Caffeine Wanted!!!

[chadandkim]

While driving from PA to WDW w/ 4 kids (10, 5, 3, 2), should we drive through the night (while they're sleeping) or during the day (when they're crazy )

Please help!!!

 

[myownwonderland]

mom always drove through the night when we were kids- we'd leave about 6 at night and get there about 6 in the morning. the only problem is stopping for br breaks.

 

[MommytoaSweetie]

It didn't happen often, but my parents would drive (from Northern VA) to different areas in FL just straight through (other than bathroom breaks and such). They'd just take turns and somehow survive. It was nice that back then (I'm 27 now), the 4 of us could push lay down both of the back seats in our minivan and it was just like a big bed... TOTALLY unsafe of course, but that's what we did.

 

[drivencrazy]

This summer we drove from CO to MI stopping in KS..... with kids ages: 3,5,10&13.

We decided to drive during the day. We left around 3 am the first day, got to our stop about 9 hours later, stayed over night, well, left again at 3 am and got to MI somewhere's around 7 pm.

The kids did great in the car, they were a bit crazy at times that is when we would have them run around a bit when we stopped!

But we figured that it was safer for us to drive in the day. Not only for our sleep, but other sleepy drivers on the road, or drinkers....

Best wishes in whatever you decide!

Have a good trip!

 

[chadandkim]

Yeah, my biggest fear is that by driving through the night, I'll be miserable for the whole next day

Plus, that "assumes" that the kids will sleep through the night

 

[Ariel8676]

Whenever we drive...we go at night. We get the car packed and my DH usually takes a nap. I get the kids showered and dressed in pj's or sweats and then we leave around 10 pm. The kids (7,6,3) sleep for most of the night and between that and having no traffic it is great. When the kids fall asleep i nap, then i take over. We drove in August and made it from NJ to WDW in 17 -18 hours..we stopped for gas, bathroom breaks and one nice sit down meal..to let the kids stretch their legs and relax out of the car.
Dh and i might be tired form driving straight through the nightm but we are in WDW!!! LOL

 

[WantToGoNow]

We are from Ohio and always drive through the night - but we have enough drivers to switch off every 4 hours so that everyone gets some sleep. We usually leave around 7 pm and the kids stay awake for a while and then doze off and don't wake up until we are rounding in on the Florida line.

 

[margiemc]

We always drive down. We leave Philly around 2am. DD11 sleeps in her clothes (always a treat for her) and will sleep until around 8am in the car. DH and I take turns driving. One of us naps while the other drives. We usually drive until we hit Kingsland, GA, which is 3 miles outside the FL border. That takes about 14 hours. Everyone goes to bed early and then we are back on the road no later than 8am and we are in WDW before noon! When we went with my BF and her DD, we drove straight through since we had 3 drivers. By the time we got to Disney, it was 8pm and everyone was exhausted. We find it's worth stopping for the night. For the way home, it depends on traffic, etc. We've driven straight thru and stopped for a night. You'll be able to gauge what you need to do! Have fun!!

 

[snookiedoodles]

We come from CT and it is about a 16 hour drive.

We get up early (say about 6:00 am) and drive, we do not stop for anything but gas & bathrooms and to go thru a drive thru for food. We take turns often (every time we get gas)

We arrive about 11:00 at night.

We have two boys ages 7 & 8 and we go in a Jeep wrangler (yes the small two door) We stack some luggage in between them (not too much) and give them both a dvd player and lots of movies. We have an outdoor hitch for the rest of the luggage.

They watch movies all day, and my husband and I talk up a storm the whole trip. We really enjoy this time to spend just talking.

The kids are realllllly good since they know that they are going to Disney!!!!

 

[Aly23]

We drove thru the night from Philly last month. We were supposed to sleep from 7pm till 11pm, then leave the house around midnight. Well, by 9pm or so everyone happened to be awake at the same time and my DH and DD4 had a mutiny against my finely tuned plans and conviced me that we should just get out of bed and leave right then. I agreed, and ended up glad that I did.

We made it in exactly 16 hours stopping for gas, bathroom, and drive thru food. DD actually stayed awake till about 3am watching DVDs, then slept late the next day.

One thing that I ended up worrying about was hitting a deer. We saw SO many dead deer on the side of the road (I95), that I made it a point to try and stay behind tractor trailers thinking they would run a blocking pattern for me.

We're doing this all again in Feb, but will probably leave around 7pm this time. Can't wait...we love the drive!!

 

[jtopp]

Don't mind the drive, but we usually do it during the day. The one time we drove thru the night we encountered bad wheather and did not make time the way we thought we would, and ended up tired and miserable the whole day. We have split it up over two days(one long, arrive next at lunchtime) and all at once (leave 5am, arrive around 10pm) and it's worked out better then the all-nighter. Also, don't forget God's gift to traveling parents, the portable dvd player.

 

[cheerforchelsea]

A lot depends on the time of year that you will be driving. If it is around a crowded Disney or travel time such as Christmas, Memorial Day, Easter, etc you may find the roads to be less crowded at night. We normally leave about 3AM which allows us to miss a lot of the traffic and still arrive at WDW at a decent time - but I only have about a 8-9 hour drive......Whatever you do you will want to avoid passing through Atlanta during rush hour!!!! And don't forget the portable DVD player!!!

 

[crl]

My kids don't sleep in the car for more than 45 minutes or so, so we drive during the day when the kids (and adults) are less cranky. We have done 9 hrs in the car and plan to make the 2 day drive to FL in Feb. We just supply lots of new cheap movies and Dollar Store prizes every 2-3 hours.