8 Year Old Asking for Stroller at Disney World - Help! - Page 5

[bri276]

As the parent of a disabled 7 yr old over 50 lbs who sometimes rides in a double stroller with her 25 lb 2 yr old sister, if you have a halfway decent stroller, you really don't feel the additional weight unless it's steep uphill terrain. We just have the sit and stand and believe me, I'm not one for exercising, but I easily push that thing with both of them, even loaded down with luggage at times. It's not as big of a deal as some are making it out to be. We don't even get weird looks.

[Mainesl]

I depends on the parents, If you want to use a stroller in a 10 or 8 year old is alright as long as it is reasonable for us, why he/she doesn't want to walk.

[SweetSilver]

How did this thread get so big???  Never been to Disney World, but Disneyland is huge and exhausting.  I think some of the points made about going slower, taking a break, all are very wise.  So is just pushing the 8yo around.

But has anyone suggested taking turns pushing?  I might ask when it would be *my* turn to get pushed in the stroller?  Squash in there and hope my ass doesn't get stuck (I'm assuming it's one of those honking plastic ones?) and see if the girls couldn't push me a ways.  If they can't, maybe it's time for a frozen banana pop in the shade.  Is there still shade at those places?  Tom Sawyer's Island was always a nice place.....

Too big.  Just too impossibly big for any normal person.

[mamazee]

We didn't use a stroller for our then 4-year-old, and regretted it. The younger one is 3 and might not get tired, but it would be a good way to make sure we didn't lose her.

My 10-yr-old would be embarrassed to ride in a stroller and would have at 8 as well, but I wouldn't judge about it at Dland or Dworld. It is a particularly difficult and stressful (and fun of course!) place for kids. I don't fight over small things and I would call this a small thing and just take turns with Dh pushing the stroller.

[journeymom]

We went to Disneyland when the kids were 4 y.o. and 8 y.o.  I'd dispensed with the stroller when the youngest was a little older than 3, simply because that's what works best for me.  I found pushing a stroller around was a hassle, all the years we used it.  There was no fear of dragging the kids around disneyland longer than they could handle, as my feet get tired long before theirs do.  So we took frequent breaks. 

Note, this was what was easiest for me and my family.  I noticed immediately there were plenty of bigger kids in strollers at Disneyland. I wondered sometimes if I was being lazy for not bothering to wrangle the stroller for the 4 y.o.  So, yeah, I didn't think the stroller-pushing parents were lazy.

To each her own.

[lah7]

I haven't read the other responses and I realize it was days ago, and is probably a moot point.

But we just did DW with a 5, 7 and 9 year old.  *I* wanted to have a stroller to sit in.  We walked miles and miles.  We didn't do a stroller the first day, and then did a double stroller for the rest of the days.  Best money I ever spent.  The rental strollers at Disney are super easy to push, even with 100 lbs of kid and stuff piled into them.  My 9 year old was able to push her siblings by herself.

I spent entirely too much money taking the kids there to have my children too exhausted to go back the next day.  I'd not side-eye anyone who got a stroller for any kid younger than...like 10.

[inkster]

i would let her ride in one for a short time

[Adaline'sMama]

I'd let an 8 year old ride in a stroller. I walked almost 20 miles a day at WDW and I think it's insane to expect an 8 year old to walk even half that. WDW is expensive, and if the kid can take breaks, you can get to everything faster because they wont be lagging behind. It's a cost issue at some point for me. Id wizz them all over the park in a stroller if I thought we could get more rides in that way

[Tigerchild]

I grew up going to WDW almost every summer (was sent to relatives in FL each summer).  My aunt always rented a stroller, even when I was 10 (I was shrimpy, my 3 years younger cousin was bigger than me starting from when I was 7).  There were no hand held games during those dark ages, so we still had fun pushing each other/getting a ride and looking at everything.  There are tons of pictures of her and I after we stuffed ourselves into it at the same time (they just had these big one-person blue things back then) and had totally sacked out curled up around each other.  The pictures are cute, and I'm sure it kept my aunt and uncle sane, and it turned neither my cousin nor myself into soulless uncreative lazy people.

My cousin has never been fat, so don't worry, your kids only have a 50 percent chance of catching the fats if you dare to rent them a stroller at WDW for your rare vacation.  :P

When you do not ride in a stroller every day, it might seem like a novelty.  I bet that is part of the reason why the OP's kid is asking.  Just let her ride in it for a few minutes if she's asked for pete's sake.  Probably she'll get bored (unless she's genuinely tired) and then you don't have to worry about it.
 

Who cares what other ignorant people might think if they bother to notice your child and correctly guess their age?  You have a ton of people gasping over the internet because you're taking your family to a den of rampant consumerism and creative soul killing characters, too.  Ignore them.  Let your kid try it if she wants to.  Nobody cares or notices what your kids are doing at WDW unless they're throwing a screaming tantrum, throwing up over the side of the boat during the Viking boat ride, or peeing in the fountain (saw that in the line at Small World the last time we were at WDL actually!) and even then it's only momentary because they'll be in good company.