A double stroller holds two children. A travel wagon can technically seat three or four small children. If you have three or more kids under five, the wagon looks immediately appealing. The reality is more complicated — and depends almost entirely on where you are going.
Airport Performance
A double stroller (specifically a side-by-side like the Baby Jogger City Mini GT2 Double) folds flat quickly, fits through security lanes, and checks at the gate for free on every major airline. Wagons — including the popular Wonderfold W4 — do not fit through standard security lanes. They must be collapsed, lifted onto the belt, and reassembled on the other side. With three children and carry-ons, this is genuinely difficult without a second adult to hold the children.
At the gate, airlines will check a stroller or wagon for free, but wagons are bulkier and fragile in the hold. Multiple families report broken wagon axles on international flights. A gate-checked BOB double stroller survived the same routes intact.
Theme Park and City Performance
Wagons outperform strollers significantly in theme parks. Disney parks permit wagons in most areas as of 2024, and a wagon serves as a mobile base: it carries backpacks, snacks, jackets, and tired children simultaneously. A double stroller cannot hold a third child who needs a rest. At parks with long walking distances, the wagon allows rotation — one child walks while two ride, then swap.
In cities with cobblestones (Rome, Prague, Lisbon), neither performs well. For urban European travel, a high-quality single stroller plus a soft structured carrier for a second toddler is almost always the better combination.
Weight and Pack Size
The Wonderfold W4 weighs 36 lbs before any children or gear. The Baby Jogger City Mini GT2 Double weighs 26 lbs. Neither is light, but the weight distribution is different — a stroller can be pushed; a wagon must be pulled. Pulling a loaded wagon through an airport for 800 meters while managing two walking children is exhausting in a way that is hard to anticipate before you try it.
Verdict
For families with three or more children under five: use a double stroller for any trip that involves airports, trains, or European cities. Use a wagon for road-trip destinations — theme parks, beach towns, state parks — where you arrive by car and do not need to collapse and reassemble at security. If your trip mixes both types of travel, the stroller wins by default.
