While we don’t have many blindspots left when it comes to visiting Disney World, we definitely have one glaring gap in our resume—we’ve never pushed a stroller through the parks. Among park-going parents of small children, this gives us a somewhat unpopular perspective on a pretty popular issue. In this post, I’ll talk through our thoughts on doing Disney World without a stroller!

About This Post and Related Posts

We have a lot of content about visiting Disney World with a toddler or infant. Much of it will come up naturally in this post, but our Complete Guide to Visiting Disney World with a Toddler is a great place to start if you have a kid around 0-4.

We are not experienced with stroller usage in the parks, so I’ll point you to other resources for that content. For information on stroller rental, visit WDW Prep School. For someone with a little more balance than me on this issue, consider any related content over on Disney Tourist Blog.

Also, a lot of photos in this post aren’t from Disney World specifically. I just liked some of the other photos my computer gave me when I searched “walking”.

With nothing to hold me back, let me see what I can find to break around here.

Disclaimers, Caveats, and Context

There isn’t a ton of Disney World content out there about doing trips without strollers. In fact, Google searches for such content tend to nudge you in the opposite direction on this issue. On top of that, this is a rare issue I actually care about, independent of my work as a content creator. For those reasons, I feel it’s important to do the issue proper justice. This post meanders a bit (as you already can tell) and doesn’t confine itself to “10 best tips”. I’m also making this post ad-free for its life.

This is, for some people, a sensitive topic. In an effort to pre-empt some of the willful misinterpretation you get on the internet, while also offering some important context for the tips in this post, here are some disclaimers, caveats, and context.

This post should not be taken to be intentionally or unintentionally ableist. I’m not here to judge your family’s ability to complete a trip without a stroller—or with less stroller usage—and it’s not my place to judge for whom it is and isn’t possible or sensible. I’m here to highlight the challenges and lessons of reducing stroller usage, not to erase the challenges and lessons that come with mobility differences.

More generally, though, I’m not saying whether your trip should be 100% or 1% stroller-free. You very well might bring a stroller and use it for only an hourlong nap. You might also decide that this isn’t the time to push your kid in this way, and you just want to close this post now. I hope this post offers a perspective that encourages people to find some benefit in stroller-free time where they can, but how much stroller-free time is right for you is up to you and your child.

You don’t have to make them walk the whole 5K!

I don’t want to hide the ball—we’ve always chosen to be a stroller-free family, and we’re happy with that choice. “Oh but you only have one kid!” “Oh but your child doesn’t have [this mobility difference]!” Okay, but I can’t make my family like yours or say for certain what I would do in your shoes. I also can’t pretend this is coming from a wholly balanced, comparative point of view.

Our stroller-free life informs a ton of our perspective on this issue. From a practical perspective, we’re conditioned to endure some of the challenges one faces without a stroller. (By contrast, we’re absolutely unfamiliar with the challenges of using a stroller, and we marvel at people carrying them up and down stairs or gently and artfully convincing antsy kids to stay in them.)

Moreover, we accept that going stroller-free impacts our trips (in both negative and positive ways), and we welcome those impacts. As we discuss below, this definitely is not a “your trip will be so much better this way” kind of post. Sorry, if you need the ONE SECRET TIP for the PERFECT DISNEY TRIP that ONLY PROS KNOW—this is not the hack you are looking for. There are pluses, there are minuses.

Finally, we aren’t medical professionals. Our child has a pediatrician whom we consult on matters of their health. If you have concerns about how walking more would impact your child’s health, consult your pediatrician.

Bottom Line: Is Stroller Free Disney Possible?

Unequivocally—it is possible to have an excellent time, with a child of any age, at Disney World, without a stroller. We’ve done it several times, and while there are challenges (hence this post), we’ve never questioned our decision to do the parks without a stroller.

The bottom line is that this challenge comes in three phases: Phase 1 is pre-toddler. In this phase, you’ll mostly be baby wearing because your kid doesn’t walk yet. We have a Complete Guide to Baby Wearing at Disney World. This post won’t touch so much on that phase because (1) we have that other post and (2) the decision to baby wear largely comes down personal preference and whether the adults in your party can combine to wear the baby for the bulk of the trip. Heat, lack of experience baby wearing, and no stroller to carry your stuff are the big obstacles to be aware of in this phase.

Next, in Phase 2, you’ll have a toddler who can be carried but can also walk a small amount. This phase tends to coincide with the single biggest challenge of stroller-free Disney trips—they’ll be too old to nap in the carrier but too young to go without a nap entirely.

Phase 3 is when you have a toddler who can walk some substantial amount. This post mostly focuses on phases 2 and 3, particularly the challenge of preparing for and molding a trip to work for your kid.

Your experience with your kid will vary. We actually had some overlap when naps in the carrier were possible (even in Florida conditions) and Zoe could, barely, make it through a day at the parks without a nap. But overall, the timeframe when the nap was a real challenge to work around was about a year long.

On the older end of it, our five-day trip to Disneyland when Zoe was 3.5 years old is when we mark Zoe as entering the age where we could basically do multiple normal park days in a row without naps.

Big Picture - It’ll Go Better if you Welcome It

If you’re on the fence about doing Disney World without a stroller and you’re wondering if it’ll be easier without one…it probably won’t be. There’s a reason there are so many strollers in Disney World and why much discourse on this issue revolves around people who don’t often use strollers considering increasing stroller usage at Disney World. For people familiar with strollers, I assume the practical case for heavier-than-normal stroller usage at Disney World is strong. If it were simply easier without one, we’d see fewer strollers in the parks.

But you’re still reading, so let’s take that as good news. Yes, it will be a challenge—so embrace it! Approach this with the mindset of “we’re going to do something a little harder this trip, and we’re excited about the challenge.” The practical conveniences of going without a stroller are nice, but for many people I don’t think they’re enough to outweigh the challenges of going without a stroller. To cover that gap, you have to embrace the challenge!

One of the great things about travel is leaving your comfort zone and trying something new. People take vacations and willingly endure hard hikes and climbs all the time. Some people travel to Disney World to run the Dopey Challenge! As with those adventures, you should commend yourself and especially your kid for undertaking a Disney trip with less stroller usage. Go on your Disney trip and be proud of the huge step count your family racks up!

Benefits of Being Stroller Free at Disney World

Now we’ll get to some of the more practical content. I’ll start with the benefits of being stroller-free at Disney World. Some of these are benefits that come with any amount of stroller-free time, and others require you to ditch the thing altogether. After this section, I’ll move onto “tips”, which also includes the downsides and how to address them.

You don’t have to deal with transporting / renting a stroller. There are enough stroller rental companies in Orlando for me to infer that traveling with a stroller is not super convenient. Unfortunately, theme park touring is a little like a race day—a good rule of thumb is to not try any new gear, so renting one might not always be appealing. Go without a stroller and you’re saved this dilemma and the accompanying hassle.

You don’t have to get it on and off buses. I’m surprised I’ve never seen a t-shirt in the parks with a joke about folding strollers, because this always looks like an epic task. Most Disney transportation is by bus, and you’ll have to fold the stroller to get on the bus. If you have a rented stroller, you’ve violated the prohibition against trying new gear on race day, and now you’ll pay for it in the form of jeers of impatient bus-waiters while you fumble with the mechanisms you told the guy at the rental place you were sure you’d “be able to figure out” (but don’t worry, there will be cheers when you get it).

You don’t have to worry about stroller parking. Almost every rope drop I’ve done—and I’ve dropped a lot of ropes—I’ve seen the same scene beside me. A family of four with a stroller and an older kid (who is always either sprinting at the front of the crowd or being dragged behind, but never in lockstep with the family) gets to the queue entrance only to be told they have to go park the stroller in stroller parking.

Maybe most days this only costs them a few minutes. Maybe they do the “I’ll catch up with you in line” and actually lose no time, just enduring the dirty looks of people they pass on their way deep into the queue. But if the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train queue is looping around by Storybook Circus? If the Flight of Passage queue snakes so far it goes to Africa and back? This trip to stroller parking could cost 30 minutes, maybe much more.

That’s an extreme case, but finding stroller parking is always a challenge. And if you mis-park, then you have the special challenge of finding your stroller, wherever a Cast Member moved it to.

Stroller-free is a great way to experience the parks. I don’t think any Disney parks fan can deny that being able to fully experience a land with 360 degrees of viewing freedom is better than being constrained to the often narrow viewing window strollers provide.

You’re in a place designed by some of the best world-builders around, and they’ve often consciously designed these worlds to be experienced by wandering eyes, hands, and feet.

Excited to lead the way through the castle.

Disney parks are a good place for kids to walk freely. While there are electric vehicles in the park that move at higher speeds than I’m comfortable with, the parks are generally a very safe place for kids to walk on their own.

This isn’t always easy to find in life. Living in Queens, I’ve found I’m more comfortable letting Zoe walk alone on steep-sided trails in Zion and the Grand Canyon than in a car-centric city. The side of the canyon is exceedingly unlikely to “jump the curb” as long as you stay in your lane. Disney World offers a great chance for even small kids to walk around with the freedom that adults take for granted.

Of course your kid will run into strangers. This is a teaching moment for everyone involved. Kids should learn to look out for people and to apologize when they run into them. Adults should learn that, of all places, Disney World is where kids should get the practice to learn not to run into people (which inevitably involves first running into people).

I will add a safety note here—if you’re not used to being stroller-free in crowded places, then this could be a point of caution for you. You don’t want to lose your kid, even in Disney World. We lost Zoe in Venice once (real Venice, not EPCOT)—a particularly terrifying spot because you couldn’t look 5 feet without seeing unguarded water. It was a simple case of “I thought you said we were leaving!” that doesn’t happen when a kid is strapped into a stroller.

They get to interact more with other kids. This is a small thing, but it’s cute to see how kids interact when left to their own devices. When you’re browsing a store or watching a show, you might be surprised to see how much fun can spark between two strangers. Then one sneezes on the other and that’s what you’ll deal with the next week, but that’s just DISNEY WORLD!

It teaches them that they can do hard things. Walking more than you’re used to is hard. A day at Disney World is going to allow most anyone to walk more than they’re used to. If you’re an experienced parkgoer, you probably know that “Disney tired” is a special kind of tired. Besides putting you into a quick, deep sleep, it also comes with a sense of satisfaction. You did it.

Even “top of the mountain tired” just isn’t quite the same as “Disney tired.”

Tips for Disney World Without a Stroller

Practice, practice, practice. Besides the length of time and (in some cases) the heat, there’s actually very little that’s unique about Disney World without a stroller. The more you babywear and the more your kid is used to walking, the easier time you’re going to have. Walk to a local restaurant you’d usually drive to. Pick a weekend to go to a nearby trail and walk more than your family has ever walked before.

Decide on a nap plan. Genuinely, the only reason we’ve ever maybe wished we had a stroller on a Disney trip is that it’s hard to work in a nap for Zoe without one. During the early babywearing years this wasn’t a huge problem, but naps while babywearing in Florida aren’t ideal. And once you get to being able to skip a nap, maybe even for a few days in a row, this isn’t an issue. But there’s a time—maybe a year around age 3—where napping in the carrier is no longer viable, but naps are still necessary. Our last nap in the carrier was an unintentional one in Jaipur, India, when Zoe was about 2 years and 7 months.

The easiest option is just to concede you’ll use a stroller for that nap. We never tried this because of Zoe’s lack of familiarity with strollers otherwise. If you go this route, you’ll either have to bring a stroller or pay to rent one, which you may or may not feel worth it if it’s solely for this purpose.

The other good option is to pick your hotel appropriately and plan your park hopping accordingly. If you’re at a Skyliner hotel, it’s no problem to squeeze a nap into the middle of a day at Hollywood Studios or Epcot, or between those two parks. Your Magic Kingdom day will be made easier if you’re staying at a monorail resort (but, y’know, $$$). Add these two together and you get a big part of why we’re such a fan of split stays.

Let them lead. One of the big ways stroller-free time is different from time in the stroller is that being out of the stroller allows your kid to take on the role of leader. When they’re little, this is mostly just pointing to something nearby and toddling toward it. But as they get older they can practice readings maps and signage.

Tax yourself, credit your kid. Besides simply listening to your kid (a tip hopefully obvious enough that I’m leaving it off this list), you want to have some sort of internal gauge as to whether you’re overdoing it. For us, there’s a two part system. You “tax” yourself, so you’re closer to their level of tiredness, and you “credit” them so they’re less tired.

First—tax yourself. I make sure to keep up with my daily run even on vacation, usually in the morning before Zoe is up. That won’t make me as tired as Zoe, but I’ll start to feel it later in the day and my empathy gauge will be turned up if Zoe has any complaints.

You should also keep a lightweight baby carrier handy (we used this one plenty)—or just plan to otherwise carry your kid a bit, to transfer some of the load. Carrying a toddler in Florida heat is taxing. If I get to a point where carrying Zoe (in a carrier or just a simple hip carry) seems impossible, then chances are it’s past the point where Zoe should still be walking every step with us. That means it’s just time to slow down the day and take a break.

As for crediting them, the easiest way is to carry them (or, if you’re not totally stroller free, to give them some stroller time). But you can always give them some sitting time while you go track lunch down or while one parent uses a single rider line. Or maybe they get to relax (or nap) in the hotel room while you run.

Plan your shopping accordingly. Unfortunately the best of the options for dealing with merchandise sans stroller have been eliminated. Now, if you want to purchase something you’ve basically got three options (1) buy it and carry it, (2) buy it later, (3) buy it and store it in a locker (at a rental cost). Plan accordingly.

Embrace your step count. I promise I didn’t start this draft in 2010, but I think step counts are still a thing, right? I don’t really care about my step count, but we did take a picture of Zoe with a pedometer after a particularly grueling day in Italy at Pompeii (we had to walk the width of the site twice because I mistimed the trains, twice). Besides quantifying your accomplishments for the day, it’s a good chance to teach your kids to read bigger numbers.

“Walking is the activity.” At Disney World, you have rides, shows, and characters to walk to and from. But if you’re practicing walking before your trip, you might find yourself having to explain at some point that walking is the activity. This is usually a novel message to get across to a young child, but the upside is that when you get to a theme park where walking becomes a tool for more rides, more characters, more shows, they’ll greatly appreciate it.

You can add in a scavenger hunt if you want to bring some life to your activity. Consider a Scrapvenger book (by us), for example. Or get one of the Epcot scavenger hunts during the festivals. Scavenger hunts that turn the journey into an adventure and encourage kids to find new perspectives on the parks are a great way to teach them the value of their newfound freedom.

Keep them hydrated, sun-screened, and full of healthy snacks. And keep in mind that even if you manage to miss Florida’s blistering heat, dehydration is a risk at all temperatures.

Understand what you all get out of this. I don’t know if anyone else uses this phraseology, but when Zoe manages to do something new we often say that we’ve “unlocked” that activity. We “unlocked” full park days when Zoe could skip the one remaining nap. We “unlocked” nighttime baseball games when a schedule change forced us into a night game at Fenway. And we “unlocked” National Parks hikes with our years of practice in the Disney parks. A lot of travel becomes easier when you practice walking more.

Maybe you don’t care about walking more or traveling more, that’s fine too. When you’re done with this, remember what you all thought you and your kids were capable of when you started, and where you wound up. It won’t go perfectly, but I hope you take some pride in doing it.