Sharing is caring!

We travelled to Disney World in Florida from the UK when we had 4 year old twins and a 5 year old. All three hadn’t been in a pushchair on days out for at least 18 months so did we need a pushchair for Disney World?

Update: Since I published this post I’ve had lots of feedback from other Mums about their reasons and tips about a pushchair for Disney World for 4 and 5 year olds and I’ve included these at the bottom of the post too!

The short answer is yes we did. Thankfully friends of ours had been the year before with their little boy and had talked about Disney World pushchair hire so it got us thinking. I have to say I was surprised that they had and even a little smug in feeling like our didn’t need a pushchair and hadn’t for some time, so why would Disney World be any different.

There are lots of reasons taking a pushchair to Disney World is good idea but my main reasons are the Disney World is huge and you will be walking all day, its expensive to hire them and they all look the same, and it’s hot!

Before we went I still didn’t really believe that my 5 year old would need a pushchair for Disney World. We took with us on the plane the old double buggy that my parents still had at their house for the twins (ours having been sold on a long time before) thinking that it would probably stay in the villa and not be used.

We set off on our first day to Animal Kingdom without a pushchair, full of enthusiasm for this incredible place, and you know what we were ok. Animal Kingdom is one of the smaller Disney parks in Florida but by 3pm (when we had pretty much done everything thanks to quite awesome fastpassing) the kids were flagging and there were quite a few tears.  We were on the far side of the park to where we needed to be, and there was still the simply enormous car par to contend with and I dreamed of the pushchair back at the villa!  We hadn’t needed it all day but we really needed it then!

So when we set of on our first day to Magic Kingdom we took the double pushchair for the twins and I can’t tell you how relieved I am that we did.  By the end of the trip we were also taking with us the single buggy for Lily who was 5 which we had found in the garage at the villa!

You need a pushchair for Disney World with a 5 year old because it’s huge!

Until you visit you don’t quite realise how big it is.  The size of the entire Walt Disney World resort is 40 Square miles, or the size of San Francisco. Yes that’s right the same size as the entire city of San Francisco. Now I know you don’t walk round it all but you do walk round a lot of it. That’s an enormous distance for a 4 or 5 year old to walk and if you decide not to take a pushchair to Disney World you might end up doing a lot of carrying.

You are likely to be walking around from very early in the morning until late in the evening.That’s a lot for even the best 4 or 5 year old walker.

Now carrying a baby around Disney World isn’t the worst idea in the world and in fact we have a great post here about why Baby Wearing at Disney is a great idea, but carrying a 4 and 5 year old is a little different and can be back breaking, particularly when there are 3 of them, one is likely always to be tired!

You need to take a pushchair to Disney World with a 5 year old because they are Expensive to Hire and they all look the same!

You only have to see a Disney Stroller park once to realise that it will be easier to spot your own pushchair in a place full of identical pushchairs.  Balloons, banners, identifying marks are all a great idea. We were also really glad we took our own pushchair as it was very unlikely that people were going to accidentally take ours away as it looked so different to the others.

Disney Stroller prices are also pretty high too, and I have heard of them not being available in very busy times.

However reader Sage said: We have heard good things about renting a stroller from Kingdom Strollers.  They deliver to your hotel and pick up. The strollers have sunshades and recline which is much better than the rental ones in the park. There is so much walking at Disney that I highly recommend using a stroller for that age.

You need a pushchair for Disney World with a 5 year old because it’s hot!

This was one of the main reasons we needed a pushchair for Disney World with our 4 and 5 year old because coming from the UK we are not used to the heat. You all know how tired you can feel in the intense heat and the kids feel it even more. Mid afternoon it was so nice for the kids to have a sit in the pushchair whilst waiting for the parades, or moving from one area to another.

One of our readers Rebecca said: Oh my gosh yes! We are just back with a 5 & 7 yr old there was no way they could have walked the parks in the heat! We took a double stroller with us that broke so hired one from Orlando strollers they were great & clean they drop to your hotel & collect. We had a city jogger double as per previous post the hoods are great in the sun as cone right over. We hired one in magic kingdom but they were very basic & plastic like a trolley so decided to rent a good one for the rest & much cheaper doing that.

Here are some ideas about what strollers to use at Disney by our friends at Flying with a Baby.

Other uses for a pushchair at Disney World

• Great for keeping space in the lines for the parades
• Good for evening if your little ones are likely to drop off
• Great for racing to the first rides in the morning after rope drop. We used them to get very close to the front of the queue for Anna & Elsa meet and greet. Wouldn’t have made it if little legs were walking there.

Feedback from other Mums about their reasons and

Tips about a pushchair for Disney World for 4 and 5 year olds

Ruth said: We did Disneyland Paris when my two were nearly 4 and I took the pram (City Jogger GT Double). Hoods were more for rain shelter than heat!! It was essential for getting quickly to catch the start of a show or to the far side of the park. Totally agree that carrying two any distance is near on impossible. We didn’t take it everywhere and i took a bike lock so I could leave it secure when it wasn’t needed, but at the end of a hectic day it got us all back to the hotel with minimum whinging!! It was also excellent in the night as we went out for dinner and kids happily slept in the pram with us (fully flat seats!!). I know lots of people who are up in arms that I took a pram, but everyone does what works for them and personally it would have been no where near as productive or as happy without.

Lindsey said: We went last year & thankfully we took a cheap umbrella pusher. It’s a tiring day out & you get so much more out of it (and the expense you’ve gone to, to get there!) if everyone is happy, comfortable & relaxed. We left it in the hotel in the morning & picked it up after lunch! Thinking of booking in December & will definitely do it again even if she is 4.5!  {I love the idea of using the pushchair for Disney World with 4 and 5 year olds for just half a day!}

Nichola said: The best thing we did was take our own pushchair with a very good sun cover. Every day was fun, stress free, and meant we could stay out ALL day with no tears. Florida is obviously hot and to be able to give our little girl somewhere to have a rest/nap, in the shade was essential. She didn’t get pushed around all day-we used the buggy parks in each area; so we only used it when she was tired or we had a long walk ahead in the heat.
She is 4 years old.  We struggled to find a buggy she could sleep in and get full sunshade but stumbled upon a Cosatto Woosh. Bright colours so was easy to find when parked, huge canopy on it and collapses flat for sleep. Paid £150 online then sold it the first week back for £100. When you think how much the strollers are there-large black hard things, it’s just a no-brainer.   Lots of mummy’s shame other parents for putting their kids in a buggy for holiday, but then they clearly haven’t done Disney!

Gemma said: Definitely a good idea and also great to put everything in so your not carrying big bags around all day!{Love this tip of using the push chair at Disney to save your back too!}

Jennifer said: Our 6 year old managed fine. But he wouldn’t have a year earlier. We were doing about 20,000 steps a day and little legs must do double that to keep up with adults. We were exhausted.

If you’re still wondering though and not sure, why not take a read of Rainy Day Mum’s post about whether to take a stroller to Disney World as she comes to a different conclusion.

Pin for later?