Strollers Vs. Baby Carriers at Disney: What’s Best?

Headed to Disney and trying to decide if a stroller or baby carrier is best? We feel you. A Disney trip can be amazing, but it can also be a daunting task getting it all planned out. Especially with a little one. Let us help you make it stay the happiest place on Earth by giving you the perfect way to tote your baby and essentials around the park so you can focus on the fun.

Here’s what you need to know about using a stroller or baby carrier at Disney and why the Tushbaby hip carrier is our top pick!

Table of Contents

• Getting Around Disney with a Baby or Toddler
• Stroller Option and Policies at Disney
• Advantages to Having a Stroller at Disney
• Disadvantages to Having a Stroller at Disney
• Best Baby Carrier at Disney
• Why Using TushBaby is the Best Way to Take Your Baby or Toddler Around Disney

Getting Around Disney with a Baby or Toddler

The Disney theme parks are huge. But you knew that, right? Like, “the average guest can easily walk 10 miles in a day” huge. Wowza. You need to know the best way to get around with a baby or toddler in tow.

As a parent (or caregiver) of a baby or toddler you probably fall into one of these categories: 

• You’ve always gone to Disney and having a baby certainly isn’t going to stop you.
• You’re taking multiple children to Disney and even though your baby might not be old enough to enjoy it all, you’re bringing them along. Ya know, cause they’re part of your family, after all.
• You feel like your kiddo is finally old enough to go to Disney and take it all in. So fun!

Whichever one it is, you have one goal in mind. Have a blast!! 

Except we know babies and toddlers often have minds of their own and things can go awry in 2.2 if you don’t plan the day around their needs. A big part of making sure things go smoothly is having a great way to tote them around. (Because news flash - they may have the cutest, chubbiest legs you’ve ever seen, but they’re terrible for getting around miles of Disney.)

Your two options are a stroller or a baby carrier. Some families may choose to bring both (this might also depend on if you have more than one child who can’t walk on their own.)

We’ve outlined the advantages and disadvantages of each below...neither of which will be perfect. But don’t fear - we have our top recommendation at the end of this article  (okay it’s Tushbaby) and we’re going to tell you why it’s an excellent option for making your day at Disney truly magical.

But first, strollers.

Stroller Option and Policies at Disney

Many families choose to take a stroller to Disneyland and Disney World. This is one option for transporting your little one around the park. With the amount of ground that’s covered during a full day of visiting all of the attractions, it’s not hard to see why! On the flip side, it’s not always ideal. We’ve laid out the benefits as well as the not so great parts about having a stroller at Disney.

Advantages to Having a Stroller at Disney

Most of the benefits of having a stroller at Disney are no-brainers, so we’ll cover those quickly. Having a place for your baby or toddler to sit between rides can be great for:

• giving your arms a break from having to hold them
• having a place for them to sleep when they get completely worn out - expect this!
• getting to point A to point B much more quickly than if you were holding their hand and walking with them
• a secure spot for them to be if you need to buckle them in for any reason

Not to mention that just getting to and from your car or hotel can be a trek in and of itself. Having a safe spot for your baby to hang out during a very long day is an obvious choice for many.

Disadvantages to Having a Stroller at Disney

Having no way to carry or move your tiny tot around the park is not a spot you want to find yourself in. With that said, here are some caveats to bringing a stroller to Disney that you’ll need to be aware of:

Measurement Restrictions:

As of May 1, 2019 Disney began banning strollers larger than 31 inches wide and 52 inches long as well as wagons (see their stroller FAQs here). Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never measured my stroller. Measurement restrictions like this can be intimidating because you never want to show up with a big piece of equipment like that and then be turned away. Luckily, most single strollers should be fine, but this does add one more thing you need to confirm before you head to Disney with a stroller.

The park offers stroller rentals to avoid this issue; however, we all know how expensive Disney can be so adding this to the ever-growing list makes you want to say, “Sure! Take all my money!” Plus that’s one more stop you’d need to make before starting all the fun.

Enforced Stroller Parking Areas:

You can’t bring your stroller onto rides and you can’t even bring them in line and park them where you’d get off of the ride. That means that you’re either holding your baby through the line or having them stand next to you.

Instead, the park has designated stroller areas. You’ll be able to tell by the signs or the sea of strollers already there. 

Lack of Security:

Have a really nice stroller that someone might be eyeing? Well, you’re going to have to leave it behind while you go on the rides. There is no way to lock up your stroller so you have to trust that no one will take it. I’m sure that it’s very rare for this to happen, but it could. Or this could be an innocent situation where 2 strollers look almost identical and someone ends up grabbing yours instead of their own. We recommend personalizing your stroller in some way to keep this from happening as well as making it easy to spot among the throng of strollers.

More of a concern would be any personal items that you leave behind. These have a much higher likelihood of getting stolen than your stroller. Again, it would be rare that this would happen to you but it’s something to consider. I would never leave anything in your stroller that you can’t live without or is of high value.

So, bringing a stroller is one option. Using a baby carrier is another.

Best Baby Carrier at Disney

With the disadvantages I covered about bringing a stroller, you might be thinking you’ll just deal with those because there isn’t another option. (And we agree that a stroller over having nothing at all is the obvious choice!) But you CAN get your baby around Disney in another way. And that’s with a baby carrier. Let’s go over the great parts about using a baby carrier as well as some things to consider if you go this route.

These are advantages of using a baby carrier at Disney:

• You can avoid the disadvantages we listed that come with bringing a stroller
• Your baby will be able to sleep whenever they need to...babies fall asleep fast in a carrier, it always seems!
• You don’t have to hold your baby while pushing a stroller. How many times has this happened to you? During a long day, many times your baby just wants to be snuggled up against you.
• You can go on the rides WITH your carrier! It’s true! A seasoned mom Disney-goer answered a specific question about babywearing. She said that on attractions with lap bars she would take her baby out of the carrier and face them forward. And that there we also lots of rides with bench-style seating in which she could leave her baby in the carrier. If you have a sleeping baby, this 2nd part would mean you could still enjoy the ride even if your little one was fast asleep. 

Like a stroller, however, a baby carrier isn’t completely perfect either.

If you do decide to bring your baby in a carrier, keep in mind…

• With most carriers (not true with TushBaby though!) you won’t really have much space to store your stuff. Some carriers don’t have pockets at all, and other carriers only have 1 or 2 small pockets to fit things like cash, cards, and maybe a pair of sunglasses.
• The other difficulty that comes with carriers is when it’s time to get your child out. You’ll be needing to do this a lot if you have a toddler that wants to run around and is more interested in checking out all of the rides for themselves. With younger babies this would be less of an issue, but you still would need to take them out at various points of the day.

Babywearing at Disney could be a great choice if you don’t have much stuff to tote along with you. The problem is that babies and kids need milk or formula, snacks, diapers, and wipes, to name a few. Finding a spot for these necessities could be tough when you’re already needing to carry your little one. 

But what if there was a carrier that solved all of the disadvantages of the options listed above?

Why Using Tushbaby is the Best Way to Take Your Baby or Toddler Around Disney

You’re going to Disney for your children (well, maybe you’re not but you at least pretend that you are), which means you want to make this as fun and memorable as possible for them. But you also want it to be comfortable and enjoyable for yourself. 

Having everything you need, being able to go on all the rides, seeing all the attractions, all while having the perfect way to transport your baby around the park...well, that’d be #winning.

The Tushbaby hip carrier is going to help you tick all those boxes.

What is Tushbaby, you ask? It’s basically the coolest fanny pack you’ve ever seen and it has a seat right on it that’s perfectly sized to fit your baby’s cute little booty while keeping baby's hips safe. Let’s look at how it’s the solution to all your problems when it comes to getting around Disney.

1. Simple Baby Carrier - It’s technically a baby carrier, but your baby isn’t actually strapped in. Simply sit your little one on the seat in one of four positions while you rest your arm around them for cuddles and safety. Because of its built-in lumbar belt, Tushbaby carries the weight, not you! It’s safety-certified for both babies and adults.
2. Easy Up and Down - The thing about taking your youngin to places like Disney is that they want to take.it.all.in. If there was ever a place for overstimulation this would be it. They want to be down to see Mickey while you take the sweetest picture ever, but then they want to back in your arms when it’s over. Just imagine doing that 872 times and that’s your day at Disney. Could you imagine if you had to unstrap your baby from a carrier or stroller every single time? Just no. Tushbaby makes this so simple.
3. Stash Your Stuff - Most carriers were made with one thing in mind - to carry a baby. That’s fair. But when it comes to babies and toddlers, you have so much stuff! Tushbaby has all the nooks and crannies to hold your essentials as well as your baby’s. 

We want your day at Disney to be memorable for all the right reasons. Having the perfect way to carry your baby is key to making it truly one of the best days ever.