Drive 17 hours straight or stop over night?

[nessz79]

We have 2 kids ( DD7 and DS4) and have been driving since they were babies. We live in southwestern PA and we drive straight through, however we leave at 6 am and drive all day. Our rule is we stop when the kids need to stop, if they need to use the restroom then we make sure we do then too and get gas on that stop too even if we could still go for awhile without getting gas we still fill up. We take snacks and stop for lunch and dinner, but they are always on the go foods like subs or something. Our first trip we did not drive straight through and it actually seemed to be worse on the kids and us, they were cracky and so were we, now we just want to get there. We have friends that drive through the night and drive straight through and that is what works for them and their kids, so it really is whatever works best for you. I hope you have a magical trip!

We do something very similar. We leave at 3 AM, allowing the kids some sleep in their beds and then a few hours of sleep in the car. We drive 18 hours (to N. Virginia from SW Florida) and get there close to 10 PM, including stops. We stop every 2-3 hours- for gas, to eat, or just to use the bathroom and walk around a little.

We have found that when we broke it up into 2 days, the kids do NOT want to get in the car the 2nd day. We find it easier to just get it over with in one drive. Bring lots of entertainment!

 

[nessz79]

We do something very similar. We leave at 3 AM, allowing the kids some sleep in their beds and then a few hours of sleep in the car. We drive 18 hours (to N. Virginia from SW Florida) and get there close to 10 PM, including stops. We stop every 2-3 hours- for gas, to eat, or just to use the bathroom and walk around a little.

We have found that when we broke it up into 2 days, the kids do NOT want to get in the car the 2nd day. We find it easier to just get it over with in one drive. Bring lots of entertainment!

Just wanted to add that this has been our experience with our arrival being a relative's house, not a hotel. So we were able to crash right away with a ready bed and we take the next day very easy, doing little things around the neighborhood. If we were doing Disney and drove straight through, you would definitely need to plan a very low-key day the morning after your arrival.

 

[WantToGoNow]

I've driven straight through the last 4 trips - 3 of those were overnight. This trip we are STOPPING for the night. My kids do great travelling overnight - they slept until the sun come up the following morning. On the way home my ds(5.5 at the time) fell asleep on the FL Turnpike and slept until we got to Cincinnati - I think he was tired. However, the adults were exhausted - dh doesn't sleep while I'm driving (I'll tell you why in a minute). Usually we have 3-4 drivers but this time my oldest dd is flying with the other family we are going with so it will be just dh and myself. I don't do good with driving during the night when everyone else is asleep - I have a tendancy to nod off myself. A few years ago I was sleeping and driving - my dad was in the car following me trying to signal that he needed to stop for gas (pre cell phones) - he said I had been asleep for miles and miles with only the little bumpy things on the road keeping me in the lane. I managed to exit into a pretty scary area of Atlanta.

We plan to leave home around 6:00 am and drive until 8:00 pm. This should put us somewhere in northern Florida for the night. We will then get up and finish the last few hours and meet the rest of the family around noon at POR. Atleast that's the plan as of now. I know it will be a lot louder in the car driving while the children are awake but they will have plenty of "stuff" to keep them occupied and I feel we will all be a lot safer.

 

[cjackearl]

Newtowdw1--Your post made me . That was the best warning against an all night drive!

We've got an 18 hour drive, and plan on leaving at o dark 30 (3 or 4) and stopping for the night around 7, depending on everyone's state of mind. That leaves a fairly short second day of driving.

We're just too old to recover quickly from lack of sleep anymore.

 

[swedie]

We've driven to WDW from NY area many times, do I hear a Pedro sez...
Anyway, we always try to leave before 4am, missing NYC traffic, and hitting the tail end of Baltimore, DC traffic. We always stop for the night, hopefully only 3-4 hours out from WDW. We rest well for the night, so our first day @ WDW we are refreshed. We find otherwise it takes a couple of days to get over that tired feeling.
Tips: Pack a change of clothing (& bathing suits - see below) for each of the kids, in the am, walk the kids in their 1/2 sleep into the car & hopefully they fall back asleep.
Pack easy breakfast fixings in the car (along with other snacks, drinks*, etc.) such as bagels - pre-cut, cream cheeses, jelly, etc. *Drinks: we find if we freeze a couple of "Capri-Suns" they work just as well as ice, don't make a mess with the dripping water & when they melt, they are drink-able - or have a slushy.
IMPORTANT - IF you do plan on stopping for the night - pick up the hotel/motel discount magazines for each state that you stop for gas (good to keep for the ride back also). KNOW that you must stop by 9pm to ensure you will get a room for the night without having to stop or call ahead for each exit coming up. As the 9pm cut-off is nearing, and you still want to get some more miles in, you can pretty much know how much longer you think you'd be able to drive - call ahead & make a reservation. Also, if you think you'd be ready to stop by 9pm - go ahead, most places have pools that are open until 10:00 - our 3 kids (& us too) would enjoy stretching, swimming, splashing for a bit before hitting the showers & bed. Also, the earlier you stop for the night, the better the chances are of having a decent meal somewhere rather than the McD's or BK's.
Have a safe trip!

 

[ranthony]

We will leave NW NJ (about a 19 hours drive) around 5pm and drive straight through. We miss all metro traffic and roads are not congested at all. Construction zones are closed over night so those are not an issue.

Our kids are 7, 4 and 4 and it just seems so much easier on them to sleep the drive away. DH and I can switch off and he can fall asleep in no time in the car. It takes me a bit longer but I can get some rest too.

The most important thing when driving is being able to admit to yourself that you need a break. We're fine with stopping if we need to and I usually have a few hotel options in mind if it comes to that...but it hasn't.

Good luck on your decision.

 

[Stargazer]

Well, we're 14-15 hours away and here's what we do:

On the way down to FL, we leave a day early at about 9am. We drive to the panhandle and stay overnight. Then the next morning, we're only about 4 hours away from WDW.

On the way home, we drive straight through.


We've discussed just driving straight in (i.e. leaving at about 2am and getting there early afternoon), but honestly, after 14 hours straight in a car w/ little rest, there's a good chance that one or both of us would be very short on patience, which is never a good thing & not how I want our vacation to start. So, breaking the drive up is just what works best for us.

 

[DISNEYNV]

We drove from Philly area down to Orkandi twice and the first time we stopped in NC overnight with my then 5 year old DSD. The next was our honeymoon and we drove ( without kids) straight through to Jacksonville. Stayed overnight, got up early and hit Daytona beach and the Racetrack! That was a nice break before getting to our Orlando Resort

If traveling with small kids I would make a stop overnight or at some point before reaching Orlando. The beaches are a great choice or even Kennedy space Center. This is definately an advantage to driving down to Disney. Have a fun trip... Getting there CAN be half the fun

 

[KristiMc]

We drove from Northeast Ohio in October. We left around 8:30 pm. We drove till 1:00 pm the next day - stopped in Daytona for the day to see the beach then got up the next morning all rested and drove the 1 drive to Disney. It worked great for us.

 

[phins_jazy]

Driving to Disney non stop for us is 23 hours and that's without breaks! With breaks I'd say it would be 26-27 hours easily. I don't think we could that. With that being said, we drive to see our parents every year. It's a 18 hour drive. The first few years we would drive straight though. This was just with one small child. A few year later we decided to stop halfway. We've never gone back to the all night driving again. Now with 3 small children the stop lets everyone get out, burn off energy, swim and get a good nights rest. That way when we get to our destination we're not pooped!

 

[mickeylove2]

we drove straight through from MD, here's how we did it and it worked really well for us. My kids were 4 & 6. My (now) ex husband and I planned well in advance on how we were going to do this, so he actually slept for a little while the afternoon and evening of our adventure, we made sure to have the girls in pjs and we left around 11pm, planned to leave earlier but due to issues (long story) we made it out of the driveway at 11pm. We made sure to have snacks and fun stuff to keep the kids occupied, movies and music. I drove from 11 until about 2 with the kids falling asleep shortly after take off and him sleeping a little too, we stopped and changed drivers, cuz he is MUCH better at night driving than me, plus I worked all day and he was home and got to nap.

Every time we stopped, we used the restroom and got gas, even if we had 3/4 a tank left, he drank plenty of mountain dew and coffee and probably red bull that night! lol Anyway, he drove until about 7am, we stopped at a play place mcdonalds and got out and ate, stretched, let the kids run around and then put them in actual clothes. I drove, he slept, not really but tried to, the kids had Tink visit the van and leave gifts while they were playing at McDonalds so they were the quietest I've ever known them to be after that for the rest of the drive, with the occasional, "are we there yet?" ***I highly recommend doing something like this***

I drove until about noon then we stopped for lunch, did the same thing as breakfast. He drove the rest of the way, arrived in Ocala around 5ish. We were visiting family before Disney. The way that we did it, we were all actually well rested, I can easily fall asleep in the car so I had no problem getting rest and he is used to working nights/evening so he doesn't mind the night driving. It worked really well for us.

 

[Chelley00]

We have 4 kids (16, 13, 7 and 4) and we've done it two ways.

2 years ago (when youngest DS was 2) we left at 3:30am and drove straight through. We dumped the kids in the van in their pjs and they slept the first 4-5 hours of the trip (so did DH) and changed them into clothes before we went in for breakfast. We stopped for lunch and dinner only and arrived in Orlando around 9pm after all the stops. On the way home we again drove straight back home, leaving early in the morning. On the way down it was great, on the way home we were dead tired from walking all week, late nights and early mornings and it was a rough trip home.

This last year we went and left after school, got a hotel room in TN, then drove the rest of the way down. On the way back, we left in the early evening, got a hotel room in GA then drove home. Everyone agreed it seemed like both trips took so much longer because we stopped to stay.

If we ever go again, we'll drive straight through, leaving early in the morning so the kids will sleep the first few hours. The drive home, we'll stop and stay halfway since we're always so tired after vacation.

 

[mookie]

We did our first and only all-nighter on our way back from Disney in 2007. Yes, the kids slept great all the way home and were in great shape when we got back home about 8am, us parents, on the other hand.....

I think splitting up your drive will be better because you will be rested the next day when you arrive. I don't know what you have planned for your 1st day, but I would rather arrive after a good nights sleep than having been in the car for hours on end.

Good luck and have a great trip!

I agree with this. We have never done the drive, but will be making our first attempt in a little less than 2 weeks. Our kids are 6, 3, and 2. They do great on car trips, but we've never been on one this long. Our plan is to leave about 3:30 am and drive to south of Atlanta. We should be there about dinnertime. (14 1/2 hours). Then, we'll stay overnight and have a short trip to WDW the next day. I'd rather do this and be well rested when we get to WDW. While I know we can probably handle doing the drive straight through, it's how exhausted we would be when we get there that convinced me to break it up. Our kids would be fine and raring to go, but we would need a day to catch up. I have a feeling that would cause crabby kids and crabby/tired parents. Not worth it for the start of a good vacation!

 

[TwasBrilling]

I am in awe of all of you. I have a low tolerance for being in the car. I do over nights on 6 hour trips, cutting them in half. My back kills me after 2 hours. My hat is off to all of you who can do it.

 

[suzanna1066@comcast.]

I agree with this. We have never done the drive, but will be making our first attempt in a little less than 2 weeks. Our kids are 6, 3, and 2. They do great on car trips, but we've never been on one this long. Our plan is to leave about 3:30 am and drive to south of Atlanta. We should be there about dinnertime. (14 1/2 hours). Then, we'll stay overnight and have a short trip to WDW the next day. I'd rather do this and be well rested when we get to WDW. While I know we can probably handle doing the drive straight through, it's how exhausted we would be when we get there that convinced me to break it up. Our kids would be fine and raring to go, but we would need a day to catch up. I have a feeling that would cause crabby kids and crabby/tired parents. Not worth it for the start of a good vacation!

If you are doing this on a weekday, I would recommend not timing your arrival in the Atlanta area between 4-7 PM or you will spend much more time in my hometown than you ever wanted to!

 

[branannacait]

We are having the same debate we have a 14 hour drive and have a 10, 9 & 3 year old. I think we have decided to break it up I'm just not sure even if we did drive straight through we would be dead the first day there. If we break it up we can take our time and won't feel so worn out when we arrive at least I hope

 

[bluesky225]

I'm so glad you asked this question. We have a 12-13 hour drive to Disney (in September), and we're trying to decide whether to drive all night or stop and sleep somewhere. I just don't want us to all be really tired the whole trip if we do drive all night....

Love reading all the replies!

 

[mookie]

If you are doing this on a weekday, I would recommend not timing your arrival in the Atlanta area between 4-7 PM or you will spend much more time in my hometown than you ever wanted to!

Yep, we thought about that too...We'll be getting into Atlanta around dinnertime on a Saturday...will traffic still be bad then? I know around Chicago traffic going into the city on a Sat. nite is often still bad because of everyone going out downtown for events and stuff...

 

[GrumpyCAdad]

My wife and I are driving straight through from Colorado (28 hours) with a 10, 9 and 6 year old this coming November. They are great car kids, keeping themselves occupied with movies, books, gameboys and toys. We plan on leaving Denver between midnight and 2 am, adding time for food, bathroom and gas breaks in there.

 

[ireland_nicole]

We always drive straight through, about 20 hours, incl. gas and snack breaks. We leave about 4 in the afternoon. and arrive at WDW the next morning. We have two kids, now 9 and 6, and do this every year. (Usually more than once, since we also have family in Chicago.) The kids watch DVD's and snack and color (colored pencils only, no crayons- they get lost and melt in the heat.) We usually watch Disney DVD's, and play Disney trivia, etc. My DH and I switch every 3 hours. Usually, lights out and DVD's off around 8:30, kids asleep by 9. Because DH and I sleep when we're not driving, we both have around 6 hours by morning and feel ready to go (plus, the adrenaline kicks in when I see the WDW sign!) The one time we tried to stop, the kids were awake the whole time, which meant a lot more bathroom breaks, and it took forever... we are definitely straight through people.