Anyone driving to Disney?

[amyhughes]

We drive from Indiana. I bought two trays that clip around the boys seats for them to do coloring, play cars, and eat on our last trip and they came in handy! It kinda looked like this:

It opened up a ton of different activities they could do to pass the time.

We are also a family that leaves SUPER early. I take the first shift, b/c typically I am WIRED that first part of the trip anyhow. We also have XM Radio, and an iPod hookup in the car which makes the drive much more enjoyable. In the back we never take a long trip without the DVD player, for when those activities run out past Valdosta!

 

[Becky2005]

These are great tips. I am getting so excited.

Gibson City is not that far from us.

We are thinking of leaving early in the morning around 5 or 6

I think we left about 4 AM -- I was probably aiming for 3 but we never seem to get out on time & there *always* is that last minute stop at a store for XYZ that we seem to need once we get out on the road.

I'm trying to remember how far Gibson city is from us -- a little over 2 hours I think? I just went that way this summer for taking DD to music camp at UofI-Champaign. We did our notorious Gibson City stop. That did take a bit of extra time though because we went in & ordered breakfast...4 kids don't exactly eat quickly.

Our hotel was in Marietta but I don't think it exists anymore (or is a different chain! It doesn't come up on the Holiday Inn website anymore -- I think it was near an Air Force base????).

I remember it took us way longer than we thought it would though (mostly I think due to having the 4 kids with extra stops -- it was the first time the younger 2 had done a long distance trip). It was really late because I had picked a hotel with an indoor pool so the kids could swim but it was closed by the time we got there!!! We hadn't really stopped for dinner so basically found a place that delivered pizza late! I believe there we were on EST in GA, so it was something like 11 pm when we got there (although only 10 pm our time)...that losing an hour really messes with you!

 

[Stac1023]

we live in Hudson, right outside Bloomington, Normal

 

[MAKmom]

We are planning on driving this year. This thread has great tips! Thanks

 

[Stac1023]

We are planning on driving this year. This thread has great tips! Thanks

I think so to. I am planning on using some of them. If anyone has anymore tips I would love to hear them. We only have 10 more days.

 

[Nancy]

My tip..make sure you have paper towels, plasic bags and wet ones in the car. Tissues too. You never know when you might need them.

With the mini van we have a plastic bag for garbage in each row so the kids just didn't throw stuff on the floor and stick in in cup holders. Paper towels cause no matter how careful we are something will spill somewhere and wet ones just for a quick cleanup after snacks or regular eating breaks.

 

[vegasnative]

Well i'll be driving to Disney In Jan from San Diego. It's about a 40 hour trip. At least i'll have a friend. Road trips are okay as long you have some good music and take your time. Take breaks and get a lot of sleep! You'll have fun

Ummm, you do know that Disney is also just 2-hours north of there right??

 

[princessariel]

We have made the driving trip to Disney over 30 times from Northwestern PA, starting back in 1975. We used to drive an RV down and that was great! The kids could sit at the table and do homework(we love Disney in Dec), play cards or games and eat. I'd get up and make sandwiches while DH kept driving. Oh the good old days!! There weren't any DVD players back then.

Kids are all grown now with kids of their own. DH and I have made a few trips with the Grands in a car.

The biggest tip I have is make sure you have prepared for CarSickness!!!! We didn't know our DGD got carsick. So we had to make an unscheduled stop to clean backseat. It was on the way home and all her other clothes were dirty. What a mess! Now when we put her in our car, we make sure we have a barf bag, paper towels and wet ones with us. She's a little older so she warns us if she feels sick.

We leave Dec 5th for only our second trip flying to Disney! DD and her 3 kids are coming. My 82 yo mother is coming with us too.....the first flight of her life! It's on her bucket list! As it gets closer, I'm starting to get nervous about how Mom is going to handle it.

 

[JonS99]

We live in Kankakee County, always take the 57/24/75 route, lack of traffic until we hit 75 is such a plus...

 

[mattsdragon]

If you don't have satellitte radio, I highly recommend it. Continuity in radio stations, and not having to use the scan function every hour helps maintain sanity.

 

[Stac1023]

Thanks you guys, We are thinking about leaving about 3 or 4 in the morning and stay in Ga over night.

 

[WDWLVR]

We're from the northern suburbs of Chicago and prefer to drive down I-57 to I-24 to I-65. A little longer route than I-65 but not nearly as many trucks etc.

This past September we left at 4 am (just DH and I) and drove as far as Macon, GA. Breakfast is on the road from McDonalds, lunch we stopped in TN at Sonic (something we don't have up by us) and dinner was when we got to the hotel from Chick-fil-a (something else we don't have). We love being able to have things than what we can normally have at home.

We have a snack bag in the car with us with some chips, almonds, etc. for both in the car and also in the room at night. We also have a cooler with pop and water. I packed some large hot drink cups with lids and made hot tea for the morning drive (we aren't coffee drinkers).

Up about 5 the next morning, on the road for an hour or so then breakfast with Chick-fil-a drive-thru. Love the chicken minis!

A stop at the FL welcome center is a must for us. We got to WDW about 1. Our room wasn't ready yet (we were checking in to Beach Club Villas) so we headed over to the Poly for lunch at Kona Cafe.