Another driving question - are we nuts?

[Torontogal]

Hi all,
We are planning on doing the WDW drive in Aug. We are travelling with 2 kids (5 and a 2 year old) and 2 seniors! HELP!
My hubby and I are trying to be as prepared as possible for this very scary drive. I would love to know your thoughts on such a long 22 hour drive from Toronto. We just bought a new Toyota Sienna - with a DVD player and want to know if you have any great tips. My 5 year old gets car sickness. Any products you recommend besides gravol? Has anyone dne this drive with 2 young kids and how was it?
Thanks!

 

[GrannyEv]

We drove this trip two years ago from London. Not with two kids but with a senior (My Dad). Just stop at the rest stops along the way so that the kids can get out and burn off some energy. I have also been printing sheets off the web for things to do on the long drive. A DVD player is a good idea.
This September I am taking two of my grandkids, ages 7 & 9 so am planning lots of games and activities.

hugs
GrannyEv

 

[cdnmickeylover]

I haven't driven with a young child for a number of years now but what I did was take his favourite toys, books and snacks. We also at that point had the books that came with cassette tapes which I played in the car radio. I also had tapes with his favourite songs and we sang on the way. We also stopped I think at every McDonald's playland between Toronto and Orlando! My DS is now almost 19 so this was pre-DVD days and he didn't have a problem. The other trick was to start the drive at about 4am the first day so that he slept for the first few hours -- one trip was great as he didn't wake up until Ohio!

My DS was and is a very good long distance car rider (although now he drives!) but he started to go on long distance car rides when he was very young.

Good luck - the drive can actually be a lot of fun.

 

[hockey mom]

Actually it would be the 2 seniors that I would be more concerned about. Kids are great. They will watch a movie, read, sleep, and eat. Kids have no concept of how much further so no real dread where as adults know exactly how much further.

The rest areas are very nice so make good use of those to get out and stretch a bit.

We like to start our drive early AM so that when the kids finally fall asleep they wake up to Disney World!

 

[MommaBear]

We did this 3 years ago with DS's 13 and 9. Our van did not have a DVD player but I did ask each of them to prepare a knapsack with goodies they would enjoy. They each took a personal tape/cd player so if they weren't interested in our Music they could listen to theirs. They also tooks books and hand held games. Your little ones may not appreciate this but I also prepared a map with our highlited route. This prevented the 'handing over the map' to the back seat situation. They were able to pick out our location on their own maps.

We made a point of stopping every 2 hours at the many clean rest stops along the way. We would take a washroom break, stretch our legs and look around the Rest Stop area. We would only take 10 minutes or so but found this to be quite helpful.

They also brought their own pillows, on the first day we left at 4:30 a.m. They slept until around 8:30 (before crossing Windsor border).

 

[Bonnie40]

We have three kids (all now teenagers) but have tried all kinds of different strategies for the drive down.

The suggestion to leave very early in the morning is a good one, and we've done that too. The only trouble with that can be that once the kids are up, they're up and it can feel like a very long day.

If you're kids are good sleepers in the car, I would consider this strategy (we've done it a couple of times)...

If your husband doesn't mind driving extra long the first day, leave late in the evening instead of early in the morning. We leave around midnight, after my hubby has had a quick sleep after work. I load the car (nice not to have to wait until the toothbrushes are packed at 4 a.m.!) and drive! Hopefully your kids would sleep better leaving then, than if you left at 4 or 5 a.m. and you can put alot of miles between you and home while they sleep!

We usually stop early in the day (depending on how hubby is feeling) and get a room that has a pool. Hubby has a sleep and the kids can burn off some energy in the pool. Everyone gets a good night's sleep, and the next day is a short drive! We usually drive 16 hours and then 6 the next day.

Not sure what route you're taking, but we do find the I95 route to be faster if you're not driving in bad weather.

I realize you're also driving with seniors, but they can hopefully sleep as well. We now wouldn't do it any other way!

 

[maryliz]

My kids are 5 and 8 and the oldest has made 9 driving trips to Florida, the youngest 6 trips. Started them when they were under 6 months old - get 'em used to it early Due to work schedules, we often don't get away until 7-8 AM. We like to drive until 11PM which is a very long day for them. Usually around 9PM they will start to complain. At that point, we agree to stop after they watch "one more movie" This has worked quite nicely for us. The next day we like to be on the road by 7:30AM so that we're arriving in Disney by the afternoon. And boy do we all sleep good THAT night!

In Aug 2003, due to the blackout, we left at 4AM. The kids were wide awake and never did go back to sleep.

Take some time at the rest stops! Don't give them the "go pee and back in the van in exactly 5 minutes" ultimatum. We like to allow for a good 30 minutes of run-around time for them. Letting them know that you understand it's boring to sit in a van all day actually makes them feel better. Bring bottles of bubbles and a ball to kick around.

I've done the ages of your kids, and yes it's harder because they can't do a lot of the license plate/word search puzzles/gameboy games -- have some of these for the seniors travelling with you so they're not doing the "are we there yet" song . The disney movies are great though ... and I let each child pick their 2 absolute favourites. The 2 year old will sleep more than the 5 year old because car seats are just more comfortable for littler ones. Bring lots of disney music to sing along with.

I find the last 2 hours of the drive HOME to be far more stressful !

Good Luck!

MaryLiz

 

[CharlesTD]

We have driven it numerous times with our kids and my mother who suffers from what I call TBS (Tiny Bladder Syndrome). Our kids have been making the drive with us since they were 8 months old and we have had no problems at all so no you are not nuts.

 

[barb45]

I would worry about a child that gets car sick watching movies. I am OK in the car but if I try to watch the DVD player, I get sick really fast.

Also if you take I-75 don't forget to get Dave Hunter's book Along I-75 - it's great.

 

[CharlesTD]

We prefer to leave at night usually after dinner this way the kids fall asleep and don't wake up untill around Georgia. This means we have completed approximatley half teh drive with no worries especially when my mother comes with us. We will then stop at the Georgia welcome centre for an hour or so eat breakfast we bring an electric cooler so keeping milk cold is easy aswell as juice boxes etc. The kids get to run around for an hour and get some of the energy out of their systems and my mother gets to relax outside and roam around the welcome centre looking for interesting facts about the area we are in. I get to grab an hour of sleep before driving again it works out great. We will then drive to Macon or around there and stop for lunch then let teh kids run for another hour or so there. We stop at the bottom of Georgia for the night usually arriving there around 3 or 4 in the afternoon then everyone gets to have some dinner a swim and a good nights sleep in a bed. We are then out on teh road by 8:30 AM and stop at the FLA welcome centre for some free OJ and some Disney info and a look around then we hit the road again and stop when we hit Disney usually around noon.

 

[Lezah]

I'll second (or more) some of the suggestions already posted here. If you are going Along I-75 definitely get the book as it is an irreplacable wealth of information (we just bought ours for our August trip!!). A dual screen DVD set up would be a great idea (we saw one at Walmart that was only $199 that was regular price and you could hook up a game system too! That should keep them busy for a while.

We only have the one DS, but when he was 3 and we drove down the first time, I bought a rubbermaid box that was exactly high enough to sit on the floor of the van below his feet and it allowed him to rest his feet on it. It allowed his little legs to not get as tired as they would by just dangling off his car seat. I went to Party Packagers/Dollar Stores etc and then filled the box with various surprises for the drive there and back. Every time he got a bit antsy and we weren't planning a stop right away, I took something out of the box. It kept him busy for a while and by the time we got home the box had only had a few items removed and I had lots of stuff to use for stocking stuffers or treats for other times during the year!! He loved it. It was the best idea I had ever had and it worked very well.

Make use of the great rest areas and welcome centres in each state. With the seniors, they will need them too, to stretch the legs and empty the bladders!! We've done that too!! We drive down every few years and I prefer to drive than fly now. We consider it part of our vacation!! I have no other recommendations other than Gravol for your 5 year old, but I always find that it works well for my DS. He gets car sick, but not in a van for some reason, hence the reason we have always bought vans!! Have fun, maybe we'll pass each other on the road!!

 

[crazee4mickey]

We drove down last year with our 4 kids(18, 15, 8, and 6 yo)from Manitoba-we went down to New Orleans then drove along the coast-over 30 hours of driving both ways!
Seriously it was the best trip we have ever had! The kids watched DVD's, read books, did a lot of drawing, slept...very little arguing.....we stopped about every 3 hours it was great!
We also had a huge Rubbermaid container full of snacks--individual packs of cookies, cheese and crackers, granola bars, little containers of Pringles chip, and lots more--plus we had juice boxes and Kool-Aid jammers-large variety, kept them busy!
The kids got to see and do things that they never would have otherwise--you'll love it!
Not sure about the seniors you are travelling with but hopefully they will be as well behaved as the kids

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

It's interesting that everyone is more concerned about the seniors than the children! That was my first thought! Make sure that there are a lot of stretching breaks...

We drove down last Nov and this April with our two kids (12 and 9). The DVD player was great. I bought the first season of Gilligan's Island and they had a hoot watching that. The old tv shows feel fresh to them (once they get over the fact that they are in black and white) and there's plenty of action and sight gags to keep the young ones interested and the parents can 'watch' without seeing the screen since they've probably seen all the episodes many times! The April trip they watched Beverly Hillbillies!

I agree with the idea of having one really long travel day and then arriving in the early afternoon the next day. Just remember to pack a smaller separate bag with their swimstuff in case your rooms aren't ready right when you get there. Then mom can go to the pool with the kids and dad can navigate the check in process!

Have fun, there are plenty of Canadians who do the drive regularly and it's definitely worth the trip!

 

[JL2002]

so y'all just drove 2x hrs straight? ....i want to ask how much was gas overall from Toronto-->Orlando? w/ toll fee along the way?

 

[maryliz]

We always try to get as far as Dalton Georgia before we stop the first night.


MaryLiz

 

[CharlesTD]

This May we averaged 550K out of half a tank of gas in our van. It was about 22 dollars US to top it up from half so 8 gas stops total and we drove straight and I am sure we would have gotten better mileage had we not actually driven 75 for most of the trip. So it was about 176 bucks US for gas there and back. We can't even get half our family flights for that price no matter how good the deals are.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

We actually now do the drive in about 2.5 days down and 2 days home. The first day we leave around 4pm and drive to the top of Ohio. The second day we drive til about Macon Georgia and then the third day we arrive between 1pm-2pm at Disney. We drive the I-75 with Dave Hunter's book and make some stops along the way. If you are driving on a weekday stop at the Plastics factory in Ohio -- I think it's about exit 127. It's amazing and we've picked up some great things there. Dave mentions it in his book.

I've done the drive straight through before but prefer the more leisurely drive.

 

[disney funseeker]

Try "Sea-Band" for children for nausea and motion sickness.

It goes on your wrists. More expensive than gravol and Dramamine but can be used over and over again. It's around $15.

It seems to work for our dd, who we discovered takes after her mom when it comes to motion sickness. Unlike gravol, we never have to fight with her to use it. The problem is, her sister who doesn't get motion sickness wants them too because they look cool. I should really try the adult sea-bands but I'm afraid to leave my trusted Bonamine.

 

[CharlesTD]

Another suggestion if anyone in your vehicle is bothered by the flashing lights from passing cars etc like my DW is make up some small blackout curtains and pick up the spring loaded small expantion rods to hang them on across the windows we have on to go at the top of the curtain and one at the bottom they work great.