My comments- I'm glad you decided to bring your stroller- I was going to say the same thing! But not just because of at the airport- but because then you'd have it for the entire trip instead of JUST at the parks if you rented one there!
You just leave it right outside the plane door, and it is stowed underneath the plane. It will be waiting for you right outside the plane, when you land at your destination.
See this is our first time to fly with the kids- so this is good to know. I thought we had to check it in like checked baggage! Do all airlines allow this or only certain ones? We'll probably be going Delta. This would be great if we could do this instead of checking it like checked baggage!
Also about the strollers on the buses. Our first trip we did not stay onsite nor use WDW transportation (and 2nd trip I relied solely on WDW transportation but it was a solo trip-therefore no kids and no strollers) but we plan on staying onsite and relying on WDW transportation the majority of the time- although we'll have a rental vehicle if needed. I saw a lot of people with strollers and it didn't seem to be that big of an issue as long as it was basically pretty lightweight and folds up easily. I only saw one person really struggling with the stroller and folding it- and it was a monster sized one- looked heavy too. LOL
As for the monorail- I have seen time and again people saying you can roll it on- but I never saw anyone doing this and on our first trip we DID ofcourse have to use the monorail from TTR to MK and each time they told us we had to fold it up! I'm not sure if it was perhaps because it was Christmas week (and went to MK on Christmas day) and it was so busy they needed to do this or what. But they sure did not let us just roll her on with the stroller -everytime they told us we had to take her out and fold it up to get on the monorail. So does that policy change when they are really busy or what?
Other comments just to add to others: our barely turned 5yr old was fine last year without a stroller. (although we did take lots of breaks because of the youngest plus there were a lot of rides he couldn't ride so doing parent swap gave him a lot of breaks from walking/etc) But if he would have complained or got tired/etc- then we could have rented another single one for him just during those times. Definitely would not want to deal with a double stroller (just personal preference) and certainly not double front/back type. We had one of those and it was a shortlived experience. Well we still have it- but it sure didn't get used much. He couldn't fit in the back and my youngest did NOT ever like being in the back- even when she was very young. And I can't even imagine dealing with that on WDW transportation. A lot harder to fold up and heavier!
My kids have never been comfortable in umbrella strollers. We have only used that for short bouts in the mall (or like outlet malls where you get in and out of the car for short periods of time). It's easier to handle but my kids sure never liked them. I don't blame them- doesn't look comfortable at all. LOL
Ps. I know darn well my youngest wouldn't stay in one of those rented strollers- we'd probably be fighting her getting out every few seconds. LOL Plus it's just not the same as having a stroller with space underneath to put stuff.
