Let’s go to Disney World!

The famous last words of any parent with good intentions. After cancelling our Thanksgiving plans to visit family “just to be safe,” we ended up throwing caution to the wind and planning a last minute trip to Disney World! So many things are crazy about that statement. The first being a last minute trip to Disney World where people plan for YEARS in advance, and the second… Disney World during a PANDEMIC. As generally over-cautious people, and as a family that has been rocked by 2020, it turned out that this was exactly what we needed. So in less than 4 days, our family plus the inlaws, planned a 5 day trip to the most magical place on Earth. I could not recommend it more!

Of course being me, I immediately went into panic-mode researching Disney with a baby and a toddler, pandemic travel, Disney pandemic rules, packing lists, reservations, must-do’s, snack strategies, and everything else you can imagine to best prepare us for this adventure. It had been almost a decade since I had been to Disney, and I was the “child” at the time – no planning or strategy for me! On “parent side,” I can assure you it gave me tremendous appreciation for my parents in how they made it appear so effortless. I found the following websites incredibly resourceful in my research: Undercover Tourist and Disney Food Blog.

What stroller should you bring to Disney?

What I didn’t find in all of my research, and admittedly, it was probably incomplete based on the timing crunch, was a stroller analysis. And for all of you in the pre-parent stage of life, trust me, this is CRITICAL to how any parent experiences anything. Which stroller was best for Disney with a baby (pre-walking), and a 2 year old who loves to run but definitely can’t handle the speed or marathon that is Disney? I couldn’t find an answer or a breakdown of the pros & cons I was looking for. YES there are companies that rent out strollers to visitors. YES a double stroller was recommended as most helpful. YES you likely need a stroller for the toddler. For all of these statements, I found so many articles outlining the best companies to rent from, strategies on when and how to rent, where to park and how to find your stroller in the park, but not a BRAND, make, or model into which stroller I specifically needed. That’s the information I was missing, so I just brought what we had and let me tell you… this was a mistake.

We have an Uppababy Vista which I can very much say is the King of all strollers from an all-purpose child transport perspective. Easy to pop open and closed for your trunk, easy to pop in a carseat and even easier to convert to a double if you need to add a seat. The tires are indestructible and glide over almost anything and it has a huge basket to store your diaper bag and anything else you may need (e.g., souvenirs). I figured we were set for Disney, and with an ergobaby in the basket we would be ready for whatever came our way. WRONG.

Beware of the buses

If you take nothing else away from this post – the Vista is NOT the stroller you should bring to Disney. EVER. And it’s for one reason only – the buses. While the Vista has incredible qualities, what really made us regret our choice immediately was the inability for Vista to fold and remain “contained” with one hand while on a bus with two squirmy kids. It also requires that you take EVERYTHING out of the basket in order to be folded.

This was not something we anticipated. The bus system requires that prior to getting on the bus from the hotel to the park or Disney Springs that strollers be deconstructed and stay that way on the bus so that people can walk on. Very reasonable request and definitely their safety requirement, but in practice, I can say that we dreaded this exercise every time we approached the bus. Other Vista owners we observed had this same sentiment… total misery. It was a full person job (my husband) to breakdown the stroller, hold the diaper bag(s) and keep the stroller upright while the other person (me) to contain both kiddos. This is the only negative thing I can say about the Vista, but I can promise you, the experience was so impactful that we would never again bring a Vista (or anything like it) to Disney again. I can’t even imagine what would have happened had we decided to add our converters to make the Vista a double. We probably would have just left the stroller at the hotel to be honest. For what it’s worth, in 5 days, I saw ZERO double-converted Vistas.

The other negative was really more on us and not a fault of Vista. Our theory of being able to quickly pop a squirmy or sleeping baby in and out of the stroller into the ergo so that our toddler could ride was faulted. Probably not a surprise, but when you are trying to “run” across Animal Kingdom from Africa to Pandora, 3 minutes to switch everyone around is a LONG time. The other option of carrying a 30 lb toddler for a mile is also not great either – although it is a great workout! I’ll just say that after Day 1, we caved and bought a cheap Minnie Mouse umbrella stroller in the hotel gift shop to stow in the Vista basket so we could zoom our toddler around when needed.

The stroller you need at Disney

All this is not said without a solution. I have it. I witnessed it. My sister-in-law HAD IT. Let me introduce the Uppababy G-Link Double Stroller. I literally have never envied something so much in my life. The ease at which they were able to navigate the bus situation, parks, naps, snacks, and everything with twin one-year olds was incredible. And it was all due to this stroller. I do not exaggerate. 

This stroller was able to break-down with one hand, lock and get carried in with one hand in less than 2 seconds. A key piece of this break-down design as well are the storage bags. Instead of a massive open basket like the Vista, the G-Link has 2 storage bags that close shut. This is essential because it also eliminates the need for a giant park bag to hold all of your snacks and you don’t have to worry about things falling out when you break it down to carry in the bus. Let me also just comment that the seats recline individually. My toddler was able to hop in here to zoom around while next to a reclined sleeping baby. This is what you need. It’s worth double what it costs. Trust me.

Also a comment on the wheels because this is important. While my husband battled getting stuck wheels in the trolley tracks throughout the parks with our aforementioned gift shop stroller, my sister-in-law was able to just glide easily over. 

Disney is stressful enough when you are trying to navigate the happiest place on earth while on the constant brink of toddler euphoria and epic meltdown. Buy this stroller. Bring it to Disney. Live the fantasy.