Are we REALLY crazy for driving?

[pearlieq]

No way, no how! Not a chance.

Have you figured out how much driving is really going to cost you? On top of being trapped in a van with small children for 4 days, gas, tolls, hotel, food, and items to entertain the kids really adds up. It could easily cost at least $800 to do the drive.

Flying could easily be comparable, if not cheaper if you catch a really sweet sale for the slow September season.

Good luck with whatever you pick!

 

[dyna]

Flying has never been an option for us neither DH or I fly I broke all my DD's of asking are we there yet? By taking next boring exit finding a safe boring place to sit in car for a few mins an sayin YES WE ARE HERE! They never asked again lol.

Fast food lunch with playground works wonders let kids play while you eat then they can eat in car...... I'm not one for kids eating in car as a rule but have allowed on vacations.

Ball an or jump rope at the rest stops can do wonders too Quick potty break an then find a spot to play ball or jump rope for 10 mins. Even catchers or follow the leader get whole family involved everyone needs the moving around stretching time.

 

[TnTWalter]

We went on a two week vacation this summer and so it was cost prohibitive to fly and rent.

We had a blast. Stop whenever people need to go to bathroom and every 4 hours for a long stretch and play time [find parks, etc.]. It could be an hour or 2-3 hours depending on your time frame.

I am NOT a fan of playlands at fast food joints. Germs and nothing different. I think you should explore. It's part of the adventure. And the food is much better! :O)

google is your friend...map out places to stop...


for example

....in Chatanooga there's the wooden carousel and beautiful park by the river.

In Nashville there's a beautiful park around a lake with a playground.

In Marietta there's a fab pizza joint in a park with a gazebo and playground.

I think that's part of the fun. When I was a kid, that's the only way we traveled. We have great memories.

I pack each kid a bag of goodies. Favorite Snacks. Books. Coloring Books or games. Magnetic boards. Mp3 players, gameboys, etc. We also have a DVD so we'll watch a couple movies too. We love playing Ispy in the car too.

I pack a cooler with plenty of snacks and drinks that hubby bungie cords down [we take out a seat]. I even pack sandwiches just in case. Plenty of snacks for hubby. Sirius radio for us up front [love the no changing stations thing].

Don't knock it. Be prepared and have fun!

Here's a link on the transportation forum where people helped me figure out fab places to stop along the way. It was GREAT. We loved it!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2187020

These are Mariette & Nashville '09

These are Chatanooga '03

 

[The Iron Giant]

i think it depends on your mindset. We've been driving from nj (21 hours) every year since the kids were born and my oldest is now 5.

We make the drive part of our vacation. As soon as we pull out of the driveway, we are on vacation. No stress, no structure, no whining allowed. We also have found that it's more fun if one of us sits in the 3rd row while the other parent drives - the one in back gets to watch movies, distribute snacks, and be a kid for a little while as well. Somehow my dh seems to end up in the back a lot... I've turned around to see them and could swear that i've got 4 boys... One is just a lot bigger than the others.

So no, i don't think you're crazy. If you've got the time to be able to add travel days before and after your trip without cutting into your disney time then it can be a whole lot of fun.

We drive down i-95 and have the "drive i-95 exit by exit" book which makes it real easy to plan stops / bathroom breaks. Highly recommend the book if you're on i-95 (my us geography isn't that great... ).

For us, it's relaxing as both dh and i work full-time and we love being together as a family. We could probably fly for less money and a quicker trip, but for now the drive is part of our tradition and so far the boys have a blast with us.

+1

 

[RachaelA]

We drove in Jan 08 and plan on driving in May 2010, but we have no kids! We drive from NE Ohio and its about 17 hours.

 

[drinkme]

We did it twice when the kids were little and we said NEVER AGAIN. I wouldn't do it for all of the reasons others posted: takes too long, flying could be cheaper, it's hard work, etc. Also, I absolutely HATE the way my dh drives. He pulls out of the driveway doing 90mph! lol. So, I'm constantly yelling at him to slow down, he yells back, you get the picture. Not a fun time.

Also, with your kids being so little, you will probably have to stop alot more than you are thinking. We found with the kids being in the car seats, we need to stop more often to let the kids out of their car seats to stretch. So, I was planning on us stopping like every 3 hours, but in reality, we were stopping about every 1 to 1 1/2 hours. It turned our 21 hour trip into 2 days of about 13 hours.

Once we got to WDW in the late afternoon, the kids and I all headed to Epcot while dh stayed back at the hotel to watch the game. He was too exhausted to join us. In fact, he didn't make it to the parks until the evening of the 2nd day we were there.

The drive home is the pits. You wouldn't believe how awful it is until you do it. If it was all a leisurely drive, it would be easier. But we were trying to hurry to get to WDW (and it took us about 13 hrs.), and we were hurrying to get home because the older kids had school, and dh had to get back to work.

 

[Kellydelly]

We enjoy driving from MI to FL, it's part of the vacation! Well, at least on the way down it's fun, on the way back it can be looooooooong . We like to sightsee during our drive and do cavern tours and stuff like that off of I-75. We've done the drive with 4 kids under 5, and it wasn't scary. We take a movie player, plenty of food, and start driving at night so the kids miss at least 8 hrs of being stuck in the car . I can't fathom paying airfare for a family our size, so unless we hit the Lotto we will always drive.

 

[verlee]

Wow you are getting lots of good information.
We also are from WI. We flew w/ ds6 and ds3 in Jan. The flight down was easy. Dh and I were knuckle bumping and wondering why we had not done this sooner. Well we celebrated a little too soon... both boys got ear infections from the air pressure changes. The flight back was not too good. Ds 3 was sick, tired and so done with traveling. He cried for the entire last hour of the flight. Not good. That said I would try it again. All in all it really did go pretty smoothly. The boys loved the experience.

We drove out to Vermont when ds was 2, 18 hr drive. That was much more enjoyable in our opinion. We stopped walked around, explored, used rest stops ect. Ds was great in the car. We just had movies, music, toys, and snacks. We did have to modify the trip for his schedule but the travel time out and back was not bad.

As a kid that was the only way we travelled and I have such fond memories. I even like the memory of my dad yelling "If you two don't stop fighting I am going to pull this car over!" (It could not have been that bad, my parents continued to do it once or twice a year. He must have been over- reacting )
It is so much more of an adventure and you see so much more of the country. Don't get me wrong...I like flying too but only if there is not enough time to drive. I perfer the open road. We are driving down to Fl this spring break.

 

[WantToGoNow]

We have driven the last 5 trips - the last 3 were with small children. One thing we're doing different this time is stopping for the night - the others were all straight through.

First drive ds was 6 month old and I was really worried about him in that carseat for that long - he did fine. Next trip ds was 3.5 and dd was almost 1 - she hated riding in her infant seat because she got carseat. She cried a lot on the way there - we turned her around for the trip back and she didn't cry at all. Ds3 slept a lot of the way there and back. Last trip ds was 5.5 and dd was almost 3. Easy trip - and ds slept from the FL Turnpike to Cincinnati on the way home. This trip they are 8 and 5 - there will be lots of videos, video games, and other things to keep them entertained. The difference is we will be driving through the day instead of night like we normally do but I don't want to be exhausted when we arrive since we are meeting my dd25 and my cousin's family (they are flying).

 

[Missin'Disney]

Let me start by saying that I absolutely HATE to fly. I'm downright petrified and have a xanax prescription to keep my from gnawing my fist off when the turbulence starts.
That being said, I will NEVER drive to Disney again. We did it as a kid many times, and I was an only child until I was 13. I then did it again with my parents, brother and sister when I was about 20. To me, 20 hours spent in the car is a fate worse than 2 hours of white-knuckling a plane seat. And you are talking about 2 whole days?
I can understand that finances would force many people to drive that ordinarily wouldn't, but personally I would rather save up for the vacation longer and buy airfare. Just IMO. I cannot imagine confining a child to the restraint of a carseat for that kind of extended time period. I'm sorry, no flames, but it just seems painful to me to not be able to move around and be strapped within an inch of your life like that for 2 days.

We have flown to Disney many times now with kids aged 3 months-8 years. None of them have ever cried or gotten ear infections or any other thing that would preclude us from doing so in the future. The worst part is the cost, but my sanity is worth an extra $1000!

 

[The Princess]

We drive down to disney from Pittsburgh and don't have a problem. Although when we go next year we will fly only because of our backs but we really like to do the drive. (going home isn't as much fun though)

 

[neatokimmo]

I am closer to Disney than you (710 miles) and we drive. We still take two days to go down and stop at the beach. If we leave early enough we can spend 3-4 hours on the sand before checking into our hotel.

We drive to Miami a lot too. One time we flew to FT Lauderdale and it was awful (was a cruise trip). I decided right then I would never fly to FL again and loose the freedom of my car.

The main thing I like about driving, no luggage restrictions! I can't tell you how many times we've crammed in a few last minute items and really needed them. Plus I dislike navigating airports in general.

 

[swankybeth]

DH and I (no kids) drove from NY last January to WDW and we loved it! We did 12 hours on the way there the first day. We were able to stop at great BBQ places in NC and SC for lunch and dinner which was a highlight of our drive there. We stayed in Santee, SC which was had a lot of hotels to choose from and it was really close to Sweatman's BBQ (which is the real reason we chose it). The next morning we drove the 6 hours to WDW.
On the way home we drove from WDW to Savannah and stayed overnight. We ate dinner at Paula Deen's restaurant The Lady and Sons which was yummy! The next morning we explored a little bit and then drove straight home which took about 14 hours.
We would definitely drive again but the only reason we usually fly is because I don't get a lot of vacation time from my job. I get 2 weeks a year and DH has 1 month so we'd rather do 2 1 week trips than 1 big trip per year.
We made the driving part of the trip and had a lot of fun. We downloaded a bunch of WDW Today podcasts to entertain ourselves and we also took a couple of audio books plus our collection of Disney CD's that we normally keep in the car.
I would definitely say drive if it suits your family, DH and I enjoy road trips so it really worked for us.

 

[englishteacha]

I just spent 17 hours in the car with my DH coming home from Virginia to Maine. Oy. It was OK, but I wouldn't want to do 2 days of it to get to Florida from here. Yes, driving was cheaper to get to VA, and one day each way was doable. We stopped often for snacks, bathroom, and just to stretch.

 

[bigbabyblues]

As long as you have the time, I say go for it! We've driven from Ohio 5 times, and I wouldn't have it any other way. We've flown twice, but prefer to drive.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

I don't know if it will be bad for YOU...but I know I'd rather stab my eyes out with a fork than spend 2+ entire days cooped up in a car with a toddler, a preschooler and my dh.

Wow, I couldn't have said it better myself.

We have flew every trip and have been going yearly since DS was 2. Now DS is 11 and DD5. I couldn't even imagine driving and taking 2 days when we could be there in 2 hours.

We had to drive home one trip when we were at WDW for 9/11. we didn't know when we could get a flight out and DH had to get back to work. It wasn't even bad. DS was an angel and I still wouldn't do it again voluntarily.

 

[cey]

We are driving down at the end of February for the first time in 10 years! As we will be staying a month, it doesn't make sense to rent a vehicle for that long. Before we would always try to drive the 22 hour drive in the shortest time possible, but this time we are taking our time, stopping in North Carolina and then spending two nights in Daytona, before we check into our villa. As much as I love flying, I am kinda looking forward to the adventure. Maybe see some sights and stop at some of the outlet malls we have raced by, on previous trips. With all the H1N1 talk, I also feel better not flying during flu season! Anybody else concerned about Flu season this year?

 

[Dismom55]

We're planning our first vacation to DW in September 2010. I've booked it already and we're set! It'll be me, my husband, our 2 year old daughter and 4 year old son. We're from Wisconsin. We're driving. Are we nuts for driving? We have a minivan so it's not like we'll be super cramped or anything. I'm not a fan of flying and I'm just worried with all of our luggage, stroller, snacks, toys for the kids, etc, that it would be easier (and cheaper) to just drive. I love to see the country as well and I figure a good 2 days of driving and we'll be there. Everyone we tell thinks we're crazy... will it really be that bad???

As long as you take a few breaks so they can run off some energy, if you are patient you will do fine. When my kids were that age and we had some traveling to do, we always went by car, first off we tried to do much of our driving while they slept, so hubby would take a good long nap before we left and we would drive at night. Then I would pack picnic lunches and we would stop at a nice clean rest stop with tables and some nature area and have our lunch and the kids and dad played or the kids and mom played while dad slept/napped. (Having a meal outside made restaurant manner not necessary). If you do not want to picnic, I would suggest a McD's with the play area. The important thing is to take some time and let the kids run and play. Most of our trips were not 2 days of driving, but close. I would say with a few alterations you should do just fine. I also made activity boxes for each child, put things in like coloring books, small inexpensive toys from dollar tree, a portable DVD player with some fav movies (usually Disney), even a personal MP3 player when old enough (your 4 yr old just might be, with kid songs recorded).

One tip I always tell people, DO NOT use regular crayons, if they get left in the car they will melt, purchase color pencils for them. I also always bought an inexpensive throw away camera for travel, no matter how little they love the thought of seeing pics they have taken. We also play car games and sing along with silly songs (we have lots of tapes of silly songs).

Basically I am saying make an adventure out of it, have lots to keep them busy, schedule some run off energy time and just before you go, tell them it will be a long long ride and about some of the car games you will be playing. Thus making them look forward to some new games.

Take plastic bags or something just in case you have one who gets car sick or other illness along the way.

NO I do not think you are crazy, I think you are in for an adventure.

 

[3BoysRDisneyFreaks]

I am from WI too. We are tossing around the idea of driving next year. Everyone thinks we are crazy.
We will fly if they offer free dining longer again next year, or if there is some other amazing deal on both Disney & airfare.
If there isn't a great deal going on then we will drive. We are planning on being gone for 14 days. Included in that time is 2 days driving each way.
My kids will be 11,9,4 & 3 when we go next year. They have been to Disney 6 times and have always flown.

I think the drive down would be fun and exciting, but I so afraid that the drive home is going to suck.

Time will tell I guess.

Sarah

 

[nottellin']

We drive 3 X a year from CANADA to Disneyland. It is a 26 hour trip, we stop at night at a hotel.
I hate to fly, so driving is the lesser of two evils! If possible try to take out one row of seating in your van to give you guys more space for luggage.

I say go for it and enjoy the drive!