Driving from Louisiana

[Cajun23]

We will be driving from Louisiana with our 4 year old b/g twins. We have always flown and have never driven much less with 4 year old twins.

Any advise on breaking up the trip into 2 days or driving straight through?
Also, any tips on traveling with toddlers?

Driving time will probably be 12 to 13 hours.

 

[ajwolfe]

So we drive from Missouri - which is about 16 hours for us. We've done both straight thru and splitting it up as the kids have grown. The straight thru was worse on us than the kids - as we arrived tired and cranky and they were ready to run and have fun.
We almost always split it up over 2 days at this point just to have a more relaxed vacay but with you being 4 hours closer I think straight thru would be doable too!
Do you have dvd players for your care? Those are a god send! And I've always made my kids a little bag full of goodies including a travel binder with games to play and things to do. Snacks we normally don't have at home, etc to add some fun to the drive.

 

[Soarin4us]

If you make traveling FUN when the kids are little, they'll be easy travelers forever! Pack lots of snacks, some dollar store toys, audio books. Give them some breaks where they can run around for a few minutes... and pack your patience. It'll be great.

 

[Cajun23]

Thanks. We do have a portable DVD player but my son is very active. He is also the one that ask "Are we there yet?" every 5 mins.

We are planning to bring snacks and a couple toys. If we do a 2 day drive we may leave early like you suggested and stop often just so that they can move around a little bit.

I am also thinking that if i get about 3 hours out i may just decide to suck it up and complete the drive. Not sure how hard it would be to get a room around Disney if i decided to go the whole way. Or call the AoA and see if they had a room by chance and check in a day early.

 

[DisneyOma]

We take two days for 21 hours. I think you can do it in one if you plan well.

 

[srwarden1928]

I have a similar drive to yours from Tennessee. I have gone straight through, and I have broken it up into two days. The biggest factor in my opinion is the age/stamina of the driver/drivers. More drivers or younger drivers (those in their 20s or maybe 30s) make it easier to drive straight through. Driving alone, especially at my age (50s) I prefer to stop about half way.

 

[katie111]

Of course you CAN do it but do you want to? I max out at about 6 hours in the car, whether I am driving alone with the kids or if DH is with me. I actually prefer to be the driver as I get so antsy being the passenger. I can't imagine 12-13 hours in the car but I know plenty of people that do it. We have friends that drive every Year from Boston to Disney straight through, at least 24 hours, with 4 kids. I would never do it but they don't mind it. I think it's a totally personal decision. My 3 kids starting fighting around hour 4 so the thought of 8 more hours is just unbearable.

BTW, lots of info on driving on the Transportation forum. Those folks LOVE to drive!

 

[deuceswild10]

Do it in one day then it's done. Leave at 4 or 5am and get a bunch of driving done before your kids really wake up.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We will be driving from Louisiana with our 4 year old b/g twins. We have always flown and have never driven much less with 4 year old twins.

Any advise on breaking up the trip into 2 days or driving straight through?
Also, any tips on traveling with toddlers?

Driving time will probably be 12 to 13 hours.

We drove from Baton Rouge on 11/14. We took our time about it, made lots of stops at different rest areas and for lunch. We left at 6am and got to Universal at 7pm EST. The time change definitely can throw you off!

My daughter is 7 and she watched DVDs the entire trip.

We considered spending the night halfway, but we were really happy we didn't.

 

[ajwolfe]

Something I forgot to mention is a lot of times we will leave super early in the morning like 3 or 4 and let the kids sleep for a good portion of our drive. This only works if you have a driver that can handle staying a wake and driving that time of morning though.

 

[shellyj]

We drive from northern Virginia. We usually stop for a 5 hour nap/rest at my in-law's house in SC but next month we're planning to drive straight through. I'm expecting 16 hours including pit stops. My youngest is autistic and while he's done great on long trips before, his recent behaviors have me thinking we'll all be happier if he can sleep through most of the drive down.

We road trip a lot. My kids are currently 9, 8, and 6.
Things that work best for us are:
-Leave in the evening, let the kids stay up a little later than usual then pit stop and encourage sleep. Take away the devices, toys, water bottles, etc to help them drift off.
-For us, first person to drive stays up very late the night before and naps the afternoon of departure so they start the trip well rested. Bring ear plugs (and maybe melatonin) for the passenger so they can sleep before it's time to switch drivers.
-Pack picnic food rather than stopping at restaurants for meal. The kids have been cooped up in the car, they are not ready for restaurant behavior. We look for larger rest stops with room to run for meal breaks. We have picnic and let the kids run around a little. When a good rest stop can't be found, we look for large shopping centers and park in the back of the parking lot. Then we'll use the restrooms at a fast food place and buy drinks or a snack there.
-Have a bunch of activities and distractions planned, but don't give them to the kids all at once. bring them out slowly. A big hit with my kids is silly face stickers, I can usually find them at Michael's. I'll give them a piece of paper and the book of stickers and say "Make a face like you just hugged Mickey Mouse" "What would you look like if you had to change your brother's diaper" Silliest face, scariest face, etc.
- Headphones, if the kids will use them!
- Each kid gets their own small blanket so there is no fighting
- If the car stops, every single person tries to use the potty. No exceptions, not even Dad
- Look for rest stops along your route before you leave. In my experience through the southern end of I95, most rest stops are well lit, often have police presence, and the facilities are clean. We have napped many times under a street lamp at a rest stop!

 

[Cajun23]

Thank you for all of the suggestions.

 

[arminnie]

We drive from New Orleans 2-3 times a year. We are older (retired) but do not have children in the car.

We usually take 2 days to get there. We’ve stopped in Marianna, Fl which is about halfway if we’ve gotten off late. We’ve made Tallahassee a stop to have dinner with friends.

But my favorite is to go to Ocala. You are practically at WDW (about 80 miles) and can easily get a room dirt cheap. I think we paid $74 for Marriott Fairfield Inn.

We usually drive straight thru on the way back. But have stopped in Mobile just because we like Mobile.

The good thing about this trip is that you don’t have to worry about traffic in big cities like the people who have to deal with cities like Boston, NY, DC or Atlanta. Mobile and Tallahassee have not been a problem even during “rush hour”. Might be a problem if Florida State or Florida football traffic was out in full force. But that’s never happened to us.

 

[DisneyOma]

Something I forgot to mention is a lot of times we will leave super early in the morning like 3 or 4 and let the kids sleep for a good portion of our drive. This only works if you have a driver that can handle staying a wake and driving that time of morning though.

We are usually so buzzed about our trip that we are awake and on the road by 4 AM getting an early start means we get through most of the urban areas before traffic picks up too!

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We do drive trips all the time and I did growing up too.
18 hours or less we do in one day.
19/20+ we split.

DH and I sleep terribly in motels on the road. Both of us our antsy and just want to keep moving toward our destination. We have figured out that 18 in a day is our limit, though.

My kids are younger (almost 3 and 1.5) but friends of mine wrap up some inexpensive toys/puzzle type things from the dollar store and have them open them either when crossing state lines or every couple hours. We will do this too soon.

We have been doing long drive trips with both kids since they were a few months old so luc

 

[arminnie]

We are usually so buzzed about our trip that we are awake and on the road by 4 AM getting an early start means we get through most of the urban areas before traffic picks up too!

My dh insists on solely packing the car with no help from me. Which is a good thing now that I am disabled. But as he is slow as molasses I consider it “early” if we get off by 9 or 10. It has even been as late as 4 pm!!!

But I do not help with the driving if he leaves much after noon so he pays a price for taking so much time to get out on the road.

 

[Cajun23]

Thanks everyone. I think i can make the drive straight with no problem as some has mentioned. And as some of you mentioned, i think if i get about 3 hours out I will want to just finish the drive. I worry about how long i can take the "Are we there yet, every 5 mins?"

Also, if i arrived a day early at the resort, what are the odds that they would have an available room to check in a day early?

 

[arminnie]

Also, if i arrived a day early at the resort, what are the odds that they would have an available room to check in a day early?

It depends on which resort and the time of year. I would not count on being able to just check into your room a day early. Might be okay, but might not.

But you would be able to find something in the area offsite for a night. I’d probably just change my reservation to arrive that day. It’s a very doable drive in a day.

 

[ajwolfe]

We are usually so buzzed about our trip that we are awake and on the road by 4 AM getting an early start means we get through most of the urban areas before traffic picks up too!

Ditto!!

 

[mrs_coco]

We drove from nj to fl (17 hours) with our irish twins 2x, at 10 & 22 months and 1.5 and 2.5 and our best bet was to get up at 2am let the kids sleep, stop for breakfast do a little more driving then stop at a restaurant with a play area for a break.

it is manageable with no overnights, but decide that if it becomes unbearable you will stop at a reasonably priced hotel. we once stopped for 3 hours for $50 just to get out change the kids, etc.

as far as the resort is concerned we have always been able to check-in early. and if we had to wait we relax and the pool or playground.