Driving from Chicago with an 18-month old

[lauris87]

It's about a 19-20 hour drive, plus stops. We are stopping half-way in Kentucky to spend the night... so it will be two 10-hour days of driving. Any suggestions for doing this with an 18-month old? We've taken him on a couple 7-hour road trips, and he was fine. But that was last summer We have a DVD player in our mini-van... so he will be watching lots of Backyardigans.... but other than that.... any other tips/experiences?

 

[sneadae]

We like to plan stops along the way where our little ones can stretch their legs and walk. We usually stop at malls - great place to grab something to eat and let the little ones walk around. Also, some malls have little play areas for kiddos. I always map the malls out in advance, and those stops are planned into our roadtrips. Sometimes we stop at Chik fil A...all of those have indoor play places (but beware! closed on Sundays!!). We've also stopped at parks and had picnics. Parks are great places to stop and run some energy out.

Good luck!

 

[hearts8701]

wow your brave a 18 month old is hard to keep busy in a car make sure you let the child run around at rest stops i hope you drive at night so at least the darling child can sleep thru most of the ride bring new toys and movies that will help

 

[ParrotBill]

If he's old enough to watch a DVD player without breaking it, movies pass the time better than anything other than sleeping.

 

[lauris87]

The only bad thing is that he's not walking yet! He's so close though.

 

[stephie1012]

we drove the 20hrs with my DS when he was 18mos in march...it was rough! We drove straight thru the night tho. Hes still Rearfacing (500x safer) so he couldnt watch TV not that he would anyway. We brought lots and lots of little snacks. And bought him a whole bunch of smaller toys that he got in the car. He had my brother sitting next to him or me and his sister in the seat behing his so he can see her no problem. They entertained each other. If possible i would drive alot at night, DS wanted out of his seat as soon as he woke up in the morning and he was not happy that he wasnt allowed out lol

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Is it possible to drive a little father the first day? We drive from Chicago and like to stop just before Atlanta, GA so we don't have such a long drive the next day and it works great for us.

 

[Nicole721]

We're just north of Chicago and the drive has never been more than 19 hours...including stops.

For us, though, with the route we take, Kentucky isn't half-way. It's about six hours from home and if you plan on staying in KY, you might be setting yourself up for a 12-hour drive the second day. The actual half-way point is somewhere in So. Tennessee or No. Georgia. We prefer to split the drive up to do 12 hours and six (or so) hours, so we stop in Atlanta. It's just under 12 hours for us to Atlanta and then a bit over six hours from Atlanta to Disney (usually a bit more since we stop for awhile at a peach farm 100 miles or so outside of Atlanta).

 

[SeedsLuvDisney]

I would drive a heck of a lot further than KY on the first day, get at least south of Atlanta..Be be flexible, if you get to Atlanta and he falls alseep, keep going..

We have done this trip several times, always leave very early in the morning (1AMish) and stop in TN for breakfast when the kids wake up, can't imagine stopping in KY for the night..

 

[geffric]

NW Suburbs here..we drove the first time when I have one that was 2 and the other was 4 months..

they slept in their clothes for the next day, left at 3 am took them sleeping to the van and drove.stopped in GA and then on to WDW... I went to McDs site and got maps of all the playplaces along the way, ( consistance is good) stopped there and at rest stps, had races, got fresh air and back to the van..

we did have the non driver in the backseat with the kids so they could get juice, water, change movies, play games with them, get things from the cooler, etc....

I also took all the movies and juice and hid them for a week so they would seem fresh to them, i had the theory that getting there was the objective so cookies, ice cream where they wanted to eat was ok.. made things smoother..

whe they slept.. we drove and drove.. no stopping until he woke up..
I BTW I had a pee pee cup in the car for whoever needed it so we didn't have to stop unitl the kids woke up..

 

[Plutofan]

The first year we drove from Dallas to Orlando we stoped over night. We hit traffic jams and we had a lot of trouble spleeping since we were to excited. For the last four years we have driven straight through from Dallas to Orlando with out staying over night. We leave at 3:00 PM drive and then at 9:00PM we stop for a good dinner and then drive straight though. We have breakfast in the car. We usually get to the park the next day around 10 AM. It sounds like a lot but with two drivers it is not bad. I actually enjoy the drive since I get to see the country. There is almost no traffic which is great after experiencing some very long traffic jams the first year. The kids sleep most of the night and when they are awake they watch a movie. The last drive which was this June was almost 20 hours since we drove back from Vero. Our kids are know 7, 8 and 11 and do not mind the trip. I hope you have a wonderful trip.