Driving I-5 South...play areas for kids?

[AnneUCSB]

We are leaving next Saturday for our Halloween trip to DLR and will be driving from the Bay Area down to SoCal with our 3 boys age 6 yrs, 4 yrs, and 16 months. Anyone have any suggestions for places to stop (McD's, Burger King, Wendy's, etc.) that have a play area for kids? I'd like to give them a break as it is a 6+ hour drive and they will need to get their wiggles out Thanks!

 

[teach1abc]

We drove down last year with a 6 and 2 yr old from the Bay Area. People told us to stop at Harris Ranch. We had the kids set up with movies, Disney themed coloring books, toys from the $ Store, and some new books. We packed sandwiches and snacks in the car in case they got hungry. They were doing so well in the car that we didn't want to stop when we got close to HR and kept driving. We stopped right after the grapevine for gas and potty breaks and got right back in the car. It took us just over 6 hours. We had 4 day park hoppers so the incentive to get there quickly was to get to Disney for part of the day. Then we went two full days, half day on our last day until around 3 and then got in the car and drove home when they were really tired! Have fun!

 

[PinkBudgie]

It is an 8 hour drive for us from the north bay. When our boys were little, we never stopped at fast food places, but at rest stops. We brought our own lunch and ate at a picnic table. The boys thought it was fun to have a picnic and they had plenty of space to run around on the grass and get their energy out.

 

[OurDogCisco]

I remember those days... driving with toddlers. It gets easier... Anyways, I remember going on the McDonald's website and mapping out our stops or possible stops all the way down. Now, this was way before GPS. Now with GPS I certain you could map them all out in your system.

We found back then driving during normal daylight hours is horrible especially when you get to LA and end up in the 3 pm traffic and spend 2 hours in bumper to bumper traffic. I highly recommend if you plan to go during that time that you learn the long route which goes on the East side of I-5 and around a bit but you totally avoid the traffic. We do the same going home. Or if your little ones are good sleepers in the car I'd leave at night. We leave either at 4 pm at night or leave at 4 am. My kids are not early risers so they slept well if we left like at 4 am. We'd drive 4 hours and then, stop for breakfast and change and then, be at DL by 11 am or so. Or if we left at night they'd be awake from 4 to about 8 pm. We'd stop for dinner sometime in between. Around 8 pm put in a 2 hour movie and by 10 pm they were out and we'd be there around 11 pm.

Good luck... it takes a few tries before you figure out what will work for your family.