Drive or Fly with 16-month old?

[hauntedcity]

My wife and I are heading down to WDW with our daughter, who will be 16-months old for the trip in November. I definitely like the financial savings by driving down vs. flying and renting a car (we're staying off-site), but this is our first child, and I have NO IDEA what a long drive (or an airplane flight, for that matter) would be like.

The options:
- 2.5 hours on a plane
- About 1000 miles in a car over 2 days

Any thoughts? Little Alice a good car passenger now, and loves to sleep in her seat, but who knows how she'll be in Nov. Has anyone else handled a ride that long with a toddler? And as for flying, is it a good idea to fly with a 16-month old?

Thanks!
Doug

 

[NotUrsula]

Um, I'd rather walk barefoot over broken glass than spend two full days in a car with a toddler trapped in a carseat the entire time, but that's just me.

The issue that I have with driving is that children will not sleep for 12 hours straight two days straight -- when awake they will want lots of breaks and just to get OUT of that seat. (Regular seatbelts move with us and allow adults to shift position, but little kids don't have that freedom of movement, and they get uncomfortable after a while, especially if sitting on a diaper.)

What tends to happen is that when you get out of the car tired after a long drive, the child is fully rested from sleeping for hours, and is practically jumping out of her skin with repressed energy. If you must drive, be sure to stop every couple of hours for play breaks whenever your child is awake, and allow plenty of time to settle into that exciting hotel room before expecting her to sleep (again!) for the night. A hotel with an indoor pool is a must for us when we do long road trips; it relaxes the adults and exhausts the kids.

I'd personally recommend flying. As 16 months is prime squirmy-age, take the carseat anyway to keep her contained and calmer on the plane, but the time savings is worth it to me. You won't arrive exhausted.

 

[WendyinNC]

Um, I'd rather walk barefoot over broken glass than spend two full days in a car with a toddler trapped in a carseat the entire time, but that's just me.

Oh, you gave me good laugh.

Having just returned last week from a 3 1/2 drive from the coast with a 15 month old, I would agree. He slept for 1 1/2 hours and screamed for 2 hrs while DH was driving in the rain swearing "NEVER AGAIN"! Now that he has recovered I asked him what he wanted to do next Spring Break and he said fly to Disney.

 

[Princess Roo]

Without a doubt, I would fly.

We took an 11-hour trip (including stops) with DS when he was 10 months. He is a good passenger, but he was MISERABLE. Then he cried every time we put him in his carseat for the next 2 or 3 weeks. I felt HORRIBLE. They are so active at 16 months that it is really rough to be cooped up in that seat all day. I think when kids are older, they at least understand that they are in the car so that they get to go to Disney, but you can't explain that to a 16 month old.

It's also possible that you won't save *that* much money by driving, especially if you fly with DD as a lap child, once you count the extra food and nights in hotel, plus at least some wear&tear to the car.

ETA: Flying with a toddler is a piece of cake, as long as you don't mind being at your most entertaining for 2.5 hours! DS has flown ~14 round trips already and we only had 1 problem situation (it was the day the liquid ban went into effect and they wouldn't let me bring milk in a sippy and he wouldn't drink anything else and I couldn't get his ears to pop). Anyways, there are lots of great threads on this board with tips for flying with a little one.

 

[LilBlackSheep]

It all depends upon whether or not your child is used to being in a car for extended periods of time. If not, I would fly.

From day one our kids have been exposed to long car trips and they are used to it. We never hear a peep out of them when traveling. Needless to say...we don't fly.

 

[piraterose]

I have to agree with everyone else. When DD was 22 months we had the brilliant idea to drive up to Nashville from S. FL. We figured DD would sleep through the night.

HA!!!!!

She screamed and cried the whole 14 hours. It was our first trip with a DVD player and for some reason the car plug wouldn't work, so after the 3 hour battery we were up the creek without a paddle.

Luckly we fixed the problem with the DVD player on the way back, plus we let her have a good night sleep and traveled during the day, and the trip back was marginal better.

At that age they just don't understand why they're being forced to endure such a long trip. It's hard on them. I like flying with DD better, but as she grows, you never know how she's are going to handle it at each stage, so it's always a gamble each time, whatever you choose.

 

[hauntedcity]

Thanks for all the advice! Sounds like flying is probably the way to go.

Now, I KNOW I can just go elsewhere and look this up, but I'm lazy... If we decide to have her sit in a separate seat, rather than on our laps, do we have to pay for a full price seat on the plane?

Thanks again,
Doug

 

[all4fun]

Um, I'd rather walk barefoot over broken glass than spend two full days in a car with a toddler trapped in a carseat the entire time, but that's just me.

The issue that I have with driving is that children will not sleep for 12 hours straight two days straight -- when awake they will want lots of breaks and just to get OUT of that seat. (Regular seatbelts move with us and allow adults to shift position, but little kids don't have that freedom of movement, and they get uncomfortable after a while, especially if sitting on a diaper.)

What tends to happen is that when you get out of the car tired after a long drive, the child is fully rested from sleeping for hours, and is practically jumping out of her skin with repressed energy. If you must drive, be sure to stop every couple of hours for play breaks whenever your child is awake, and allow plenty of time to settle into that exciting hotel room before expecting her to sleep (again!) for the night. A hotel with an indoor pool is a must for us when we do long road trips; it relaxes the adults and exhausts the kids.

I'd personally recommend flying. As 16 months is prime squirmy-age, take the carseat anyway to keep her contained and calmer on the plane, but the time savings is worth it to me. You won't arrive exhausted.

ITA with this. We have done ONE road trip like the one the OP is describing and when we got back from it I vowed "never again" lol. It wasn't all THAT horrible really but it just would have been a whole lot more pleasant if we had flown instead of driven. Jmho.

 

[Princess Roo]

Thanks for all the advice! Sounds like flying is probably the way to go.

Now, I KNOW I can just go elsewhere and look this up, but I'm lazy... If we decide to have her sit in a separate seat, rather than on our laps, do we have to pay for a full price seat on the plane?

Thanks again,
Doug

Some airlines give discounts for infants, but the discount is off the full-price (think last-minute) fare, so the full price on a sale fare is cheaper.
Also, you can bring your carseat to the gate area (they have great bags to carry them in) and if the plane is not full, you can use the carseat even if you didn't pay for a seat. (DH and I would usually reserve the aisle and window toward the back in the 3-across rows and got lucky about half the time). Do whatever works best for you, though!

 

[jcc0621]

I guess I am the backwards one here. DS is now 3 and slightly more than a half and we drove down when he was 11 months, 23 months, and 35 months. We had no problem at all. DH stayed up all night the night before we were going to leave and slept all day (waking up aroiund 5:30pm or so). We picked up DS from daycare like we usually did, brought him home had dinner, played for a while, gave him his bath and put him in his pajams. Then instead of going into the crib he wnet into his car seat. We left Philly around 7:30pm and he slept until we hit Georgia the next morning and stopped at breakfast. We like having our own car and at the time (before gas prices went through the roof) it was cheaper for us to drive. This year, we are flying, but only becasue I got such a great airfare.

Good luck with your decision

Janet

 

[macmahony]

I am backwards too, would NEVER EVER fly with my kids (unless it was out of the country). They are now almost 6, almost 5 and almost 3 (with the 4 coming soon), and have driven down to disney three times. (from new jersey). We LOVE it, they LOVE it, I guess it just depends on your family. We are drivers, we love the adventure, stopping in a hotel is a blast, they are amazing in the car (we have a DVD, but only really use it once it gets dark out). My family lives 14 hours away, and we took the first trip there, driving when my oldest was about 6 days old. We do that trip 3-4 times a year, so they are seasoned travelers. They love the excitment, where are we stopping next, what state are we in, they love it. We can take everything we want and need, and bring home everything we want too. Plus, for us, it was always tons cheaper. Good luck in your decesion, we love driving (we are planning a trip to california within the next two years, and will drive the whole way from NJ with the kids!!)

 

[apostolic4life]

... we drive every year. Our youngest (DD was 15 months) did great last year and we did the trip in two days. When DD4 was younger, she also traveled well. Of course, we put about 30-40,000 miles a year on our cars traveling for church conferences and meetings so our children practically have lived out of our car at times. If you choose to take a car, be prepared to either drive late at night or stop often during the day to keep the troops happy.

 

[kevschickee]

no way on gods green earth would I drive lol We are going next year with a 2 1/2 year old and 8 month old and we will fly

 

[Vickie46]

I would fly!

 

[bartleby1]

Only you can figure out what is better for your children. We have 3 kids (now 7, almost 5, and 2) and got them used to long trips very early on. The do great on the trip to Florida from NJ and I can honestly say that we've never had a melt down in the car. I bring LOTS for them to do, TONS of snacks, and we do have a dvd player in the car for them to watch, however, we use that as a last resort. We don't drive overnight because I've found that if a child can't sleep for whatever reason, they can be really, really cranky. At least if they are well rested, you can reason with them if something is wrong or they aren't happy.

We usually leave around 4:30/5:00 am so once the excitement of leaving wears off, they usually will take a nice nap. We stop overnight (we aim for more than halfway) and get a good night sleep and then do the rest of the driving the next day.

Personally, we flew last year and I found it VERY stressful. Getting to the airport on time, through the airport with three kids and our "stuff", getting through security without holding up the line too much, worried about bothering other passengers, worrying about my little ones having to get up and down for diaper changes and using the potty, having to pack light instead of just throwing what we need in the car, etc. Oh, and dealing with my 18 mth old on the flight home who apparently came down with some kind of stomach bug and threw up all over me. She was fine at take-off, fell asleep for the flight, woke up while we were descending with a fever of 103.5 and got sick all over me. I felt horrible for the poor guy sitting next to me!

Anyway, we much prefer to drive. I feel more in control that way, and if the kids need something we can stop. Keep in mind, that even though it is only a 2.5 hr flight, you also need to count the rest of the travel time also (travel time to the airport, getting their early enough for security, waiting to board, the actual flight time, possible delays - we sat for 2 hours on the runway waiting to leave Orlando due to a storm, claiming your bags or waiting for ME, the ride to your resort). It isn't just a 2.5 hr flight. Granted, it is faster than driving but it does take longer than 2.5 hrs.

 

[hauntedcity]

Keep in mind, that even though it is only a 2.5 hr flight, you also need to count the rest of the travel time also (travel time to the airport, getting their early enough for security, waiting to board, the actual flight time, possible delays - we sat for 2 hours on the runway waiting to leave Orlando due to a storm, claiming your bags or waiting for ME, the ride to your resort). It isn't just a 2.5 hr flight. Granted, it is faster than driving but it does take longer than 2.5 hrs.

I've thought about that, too. I suppose that could be a positive (or non-negative) because at least she'd be able to stand and stretch, where she's buckled in when in the car...

Well, thanks for the thoughts, everyone! In true democratic fashion, I've weighted all the plusses and minuses, and come up with... absolutely no decision!

I suppose we'll take some longer drives this summer to see how Alice handles the car. She's really good now, but she's never had to handle a drive over 2 hours, plus, as I've mentioned before, our Disney trip is still several months away, and who knows what she'll be like then.

Doug

 

[F4disneyfan]

We have been driving forever even when the kids were coming with us at 6 months old we love the drive and it is about 20 hours from London Ontario to Disney. I would say make teh drive and see how it goes what we did to make it easier is leave at night after dinner time that way the kids slept all night long even at that young age. It also made the drive go by really really quickly. We would leave around 7 PM and drive to the GA welcome centre at 6:30 or so and then wake the kids up for breakfast and to get them changed etc then from there off to Macon and the rest stop at the bypass for lunch it really helped the drive along and the kids now love the drive and couldn't imagine going any other way to Disney.

 

[snocrossmechanic]

Our 15 month old has been to WDW twice in his first year of life. The first time was at 6 weeks and we flew down. Flying is quick but thats about it. We WOULD NOT fly without buying him a ticket. My wife has flown all her life (family in airline industry) and I have traveled over 100K miles a year as a consultant. having your child as a "lap child" is very uncomfortable and anything over 2 hours is just no fun. Besides that you can only bring so much liquid and hauling car seats and other items through security is a pain. Not to mention that if the airline "misplaces" your luggage everything you brought will need to be purchased again.

Driving down has its ups and downs also. Minnesota to WDW is about 27 hours making good time. Our son was 1 year old (we celebrated his B-day at WDW)We tried to rush it in two days and it was very hard on us. We traveled mostly at night and had many stops during the day. He was fussy if in his seat, awake, for more than a few hours so we would stop. I normally needed fuel anyway. Some tricks I learned was to travel at night, make frequent stops during the day, and when traveling at night pull the interior light fuse so if you need to stop all the lights dont come on in the vehicle.

This X-mas and April 2008 we are heading down again. We are driving and we are making it a 3 day drive rather than 2 days. I will drive at night and we will stop at hotels or campsites (hauling a RV with us) during the day. We will keep or son on his schedule with sleeping and naps.

Good luck with whatever your choice is. Either way you will be at the greatest place on earth.

Mark

 

[PrincessTigerLily]

Drove last September from Southwest Chicagoland to WDW with DD4 and DS13 months. Took two days to go down to Orlando, was so absolutely horrifying we did the whole drive back continuously, which was no better but didn't stretch for two days.

Fly, for your sanity and those in your family.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[WendyinNC]

My vacation time is too valuable to spend in a car and I would never want to spend the night driving. I would be too tired to function once I got there. Also, the baby would probably be off schedule. By the time he got back on schedule the trip would be almost over.