopOfTheWorld]

I love it when the kids are way too big for the strollers, and their legs are hanging way out the front. It just makes the parents look stupid pushing these kids around.

*These comments are not in reference to a child who may have a disability. On our last trip, we saw a girl at Epcot who thought "it was too hot to walk." Well, it's too hot for your Dad to be pushing you around!

 

[tonganprince]

Yup, in this day and age, kids are as lazy as ever.

I have to blame cable and video games.

 

[zurgandfriend]

Ahhh - here we go!
We have beaten this to death in the past;
Some children have special needs and require a stroller.
Some parents baby their kids too much.
Some parents think that if they push the kids in a stroller they’ll get more touring time before the kids “hit the wall” and the family has to return to their resort to rest.
From each according to their ability, to each according to their need. – Karl Marx
The same with the electric power chairs, which I hate.
I had knee replacement surgery in the spring of 2009, too many years in the Airborne I quess. We went to WDW in August 2009. DW asked if I needed a power chair, I told her no and I won’t be wearing a dress to any of the parks either, but I digress

 

[Master Gracey 5]

Yeah, the last time I was allowed in the stroller when we went to Disney was when I was 5. After that, there were younger siblings that needed to use it and I walked the park. Even my youngest sister was booted out of the stroller after she was 4 so my parents didn't have to pack or rent one. We all survived and still enjoy the parks to this day.

If you have a need for a stroller, I won't begrudge you, but I can say from experience that a perfectly healthy 6-9 year old is more than capable of walking the parks for a week. After all, kids have more energy than us old folks!

 

[Eyorefan]

We had a stroller for my daughter through age 4, and after that I made her walk with me.

I think what it comes down to is that these parents, the ones pushing the lazy 10 year old in the stroller, are willing to do just about anything to avoid having to actually deal with their children. Its probably a lot easier to just stick Sally-age-8 in a stroller than it is to listen to her complain about how her feet hurt 10 minutes after you have walked into the park. Its probably a lot easier to stick a video game in your 9 year old's hands than it is to engage them in an actual conversation while you wait with them in line.

Let's face it, the way the world is today its possible for a person to raise a kid and never have any meaningful interaction with them. (Because interaction is stressful!) I see this kind of thing happen with some of my daughter's friends at home and its sad. I feel sorry for the older kids in strollers, I really really do.

 

[devoy1701]

We had a stroller for my daughter through age 4, and after that I made her walk with me.

I think what it comes down to is that these parents, the ones pushing the lazy 10 year old in the stroller, are willing to do just about anything to avoid having to actually deal with their children. Its probably a lot easier to just stick Sally-age-8 in a stroller than it is to listen to her complain about how her feet hurt 10 minutes after you have walked into the park. Its probably a lot easier to stick a video game in your 9 year old's hands than it is to engage them in an actual conversation while you wait with them in line.

Let's face it, the way the world is today its possible for a person to raise a kid and never have any meaningful interaction with them. (Because interaction is stressful!) I see this kind of thing happen with some of my daughter's friends at home and its sad. I feel sorry for the older kids in strollers, I really really do.

that bold statement bothers me more than anything. It's so depressing seeing kids playing their Nintendo DS while in line or at the dinner table and their parents just carrying on as if they are not there.

 

[MSU Jafar]

I say this exact same thing everytime I go to WDW! What I especially hate are the "double strollers" that are as wide as the sidewalks! Again, as everyone has said before. For some there is a definite required need for strollers, wheelchairs, scooters, etc. The problem is the perfectly healthy older children who are just lazy! I truly do not see this coming to an end...(besides our society just becoming fat and lazy) but, how much do you think WDW makes a year in stroller rentals?

 

[Master Gracey 5]

I say this exact same thing everytime I go to WDW! What I especially hate are the "double strollers" that are as wide as the sidewalks! Again, as everyone has said before. For some there is a definite required need for strollers, wheelchairs, scooters, etc. The problem is the perfectly healthy older children who are just lazy! I truly do not see this coming to an end...(besides our society just becoming fat and lazy) but, how much do you think WDW makes a year in stroller rentals?

Good question. Here's what I consider to be a conservative analysis:

According to allears, single strollers are $15/day and double $31/day. Rather than guess how many of each there are, I'm using an average of $20/day for each stroller (assuming there are more singles available).

Lets call it a round number of 400 available at every park. You can argue that there are more at MK than AK or DHS, but this number averages out the differences across the World.

Assuming all strollers are rented every day, my quick analysis shows that Disney makes:

($20) x (2000 strollers) x (365 days) = $14,600,000 per year.

Assume each stroller costs $100 to replace every year and another $100 to upkeep over that year of use, we have a total replacement cost of:

($200) x (2000 strollers) = $400,000

For a net profit of $14,200,000 in WDW alone. Even if we assume my numbers are inflated by 20%, thats a profit of $11,360,000 each year. Huge cash cow considering what is actually involved.

 

[wendysue]

WOW! Sad situation. I have read that many of today's children will NOT outlive their parents.
Quit letting them RIDE everywhere! Physical exercise is absolutely necessary.....

 

[graphite1326]

Strollers are the lesser of 2 evils.

The average person walks between 1 to 2 miles per day in the everyday life. When we have measured it using a pedometer we would average around 7-8 miles per day while at WDW. It is understandable increasing your physical activity by as much as a factor of 8 is going to have some negative effects on your body. You will get sore and people handle discomfort in different ways. Kids for the most part do not handle it well. Their typical response is to whine, cry, throw tantrums and basically make everyone around the as or more miserable then they are.

A stroller is a great way to stop that in its tracks. My youngest is 9 and when we go for short 1 to 2 day trips a stroller is not needed. Once we hit the day 4 or 5 mark her body has had enough and if we were to forgo the stroller we would have a meltdown by noon.

When my sons where 6 and 9, we didn't use a stroller. We had a great time and went to all the parks. 5 days and no melt downs. When my kids where 8 & 11, NO stroller. We went to all the parks 6 days plus waterparks DTD, Disney Quest, no mid day breaks and NO MELT DOWNS. If your kid is 9 they don't belong in a stroller. She is more healthy then you are. If she whines, throws a tantrum and makes you miserable it's not her fault it's yours for not controlling your daughter. My shins and toes have had enough of lazy parents.

 

[karlbeau]

I think the strollers are the worst on the monorail! On other forms of transportation, CM's make stroller owners fold up the strollers before getting on the vehicle. For some strange reason there are no stroller regulations on the monorail and we all get the joy of squeezing to the sides to allow a double-stroller access to the entire center space!

I still like the idea of using a single monorail car for strollers only. Take out the seats and leave the poles!


http://parkgopher.com/blogs/monorail-musings/item/101-dear-wdi-monorail-department

 

[klineski96]

Dont get me started on the motorized scooters.

Ah nevermind.... I'm not even going to say it LOL

 

[bamillerpa]

The rule in our house was once your started kindergarten there were no more strollers. My daughter was 5 1/2 the first time she went without a stroller. We enjoyed 7 long days in the parks and she was fine. She got to sit down during the rides and meals and we always made time to swim which cooled her off and gave her more energy. The only night that she had any trouble was during MNSSHP. She did fine while at the park but fell asleep during the boat ride back to the Wilderness Campground. My husband carried her back to our camper. Other than that, she was on her own. She had a blast and NO meltdowns. We did buy her a good pair of shoes to wear around the park and didn't allow any cheap flip flops so we didn't have to worry about blisters. Today my daughter is an athletic, healthy, well mannered twelve year old and she looks forward to our next trip there this fall. Now, compare this to another child in her class. This child has NO medical reasons to be in a stoller and I know this because I am close friends with her mother. This child whines to get what she wants and still throws tantrums at age TWELVE and she rides on the back of her younger brother's stroller (who is in second grade). She's in a stroller for a simple trip to the mall! They are two of the most spoiled, ill mannered kids you have ever seen and it's completely because their mother indulges them in every way possible! My daughter refuses to even be near them anymore. I say stop indulging your kids and allow them do what they are capable off. It seems that anymore parents baby their kids FOREVER!

Sorry about going on forever.....It's a sore subject in our house

 

[wizards8507]

There's also a huge difference between a nice 4-wheel canvas stroller and a plastic monstrosity made by Jeep (Jeep? Seriously?), complete with 16-wheels, off roading tires, and shock absorbers.

Give me a break.

 

[G-bone]

Dont get me started on the motorized scooters.

Ah nevermind.... I'm not even going to say it LOL

I'm with ya....:brick:

 

[lighteningqueen]

What erks me more is they ahve these massive strollers that cost them 500.00 from home and get on the bus with them thinking they will not take up any room. They ahve to sit in the isle and you cannot even get by. It infringes on the guys legs next to them etc... When the castle show gets over at night it is a massive traffic jam for hours on end to move. Strollers a re the big culprit and these parents decide to stand right in the middle of the paths and talk with others or put their kids back in the strollers.. they are rude to the bone by not moving over to the side. BUT EVC's are becoming just as bad. Yes many need them but many just rent them so the family takes turns to sit and drive for a awhile. I have witnessed this and it makes me sick over the misuse of these carts. ESPECIALLY when it comes to loading on a bus. 15 of their family members get on first take the whole bus up and here we go waiting again. Sometimes thru 3 buses last Dec. I would not say this if I had not seen these exact families thru the day at the park of in lines at a ride. It is being totally abused and some of them are just overweight people who cannot walk far I understand but 3 or 4 of the family members are in carts We many of us witnessed this and waited for 3 different buses while we stood there for 2 hours to get home...after midnight... waiting for evcers to load. They all just drove up when we all had been already waiting, they take them first no matter what..BUT we all meaning everyone under that canopy finally had enough and told the bus driver on the 4th one coming that we needed to load as well.. They finally got 2 buses in and let us all load and kept the evcers back. After all they had just rode up no wait time for any of them on any of the previous buses.They really need CM's managing the bus terminals to see what is going on and getting buses there just for EVC's..

 

[Fashionista007]

I don't mind the strollers until the rude people driving them bump into other people. On our last trip, I had to shield my poor mother from a stroller driving dummy who kept bumping her ankles. I also hate when a stroller driver bullies their way through the crowd. We're all trying to get somewhere, just be patient!

For all you video game haters, I have a message. Video games are not the problem. It is the responsibility of the parent to interact with their child. If your child likes video games, why not play with them? My BF and I take our Nintendo DS-es on every trip to pass time in long lines and such. We play games both together and apart and we never feel a lack of interaction with each other. Don't be so quick to judge gamers, we're people too