Drive overnight or during the day with small kids?

[madatmama]

We have 6 yo, 4 yo and 18 month old children and are heading to Disney in November. Our drive should be 10-11 hours from central NC. Last time we took Amtrak overnight in a sleeper car and nobody slept much. This time we are driving. For driving veterans which do you find easiest: leaving at the kids' normal bedtime and driving all night praying they sleep most of the way? Or, driving during the day?

 

[mrsap]

We have 6 yo, 4 yo and 18 month old children and are heading to Disney in November. Our drive should be 10-11 hours from central NC. Last time we took Amtrak overnight in a sleeper car and nobody slept much. This time we are driving. For driving veterans which do you find easiest: leaving at the kids' normal bedtime and driving all night praying they sleep most of the way? Or, driving during the day?

We drive from NJ. We always leave early morning, drive to either Hilton Head or Savannah, stay overnight and then drive the rest of the way in the morning. We have never tried going overnight, but knowing my DH, he wouldn't last too long! lol Good luck and enjoy!

 

[jillianml]

Speaking from experience I would drive during the day! If you drive all night your kids are ready to go the next day and you are exhausted!

 

[nono]

We've done both since my kids were really small (there's still both under 10 now). I would try a bit of both the first time -- meaning start maybe at 3-4 a.m. so that they sleep some in the car. See how that goes. Everyone has their own preferences, even children, so if you have some sleep time, and some awake time, you'll gather good data on how to proceed for future trips!

Plan on rest stop breaks every couple hours during daylight. We bring a couple pieces of rope and lay them out as starting and finishing lines and have a few races in between using the facilities. Seems to keep spirits up.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We've gone a couple of times with the grandchildren and family.... We'd leave around 6-7 pm...wouldn't be long and both were fast asleep ( 9 month old and 2 year old)....it's a 15 hour drive and by 8 am... We only had 2 more hours to go and they were up and excited...2 year old was...they slept the whole time...