Our daughter was almost 4. I never used pull ups with our daughter. Once I knew she was really ready for potty training, I planned on staying home for a few days I started on a friday and kept her home from day care. I had 3 days to work with her.. I waited till my husband came home then went alone to run any errands.. I did have her go naked one day when she told me she was afraid she might poo in her panties.
At night, I had purchased a plastic mattress cover and had her lay on a towel on top of her sheets. I made sure she went to the potty before bed and asked her again after her bedtime routine.. I asked her to "just try". I also woke her up at midnight, right before I went to bed and again asked her "to try". Then, in the morning, my husband always woke up at 5:30, so he woke her up and asked her to try. Each of these times she did urinate. In the morning, I woke up at my normal time and when she woke up she ran to the potty and went on her own..
She did have a few accidents that weekend and was upset. I just told her it would take practice..
On the following Monday, I took her to day care and she continued her potty training. I gave them lots of panties and lots of bottoms. They had the potties lined up in an area of the room and the children would go whenever they needed at any time. She only had a few accidents, but over all within about a week, she was great. Each time we would go somewhere, I would ask her, "do you need to go, will you just try?" Then when we arrived at our destination, I would say, "Mommy needs to go potty, you want to try?"
Funny, I just realized, we still do this.. and she is 20.. I am the one that always needs to go..