First trip without stroller - tips?

[AimeeAurora]

Our 5 year old is 4 feet tall + at this point, so there is no way he is going in a stroller. We're definitely thinking of doing a mid-day break back at the resort, since he can still nap if he's tired enough. Maybe mix in restful rides? What are your best tips for the first trip without one?

 

[rg35]

Moderate your expectations about how much you'll be able to do in a day.
Have water and snacks.
Limit unnecessary walking between attractions if possible.
We also do TS lunches, and having that ~60 minute break helped if we weren't going back to the room.

This is kind of a tough age range (at least it was for us) because even though kids can be tired in the afternoons, they don't really want to nap anymore. Sometimes they want to go to the pool, etc. You just have to be willing to play it by ear and be flexible. Forcing them to do anything never works out well for anyone and then you just have a frazzled, unenjoyable trip.

 

[NYCgrrl]

You can use internal transport at the following parks: MK and Epcot.
MK has the Main Street Train that begins where else but on Main Street with stops at Frontierland and Fantasyland. We try to schedule rides close in time in one land before switching to another. There are also open air buses on Main Street but I don't know where they go.

At Epcot I'm pretty sure the boat that goes from one side of WS to another is re-opened.

AK, is pretty big so we tend to go more than one day and split the park in half. It's basically a circle so do a semi circle per day.
Yes to a faster paced ride or two followed by an exhibit, show, or slow ride.

 

[JK World]

MK has the Main Street Train that begins where else but on Main Street with stops at Frontierland and Fantasyland.

I believe the train is down for quite some time due to TRON construction.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I believe the train is down for quite some time due to TRON construction.

I believe it doesn't close down until sometime in December along with...Tomorrowland's Speedway. Haven't heard the exact closing or re-opening dates yet. Have you heard these dates already?

 

[JK World]

I believe it doesn't close down until sometime in December along with...Tomorrowland's Speedway. Haven't heard the exact closing or re-opening dates yet. Have you heard these dates already?

I just checked, the train should be down from December through next summer. The Speedway goes down January through May.

 

[AimeeAurora]

I just checked, the train should be down from December through next summer. The Speedway goes down January through May.

Great! I don't think we've ever gotten to ride it. Usually it's closed. Thank you!

 

[kwdw]

1) Don't plan to criss-cross the park. Once around a park in a day isn't that bad.
2) Don't fight snack times/bathroom breaks. If he wants either - do it.
3) Purposefully go to shows with seating mixed in throughout the day.
4) I also recommend TS lunches.
5) Don't plan ridiculously long days every day. If you have a long day, make the next one short.
6) For us - the extra walking to take a break mid-day is just more walking because a nap is not going to happen at the resort. Breaks in the parks work better for us.
7) Try to stick to a reasonable sleeping schedule.

 

[monorailsilver]

Plan your day (like the above poster, avoid criss crossing back and forth).

Every ride (or just about) you get to sit.

Take that mid day break to recoup and nap. My kids who were not nappers, napped at ages 5, 7 and even 12! OK and my 17 yo napped this summer too!

It is tough to not have that stroller to store your bag so take as little as possible. Dh and I each have a bag and each of my kids has a bag and they have to carry their own water (and phones). When our youngest was 7, she had a hard time with the bag so dh just carried her water.

Try to take some walks before hand, even if they aren't the long disney walks. I can tell you over the summer we hit 20-25000 steps on our park days with 2 parks and a mid day break. One day myself and my 2 older kids did 3 parks so we made it to 30000 but we had to walk from the BC to the studios for early entry for TSL. The pool did wonders for my achy feet on our mid day breaks-I didn't feel the need to nap since we had every other day of parks alternating with every other day of non park/pool days.

 

[Kellina]

We went for the first time for my youngest's 5th birthday, and 3 weeks before my oldest turned 7! No stroller.

The whole nap thing did not work- we tried it before the Xmas party and they slept maybe a half hour??

My kids are early risers due to our schedule at home, so we hit rope drop almost every day, did a TS lunch for a break, watched a show and/or did relaxing rides like the boat rides. We were back to the hotel around normal bedtime each night. We broke MK into 2 days and did half the park on each day.

Even this past summer- ages 7&9- my little one was pooped and falling asleep during the Lion King show at AK. He said he wanted to go back and sleep! So DH took him back while I took my other DS on a few more rides.

My point is- read your kid's moods and tiredness levels. Don't push it!!

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I really think having lunch at a table service restaurant will help everyone with recharging. If need be, midday breaks back to the hotel are nice too depending on everyone's moods.

You may be committed to the no stroller thing but I will say on our last stroller trip our girls were 5 (almost 6) & 7 and we did a small umbrella stroller and were glad we did. They were both heck bent on bringing it but you bet they used it a bunch while we were there. We never used strollers in our day to day but at Disney, it was needed. And my 7 year old is tall too, she got in that umbrella stroller with no hesitation. Bottom line just pack your patience and expectations and go with the flow. Nobody will have a good time if they're cranky and tired.

 

[Thing 1]

The park strollers are big enough to fit, especially the doubles if you end up truly needing one. Our youngest never used one past four but our oldest could not have done without one at 5. Lots of great tips already.

 

[Anthony1971]

Do not recall what age we stopped bringing a stroller I believe 5 was the first trip without but could have been 6 at the latest. We had no issues with breaks or being tired and did the same walking we always do and that is a lot as we have park hoppers and will go from park to park and stay out late... you never really know I expected different but never he complained... at least about walking now only if at the age of 12 he would put his dirty clothes where they belong before he is told....

 

[mi*vida*loca]

DD was 5 when we first did a no stroller trip. All we did different was do midday breaks at the pool which after that trip midday breaks at the pool is how we tour now. This was in the August heat. We did the same walking we always did and even park hopped. She never complained once. We did all of the night shows and did "RD" each day (we arrive right as the park opens or ten minutes before opening). We also did 6 straight days with no break day. It was an awesome trip. No stroller and no bags!