For those who drive to Disneyland- road trip traditions

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

Maybe we need to have a DIS meet at the Santa Clarita/Newhall In 'n Out Burger.

 

[mamaCta]

I think our only driving tradition is to try to get there alive and still talking to each other.

 

[ddwlms]

Red Vines are a must on road trips. -I don't think I buy them any other time. And running in random circles at rest areas. One of these days, we're going to run into someone we know, and we just might be embarrassed, but until then, we'll continue to act like lunes. (not me, actually, just the kids on the embarrassed part.)

I'm going to start with the individual bagees for jerky as well. You're right, it is a hot commodity.

 

[darph nader]

After a 7-8 hour drive,,,I let the wifey check in and tell the kids to hand me a cold one while they unload the 'burb'.
On the way home,we stop at the Pizza Hut in Toltec so we don't have to cook dinner that night.

 

[theworldneedscolor]

Loving this! My mom, sister, best friend and I are leaving Saturday morning for our spring break trip. We are driving from mid-Willamette Valley (in between Salem and Eugene, for any other Oregonians) to San Francisco and Santa Clara, and then making our way down to LA, Anaheim, and San Diego. I am beyond excited

One tradition that we follow without fail is a stop at the the Olive Pit in Corning. They have amazing olives there! They also have different kinds of olive oil and vinegar, with bread to sample. We can spend a good 45 minutes there trying all the different variations!

 

[Astylla]

Oh I have a good one ! It's tradition for me to pass out asleep while my husband drives..then I wake up at Disneyland !

 

[wvnative]

When it was me and the kid (and sometimes her friends) we'd be on the road by 8 (they're not early risers) and stop as needed for gas/food/bathrooms. Mostly they just slept or watched a Disney movie on the laptop.

Now it's just DH and me. He's a super early riser so if we're leaving in the morning, he'll finish most of the packing while I sleep and get ready to go. I am generally too excited to sleep the night before we leave so he doesn't have to wait long. We don't really have any traditions though. We stop when we're hungry, need gas or a bathroom. We do try to stop for gas on the AZ side of the border though because the price goes up as soon as you cross into CA. Oh and we leave at an off time so we can miss Phoenix and LA traffic.

Our next trip we are taking the train though. I've never been on one and it'll travel overnight so I figure it's about perfect. If it works out well, it may become a new tradition. lol

 

[awdsmama]

Loving this! My mom, sister, best friend and I are leaving Saturday morning for our spring break trip. We are driving from mid-Willamette Valley (in between Salem and Eugene, for any other Oregonians) to San Francisco and Santa Clara, and then making our way down to LA, Anaheim, and San Diego. I am beyond excited

One tradition that we follow without fail is a stop at the the Olive Pit in Corning. They have amazing olives there! They also have different kinds of olive oil and vinegar, with bread to sample. We can spend a good 45 minutes there trying all the different variations!

I'm just a bit east of Salem ;-)

And I love the chocolate olive oill @ The Olive Pit - yummm

 

[lana772]

Ok... Where is this "Bravo Farms" that is spoken of? Have I been driving past a hidden gem for years?

Lana

 

[Congo Queen]

What an enjoyable thread. To me, long family car trips are like shopping together at Ikea, it's fun at first but as the hours roll by you begin to calculate the exact number of days until the kids go off to college. This is especially true on the way back home from Dland. We are all so cranky and sad. We usually take I-5 as a straight shot back, and stop off at Anderson's Pea Soup to try to drown our sorrows in a bowl of viscous green porridge. But....on the way down to Dland, oh how jolly we are. It is the start of the vacation, and we often take it slow and scenic by going down 101, staying the night in Solvang. This makes the first leg shorter and gives us the added bonus of waking up in cute little Solvang and then enjoying the very very best breakfast at Paula's Pancake House. Their homemade strawberry jam is worth the whole drive in and of itself. Heavenly. After some ridiculously buttery/jammy pancakes we head off to Dland and get there late morning ready for fun and games.

 

[DLmama]

We drive from San Jose. Usually leave around 6 am and get to the parks in the early afternoon. We always get Starbucks before hitting the road. Stop in Kettleman City for gas, bathroom, & breakfast. Stop again at the Grapevine for gas & bathroom. DS4 usually brings a few Disney movies to watch. His favorite "game" right now is asking how to spell everything in sight. LOL.

 

[Spwhoney]

Are you in central Utah? We're in North Davis County.

We are in north Davis county to going to DL last of April.

 

[Autty40]

Ok... Where is this "Bravo Farms" that is spoken of? Have I been driving past a hidden gem for years?

Lana

It's on the 99 a little south of Fresno. There are signs leading up to it but if you blink you miss the exit. The have food and a shop and animals. I love stopping there!

 

[lana772]

It's on the 99 a little south of Fresno. There are signs leading up to it but if you blink you miss the exit. The have food and a shop and animals. I love stopping there!

I think I have seen the signs and never thought much of it. Usually the sun isn't up by the time we are in Fresno. Maybe we could make that a stop on the way home.
Thanks.

Lana

 

[rentayenta]

We are in north Davis county to going to DL last of April.

You are? Small world. The thunder and rain and wind kept me awake last night. I very ready for Spring and some warmer temps but it looks like snow tonight and tomorrow.



Another tradition when driving south is getting a good chuckle out of being in the Filmore/Beaver area. Both are very small towns in Utah and right after the other. It's a joke between DH and myself and just about every other adult I know. The towns definitely make fun of their own names. The convenience stores have lots of tacky souvenirs. I may or may be very temped to buy a shot glass with said town names.

 

[lana772]

Another tradition when driving south is getting a good chuckle out of being in the Filmore/Beaver area. Both are very small towns in Utah and right after the other. It's a joke between DH and myself and just about every other adult I know. The towns definitely make fun of their own names.

Too funny! That would definitely make my DH giggle. My girls would giggle because Daddy does, but they would have no idea why.

Lana

 

[merrysmom]

You are? Small world. The thunder and rain and wind kept me awake last night. I very ready for Spring and some warmer temps but it looks like snow tonight and tomorrow.



Another tradition when driving south is getting a good chuckle out of being in the Filmore/Beaver area. Both are very small towns in Utah and right after the other. It's a joke between DH and myself and just about every other adult I know. The towns definitely make fun of their own names. The convenience stores have lots of tacky souvenirs. I may or may be very temped to buy a shot glass with said town names.

My husband's sister lives in Texas and we had to go to Beaver last time they visited to get all her brothers in law "Beaver Liquor" t-shirts from the local liquor store.

 

[jenTMV]

- pin trading with each other in the car before we even arrive

What are some of your favorite road trip traditions?

Love this idea! I have bought the kids some trading pins and I might given them out and let them trade on the road.

I always make my kids a bag of "surprises" they can open along the way. Last time I appliqued Mickey Ears with their initials on black canvas bags- they looked cute and were sturdy. My littles get things like princess Polly Pockets, crayon sets, packages of bandaids (seriously, do you have any idea how long a three year old can stay entertained with a package of bandaids to play with?) and my big kids might get a new DS game or DVD to watch, notebooks and pens, stuff like that.

Other than that, we're boring- we do the usual Disney music in the car and watch a Disney movie thing. Mostly, we are just happy to get there with all five children still alive and happy!

I used to do bags of entertaining things and might need to do it again this year. We ALWAYS listen to Disney music as we go!

I switch my ipod to my playlist of Disneyland ride songs. I always play Splash Mountain as I get to the booth for the Mickey and Friends lot.

I listen to the ride tracks almost every day...even when I am not on my way to Disney! LOL!

This will be our first trip to DL but we usually drive to WDW. It is going to be a 3 week road trip from MN to CA. Normally we are a "Drive Straight Through" sort of crew but we decided we would see the country on this trip.

I know we will keep some of our regular drive to Disney traditions - Disney movies for the DVD player, a new Disney playlist on the iPad, the maps printed out so that we can talk about all the things we want to do when we get there, and our Mickey ears to wear when we want to be silly.

With the trip this year being longer then ever...I am trying to think of some new things to do or bring back some of the old things I did when the kiddos were little. Love all the ideas here. One thing I really want to do (or find) is to decorate our camp sites with Mickey lights. We will be camping a couple nights on the way out and a several nights on the way home. I am hoping to find some strings of Mickey head lights (should have thought of this at Christmas time). I thought it would be fun to make our camp site have a Disney theme to keep us in the mood!

 

[RayB]

Seriously last trip we came from LV son was bringing his stuff to live /work at Disney, he had his 42 inch flatscreen we had to shlep it up to the room in LV and all the other places and his x box and games.We got pretty close to Anaheim without a map.We were confused and stopped in a subdivision with numerous no parking signs, sure we blended like a red neon sign.

Anyway in order to get a wifi signal I am standing on top of the trunk with the little clear antenna--you would have had to been there to appreciate it.There were several of the neighbors out laughing at the lost tourists , we were about three seconds from the police arriving to tow us away.Anyway we were about two exits away and we were soon there.Oh and I am sure the cops would have been all over the flatsceen and the other electronics we had piled in the car.

We made some real memories along the way.Son and I had about three hours sleep too much LV.LV and Disneyland go together like salt and pepper.You need them both to make a complete vacation out west.


Those are my recent memories coming from Texas we always went to Disneyland and then LV on the way back.I miss the old days of conversion vans and cheap gas we always drove and stopped and bought another movie along the way.Played alot of Nintendo.Too old to dirve from Texas now its SW and a bloody mary along the way.

Thanks for letting me digress on a slow Thursday..

 

[ddwlms]

I can't believe I forgot this one. It doesn't matter where we are at on the trip, the answer to the age old question "how much longer" is always:

2 hours and 40 minutes.

I don't know how that started, but it was about 20 years ago when the oldest were young. Sometime in the past year our youngest said, "that's what you said last time." And her 9 year old sister had to explain to her "that's what they ALWAYS say."

We also play 3 Seconds. -As soon as you recognize the artist of a radio song, you say "3 seconds" and everyone else has 3 seconds to figure it out. My 25 year old daughter usually kicks our butt, regardless of genre.