So why weren't there many strollers back in the day?

[TheGuyThatMakesSwords]

Wellllllll - just an opinion. Father of FOUR, all grown up now .

Long ago, we waited until the older kids were a little older, youngest about 5. Youngest got an umbrella stroller - not a battle wagon full of gear . It was an actual STROLLER - not a hand truck.

How many simple fold up umbrella strollers do you see these days?

 

[Starlight67]

Stroller parking permits? Easy money grab.

Haha-$10.00 per day Regular Stroller Parking Pass, $20.00 for Priority Stroller ParkingPass? . Kinda sad that I can actually see this becoming reality!

No coddling, nurturing when needed, not overdoing it and babying them and enabling them. Loving them, disciplining them, having a routine, etc. In turn, guess what happens? Respect.

Good points. And (side note alert ahead)--Coddled, babied kids grow up to be employees in the workforce; where they expect to be coddled and babied. Almost shocked at the idea of being asked to do, well...WORK....

Anyway, enough on that, don't want to get too off topic here...

 

[SourcererMark79]

Haha-$10.00 per day Regular Stroller Parking Pass, $20.00 for Priority Stroller ParkingPass? . Kinda sad that I can actually see this becoming reality!
...

Well, it should be tiered like the resort parking. Oh, and maybe 15 for a double stroller. Oh, I can see how this is so easy now. Ha!

 

[DisneyFans4Life]

Parent of 2 here; one just turned 4 in February and the other is almost 9 months. We've been bringing both kids to Disney since they were 3 months old and even now with a 4 year old, we wouldn't come to the parks without our double stroller. My 4 year old can walk just fine, but to get from place to place within the park and with the amount of people, it's easier to have her in the stroller instead of getting in people's way.

I don't know about other folks, but when I'm walking through the park, I find it very annoying when kids (and adults) cut in front of you and don't pay attention to where they're walking. I can't tell you how many times kids have run into us because they're just walking wherever they feel like.

And now that we have the 9 month old, if we're going to end up pushing him in a stroller, may as well have the older one in there too. Plus as others have said, it's nice to use the stroller for storage. When we go to the parks, I have my backpack with camera, snacks, etc. and my wife has a backpack diaper bag. When the 9 month old is in the carrier, we'll use the empty seat to put the backpacks.

Our double stroller also folds up quickly and easily and is very compact (we've been here for 10 days now and we've had to quickly fold it up to get on a bus and the majority of the time I'm doing it one handed).

Lastly, I like having a stroller to run over people who aren't paying attention. When you're walking and decide to stop right in the middle of the walk way, chances are I'm not going to stop and will run into you and then say something along the lines of "great place to stop!" When you spend over $400 on a stroller...you may as well get your monies worth and use it.

 

[NelleBelle]

When my kids outgrew the strollers at about 5 years, we found a great thing for storage at the parks...LOCKERS!! I typically bring sweatshirts/jeans to change into later in the evening if we're there during the fall months. Love these things!!! I don't have to carry a backpack full of crap, just a lightweight one to put our camera stuff in, etc. And when we did tour the parks with the kids, we opted to leave the huge double jogger at home and took a very compact side-by-side double that folded up very slimly. We were so glad to leave those stroller days behind (and the car seat days were even sweeter)!

 

[JD80]

For those that need a double stroller might I suggest something like this? I have one similar to this and we used it for Disney last year. So small and compact and lightweight. And it's only $50.

Double Stroller

 

[Goofyernmost]

Parent of 2 here; one just turned 4 in February and the other is almost 9 months. We've been bringing both kids to Disney since they were 3 months old and even now with a 4 year old, we wouldn't come to the parks without our double stroller. My 4 year old can walk just fine, but to get from place to place within the park and with the amount of people, it's easier to have her in the stroller instead of getting in people's way.

I don't know about other folks, but when I'm walking through the park, I find it very annoying when kids (and adults) cut in front of you and don't pay attention to where they're walking. I can't tell you how many times kids have run into us because they're just walking wherever they feel like.

And now that we have the 9 month old, if we're going to end up pushing him in a stroller, may as well have the older one in there too. Plus as others have said, it's nice to use the stroller for storage. When we go to the parks, I have my backpack with camera, snacks, etc. and my wife has a backpack diaper bag. When the 9 month old is in the carrier, we'll use the empty seat to put the backpacks.

Our double stroller also folds up quickly and easily and is very compact (we've been here for 10 days now and we've had to quickly fold it up to get on a bus and the majority of the time I'm doing it one handed).

Lastly, I like having a stroller to run over people who aren't paying attention. When you're walking and decide to stop right in the middle of the walk way, chances are I'm not going to stop and will run into you and then say something along the lines of "great place to stop!" When you spend over $400 on a stroller...you may as well get your monies worth and use it.

One of the funny things about discussion forums is that no matter how impersonal they have to be due to the numbers of people reading them someone will always decide that you are talking directly to them. The problem isn't with the people that have a legitimate need for a stroller, but, like scooters it's the unnecessary usage that creates the bottle necks and the navigational problems. You have a 4 year old and a 9 month old, of course you have a legit need for a stroller and in a way you are doing the crowd a service by not having an easily distracted young person putting themselves in harms way every few minutes. So it makes me wonder why, under those conditions you would even feel a need to respond. It didn't even apply to you or anyone else in your situation. Preteens in a stroller or kids walking and piles of unnecessary packages or things brought from home filling one up is not very thoughtful and is self centered. They may not think that they are causing any problems with traffic flow or space, but, they are and that is more what the upset is about.

It does bewilder me how people with older children cannot seem to move an inch without every single thing they own (yes, I know.. an exaggeration) with them. My first visit to WDW was with my wife, myself and my 6 and 9 year old daughters. No stroller, we walked all day long. I had just my regular pockets in my shorts and my wife had a small purse... my girls carried nothing. We made it though each day with no needs or problems. It made being there so much easier and enjoyable to not have to be pushing things around, finding a place to put them so we could take in a ride or attraction, not worry about covering things up that we didn't want stolen and worrying about whether or not the stroller would still be there when we got back. It was a whole lot less stressful to just think, if I need something that bad, I'll just buy it. But, that is me and doesn't necessarily apply to everyone

 

[drizgirl]

One of the funny things about discussion forums is that no matter how impersonal they have to be due to the numbers of people reading them someone will always decide that you are talking directly to them. The problem isn't with the people that have a legitimate need for a stroller, but, like scooters it's the unnecessary usage that creates the bottle necks and the navigational problems. You have a 4 year old and a 9 month old, of course you have a legit need for a stroller and in a way you are doing the crowd a service by not having an easily distracted young person putting themselves in harms way every few minutes. So it makes me wonder why, under those conditions you would even feel a need to respond. It didn't even apply to you or anyone else in your situation. Preteens in a stroller or kids walking and piles of unnecessary packages or things brought from home filling one up is not very thoughtful and is self centered. They may not think that they are causing any problems with traffic flow or space, but, they are and that is more what the upset is about.

It does bewilder me how people with older children cannot seem to move an inch without every single thing they own (yes, I know.. an exaggeration) with them. My first visit to WDW was with my wife, myself and my 6 and 9 year old daughters. No stroller, we walked all day long. I had just my regular pockets in my shorts and my wife had a small purse... my girls carried nothing. We made it though each day with no needs or problems. It made being there so much easier and enjoyable to not have to be pushing things around, finding a place to put them so we could take in a ride or attraction, not worry about covering things up that we didn't want stolen and worrying about whether or not the stroller would still be there when we got back. It was a whole lot less stressful to just think, if I need something that bad, I'll just buy it. But, that is me and doesn't necessarily apply to everyone

But see, that's the beauty of it. You did what worked for you and that's great. Others do what works for them.

 

[danyoung56]

I don't have a problem with stroller use, but I have a big problem with the larger kids being stuffed into one. My first ever trip to Disneyland was when I was 6, (mumble mumble) years ago. I would have been HORRIFIED if Mom or Dad made me ride in a stroller. We had one for my 3 year old brother, which was entirely appropriate. But I was on my own two feet, and I wanted to stay that way!

 

[JD80]

You should worry about yourself and not what other people are doing with their older kids. Who cares. If they want to look lazy, by all means look lazy.

 

[danyoung56]

You should worry about yourself and not what other people are doing with their older kids. Who cares. If they want to look lazy, by all means look lazy.

I don't even begin to "worry" about this - it bugs me, but I don't lose any sleep over it.

 

[larryz]

It does bewilder me how people with older children cannot seem to move an inch without every single thing they own (yes, I know.. an exaggeration) with them. My first visit to WDW was with my wife, myself and my 6 and 9 year old daughters. No stroller, we walked all day long. I had just my regular pockets in my shorts and my wife had a small purse... my girls carried nothing. We made it though each day with no needs or problems. It made being there so much easier and enjoyable to not have to be pushing things around, finding a place to put them so we could take in a ride or attraction, not worry about covering things up that we didn't want stolen and worrying about whether or not the stroller would still be there when we got back. It was a whole lot less stressful to just think, if I need something that bad, I'll just buy it. But, that is me and doesn't necessarily apply to everyone

That's why God invented Cargo Shorts!

 

[OneofThree]

You should worry about yourself and not what other people are doing with their older kids. Who cares. If they want to look lazy, by all means look lazy.

Actually, social sanctioning has always been an integral component of society. This idea of "don't worry about what other people are doing" and other kinds of enablers clearly aren't serving society or the individual for the better. As has been pointed out by others here, there's nothing good about fat and lazy. If nothing else, my health premiums reflect as much, so get on the freaking treadmill.

 

[Goofyernmost]

That's why God invented Cargo Shorts!

And that is why I wore them when I went after the second trip. It can be highly dangerous to go against God, they tell me!

 

[Elfinko]

I would think it takes more time and effort to push a stroller than not to push a stroller. So, I'm having a hard time making the 'fat and lazy' connection there.

 

[Starlight67]

Warning: this is yet another 'when I grew up' post

In my memory when I was growing up the last thing I wanted to be associated with was 'baby stuff', which would have included strollers. By the time I was a 'regular walker', I think I would have been horrified to be seen with my baby brother being pushed around by our parents. My parents wouldn't have offered either....BUT....

Times have changed, I think back 'in the day' it was a whole lot easier to just leave the parks when the kids got tired, and return (or not) later.

There wasn't SO MUCH to do and see. There weren't 'must-eat' restaurants that reservations for 6pm had been made at 60 days prior. There weren't fast pass 'requirements' that end up spread out all over the day. And there weren't all kinds of extra add on options (Bibbity Bobbity Boutique-or whatever it's called, etc.) that may have been scheduled months before. Disney is EXPENSIVE, and for most of us we have that one week a year (or every few years) to visit. In the old days there were no scheduled events you would be missing if you bailed out for a little while. Simply because there wasn't an option to schedule anything. So leaving really had no 'repercussions' (other than spending less time in the parks.) If you leave the park now due to tired kids you could potentially be missing a lot (AND, be unable to reschedule stuff) So I can definitely get why people would have older kids in strollers....

I sure miss the simplicity of the old school Disney Experience!!!

 

[Alice a]

8 pages of comments, and I'm floored that no one has mentioned the obvious- yes, people are fatter and the parks cater far more to families and children than in the past, but also:

THERE ARE FOUR PARKS

I agree that people are trying to maximize park time with small children, but longer vacations with much more walking due to more parks (1 in the 70s, 2 in the 80s, etc.) probably has an impact.

I don't have kids, but as a generally fit woman in her 30s who works out 60-90 minutes a day, my dogs are barking after 2-3 days in the parks.

I can't imagine being a small child trotting through 4 parks, 2 water parks, mini golf, and Disney springs. That's a lot of steps in the heat for little legs.

 

[larryz]

And that is why I wore them when I went after the second trip. It can be highly dangerous to go against God, they tell me!

You know how you can tell you've overloaded them?

Spoiler

When you have to wear suspenders to keep them up!

 

[GoofGoof]

8 pages of comments, and I'm floored that no one has mentioned the obvious- yes, people are fatter and the parks cater far more to families and children than in the past, but also:

THERE ARE FOUR PARKS

I agree that people are trying to maximize park time with small children, but longer vacations with much more walking due to more parks (1 in the 70s, 2 in the 80s, etc.) probably has an impact.

I don't have kids, but as a generally fit woman in her 30s who works out 60-90 minutes a day, my dogs are barking after 2-3 days in the parks.

I can't imagine being a small child trotting through 4 parks, 2 water parks, mini golf, and Disney springs. That's a lot of steps in the heat for little legs.

Stop using logic...you are ruining a good story...everyone is fat and lazy...especially little kids

When I was a kid on my first visit to WDW it was just MK and EPCOT and we stayed a week so we had a number of days where we just hung at the pool and resort. It was probably close to half the trip. The pace was much slower than my more recent visits.

 

[OneofThree]

Stop using logic...you are ruining a good story...everyone is fat and lazy...especially little kids

When I was a kid on my first visit to WDW it was just MK and EPCOT and we stayed a week so we had a number of days where we just hung at the pool and resort. It was probably close to half the trip. The pace was much slower than my more recent visits.

When I was a kid, my first visit in 84' was 3 days and 2 nights. My crazy yankee parents almost literally ran us (and our then 3 year old sister) around the parks all day without any sort of midday break or very many stops to rest. Guess what? We had a great time -and we didn't die. Yes, the 3 year old had a stroller, but also spent a lot of time on my fathers shoulders. Moral of the story -it's silly to think school-aged children need, want, or will have a better time when cooped up in a lazy-mobile. Carry on cupcakes.