The stroller. A great way to cart around your kids AND your stuff. While you may be well past stroller age at home a visit to the Disney parks and all the walking involved make it a necessity for many. There are thousands of strollers in the parks every day, going every which way.  Here are a few tips to make your stroller days stress free in the parks.

1. Slow down. People are going to walk out in front of you. Adults, kids, Cast Members, even Goofy, it will seem at some point nearly everyone in the park will cut you off. Strollers can be heavy and not so quick to stop, slowing down just a bit will make that easier on you and the jay walkers.

2. Stand out. Make your stroller easily identifiable. Tie a bright ribbon or cord to the handle, even though you brought your Pooh Umbrella stroller from when your 11 year old was 2 does not mean there will not be 5 others in the stroller lot when you come out of Little Mermaid (true story). Making your stroller stand out will help you find it quickly and deter stroller mix ups where some other frazzled father may grab yours by mistake.

3.  Bring rain gear. For your stroller. A large poncho or even better a plastic table cloth and some clothes pins are a great way to cover your stroller for the rainstorms that will come.

4. Obey parking laws. There are stroller parking lots all over the parks. Make sure you park in one, if you leave your stroller in a stray spot out of those, in walk ways, or in front of iconic photos spots Cast Members will move your stroller. You will come out of the attraction and have that panic moment where you think it has been stolen and then waste time hunting around for it. Save yourself the time and panic and park in marked area.

5. Don’t leave valuables on your stroller. While Disney parks are crawling with security and a relatively safe place to be that does not mean Villains are not out looking for an easy opportunity to score a new camera or iphone.  Or Jr’s precious blanket he has to have to sleep with (most of these are by mistaken stroller identify thefts) .If it is irreplaceable or valuable take it with you every time you park your stroller.