Bring our stroller or rent?

[m4nash]

We will be flying to WDW next month with our 3 DC (ages 2.5, almost 4, and almost 7). I cannot decide whether we should bring our BJCMD with us or rent a double there. If we leave it behind, we would probably fly with 2 single umbrella strollers or a single umbrella stroller and the ergo.

So, what would you do? Is it a pain to gate check a BJCMD on Southwest? I suppose I'd need to buy a travel bag for it if we bring ours.

[jjordan]

You should check the Southwest website. I think it is common for airlines now to have restrictions on what size of strollers they allow for gate-checking.

We just got back from WDW with 1.5, 4.5, and 6.5 year olds. Our double is not as nice as a BJCMD, which figured into the decision to rent, but we did have a very positive rental experience. For getting through the airport we used our umbrella stroller as basically a luggage cart for all our carry-ons, and I had a sling for the baby.

It did come in handy once to have a single stroller at Disney. There was one day when I had all 3 kids by myself for part of the day, and I had to navigate them from our hotel, onto two different buses to get to a different hotel, where we had a dinner reservation. I knew I couldn't handle the double stroller on my own with all 3 kids, but I still wanted to have a stroller to get to/from the bus stops. So I brought our own umbrella stroller for that trip and it worked great. Something to keep in mind.

Of course there's always the risk, when you gate-check, that your own stroller will get destroyed or damaged, but IDK if that in itself is a good enough reason to rent. It might figure into the overall decision, though.

[jjordan]

double post!

[eyedoc_01]

Our ginormouse (I'm leaving that Freudian typo in there :) ) Mountain Buggy Urban Double on Southwest and been very happy to do it that way.

They sell a large bag specifically for the MBUD. Pop the front wheels off, slide them in the internal pouches in the bag, put MBUD in bag, zip up the bag. Since we pre-board, I've gotten to the point where I can almost get it done before the A group comes down the jetway. The bag works great as it's easy to hump the bag up the jetway on landing and assemble it in the terminal.

With all the walking we really appreciated having a high quality stroller that's easy for the kids to nap in and easy for us to push. We can actually have our 7yo sit up on the footrest of our MBUD if he gets tired while the other two are seated. Granted, the 5 yo will kick him sometimes...

I'll have to check on SW for restrictions on gate-checking. Thanks for the heads up.

[123LuckyMom]

If you brought your MBUD, I could bring my BOB Duallie, right? I definitely want a good double for our trip. The BOB hardly folds, though. It's a behemoth! I'm picturing trying to get it on and off the monorail, buses, ferries, etc. I could also bring our Vista with the riding board, but I want DS, who's 4, to really be able to ride and conk out for a nap if he wants. Hmmm.