Driving for 2 days

[casey49781]

are there any other people out there who drive for 2 days to get there ,we live 24 hours from flordia, we are way up in upper michigan,,,and we have 2 kids 9 and 6,,we are going this nov,,,any advice and tips please

 

[umaangel00]

Well hello there! We are in SW Michigan and it take us about the same amount of time to get there. We did this trip this past March. It's not fun but very doable! I use microsoft streets and trips to plan the drive there and back. You can schedule stops. It will find food, lodging and gas stations for you. It will even find shopping places for you! We take DH's laptop with us which helps. Let me know what I can do to help. We are taking this treak again in April!

 

[Chuck S]

We drive about 1200 miles each way from San Antonio.

 

[CouponCon]

From Northern Illinois Here!! We did this when my youngest was still a baby and are planning on driving it again in November also! On our last trip we bought a portable vhs player for the jeep It was a life saver!! This trip we are going for the dual screen DVD player. What I did was getting a running time of the movies and let's say we were driving 10 hours that day...Pull enough different movies that were about 10 hours. Even when you stop to eat bathroom, etc the movie stops so it doesn't throw them off track with time. That way the kids can gage how much longer left in the car for the day. We do this on day trips too!
Just a thought if anyone gets car sick. If you buy the bucket of ice cream with a handle. Clean it out when you are done with it you can store crayons markers very easily and if someone decides to throw up you can dump the contents and it could be used for a like a garbage can. Then put the lid on (NO SMELL) and throw away at your next stop....This is from personal experience...LOL!...

 

[casey49781]

we are going to be leaving at 5 am and hope to drive 15 hrs first day and then 9 the next day,,,,we are getting a portable dvd player and they have gameboys so hopefully it will help along with crayons and coloring books and a few toys,,,if we drive to detroit its around 6 hours and that wasnt to bad so will go for the whole trip this time,,,we will take I-75 all the way there,,,,they will be too excited to care,,,,

 

[disneydiz]

Check out the website i75online.com -- it has a lot of information for people driving from Michigan to Florida. Also be careful about what time you go thru Atlanta. Traffic is usually a nightmare -- also, do not take the Atlanta bypass.

 

[Befferk]

We will be driving (pulling our camper) from central Wisconsin to Disney and Key West in May. We also have a travel DVD player for our 3 year old, and I have been stocking up on movies that he has never seen before to give him during our trip. We plan on starting out in the middle of the night, and pretty much driving straight through. DH and I will split the driving. I don't feel it will be a real big deal as one can sleep while the other drives. I figure 4-hour shifts at a time.

Beth

 

[OKW Lover]

I suspect you are driving for budget reasons. But keep in mind that two days down and two days back means 4 days of your vacation is spent on the road, not at your destination having fun.

Also keep in mind that flying is statistically safer that driving.

 

[Pembo]

We drove last summer with 3 kids, 9,6 & almost 3 from Ohio, about 17 hours. We did it in 3 days and drove home in 2. We did not have a tv and the kids did fine. They had their gameboys. The oldest listened to Harry Potter on tape and followed along in his book. We had snacks in the car. At the rest stops we had bubbles one time, balloons the next. I also had lots of other stuff for them to do and I took way too much!!! We also had an extra trip-tik that the kids kept in the back. They liked knowing where we were. Surprisingly, they did better on this long drive than they do in a 20 minute run to the mall.

And one more thing, anyone who asked "Are we there yet?" owed me a nickel. They never asked.

 

[casey49781]

i am doing it for money and time, i flew out of the nearest largest airport in my area in dec 2004, we drove for 6 hours to it in a blizzard and stayed the night ,then next morning since so close to christmas had to register 3 hrs in advance do to volume, and got there at 3pm<flordia> so if i drive i can get there in 2 days as well,,,just going to give it a shot and see, just need to find thing for the kids to do,,,i like the nickel deal ,,,,

 

[Pembo]

Make sure you have those cords for the gameboys that plug in the cigarette lighter. They were great and they are very long so we could have one plugged in up front and one in the back.

 

[disneydiz]

Another website that helps while on I-75 is: i75exitguide.com

It has road construction, gas prices, weather, and shows what is located at each I-75 exit (restaurant, hotels, etc.).

 

[stahshee]

We are driving also from Central NY I think it is about 20 hours. I did buy the portable dvd player. I have picked up some Walmart 5.50 dvds for the trip. I also did get some dvd's and let the kids watch them once and I am going to put them away. DD3 and 5 will not remember it. I am planning to leave at 5am and not turn on the tv until 9 am. Hopefully they will sleep from 5-9 . I did also buy some Crayola color wonder markers and paper. I figure I am going to have a 2 day trip so I will need things over the 2 days.

 

[Tinky]

We're in the driving for 2 day gang... A little over 1100 miles to WDW from here in Neverland

 

[NookOfTheNorth]

We are right on the border of Wisconsin and the U.P., and we drive wherever we go--Florida, PA, MD. It's just cheaper for us. The deals from Green Bay to anywhere are few and far between. Anyway, my children (4 & 8) have always been decent travelers. When we go to Florida, we spend 2 nights on the way down and 1 on the way back. This year we are going in the summer so we have that extra time.

We bring the snacks, the DVD player, Leapster, and any other stuff to keep them entertained. We take numerous breaks at rest stops, so the kids can run around. We play tag, frisbee, etc. We also make sure we stay at hotels that have an indoor pool, so they can burn off energy before we hit the road again. On another post, someone mentioned looking at the McDonald's site, so you can find the ones with a play place; the kids play while you eat and then you get their food to go. Granted, those play places do give me the heebie jeebies at times, but it's a great idea.

 

[Mark P.]

Definitely need a DVD player!

Also, and this might sound like a corny idea, but it was actually fun for my DS (9), as well as me, too

Here goes:
Print out a list of all 50 states. (I pasted the states onto word with a line next to each one). We brought a clipboard & pencil to make it easy for DS.
While driving, mark down each state's vehicle tag you all see, and how many times. (DS just made small checks next to each state).
After a while, it became sort of a scavenger hunt for the tags we hadn't yet seen.
We did cheat a bit, and found a bunch around WDW, though

We did this last year, and if I remember correctly, we were only 5 or 6 states shy of getting them all.

The tag thing probably won't be the highlight of the trip,Lol, but it might be worth trying

Have a safe trip!

-Mark

 

[conciergekelly]

We drove from lower Michigan at Christmas with three kids, DS 15, DD 13, DS 11. What worked well was I picked up cheap movies ( used copies of new or older ones). 15 in all. Planes Trains and Automobiles, National Lampoon X-mas Vacation, Uncle Buck, Edward Scissor Hands are examples of old ones that they hadn't seen. I wrapped them and put them in a bag. The kids took turns picking one and that is the one they had to watch before they could open another. There was no fighting about which one to watch. Thye couldn't wait to open the next.

 

[JDietz40]

We have driven several times and we usually leave on Thursday evening after work and drive for 5-6 hours. We take I-57 South so there is little traffic and we can put 350 to 400 miles behind us. DS now 13 is used to the ride and has the typical video games and dvd player as others have mentioned. When he was younger we would stop more often but we have always been lucky as he is a good traveler. We can generally travel at a leisurely pace on Friday and have a short trip Saturday morning arriving early and even though we can't get into the room we can have a full day at the parks. One thing that I enjoyed last trip was Satellite radio. I did not have to search for radio stations and deal with them fading in and out.

Have a great trip,





John