Driving from PA - 17 hours

[lnuss1988]

I am still undecided about whether we are going to be driving of flying, but I am leaning more towards driving. We are on a budget and flying is just a little pricey for my likes, even though it will only take 2 1/2 hours, compared to 17-20.

When we go, our DD will be 4 years old. Any suggestions on times to leave? Things to do? Previous experiences with children on long car rides?

She does good in the car now and shes only 2. She's always been a car baby/toddler. So I'm not to worried about it, but I would like to get some ideas on what I can get for her to keep her occupied.

 

[JEWLSVERN]

We have taken a few long car rides. I found leaving after dinner or afternoon the best time. A few hours and then the kids go to sleep. Then we can get hours of uninterrupted driving done without them being bored. Sometimes we stop around midnight, sometimes we drive straight through.
DVD players and tablets are your friend on a long drive. We have the kind that attach to the headrest. Then i just make sure to put it where an adult can reach to change the movies. Put the DVDs in a case so it's easy to find a new one.
Coloring books and other favorite toys. I also make sure to bring a favorite blanket and lovey if they sleep with one. Even my 6 year old still wants her comfort items on a long trip.

 

[PSUGuy]

For years we've been driving from Wilkes-Barre to Myrtle Beach straight through. I've found that a 6pm start gets us to Baltimore and DC after the worst of the traffic but for some reason there's been slow going on I95 south of 495 until Petersburg or there abouts. After that it's smooth sailing through NC and SC in the wee hours. That's as far as we go, don't think I'll ever drive to WDW, I refuse to lose that much Disney time to travel.

Bill From PA

 

[Betty Rohrer]

the one suggestion I have would be to use colored pencils or markers for drawing, no crayons. one lost melted crayon can ruin carseat, back seat and/or clothes. yes we learned the hard way. grandsons love the clear marker that make magic pictures appear. spill proof juice or drinks and nonmelting snacks. we drive from Lancaster area of Pa

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

This trip will be in two years? I wouldn't plan too much; who knows what will happen between now and then. Maybe airline fares will be inexpensive when you want to travel.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

If it were me since you have some time before your trip I would apply for the SWA card when the offer the 50,000 point for spending $2000 and fly. You can fly for cheap then. Rather than spending 40 hours of your vacation time just to travel to/from Florida.

We just got our card and were able pay for our car insurance and our due for our DVC and hit the $2000 fast.

 

[Aatif911]

We live in Michigan and it takes us 18 hours to drive down to WDW. We have driven 3 times with kids and as they get older it's been easier to drive.

First trip was in April 2012 when our DDs were 3 and 1. We had tons of activities from coloring books to our iPads. We left at 5 and stopped for dinner 2 hours into the drive. We got to WDW by 3 pm the next day. Needed to take potty breaks and such.

Second trip was in September of 2012 were the daughters were 4 and 1. On that trip we left at 11pm the kids slept till 7 am. We arrived at WDW by 1pm. Needed a long nap to rest up in Atlanta.

Third trip we was in May of 2013 where we left at 7am. The kids were 4 and 2 and they behaved real good. On this trip we invested in head rest TVs. And brought all of our disney movies with us. Needless to say we checked in at 7am the next day. The concierge at POFQ were awesome and let us check in then.

In summary it costs us roughly $400 of gas for a round trip to WDW and back. But it costs us $1250 on average to fly. We spend that extra money and stay at disney for longer period of time.

 

[lnuss1988]

I'm not so much worried about the time it takes to get there, I am planning leaving a day early for the driving. I just want ideas of things for my DD to do. I highly doubt we will fly, my DH and MIL (if I decide for them to go) don't like the idea of flying and I'm OK with driving. I was thinking about leaving 3/4am so we can get some good time in before my DD wakes up for the day, with stops added I figured we'd get there around midnight 1am of our day of arrival, so then we can sleep and still have the whole day.

 

[Aatif911]

I'm not so much worried about the time it takes to get there, I am planning leaving a day early for the driving. I just want ideas of things for my DD to do. I highly doubt we will fly, my DH and MIL (if I decide for them to go) don't like the idea of flying and I'm OK with driving. I was thinking about leaving 3/4am so we can get some good time in before my DD wakes up for the day, with stops added I figured we'd get there around midnight 1am of our day of arrival, so then we can sleep and still have the whole day.

You have a good plan going! When ever we go we are lucky to have the first day as a rest day, where we chech out DTD and other resorts. Then start going to the pards the next day.

Do you have a portable DVD player? Highly recommend it with disney/kid movies.

 

[lnuss1988]

A portable DVD player is on my list of things to get within the coming 1 1/2 years.

 

[chartle]

A couple of points

I wouldn't plan too much this early, you have no idea what your DD will be like in 2 years. Also not sure how to ask this but how are you with "family planning". If you look at my sig, when our oldest was 17 months old we didn't expect to have a new born.

Driving straight through and getting in at 1 am could be a major hit on your family. It makes it sound like you will have a whole day the next day, well a whole day for us is getting to a park at RD which means us getting up at 6 30. I wouldn't plan on doing much that first day.

You may think of adding a hotel stay at least on the way down to break up such a long drive.

 

[lnuss1988]

Our "family planning" is pretty much set in stone on not having anymore. lol

When my DH and I started discussing how we would get to WDW, he put the flying option right out the door. I have been working on him with it, but he would prefer to drive. Doesn't much matter to me.

Anyways, we had discussed stopping overnight so when arrive our first day we will be refreshed and not zombies and basically waste our first day. We don't plan on hitting up any parks the day we arrive. We are keeping it an open day.

I'm not setting anything it stone at this point, just weighing my options, if we decide to invite the ILs, I wanna get there input on getting there, even though they are so easy going it won't matter to them.

But, leaving a day early(won't be an issue) and stopping over night sounds a lot better, especially with a toddler on board!!

 

[Kingdome8]

We drove this past April with our 3 girls. 9,5,12 months. Wasn't a bad ride. We left at 3 am an stayed over night in savanah ga. Witch was really fun.
We stopped at south of the border and let them buy some souvenirs. But it was fun cause they had signs for south of border for like 100 miles. So the kids would get excited for the countdown. Was a nice break too. Took pics and stuff
But leaving at 3 gave The kids 4 hours of sleep. We had plenty of snacks and kept iPads charged, coloring books. It was good. Next time I will drive straight thru on way down but stop on way home.

On drive down if leave early enuff it's ok to drive thru DC. But on way home take rt 301 around dc. Dc traffic always killed us.

 

[chartle]

Anyways, we had discussed stopping overnight so when arrive our first day we will be refreshed and not zombies and basically waste our first day. We don't plan on hitting up any parks the day we arrive. We are keeping it an open day.

Staying overnight won't cost anymore in fact it would be cheaper since you would be trading a night at ASM with a night at say a microtel.

You of course could sleep in that first day but if you stayed overnight on the road you could wake up at a normal time, drive some more and do whatever you planned to do that day starting at the same time but without a killer drive and odd night's sleep.