What age did you ditch the stroller for your child at the parks?

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Strollers are a trap.

It’s one thing to get the kid off of the reliance of the stroller.

Much more difficult to separate the adult from the convenience of a rolling armoire that comfortably fits all their stuff. I had to go to counseling.

 

[MickeyCB]

Daughter last time using, she was 3 1/2 and my son wanted nothing to do with a stroller at 4.
We took my 10 month old grandaughter last Oct. and it was a mixed blessing and pain. She slept in it and it was nice to put all of the stuff in it. But, getting it folded up for transport was annoying.

 

[doctornick]

Strollers are a trap.

It’s one thing to get the kid off of the reliance of the stroller.

Much more difficult to separate the adult from the convenience of a rolling armoire that comfortably fits all their stuff. I had to go to counseling.

Oh we always talk about how it was so much easier to carry our stuff around when we had a stroller. It may very well be the biggest change when you stop having them.

 

[Laura]

I have 5 kids from age 2 to 21. I’ve been bringing babies to Disney regularly for over 2 decades.

Times have changed. When my first 2 kids were toddlers, we ditched strollers at age 3. Crowds were low and Disney was slow paced then. It was no problem. I didn’t even bring a stroller with us on vacation anymore once they were 3.

Fast forward 18 years, the parks are nuts. Especially Magic Kingdom around fireworks time. Strollers are more of a safety thing in huge crowds where there’s a risk of being trampled or separated. I have no shame in saying we put our tiny 7 year old in a stroller when we are in thick crowds to keep her safe. In wide open / low crowd areas, our 4 year old has no problem walking. Even our 2 year old walks when it’s safe.

I remember almost 20 years ago on these forums, kids were called lazy if they used a stroller past a certain age. But IMO it has nothing to do with laziness anymore and more to do with the insanity of having a 30-40 pound kid up against this without any protection.

 

[OneofThree]

I have no shame in saying we put our tiny 7 year old in a stroller when we are in thick crowds to keep her safe.

I have a tiny (36lbs) 6 year old. The great thing about it is that during those times WDW regresses to the point illustrated in your pic, it's really easy to scoop her up and carry her through the melee.

 

[Laura]

I have a tiny (36lbs) 6 year old. The great thing about it is that during those times WDW regresses to the point illustrated in your pic, it's really easy to scoop her up and carry her through the melee.

We have more kids than hands so usually we carry the lighter ones.

 

[OneofThree]

We have more kids than hands so usually we carry the lighter ones.

Took us a bit to figure it out. We had the first two about a year and a half apart. Then, we spread out the next three pretty well!

 

[Maelstrom Troll]

I think we stopped using for our daughter when she turned six and I think at that point it was more of a convenience to have someplace to rest are things when we went on rides. We might’ve taken it for the next trip except Southwest airlines crushed it en route to WDW.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

I checked with my DW, a/k/a the boss…because I didn’t remember…she said when we took the girls on their first trip, we only rented one at Epcot because of the distance…they actually did ok at AK, MK and HWD…the youngest was 5.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

My kids are spaced 7, 4, and 2 so we've had one with us since the oldest was born. We have a narrow sit-stand double mainly for the baby, but the 4 year old might hop on for a ride if we're trying to get somewhere quickly. If it was just the 7 and 4 year old, we wouldn't bring one. So I guess I'll say 4.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I don't have kids but I can speak as to what my parents did with us and what my sisters did with their kids.
For me I think the last time my parents used a stroller was when I was 4.5yrs old
They just rented from the parks so it was only an as needed basis.
I think I mostly recall that last time using it at EPCOT.
For my sisters kids... my one niece first went when she was almost 6 so didn't use one.
Another niece used it until she was 3.5yrs old (she was always in the 98th percentile for height and weight so it was VERY difficult to attempt to carry her plus she was an awesome nap taker in the stroller).
My other niece was 5.5yrs and very much still needed it as she has EDS and my sister could not carry her so they used a stroller as wheelchair tag.

 

[phillip9698]

Last trip my kids were 3 and 5 and the strollers helped tremendously, especially in that Florida heat. If anything it meant our youngest had a spot to sleep and his nap didnt inconvenience the rest of the party that still wanted to ride and snack. They were also great because we could stuff our backpacks underneath them so we werent carrying them around all day. Since we usually go September not only is water a must, but gotta have a way to store those ponchos.

 

[Indy_UK]

So in my ideal world, we wouldn’t renting a stroller for our 6 year old but everything has told me that it would probably be a good idea because:

1. It’s our first ever family trip since adopting him
2. He suffers with mild signs of Autism/ ASD and uses ear defenders in overly loud situations.
3. He isn’t the best for when it comes lots of walking
4. We are going in August so it’s going to be insanely not and busy.
5. Allows us for quick get aways or breaks back to the resort.
6. We just don’t know how he’s going to respond to being at WDW

We are putting in as many things in place to make it easier for us all like no park hopping, DAS pass, regular breaks, cooling towels and fans.

Plan is to use the stroller when getting off the busses and extended walking but in adventure land for example, I plan to park up the stroller and he can walk/ do all the attractions within that land before we move on.

If he doesn’t need it much then we just won’t rent one next year