Driving 20+ hours with a 3 1/2 and 1 year old....goo/bad idea?

[nicholas 25]

Thinking about driving from NYC to Disney in April or July after doing it by plane (and seeing the bill for plane/car this past trip). Opinions? Advice? We are thinking of doing a stop over in Disneys Hilton Head Island but never been there. Minivan+ dad/mom+the two kids (very well behaved).

 

[We Love the Mouse!]

This past July we drove to WDW with a 4yr old and a 1 yr old from upstate NY. We also had another family traveling with us in a second vehicle. We ended up taking a 17 yr old family friend as a "babysitter". This worked out great. We left about 7pm and traveled through the night. We were able to switch drivers and drive straight through. We stopped for a leisurely breakfast and lunch as well as other bathroom breaks. I bought a VCR/DVD player on ebay for the car and that was helpful. It really worked out quite well. We stayed at Disney from Sunday to Friday and then left at 11:00 pm, drove to Virginia Beach for the 2nd leg of the trip before heading back home. If you have the time it is nice to drive once in a while. Flying sure does get expensive.

 

[Stimpy]

I wouldn't plan on HHI for a midway point. Plan to spend a day there if you decide to go. From what I understand it's about 1 to 1 1/2 hours off I-95.

Personally, I would fly if you could. It's a lot quicker and the kids aren't "cooped" in one place for too long. We've always gotten good rates with Southwest and other airlines. Since you're from the NYC area, have you tried JetBlue? I heard they have good rates.

The last time we drove, just DH and I, was about 10 years ago. With fuel, lodging, tolls, meals etc it added up to about $400. We're flying in December and for 4 R/T tix it was a little over $400.

BUT after spending 5 hours back and forth from Dewey Bch DE a few weeks ago with our 4 month old and 4 1/2 yr old, I 'm not to eager for another road trip! Both kids did better than we expected, but it was still stressful for us.

Whatever you decide, have an awesome and safe trip!

 

[Tinkerbellmom33]

I agree with the Stimpy...You're Brave! I have three kids myself and couldn't imagine a drive like that. You should check air rates, there's always a special. We booked SW and are paying 460 rt for 4. Its almost the same as tolls gas, etc. The extra $60 is worth the piece of mind to be there in 21/2 hours. Good luck to you!

 

[alicenwonder99]

We drove from Chicago to WDW with a 15 month old, 3 year old, and almost 14 year old (plus mom and dad), in a minivan. It's like 20 hours non stop, but we stopped alot.

We left Chicago at around 4-5am and would stop around every 2 hours. We made it to the Nashville area around 5pm. We stayed in a hotel with an indoor pool.

We left Nashville around 6am and got to our hotel around 8-9pm.

I had lots of new toys I bought the kids that I was saving throughout the year. I would give them each a new toy every couple of hours. These were small toys...nothing too extravagant or complicated.

We didn't have a vcr/dvd in the car and I wish we would have gotten one.

We are going to WDW again in a few months and I am borrowing a friend's vcr for the car. I figure we can watch a movie, then make a quick stop to stretch out. My 2 youngest are now 4 and almost 6 and they are still in car seats/boosters so they really need to get out and stretch their legs.

If your children are well behaved in the car, then I think driving will be fine. Just make sure you get them out of the car seats every couple of hours. Map out where the rest stops are so they can get out and run around for a bit. Maybe even try to plan lunch/dinner at a McDonalds that has a playarea so they can really climb/jump/run.

Of course you want to pack lots of snacks for the trip. And what helped us was we had all of our luggage in the luggage rack (in one of those luggage holders that attaches to the rack), but we kept one small suitcase in the back of the van with our swim suits, pjs, change of clothes for the overnight trip. We left all of our luggage locked in the luggage holder overnight and it was fine.

Have a great time.

Mary

 

[TerriBelle]

Stimpy - We go to Dewey every year. Grandma has a beach place. For us the ride is only around 3 hours.

We prefer to fly to Disney. Our longest rode trip was to HH last summer and it was long. For us it is hard to beat a few hour flight.

 

[swilshire]

It will be much easier now than when they are 11 and 14. Or 13 and 16. Trust me!

Ours are 18, 16, 10 and 5. We have always taken long road trips. Some have gone better than others, but the best were when they were young and slept most of the way.

Just make sure Mom and Dad are well rested and don't overdo it and you'll be fine.

Sheila

 

[McKelly]

We drove from Wisconsin with a four and a two year old. We bought one of those TV/VCR for the cars and it was GREAT!! A few new videos and I couldn't believe how good my kids were. I had to keep checking if they were mine! We stopped every 2-3 hours for them to run around for ten minutes or so and pulled off the road at about 7:00pm for the night and finished the drive the next day!!

 

[sskem96]

We drove from Illinois to South Padre Island when our kids were 18 mos. and 4 yrs. We had a TV/VCR in the van. We left at 5:30p.m., stopped after 3 hours at a McDonalds with an indoor playland, changed them into their PJs, and they slept for the next several hours. We used Pull-Ups for the 4 year old even though she had been potty trained for a long time. I'm sure some kids wouldn't be receptive to this, but she didn't mind. We stopped once during the night to potty, and the kids slept through that stop. We stopped for breakfast at the next town after they woke up, stopped once for lunch, and crashed in our hotel right after supper. It took us exactly 24 hours. The kids weren't bad at all, but we were exhausted from driving all night. On the way home, we ended up staying one night at a hotel to break up the trip.

 

[Gillian]

We did this in April with DS 3 1/2 and DD 11 months.

We chose not to fly because it's a pain going through security with 2 kids and having to put the stroller on the belt and take off everyone's shoes and then get all the bags at the end while making sure the children aren't running away. Well, the little one couldn't quite walk yet, so while carrying her. Lugging 2 carseats around the airport isn't much fun either. It's all very tiring and I had a bad experience flying while pregnant with DD so we just drove.

We stayed overnight in 2 places. With a van we were able to take everything we wanted. We bought a DVD player and DS learned how to work it himself during the trip. He was fairly well behaved, but bored at times. DD was fine although she ate more animal crackers than was good for her!

The biggest problem we had was the kids falling asleep at night while we continued to drive. Then when we checked into our hotel at 11 or so the 3 year old woke up and was too excited to sleep, which woke up the baby. Then no one wanted to go to bed, except me & DH!

 

[steen995]

I would definitely get a VCR or DVD player for the car. I've seen the VCR players for very cheap. We bought a VCR player for $150 2 years ago - their cheaper now - for a three day drive to San Diego. I can't imagine a road trip without it. In fact, even though were flying for our trip (from Seattle) we're planning on renting a DVD player at the airport for our 4 year old. As the Visa (or Mastercard?) commercial puts it, some things are priceless. Peace and quiet on a trip is one of those things.....

 

[Eeyore's Queen]

We've driven 3 times with our kids. First when my oldest was 20 months, 2nd when my DS was 3 and DD was 15 months and last year when my DS's were 3 and 6 and DD was 4. Also had my mother with us on that trip and that was the longest one yet becuase of her. She was the one who wanted to stop every 2 hours to use the restrooms, etc., not the kids. But what we do is leave PA around 6 pm and drive all night while the kids sleep. My DH and I take turns driving so it's not that bad. We go to bed early the night we get there to rest for the parks. We usually get there between 11 am and 1pm the next day. (except last year). It took us until 5 pm becuase we hit a lot of traffic in Florida. (Due to the mother thing again).

We have a DVD player in our van now so that helped last year. The two other trips were without the DVD player but we did listen to a lot of Disney CD's and I got them some toys to play with and books to read.

This year we are flying for the first time . That should be another adventure. I don't look forward to lugging all of their stuff around but since they are 7, 6, and 4 now it shouldn't be too bad. I'd say go for driving. The trip home is not as enjoyable since you are tired from your vacation. We drove that straight through also. Husband did most of that. I'd recommend getting a hotel room on the way home. Good luck.

 

[Bugsmom73]

It will take us just about that long. I am looking for a method of how to calculate how much it will cost etc. My kids will be the same age.

 

[F1Julie]

Fly, fly, fly!!! I cannot imagine a car ride that long with 2 little ones. It may be more expensive, but it will feel like more of a vacation if you fly. Rather than renting a car, you may be able to save money if you take a shuttle or towncar between the airport and the hotel. Like others have said, by the time you factor in all the expenses of driving (hotel, gas, tolls, meals on the road) it may not be all that different than the cost of flying.

 

[nicholas 25]

Done the flying thing to Disney for 10 years now, the last 5 trips with 1 or 2 kids. We have used transstar then car service and now finally rent a car every time. Having a double stroller, the trips to supermarket/sea world and the fact we like to resort hop has made the car a must (supermarket trips are regular, we always get a 1 bedroom at a DVC resort which has the kitchen/fridge). We are both teachers so most of travel is during school breaks (very busy times which make Disney bus service longer and more crowded). This also makes airfare expensive. So what spawned this idea was the money issue (rental car 2 1/2 weeks $680, airfare $350 x3 with change fees $75) but being the new owners of a minivan I am intigued about a long distance trip in the van. The kids are very well behaved and we do enjoy spending time with them (even in the van). For years I have talked friends out of driving but curiosity has gotten the best if me. hope I wont be sorry

 

[cinder1]

We flew once to WDW, but the rest of the time, we have driven from Dallas. We leave again in a couple of weeks. I'm a bit nervous becasue this time our youngest is only 4 mths. (The others are 9, 7 and 4.) Flying is out of the question for us with so many kids. The cheapest I've seen is about $200 roundtrip so we're talking an extra $1200 ($1000 is we hold the baby which I hate doing for a whole flight--not as safe). We also like having a car while we are there so add in a rental. I hate the drive but the kids and DH don't mind. We'll see with the baby.

 

[homeschooler]

I think we have flown 3 times. Each time my kids mark the trip with a 'gross' rememberance (i.e. the time I barfed on the flight attendant, etc.) The last time, we had to be at the local airport at 7 a.m. and after delays and engine trouble, didn't get into CBeach until 1:00 a.m. Don't get me wrong, we had a good time, got a limo ride and had people trying to look into the tinted windows to see who the 'famous' people were. Funny, they just looked like overweight middle aged people with three kids.

ANYWAY

We are 20 + hours away. We just plan are trip with a minimum of 2 days driving (we prefer 2.5) We stop for the night where there is a pool and plan on playing a couple hours in the pool. When we have someone decided to go with us, last year MIL and SIL, we can travel together. It is sort of our time to unwind from phones and clients and get into the Disney mind set. We (kids and I) love the drive. DH isn't particularly impressed but he is starting to realize that I drive the whole way when he isn't with us and I am capable of driving at least part of the time. (He MUST drive Atlanta. The kids tease that I drive across the Ohio River Bridge in Cincinnati with my eyes closed and I don't breath or blink all the way through Atlanta. )

Driving is cheaper when you have a number of people, not just one or two, and much less stressful in my opinion.

 

[raisindiskids]

We just drove to Disney from Maine in January with our four boys ages 13,8,7,and 3. We had a great time on the way down. We packed a cooler with food so we wouldn't waste time eating at rest areas. We would just stop to go to bathroom and stretch our legs and then pass out food and head out. Our boys had a few new toys from Santa and it really helped with the boredom of the trip. The little guy did a lot of sleeping along the way which was great. He was well rested when we got there. The boys had us tell them when a new state was coming so they could see the welcome to signs. The trip home was not as pleasant because none of us wanted to leave our beautiful old key west home. The little one wanted to move back to the new house for about 3 weeks after we were home. Make the best of the ride. Sing songs to the kids and tell silly jokes it really helped us to feel really relaxed for a change.

 

[mamalle]

you are brave. good luck. I havent tried it yet. our limit is 3 hours which takes us to either disney or the fla keys. we do have a dvd player and headphones in the van for the kids. They are 4 and 2 and not ready for anything longer. If for some reason we needed to take a longer trip I think I would leave at night- so most of the time they would be sleeping.

 

[AnnetteF]

My DH and I have driven every year from Connecticut for the past 12 years and we love the drive. We usually stop overnight in lower South Carolina or Savannah. We have stopped at Disney's Hilton Head Resort and it is a little drive off of 95 but it's not that bad - about 25-30 minutes from the exit. It's a much nicer place to stop compared to the hotels right off 95 but I would say it depends on what time of day you will be getting there. If you will be arriving late at night and leaving again early morning, it's probably not worth it.

We will be going again in October but this year will be a new experience for us as well since we will have our new baby daughter with us (7 months). I am concerned about how she will do on the long trip so we have decided to break up our trip over 3 days this year, doing about 6-7 hours per day (the last day will be a little shorter - from HH it is about 5 hours to Disney). We will be stopping in Fredericksburg VA the first night and will be staying at Hilton Head the second night, and then doing the same in reverse on the way home.