[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: As I was planning more and more trips to Disney World as a mom. With more and more children, I realized I was researching less about rides and where to find characters, those kinds of things, because I was researching what would essentially become our most used form of transportation, our stroller, and if you’re trying to decide.

[00:00:22] Dana Stanley: If your six or 7-year-old needs a stroller, or how to bring two kids to Disney that need a stroller, or wondering, will they even sit in the stroller? Should you even bring one in the first place? Then I promise this episode is one you’re going to want to listen to, especially if you already know that you’re bringing one.

[00:00:40] Dana Stanley: This episode has everything you need to know about what your park day will look like with a stroller. Hello and welcome to The Laid Back Magic Way podcast. I’m your host, Dana Stanley, creator of Laid Back Magic. As a mom of three, I know how tough it can be to find time to plan a Disney World trip. That doesn’t leave you feeling stressed or overwhelmed.

[00:01:01] Dana Stanley: That’s why I’m here to help moms like you create Disney vacations that feel even better than they look on paper here. We’re not chasing perfection, but creating our next favorite memories. So whether you’re brand new to Disney or looking to go deeper into the details, this podcast is your go-to for simple tips, mindset shifts, real life trip recaps, and expert insights to make your trip magical and manageable.

[00:01:23] Dana Stanley: New episodes drop every Monday, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss a moment. Okay, let’s dive in. Today we’re talking about something that seems so small, so trivial, but has a massive impact on how your trip feels in Disney World. And that’s your stroller, which one to bring, whether to rent, where they’re allowed, how big they can be, all the things you don’t realize that matter until you’re actually in the nitty gritty of the trip itself.

[00:01:53] Dana Stanley: For some context, my kids are pretty spread out in their ages. I have a 9-year-old, a almost 5-year-old, and a one and a half year old. So I’ve gone from experiencing Disney with no stroller. Then a single, then a double, and now a kid who’s out of the stroller that is kind of like forced to walk on her trips along with a double alongside her.

[00:02:16] Dana Stanley: And it can be a lot like wrangling all these kids in a crowded theme park. You’re probably wondering, do you really need a stroller in Disney World if your kid doesn’t use one at home? And the short answer is yes. Even if you think that they’ll be fine, and you might not even own a stroller anymore, you might have sold yours.

[00:02:36] Dana Stanley: As a general rule of thumb, if your kid is under eight, they’re going to need a stroller off and on. They might not be sitting in it as much as like a baby would, but it’s going to be something that you want to have. You may have heard how much you walk in Disney, and that’s true. I looked at the data on my phone from our last trip and it looks like we averaged between six to eight miles a day, and that was with us, like really taking it easy and also there was like a hurricane and we weren’t doing much.

[00:03:06] Dana Stanley: So to give you an idea, you are really walking a lot. I think the thing that comes to mind when you think of like how much walking there is in Disney or a theme park. Is, well, we’re kind of bopping around, like you’re walking to a ride, getting out, then you’re walking to like summer to eat and then you’re getting out.

[00:03:24] Dana Stanley: You’re kind of, you know, in and out. And yes, there’s a lot of walking, but there’s breaks in between. So it’s not too bad. The part that you absolutely need a stroller for is getting to and from the parks. So if you’re staying at a Disney resort, it can be really spread out. And even just walking from like your room to the elevator, you might want a stroller or from your room to the bus stop.

[00:03:51] Dana Stanley: You’ll want a stroller. Or if you’re like me and really prefer walking and just kind of getting your steps in and it’s relaxing for you and you like being in control of your transportation, you’re obviously really gonna want a stroller. And the thing about getting to and from the parks, even like after you get dropped off.

[00:04:13] Dana Stanley: From the bus and now you’re going to the gates or vice versa. It’s boring. Like in the parks, there’s a lot of things for the kids to look at, but it’s not really exciting when you’re walking to and from places and it’s a lot harder. So like that’s gonna be the time when you end up carrying them. I have a friend who, I think he was six at the time.

[00:04:38] Dana Stanley: Six or seven and she just was like, oh, he doesn’t need a stroller. Like he doesn’t use a stroller. He walks a ton. We’ll be fine. But I kid you not, she was like emergency renting a stroller on the afternoon of day one. Like, what was I thinking? This child, of course needs a stroller, especially walking back like after a park day to the buses and it’s late.

[00:05:02] Dana Stanley: Like your kids will be toast and I promise like you’re gonna end up carrying them. If I haven’t convinced you yet and you’re still on the fence, remember that the stroller isn’t just to like push your children around. It’s also for you. It carries all of your drinks and your sweatshirts, your bag, the souvenirs that you said you wouldn’t buy and then you bought them anyway, the way your stroller becomes a pack mule.

[00:05:26] Dana Stanley: I cannot even begin to explain to you, and you’ll be so happy that you have one. Okay, so now that I shove that down your throat, that yes, you need a stroller and you’re like, Dana, yes, I know, but what stroller is best like, okay, this is going to be very important. What stroller should I bring? I wanna acknowledge a few things because first, strollers are very personal.

[00:05:51] Dana Stanley: Like there are just certain things as moms that we like, like certain baby carriers and car seats. They’re just things that feel good to us. So I know what I love to bring, but that might not necessarily be what works for you and your kids or your husband. And what you guys prefer. That being said, in general, the best strollers for Disney are going to always have these five things.

[00:06:16] Dana Stanley: First, they’re going to want to recline flat or close to flat. This is something that really bugs me about a lot of strollers is when the recline is like 45 degrees. I don’t know if it’s just my kids. But if I have any chance of a stroller nap, which is already maybe like a 2% chance as it is, they need to be laying very flat or like as close to flat as possible.

[00:06:44] Dana Stanley: The second thing your stroller needs to have is a really. Deep, long sunshade, so not like these little sunshades that come down like eight inches. I want one that comes like all the way down, like almost touching the seat so that they can be completely covered from the sun, especially when the sun like starts to dip lower in the day and it’s just like beaming straight into their little eyeballs.

[00:07:09] Dana Stanley: You wanna have that deep cover. A third thing that a good stroller will have is plenty of storage underneath, and that’s again, gonna be for all those things I mentioned before. Fourth is to be easily maneuverable with one hand. So if you can picture the kinds of strollers that have two individual handles, like maybe they almost look like umbrella handles like little hooks.

[00:07:35] Dana Stanley: Those are not my favorite because you have to choose between the left side or the right side. So if you have something in one hand or a child, a drink, a bag, hopefully a margarita, now you’re like trying to turn your wrist to try to get this thing to go and it’s not gonna work. Versus a stroller that has a bar, you can put your hand in the middle of the bar and you kind of have more of a.

[00:08:02] Dana Stanley: Better center of gravity, if that makes sense. I don’t know if that’s even the right term, but I love strollers that have a bar handle versus the two so that you can use one hand and last. They should be able to fold up easily because when you’re getting on the buses or you’re taking an Uber or even your own car, you’re gonna be opening and closing your stroller over and over again.

[00:08:24] Dana Stanley: So you want something that can just be quick and fast that your husband can do easily. You can do easily. Your mom can do easily and not something you have to fiddle a lot with. Now that we got all of that out of the way, I will tell you what I personally love as my favorite stroller that we have brought since.

[00:08:44] Dana Stanley: 2021, and this was when I was in the market for a double stroller during my second pregnancy. It’s the Twin Plus from Zoe Strollers. It checks all the boxes that I just mentioned. The kids can sit side by side, which. They really like. I really like, I have a video of my girls. We were walking back from Epcot and they do like a little lollipop, cheers.

[00:09:10] Dana Stanley: And I just remember those ages of them, like having little conversations sitting side by side. So that’s what I personally prefer versus a. Front and back situation. We had one trip where we rented a Mockingbird stroller and it was perfect for what we needed. It was a front and back style double with the first seat facing me.

[00:09:35] Dana Stanley: So we had a seven week old baby at the time. So he. Really needed to be able to face me and had an infant insert in that seat. Whereas the twin is more for older kids, like sitting up maybe six months and then they can both face out. So I do think there’s pluses and minuses to any stroller depending on the size and age of your children.

[00:10:02] Dana Stanley: I don’t worry too much about like weight limits, like I have a lot of friends that have. Older kids that need a stroller and they’re like above the quote, weight limit of a stroller. I don’t know. I mean, maybe this is bad, but I have literally sat in the Twin Plus when I was pregnant and had blisters on the bottoms of my feet.

[00:10:23] Dana Stanley: And you bet. I made my husband push me in that double stroller on the way back to the boardwalk and I have no shame about it. And you know what? It held up and it’s fine. And we still use his stroller. But this is the one that we’re used to at home. We use it for walks, we gate check it at the airport and just have no issues with it.

[00:10:42] Dana Stanley: And the cost per use for us is just like so low ’cause we use it all the time. And Zoe Strollers also has single strollers as well. This is just the one that I was in the market for. When it comes to a double stroller though, there are a few things you’ll want to know. Depending on where you’re staying in Disney, because if you’re on a Skyliner resort, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this one, but I’m gonna get to that a little bit later in the episode.

[00:11:08] Dana Stanley: I’m surprised that more people don’t just bring a stroller from home. I think a lot of people just automatically think like, oh, I’m gonna rent a stroller so that I don’t have to bring one. But if you haven’t done it before, gate checking a stroller. On an airline is very simple. You don’t have to check it.

[00:11:26] Dana Stanley: You just bring it through security with you and they give you a little tag to stow it for you, and then when you get off the plane, you grab it. It might cost you an extra like five minutes getting off the plane, but generally there’s no issues. I like it because it saves me money. I don’t have to rent anything, and it’s really nice having at the airport too, because again, like with the bags and the drinks and coffees and all those things, I actually really like having it at the airport.

[00:11:53] Dana Stanley: The downside is technically you’re risking damaging it when you gate check it, like a wheel popped off or something, and now you have a damaged stroller on vacation. If you’re worried about that, you can get a stroller bag and that protects it. We are, I don’t know, I guess we live dangerously. I don’t even have a stroller bag and knock on wood, we’ve been good so far.

[00:12:17] Dana Stanley: Now, if you are renting and you’re not in the market for a brand new stroller and it doesn’t make sense to buy one just for a Disney trip, I loved using Baby Quip. It’s essentially like Airbnb. For baby equipment. So on one trip with the newborn that I was talking about, we just rented that double stroller Mockingbird from Alexa.

[00:12:41] Dana Stanley: She’s a local Orlando mom. And she met us in the lobby with a stroller. She had extra stuff for me, like a baby bath, which I hadn’t even thought of. Renting a white noise machine and everything was like so clean and I didn’t feel like grossed out by renting from like a big company with like hundreds of people using the same stroller.

[00:13:04] Dana Stanley: It was like brand new. And she had every accessory for the stroller that you could think of, including a name tag for us. So like I knew which one was our stroller. 10 outta 10. Recommend her if you’re in the market for renting a stroller. Now what about Disney’s own stroller rentals, if you’ve heard of this?

[00:13:26] Dana Stanley: Technically, yes. When you get to each of the four parks in Disney, there is a stroller rental service. And I’m giving this a solid, like meh, they’re an option and a pinch, like drastic emergency, but they’re hard plastic. Like they’re literally just like shaped molded plastic. They don’t recline. You can’t leave the parks with them.

[00:13:51] Dana Stanley: So they’re basically useless for what I was talking about before of like getting to and from your resort and the park. So like, again, just not ideal. If you are stroller shopping, I’m going to link my. Zoe Strollers discount code in the show notes. It gives you $15 off. And if you’re not in the market, I will leave a link to use Alexa, the girl who I rented my Mockingbird from, and she also rents Zoey’s too, which is awesome.

[00:14:21] Dana Stanley: So now you have your stroller and you’re headed to the parks. You’re gonna see a designated stroller line when you go through security. So it’ll be just a big sign that says, strollers this way. I’m gonna try to explain this with my words as best I can without you being able to see me. But when you have metal in your bag, so let’s say you have a backpack and you have your umbrella in there, your camera in there, anything that’s metal, everyone has to walk any bags through the metal detectors.

[00:14:54] Dana Stanley: And when you go through with metal. It’ll obviously alert that there’s metal in your bag. You’ll be passed on to a separate line called the bag check. Now this line in the afternoon, end of the day doesn’t get very long, but in the morning it’s a decent line because most people just have a backpack with all their stuff in it, and they’re not thinking about this and they get their bag checked.

[00:15:18] Dana Stanley: We don’t want you going into that line. We want you to be whizzing past and just. Getting too early entry or wherever you gotta go. So here’s what I want you to do. I want you to keep all your metal things in your stroller. So imagine if you have an umbrella or a camera. Put those in like your stroller, caddy, or just in the boot of the stroller.

[00:15:41] Dana Stanley: Like just throw them in there. You don’t want it in a compartment or bag. You want it to just be easily able to be touched or grabbed and seen. The key is to not have them in any type of bag or container. So I’ll use my family as an example. When we walk up, I am pushing the stroller with the two kids in it, and I have my ring cover in the boot, my camera.

[00:16:07] Dana Stanley: If I bring like my big camera, our umbrella is in the little stroller caddy. My Stanley Thermos is in the stroller caddy, and then I have a bag. Lately, this has actually been a tote bag and not a backpack because it’s been easier for me to get in and out. So we have this big tote bag with all of our stuff like snacks, my diapers, wipes, extra change of clothes for the kids, stickers, sunscreen, all of that stuff that is non-metal.

[00:16:38] Dana Stanley: And I hand that bag to my husband. Now, Colton will go through the regular line of metal detectors. With my oldest who does not have a bag and they just walk on through because nothing got flagged. They do not have to get their bag searched because they went through the metal detector and nothing signed off.

[00:16:58] Dana Stanley: I am pushing the stroller with the two kids in it, and I’m wearing my sling bag across my chest, and this is something that I never take off and it just has my phone. Maybe a chapstick. One emergency diaper, a slim pack of wipes, and that’s it. So when I go through this line, a cast member’s gonna come up to me, tell me to park the stroller, and he’s gonna say, Hey, I’ll wait with the kids here.

[00:17:23] Dana Stanley: You go through the metal detector, I mean, you kind of like cut the other people waiting for the metal detector. I don’t alarm anything because I don’t have any metal in my sling bag. Okay, now I’m back at the stroller. And the cast member just kind of digs around. He asked me to move the rain cover stroller.

[00:17:43] Dana Stanley: He asked me maybe to pick up the camera. He maybe asked me to move a sweatshirt or two, and he’ll check that little caddy in the front. He’ll squeeze things around. He’ll check the sunshades a little bit and says, you’re all good to go. I walk through and the whole process took 30 seconds. Versus if Colton’s bag had gotten flagged, or my sling bag had gotten flagged, we would have to go to that separate line and wait for our bag to be physically searched through.

[00:18:13] Dana Stanley: And that can be, you know, maybe 10, 15 minutes. And it doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you have kids waiting and itching to get into the park and there’s like zero distractions for them, it feels like an hour. Like if you ever get flagged. To have your bag searched. It is just like, ugh. Such a bummer. I don’t know if you wanna call it a hack, a tip, whatever.

[00:18:35] Dana Stanley: Just remember to keep anything metal in your stroller. And worst case scenario, if your bag sets off the metal detector and you go through the bag search line, ask them, say, Hey, something metal was in my bag. Can you tell me what it is? Just so I don’t bring it next time? Because sometimes it could be something really dumb where you didn’t even like mean to bring it.

[00:18:54] Dana Stanley: And then you can leave it back at the room for next time. So you got through security, yay. And you’re headed to your first ride. Let’s just say it’s Peter Pan. Every ride is going to have like a designated stroller parking area. I’m saying area because sometimes it’s not very obvious. It’s not like, Hey, I’m getting in line for Peter Pan and there is a Peter Pan parking area.

[00:19:21] Dana Stanley: It’s going to be for like a general region. Everyone’s gonna be parking their strollers. For the nearby rides. So you wanna keep an eye out for signs as you’re heading to your first ride, because sometimes it comes before the ride. Sometimes it comes after the ride, depending on which direction you’re coming from.

[00:19:40] Dana Stanley: Peter Pan, for example, you’re going to see a ton of strollers starting to get parked around the carousel. If you walk past that to get in line for Peter Pan, they’re gonna say, Nope, turn around. Go back and park your stroller at the carousel. So just kind of be aware of the stroller parking. They’re usually very obvious because you see strollers and there’s usually a sign that will say literally stroller parking.

[00:20:04] Dana Stanley: So you park your stroller and you’re taking the kids out before you leave your stroller. I always pull the sunshade down to keep the seats cool for when we get back. And if it looks like there’s even a slight chance of rain, and when I say looks like, I don’t mean the app. I mean like lift your head up and see if it’s cloudy or it seems like it’s about to rain.

[00:20:24] Dana Stanley: I will throw a rain cover on just to be safe because you do not wanna come back to a sopping wet stroller. It is miserable. Which is a side note, if you’re bringing a stroller to Disney World from. January through December, you need to at least bring a rain cover. Like we have many trips where I bring that sad rain cover and it just sits in the boot of the stroller for seven days and I never have to use it.

[00:20:53] Dana Stanley: I have also had vacations where a hurricane closed down the park and the kids lived under that rain cover stroller for seven days. So better to bring it and not use it than need it and not have it. When you get back from riding your rides, don’t panic. If your stroller moves while you’re gone and you feel like you can’t find it.

[00:21:14] Dana Stanley: What happens is the cast members, the people that work at Disney will kind of reorganize them to make space. People kind of park them weird. They’re just being efficient. So sometimes they’ll move them like all the way across the parking area. And it can take a second to find your stroller. Like I’ve had moments where I’m like, no, a hundred percent.

[00:21:35] Dana Stanley: Our stroller finally got stolen and it just ends up in a weird spot. That’s why I always tie a bright bandana onto the handle of our stroller. Some people use like really cute signs with their names and like ribbons. There’s people that use string lights, which is really smart at night. I have friends that use air tags so they can.

[00:21:57] Dana Stanley: Track where it is. I don’t think it’s like super accurate, but if you’re worried about it getting stolen, but I am a simple gal and I own a lot of bandanas and I don’t wanna buy anything. So I take my bright red one and I tie it around the handle and I can always spot it, and it kind of like blows in the breeze sometimes and it catches my eye.

[00:22:18] Dana Stanley: I’m like, oh, there’s our stroller. I don’t know. Very simple, but that’s what I use now. If you’re tempted to buy a balloon to mark your stroller. I get it. It is like a good idea because the line of vision is so high. But before you do it, just remember that as you’re pushing said stroller, you’re going to have that balloon hitting you in the face the entire day.

[00:22:40] Dana Stanley: So just remember that you’ll have that balloon with you the entire time if and when you buy one now, when it comes to your bag, and should you leave it, should you not leave it. Honestly, I just always leave mine in there. I always leave my bag in the stroller. I cringe saying this because I’m worried that someone will do it and someone will take their bag.

[00:23:02] Dana Stanley: But in my personal experience in like 16, 17 years of going to Disney, none of us have had anything stolen from our stroller. Knock on wood. Now that being said, I don’t make it like tempting, like if I have a. Disney World merchandise plastic bag. Like I just bought something and depending on the ride, like maybe I’ll bring that with me depending on how big it is.

[00:23:28] Dana Stanley: But I’ll usually take it out of that bag and like put it in my purse and zip it. And then when my bag is in the boot, maybe if I have a sweatshirt or something, I’ll kind of cover it up. Like I don’t wanna make it easily accessible nine times outta 10. I don’t have anything actually valuable in my bag beyond just things that I need, like diapers and wipes, because I’m always wearing my sling bag with like my money, my phone, that type of thing.

[00:23:55] Dana Stanley: Now, of course, if we’re going into a restaurant, I’m definitely going to bring everything with me because you can’t bring. Your strollers into a restaurant. Unfortunately, if you are dining at like a resort, there will be kind of like a similar thing of like designated stroller parking right outside of where you check in.

[00:24:15] Dana Stanley: So unfortunately, if your kid is asleep in the stroller. Sorry, you have to get them out. I know it’s like the worst, but you can’t bring strollers into most of the indoor dining locations. Some of the quick service, like if it’s a patio, then you’re fine, but sometimes even the quick service, they want you to park your stroller outside of where everyone’s eating.

[00:24:36] Dana Stanley: And the same thing goes with the rides. You can’t bring your stroller into the line with you. There’s only one exception, and that’s the safari and animal kingdom. They’ll actually have you ride your stroller about halfway through and they take the stroller from you, which is really nice. But other than that one ride, you’ll have to park it outside, then take the kids and walk into the queue.

[00:25:00] Dana Stanley: But let’s talk about where you can bring your stroller on. So one of the really nice things about staying on Disney property is the free transportation that it has. So the monorail and the boats are nice and easy when it comes to strollers because you just push them right on. You don’t have to break them down or take the kids out at all the buses though.

[00:25:19] Dana Stanley: You will need to fold up the stroller and take the kids out every time. So this goes back to needing something you can collapse easily and practice beforehand. ’cause you don’t wanna be figuring this out like with a bus driver staring at you and people are like waiting for you. Now the Skyliner, which is Disney’s Gondola system, it just depends on what kind of stroller you have.

[00:25:39] Dana Stanley: Singles are no problem. You just wheel them on. If you have a double that’s like an up baby style or the Mockingbird style where it’s front and back like tandem, you just wheel those on. Like if it’s a single line stroller. But the kind that I have that’s side by side, that type of double, those need to be collapsed.

[00:25:58] Dana Stanley: I know that my Zoe Twin fits through a standard doorframe. I know that it can fit through the Skyliner doors, but the cast members don’t know that. So they just have a rule of side, side-by-side strollers ’cause they don’t know how wide they actually are. Other side-by-sides are a lot wider than mine.

[00:26:18] Dana Stanley: They just have a hard rule that you have to collapse them. Just something to think about when you’re deciding what type of stroller to bring, because if you’re staying at a resort that is on the skyliner route, you’re gonna be using that a lot, and I would opt to something that you don’t have to collapse.

[00:26:35] Dana Stanley: But double strollers in general and in the parks are totally fine as long as they meet the size guidelines and that’s gonna be 31 inches wide and 52 inches long or smaller, obviously. So that means that wagons and stroller, wagons, they’re so cool. I wish we could, they’re not allowed in the parks. Now the asterisk to this is you can be granted a disability accommodation and they will tag your wagon almost like it’s being used as a wheelchair of sorts for certain disabilities.

[00:27:10] Dana Stanley: It is rare and only for kids that really need it though. So there you go. Did I just do an entire episode only about strollers? Yes, I did. Because what you roll around all day in Disney Matters, and no matter which stroller you go with, you’re definitely gonna thank yourself later for bringing one at all.

[00:27:31] Dana Stanley: Actually, you may wish that you had one for yourself, and if you’re like me, you may end up like actually sitting in it. If there’s anything I missed, let me know on Instagram. DM me at summer with while I’m always in there talking to you guys, and I will help you out if you need it. But in the meantime, thanks for listening and go find a bandana to tie onto your stroller and pack the ring cover and I will see you next time.

[00:27:55] Dana Stanley: Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of. The Laid Back Magic Way podcast. If you enjoyed today’s episode and it was helpful for you, it would mean the world to me. If you’d write a quick review, your reviews, help more moms like you find the show, and I read every single one of them seriously, thank you in advance.

[00:28:12] Dana Stanley: You can find me on Instagram @somewhereworthwhile, and I’d love to hear from you there. DM me if you have any questions about this episode or what you’d like to see in future ones. Until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I’ll see you next time.