anyone ever do 14 hours of drive time with kids?

[NJBILL]

I was thinking of doing drive time of 14 hours with my little ones. do you think it is possible or am I nutts? what time do you suggest we leave?

Are you sure its only 14 hours from central ny.. I am in SJ and it takes about 18 hours??

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

Are you sure its only 14 hours from central ny.. I am in SJ and it takes about 18 hours??

Yeah, it is a lot longer. I am 13-14 and that is Northern VA. And that is with simple stops.

 

[cranbiz]

I can routinely make the trip from Carver to Deltona in 19-20 hours. With DBIL's kids, we took longer (22 hours) mainely because we did not rush the stops for the kid's sake.

From Central Jersey, it is probably more like 16 hours.

 

[frazzled one]

mommiepoppins, we've done this trip several times from central NY - it's about 22 hours if you make excellent time. Are you thinking about breaking the trip up into two days and doing 14 hours one day? That's how we've usually done it. We leave Syracuse around midnight to get through PA on I-81 by dawn - it's nice to have fewer trucks and no construction on that route! When our children were younger, they'd sleep until we stopped for breakfast, so the trip didn't seem as long to them.

One thing that worked for us, both coming and going: our kids could each "earn" a quarter by going 20 minutes in the car without creating a problem. (Call this a bribe if you must). I figured it was money we were going to give them for arcade games/souvenirs anyway, and it worked out to be about 16 bucks per kid (times 3, still less than $50 one way, and worth it as a means of maintaining crowd control). The return trip is always harder, of course, but they still liked the chance to replenish their quarter supply.

Also, this was in the days before portable DVD players, if you can imagine such a thing - we wouldn't have needed the quarters if we'd had today's technology.

 

[westjones]

We have driven 17 hours both ways with our girls. We have driven through the night and they slept through a lot of it.

Now we tend to fly, but with airfares going up we are looking at driving again.

It has been so nice to fly, but it is also nice having your own car with you.

The DVD player helps a LOT.

DJ

 

[5boyz]

Piece of Cake.....we did it last year with our 4 kids 5 8 14 & 15. We drove from Ontario to Chattanooga TN the first day, then the rest of the way the second day. The trick is to leave in the middle of the night, we left at 3:30am and the kids slept alot of the time, they would wake up and go back to sleep again, they watched dvd's the little ones coloured, listened to their disman's. Trust me if we could do it with our 5yr old (well 6 now) daughter anyone can do it!!! LOL!! Have fun!!! We did!!!

 

[Hef4545]

We have driven many times. We usually leave at 4:00am, stop in Savannah, or Brunswick. Georgia or a little further south. We only made quick stops on the way down, packed snacks, had fast food breakfast and lunch and by 7:00pm, stop for the day. I try to pick a hotel with an indoor pool so weather is not a factor. We have dinner, spend some time swimming, and head to bed.
We get up around 8:00am, have a pankcake house breakfast and are in disney by 3:00pm just in time for check in. We drop our bags, and head to the parks.
Of course the drive down, you have something to look forward too. Everyone is excited and happy. I will say though, that for some reason, the drive home seems to go quicker. For us, driving from Long Island, 18-20 hours.
Have a great trip!

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

Lots of great advice on here. We will be heading down in 11 days for our first trip. I was expecting a 16 hr drive, but judging by other people's times it might be less. We are planning on leaving around 4 a.m & then stopping around 9 or 10 for breakfast & a break. We'll play it by ear then. We did purchase a 2 screen DVD player for the trip. Also planning surprise bags for each with activities & snacks.

We are planning on stopping around 4 p.m. My question is where is the best place to stop? Also do you make advanced reservations or do you just wing it? Does anyone know of any good places that sleep 6?

Thanks!!!

 

[TENIA66]

i have three kids, 12, 6, and 1 1/2 and we drive 14 hours....dvd players, game boys, color books with colored pencils, verizon cell phones (in network)....we never have any real problem......driving is just part of our tradition..

 

[TENIA66]

we do 14 hours with 3 kids, 12, 6, and 1 1/2....dvd, mp3 gameboy, color books, magazines, quizz books, no problems, Get good car chargers/power cords (walmart sells one that adapts to any size for 15 bucks), lots of batterys, headphones, a dual headphone jack....

a little tip...i make custom cds for each of us, we play them during the trip for the child who is currently in favor for good behavior.......i include funny, unexpected songs for the kids so it's a surprise, also i take the disney vacation planning dvd for them to watch along the way and make their plans.


also, i copy the maps for them and let them plan their own routes in the parks they have lots of fun doing that.........

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We have driven 10 hours to WDW with the kids many times. To be honest, it is getting a bit harder. One thing that makes it tough for us is that we no longer have a mini-van. We drive our little Saturn sedan and we all get tired of each other kind of fast. We are going again in January, and I am on the lookout for reasonable plane tix

 

[t-and-a]

Yes, we've done 16 hours! In the past, we have driven at night, so they would sleep. But it's just too hard on us to do that, and we're leaving at 5:00 AM on Thursday. We have a DVD player and the boys will have their gameboys.

 

[TSM1993]

We do it every year its about 16 hrs for us. We leave 5pm Friday night and arrive at about 9 or 10 am Sat. Have a DS who is now 12 but started doing when he was 7. He slept most of the time. Now he has his gameboy, and portable dvd player to keep him busy.

 

[westjones]

We are planning on stopping around 4 p.m. My question is where is the best place to stop? Also do you make advanced reservations or do you just wing it? Does anyone know of any good places that sleep 6?

Thanks!!!

We just wing it because we never know just how far we can make it. You may get a burst of energy and start thinking that if you just go 5 more hours it will only be 9:00 pm and you will be able to be there that much sooner the next day. In fact, if we can make it there by 11:00 pm, we just keep on going if we can, but if we get too tired we stop.

As for 6, we only have 4 in our party so I can't help you with that along the way, but if you get to Orlando I believe Amerisuites can sleep six and I think on the mousesaver's website they have a hotel listed at DTD that sleeps six:

http://www.mousesavers.com

Getting connecting rooms would work, but you would probably have to stop early (like you planned) to get that. Or for one night the adults could split up with the kids and go in two rooms.

Good Luck!
DJ

 

[5boyz]

Tenia66- Great tips!!!!

 

[5boyz]

Zippa- check Northwest Airlines for flights. I just got one last week out of Detroit return $131.06 Cdn as we are from Canada. We paid $786.36 for 6 flights. I am sooooo happy as we are still saving $330. not driving plus we are staying an extra night in Disney!!

stinkerbellesmom-we just stayed in a Comfort Inn for the night. There were also 6 of us. We had 3 in a bed and we survived!!! The boys and my husband had farting contests and my daughter and I were disgusted (even though) we couldn't help laughing!!! Or just take an air mattress or sleeping bag.

 

[DaisyD]

We prefer to drive then fly and do it every chance we get. We are driving 14 hours in 3 weeks to WDW and can't wait! My now 7 y/o DD has been doing it since she was two and has loved it also. We do take our time though. We make the drive a big part of the fun and only drive maybe 300 miles or so a day. DD and I make a trip to Borders the week before we go. I let her chose all kinds of books, including sticker, coloring, activity, and reading for her to do during the drive. We also have a DVD player in the car but she prefers the book activities. We make sure to take plenty of breaks too. I am also looking for some interesting stuff to stop off and do on this trip. Maybe find things to that will take an hour to do.

 

[4formickey]

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We are planning on stopping around 4 p.m. My question is where is the best place to stop? Also do you make advanced reservations or do you just wing it? Does anyone know of any good places that sleep 6?

Thanks!!!

We have planned ahead and are stopping outside of atlanta. Even if we get that brust of energy, I need to stop so the kds can swim and I can get some sleep. My thing is to have fun with the kids as we make the trip. We can use this time to talk to the little ones and hear how things are in their world. Anyone can go to Disney,but it takes a special parent to listen and understand their child. Let's get back to the basics and spend time with them.

 

[DaisyD]

We always book our hotel ahead time. We like to know we are getting a nice hotel neat a good restaurant and also with an indoor pool. It is nice to let DD unwind in a pool before bath and bed and another day of driving. There are not that many nice hotels with indoor pools so I need to have it booked in advance. Outdoor pools aren't very good when it happens to be raining out when you stop for the night. We learned that the hard way. We have a hotel booked in Rocky Mount NC and Savanah GA for our upcoming trip.

 

[TENIA66]

I Just Thought Of Something Else, I've Learned That When My Kids Say They Have "to Go" They Mean It.....leather Seats That Were Once Gray Were Sort Of A Mildew Green After That Trip...i Didn't Think That Just Because They Got Done With Potty That They Needed To 15 Minutes Later...i Was Wrong...you Never Do Get All Of That Out Of Leather....price Of Motherhood I Guess