Advice for driving with a toddler.

[aaronlisar]

I need some advice. In August I am taking my wife and my then 28 month old son to Disney World. We decided we would rather drive the 1200 miles (from West Michigan) rather than fly for a couple reasons,
1. It saves us around $800 in airfare
2. We can bring our own stroller (works great for carrying things around and a place for the little guy to rest when he gets tired) with no problem. 3. We can bring a cooler of food and juice with us
4. We can bring a bunch of toys with us to keep him occupied when in the room.
5. More room to bring home souvenirs (the wife cannot be stopped ).

Anyway, here is the delema, we have never traveled with our son yet and the longest ride he has had in a vehicle was to/from GR or Holland. I would really like to take advantage of him sleeping and get as much driving done as possible at those times but I am afraid that I will end up too tired and I won't be able to sleep at all during the day because I will have to keep our son occupied. If we take turns with the driving duties it might help with that I guess. I am also afraid that our son will get restless and will be miserable the entire drive down there. I don't have a problem with taking our time getting there during the day and would make stops for him to get out and run around every now and then but I am just having a hard time planning on what day we will arrive to the resort. I don't want to plan on arriving on Saturday and things go bad and we dont end up there until late Saturday or even Sunday and then wasted a day there.

Any ideas to help or past experiences with this kind of thing would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JCTigger]

rent a portable dvd player from rent a center if theres one around you.. or if you can afford it buy one... then take some of his favorite shows with you every show now is pretty much on dvd (wiggles, blues clues, roli poli olli, etc) and also take a couple of movies with you that way hell be entertained by things he watchs at home already so he may not fuss as much (if he does at all) also get some story books on tape/cd those might keep him pasive as well... I hope it all goes well for you GOOD LUCK!

 

[aaronlisar]

Thanks, JCTigger. I planned on taking my laptop with us and a whole slew of DVD's for him to watch, he's real big on ELMO right now. I will need to find a car charger for it though, I have an extended life battery in it that lasts between 8-10 hours but we have around 24 hours of driving time.

Thanks again.

 

[ducklite]

Driving straight through in your situation is a recipe for disaster for a couple of reasons.

1. You can't nap when the other driver is driving, so you end up wrecking. It happens far too often.

2. Your child will be ready to kill you if he has to stay strapped in the car seat for 24 hours. I would be!

I think you'd be better off breaking the trip up into two legs. Leave very early (3:00am?) and drive until mid-afternoon, maybe a bit later. Stop at a hotel and stretch, run off steam, and get to sleep early.

Get up the next day and repeat this process, and you'll be at WDW at check-in time without anyone being so overtired that you can't do anything. Do something like a charcter meal for dinner that night, and again, get to bed early. Get up the next morning ready to hit the parks!

Reverse the process on the way home. You'll be home early enough to do a couple loads of laundry.

There are plenty of decent budget hotels in the $80 range, we like Hamptons, and the Fairmont Inn by Marriott is another good bet.

Anne

 

[NotUrsula]

I'll add that when you stop, make sure your overnight hotel has a pool you can use (indoor if the weather is cold.) Swimming relaxes adults and tires out children, which will be important, b/c jr. will have been sleeping through much of the drive time, meaning that he will be wide awake and buzzed when his parents are wiped from all the driving.

That's the problem with long drives to vacation destinations when you have preschool children. The motion of the car does lull little ones to sleep, which means that when you stop, they want to play, while their worn-out parents are dying for sleep. It tends to put the adults and the kids on opposite calendars, sleep-wise.

 

[CapeCodFam]

I have 3 kids and I recommend you fly. You can still bring your own stroller and check it at the entrance to plane and it will be there when you land. You can bring a backpack with toys in it. Bring a spare suitcase and put in familiar food items, diapers, etc. You can easily buy groceries on your way to the resort too. At the end of the week, it will be empty and you can use it to bring your purchases home.

1200 miles with a 2yo in a car seat for 2 days each way is not something that sounds fun. Besides, you're still paying for gas, lodgings, car maintenance, etc. Flying is around 3-4 hours.

 

[buzz5985]

My DS was a little older than yours (4) when we first drove - but he did awesome. I work nights and my DH works days. So we really appreciated the time together. We had books on tape - Harry Potter - to listen to. Also had a portable VCR - we had taped his favorite shows. But the funny thing is - he hardly watched them. Maybe 2 hours. He had a duffle bag next to him with crayons, coloring books, magic markers, etc. he helped pack what he wanted. Plus every state we went through he received a gift. At the time Matchbox had cars out with license plates attached so if we went through a state that Matchbox had - That was the give he got to open, he really enjoyed the gifts. There were the matchbox cars, and a new Little Bear video, new keychain, stuff like that. Then when he was in Disney he had new toys to play with. He also had his own map from AAA. We also had a well stocked cooler. Sandwich meat, juice, water, snacks. We stayed overnight in Rocky Mount SC, ordered a pizza in, and rented a movie over the TV - I believe a Harry Potter movie - awesome drive down.

 

[Jon99]

Leave at 3:00 PM, you will be there before lunch the following day.. Break the 3:00-8:00 portion up with dinner, hopefully he will sleep from 8:00-5:00 AM, stop for breakfast and you will have about 5 hours left..

 

[justhat]

I too would suggest flying. We have flowen to Disney with my daughter 4 times and brought our own stroller each time, packed diapers/wipes in a luggage, leaving room for souvenirs, and when you factor in the cost of gas, meals, and lodging for a 2 day drive, the airfare wasn't bad. We bought our daughter a seat even though she's under 2 so we had to pay for 3 tickets as well, but for the convenience it was well worth it. Our main reasoning was that we drive from DC to NJ often and that can be as long as 7 hours with traffic and a baby and it's horrible. We have to stop every 2 hours as our daughter will not stay in her seat any longer than that without many tears, regardless of what toys we have for her and I sit in the back with her. I know some kids don't mind the carseat, but 24 hours is a long time.

If you do drive though, I would also suggest leaving midday, maybe not at 3, but maybe right before your son's naptime. Then he'll sleep in the car for his nap, hopefully stay in the seat a bit longer till you can stop for dinner, then play in his seat till he falls asleep for bedtime that night. I don't see why someone can't nap when they're not driving (I often nap on our drives to NJ when our daughter naps). So if you can, then you'll be set to drive through the night. Yes, when you arrive your son will be up for the day, but if you can keep him amused till his nap, then all of you can nap along with him, which should help you get through till bedtime.

 

[HenryMom]

I am just wondering.... have you done a "test-drive" (so to speak ) with using your laptop to play DVDs for him?

We learned the hard way on a road trip last year that a.) our laptop got VERY, very warm on the bottom when it was used for long periods of time -- literally too hot to handle, b.) it never really sat comfortably on anyone's lap or even on the seat next to our DS's carseat, and, finally, c.) that having an unanchored object like that in the car is a real safety hazard. Thankfully nothing happened to us, but a good friend pointed out the danger of how it could become a harmful projectile in the case of an accident.

If you don't want to buy a portable DVD player you might want to look into renting one???

Wish I had other advice, but after many road trips with young kids I've gotta say we bite the bullet and fly....

Either way, good luck and have a great trip!