Driving To Disney

[monymony3471]

We did it last year and I swore I'd never do it again. But this last minute decision to go again this year, there's no room in our budget for airfare.

Now that I know what I know from driving last year, what's your plan of attack if you are driving to WDW. We have a good 24 hours of driving each way.

 

[vanreg]

We also have a good 24 hour drive both ways.

I found a travel bingo game, printed off the disney journal pages, and got Disney hidden picture books from costco.

We will also have a DVD player...that was a lifesaver on our trip to South Carolina last year.

I am also looking for some other ideas.

 

[debbi801]

is to leave between 4-5 am in the morning.

Put your kids to bed wearing comfy clothes that they can travel in. Load up the car. Try and get some sleep, if you're not too excited. Wake up very early and sleep walk/carry your kids into the car. Give them pillows and blankets so that they are as comfortable as they can be in a car. Stop someplace to get some coffee for you and head on your way.

We got a huge leg of the journey done that way before the kids even woke up and we needed to start making pit stops for food and bathroom breaks.

Other things that helped us last time (our kids were 2, 9 & 11) was to bring a portable DVD player, lots of snacks, fun travel activities like finding license plates for each state and travel bingo, and taking plenty of breaks where everyone could burn off energy--McD's with playgrounds, chuck e cheese, parks, etc. We also stopped overnight at someplace that had an indoor pool so they could swim.

 

[taximomfor4]

is to leave between 4-5 am in the morning.

.

For a 24 hr drive, would you get a hotel for one night halfway through the drive? So, say, driving 4-5am until about 7pm, stop for the night to swim and sleep, leave the hotel at 7am, arrive at WDW around 8pm?

OP, we did an 18hr drive from NE Ohio last year (with 4 kids ages 2 to 12). We left around 8am, drove all day with several stops, and then I drove into the night. We ended up arriving at WDW around 2:30am (oops). Do you plan to stay in a hotel on the way down, or drive straight through? We are driving again this August, and I am completely undecided. My best advice is to map out your drive and try to time it so that you miss all big cities during their rush hours. (I still have to do that, too).

 

[Disnelson]

We have 2 kids ages 3 & 4. The dual DVD player worked great for us. We drove 14 to 15 hours a day there and back with little problems.

 

[dsnymomof4]

I know exactly how you feel. We drove last July and it took so long to get there (18 hours vs 2.5 hours flying). I would much rather fly, but am not having much luck finding reasonably priced flights for our time frame. Anyway, we left around 7:30 pm on Thursday night and arrived around 2:00p. Friday afternoon. It was great because the kids watched a movie (DVD player is a MUST!), then drifted off to sleep. By the time they woke up around 7:00am. we were already in South Carolina or so. We only stopped briefly at rest stops, brought snacks with us in the car. If we drive again, we will probably keep to this timetable - the kids slept most of the time and didn't get that bored in the car. Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[EPCOT_VA]

We are driving this Sunday from Northern Virginia. We plan a 10 hour drive from the Washington DC area to Hilton Head, SC to spend the night at DVC HH. Then we will enjoy the following morning at the resort and take the last 5 or 6 hours into WDW on Monday afternoon.

We recently installed the DVD player in the van. The kids have wireless headphones, or the sound can be piped through the FM radio. They can use their gamecube on that system as well. Everything will be in the van that we need. So, except for the random bathroom stop, we will keep moving down the highway.

One word of caution. A couple of years ago we did the drive with a cooler that plugs into the car power. (Kind of a mini cooler/refrigerator). On the way home things shifted and it got covered up. Long story short, we came very close to having a fire inside the car! All of the hard plastic over the vent was completely melted away and the hard plastic back of my 4 year old's seat was so hot that you couldn't put your hand on it.

We discovered it just in time. I dumped the whole unit at a rest stop in South Carolina. I said a thank you prayer after that one. SCARY!

We will stick with normal coolers with ice packs from now on.

 

[monymony3471]

Great ideas.

When we drove last year, we left after I had to work a full day thinking the kids would sleep most of the way. Good idea, but I was the one who was tired and it was rough. Plus the kids were so pumped, they were restless on the way down. Being restless and over tired didn't help. I made up stuff for them to do while we traveled through each state, but it wasn't much fun drivng through in the dark. So, I'm planning on driving down after I hope a good nights sleep. If we leave Thanksgiving morning or even the day after there shouldn't be much traffic due to the holiday. Again, I hope.

 

[In Luv with Disney]

We are driving from New York in December if the airfares don't come down. This will be my first time with the kids, but DH did it last year as a favor to a friend. He met us there! He made record time, a little over 14 hours. CRAZY!!! I know we will never get there in that amount of time with 2 little ones, though!

We are going to leave when DH gets out of work...11pm. The kids will be sleeping. They probably won't get up until about 7-8a. That's 8 or 9 hours of travel time already done without them even having a clue! We'll stop, have breakfast and trek on.

We have the DVD player for the kids, and DS who will be 5 in December, will also bring along his Leapster and of course, coloring books and crayons!

 

[WAHMto5]

We diver every time (I'm not a fan of flying) and actually enjoy it. We always leave around midnight and try to keep the kids up (late naps) so we can get a good 6~7 hours of drining time in. We also purchase NEW movies for the trip for the dvd player and depending on your kids ages, games for the game systems, ect.. Lots of snacks and drinks. When we stop for potty breaks, we always let them run around a bit to run some energy off

I also print off a bunch of car activites like car bingo and coloring sheets. For the little ones, new little toys and little goodie bags (from the $1.00 store) help also!

 

[LIFERBABE]

We are just back from a 2200 mile drive (RT) to WDW.

We drive straight thru. What helps, is we switch off more frequently during our normal sleeping hours (12 midnight and 5am) sometimes every hour. We switch before we get tired and the frequent breaks really help. We are never in a rush to get there or get back, so it takes the stress off.

We also put more trip between our drives. We used to go for a week, but found that too quick a turnaround for such a long drive. Now we try to stay 10 nights or more if we drive. Shorter trips are fine if we fly.

Our Ds's are 7 and 9 and prefer the drive over flying. I like driving because we can bring what we want and dont have to rent a car. Dh wont do WDW without a car, but he is mellowing.

We have the DVD player and I always buy a couple of new movies. This trip we had Chicken Little and High School musical.

We've picked out some of our favorite exits and rest stops along the way and try to use the same stops there and back. Easy access to highway, clean restrooms, cheap gas, etc. Oh! and good coffee!

It takes us about 16 - 18 hours each way. This last trip, we were supposed to only stay 12 nights, but we were not ready to come home so we extended our trip 1 more night and then did not leave until late in the evening.
That's when driving is worth it!

 

[lady9]

We too make the 18 hour drive from NE Ohio. My DH normally goes to bed at 7pm and gets up at 2:30am for work (bonus-he's home by 1:30pm everyday). The day we leave, he goes to bed about 4pm and gets up about 11:30 and we are on our way by midnight. It doesn't bother him to drive at night without company so the kids and I go to sleep. We usually sleep until 7 or 8 and then stop for breakfast. My kids both get terrible carsick if they watch TV (we learned the hard way) or try to color in the car. However, they both love books on tape or CD so we stock up on those from the library before we leave. Our favorites are Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. Last year we listened to all 4 books about Peter and Fudge by Judy Blume. This year DS, 10, has an MP3 player for his music so we will take CD of DD's, 4, Kindermusik or other children's tapes. We like Raffi and Laurie Berkner. Our trips usually go smoothly because our kids are good travelers.

 

[notafan]

I'm getting dragged down to the money sucking hole again. Unfortunately, I have to do 99% of the driving with a 2 and 4 year old. Last year we left around 4AM and stopped near the SC/GA border. Got into Orlando mid-afternoon the next day. Stayed off site got to bed early and was at the park first thing the next morning. This year we bought a dual DVD-player since the kids are getting older and the happy meal toys aren't so popular now. I hope the kids don't get car sick with the DVD player. Guess we better do a road test.

 

[java]

I'm getting dragged down to the money sucking hole again. Unfortunately, I have to do 99% of the driving with a 2 and 4 year old. Last year we left around 4AM and stopped near the SC/GA border. Got into Orlando mid-afternoon the next day. Stayed off site got to bed early and was at the park first thing the next morning. This year we bought a dual DVD-player since the kids are getting older and the happy meal toys aren't so popular now. I hope the kids don't get car sick with the DVD player. Guess we better do a road test.

Mind if I ask where you are leaving from? Because we are driving down and I am trying to see about how long it will take us to get to SC/GA border. and getting into Orlando mid afternoon the next day- what time did you leave in the morning? I am trying to judge our travel times.
Oh and on the happy meals- right now they have Cars toys in the happy meals and my ds(3) is loving them. They are actually nicer than the ones I almost bought in the Disney store. The Lightening Mcspeed is a pull back racer.

 

[DW2006]

We are driving too. It is 20+ hrs for us. Hubby has a block of 14 days and so we'll be driving in two days, stopping along the way and not rushing. Our kids are young newly 8, 6, 4 and 1 at the time of our trip. We have the DVD in the van and will have the gameboys charged and ready to go along with chapter books.

 

[Disneyrsh]

You might want to search the threads on this topic, there's a ton of good posts out there already-some of which I've written .

We drive down 4-5 times a year, 7-8 hours each way, for the past 10 years, and I've written about a *lot* of good tips on other threads-just click on search up there to the right and put in "driving tips" or "driving hints".

You'll get a plethora of info

 

[In a hurry]

We leave at 4:00 am, drive until 4ish, get a room with a pool, and swim them until they are exhausted. It works for us. It is usually 7ish before they start to get hungry, or need to start the pit-stops.

 

[shellynn24]

How do you guys find a hotel with an indoor pool? The one time we actually drove somewhere we couldn't even find a hotel with a vacancy. My husband hates to drive, so if we go I have to do all the driving (at least 24 hrs). I'm at the point of refusing to pay the ridiculous airfares from El Paso. Flying just costs too much $$ and ends up tacking an extra $1500 onto the vacation expenses. I've had enough of airlines!!!! I thought we could drive to my SIL in Dallas stay for a couple of days and then head on out to WDW. DH still won't agree Hopefully this drive to CA next week will go smoothly so he might eventually agree to go to FL, we'll see

 

[Disneyrsh]

I think hotels.com lets you sort for an indoor pool.

 

[notafan]

Mind if I ask where you are leaving from? Because we are driving down and I am trying to see about how long it will take us to get to SC/GA border. and getting into Orlando mid afternoon the next day- what time did you leave in the morning? I am trying to judge our travel times.
Oh and on the happy meals- right now they have Cars toys in the happy meals and my ds(3) is loving them. They are actually nicer than the ones I almost bought in the Disney store. The Lightening Mcspeed is a pull back racer.

I suggest using one of the route planning services available on line to plan out your travel route. I have my favorites but am not allowed to post URLs. Try a couple and compare. Our departure times and all would be meaningless because we have to make lots of pit stops for the wife and kids.