Driving from Houston area to WDW

[theweatherman]

Hey guys,

This is my first post in here. My family and I are going to WDW for spring break this year. We have already decided that we are driving because the airfare for the four of us would take away a lot of money that we could use for other things while at Disney.

We live in Dayton, which is about 45 minutes east of Houston. We are planning on driving straight through with our two daughters, 9 and 3 1/2. We are planning on leaving around 8-9 p.m. the Friday our oldest is out of school so they can sleep most of the way there.

While I was in the military, making long drives was easy for me. I didn't have the kids at the time though.

Has anybody done this drive at night with kiddos?

 

[Southernswthrt]

My sister does the drive at night from New Orleans to WDW with her 2 kids and it takes them about 10 hours. They've done it twice and the kids are now 4. She said it's not bad, but then again she has about 5 hours less than you do.

Personally, I hate to drive! Have you checked fares on SW into Tampa, instead of Orlando? At times, it can be as much as half the price of Orlando. Also you may want look into the SW credit card with 50,000 points and you can fly for free!

Either way, have a great trip. Drive safe!

 

[Dismomof2boys]

We live in a northern suburb of Detroit (MI) and we have driven straight through several times - about 20 hours. We usually leave right after the kids get out of school and we arrive around Noon the next day. We have done this with small children and I have to say that they were great. They are awake for the first 6 hours or so and then sleep for about 9 hours. When they wake up, they have about 6-7 hours to go. This past year, we made sure they both had an i-pod to listen to their own music, and not once did they ask us when we were going to be there. They are not usually that way, but for some reason, they were great. Just make sure to stop every few hours to stretch and get some air. The drive is part of the fun. Also, don't rush. If the weather is bad, it's better to get there a couple hours later than to stress out or get into an accident. You will have so much fun once you arrive that you won't even remember the drive!

 

[grumpytx]

We have driven once, back in 1997, and agree with you regarding flight costs. Plus the fact in today's flying you can count on two things, full planes and overhead bins to Capacity! When we drove it was around 16-18 hours from north of Houston. Basically the I-10 route to Tallahassee then south to Orlando. We were planning on driving last trip but airfare became available in our budget range. Would I drive again? Absolutely.