Driving to the World

[shellyfive]

We have decided to drive down this Jan------we are coming from NJ-------where do people normally stop???? ANy must-see places along the way????
We are hoping this trip will be full of memories for them (and not all bad ones!!!)because we will tour on the way down and back home(we usually fly)
Any advice would be appreciated.........Please tell me the good,the bad and the ugly, so I can prepare enough headache medicine

 

[minnie1012]

We are driving from NJ too in September. We have driven before but first time with 2 kids. We drove to Myrtle Beach with my daughter when she was 2 1/2 but that is the farthest we have gone. How old are your kids? Lots of DVD's and little wrapped surprises! As far as stopping we are going to play it by ear. We obviously want to get there as soon as possible so we are going to drive as far as we can before they get cranky. If they get cranky we will stop and let them walk around at a rest stop or something. We will stay overnight maybe in South Carolina.

 

[Mickeyherewecome123]

Not driving from NJ, but We are drviing from Chicago area. It will be our first time driving. We are looking for some good ideas to keep the kiddos busy. We have two 5 year olds.

Fran

 

[JTDisney]

Drive Fast...Very Fast (just kidding). I would consume them with DVD's and video games which is not something we normally do in our car. We typically would drive through the night when we drove. It is a miserable drive but if you can leave at night (say 10) and HOPE the kids sleep through the night you will need less time to keep them occupied. This way you will not hear "are we there yet" a mile from your home!!

As far as "must see" places along 95...there are none. The Pedro signs are all you can look forward to for South of the Boarder. Don't stop there because the place is a dump.

Benadryl also works well!!

 

[KNJWDW]

Hi!

Do you by chance have a GPS in your vehicle? We drove down last year from the Milwaukee area and used it. If you have a GPS, there is a website called poi-factory.com. You can look for points of interest along your route and download the info. onto your GPS. My husband did all of the research on it, but it is really handy. You can search for all kinds of attractions on the website, from restaurants, stores, scenic things, rest areas, etc. My husband mentioned that the restaurants from the foodnetwork show, Diners, Drive Ins and Dives is even on there.

Amy

 

[koolaidmoms]

We drive from Rochester, NY to WDW at least once if not two or three times a year. My children have been doing since they were 18 mo. old (DD is on her 7th trip in April and DS on his 5th). We do DVDs, they each have their own CD player and music or books on DVD (with headphones), Leapsters (with headphones) - see the trend - we also bring a Mommy's Magic Bag.

Every morning I bring out one or two "special" new toys from Mommy's Magic Bag that I have bought on clearance and saved for such an occasion as this. We have View Masters with Disney discs, Color Wonders are great (they do not dry out as fast as other markers if they are dropped without caps), small magnet books (Walmart) and other things. Over the lap trays are also a God send for us. We have ones with pockets on the sides for small objects such as crayons and animals.

Each day we pack them a special lunch box that is only used for trips with little packages of crackers, juice and a special treat like candy or a lollipop that is theirs to eat whenever they wish (even at 7:00 am).

There is a great children's museum in Savannah, GA if you need to stop. Also we take soccer balls or frisbees and have races when we stop a rest areas. Gets the wiggles out really fast.

Hope this helps some. We treat the drive as part of the trip and adventure. Your kids will remember this forever. Have fun with it!

 

[daleswife]

We drive down just about every time we go....We live in West Virginia and its only about a 14 hour trip for us. But we leave on Friday night after DH gets home from work (around 5ish). This year we are driving to Savannah GA and spending the night. Take us about 8 hours to get there. IF you really want a scenic drive down, You can drive down I-95 then hit I-26 and go to Charleston. I use to live there and downtown is absolutely beautiful....but it will take you about an hour to get there. The restaurants are awsome and the views are amazing......

 

[mickeyluvr004]

we drove from Connecticut in Sept and we left at 10pm and drove to Virginia Beach and arrived there at 730am what ever you do DO NOT stay at the Days Inn in Norfolk as it was awful the bed had bugs in it which bit my 4 year old several times on the legs leaving BIG welts which hurt and itched her soo bad and we ate at the Golden Corral in Norfolk which was awful we were sick the rest of the day your best bet DON'T stay in Virginia at all go down to North Carolina nicer places to stay, and like the other poster said DO NOT stop at South of the Border it is a total DUMP. I asked to stop as the last time I was there I was a child my husband had never been the signs get you all excited and you get there for NOTHING. we actually drove from Virginia Beach to St.Augustine and stayed at a Days Inn WONDERFUL and very clean and actually has a Denny's right on premises, from there it was a 2 hour drive to Orlando (we had time to blow).
We are driving again in Sept and we now know what to stop for and what not to and like the others said LOTS AND LOTS OF dvd's and leave when they are sleeping (my husband works 3rd shift so he can sleep all day and drive all night) It was sooooooooo peaceful to watch them sleep mine are 9 and 4. And keep a look out for Cracker Barrel resturants as they are soo cheap and soooo good something for everyone. Good luck and Have fun

 

[mlynn]

Just drove from NJ in Sept. I bought a book called drive I 95. This was so helpful.With knowing what exit had a bathroom for the kids and what one had food the kids would eat.
We left around 1pm (daughter had a play in the morning we didn't want her to miss at school) We drove to South Carolina by around 10pm we stopped.
The only traffic mess we were in is they are doing ALOT of work on 95 in Baltimore. (if we didn't get into this mess we would have made it to GA)Once pass there it was smooth sailing.

 

[mmcphee]

As far as "must see" places along 95...there are none. The Pedro signs are all you can look forward to for South of the Boarder. Don't stop there because the place is a dump.

We drive from Connecticut annually, and I agree there isn't much to see along 95 south of DC. We leave after dinner and plan on breakfast at a Cracker Barrel in NC. After breakfast my husband sleeps and I drive. We usually only have 8 more hours of driving, which takes more like 10 or 11 since the kids are now awake.

We stop as little as possible because once we let the kids out of the car they do not want to get back in for any reason. A DVD player is a must with some new movies and some dollar store junk.

 

[LovinPooh]

We are driving from NH in 33 days. We normally leave early, but this time we are leaving when the kids get out of school. Hoping to make it past DC so we can get up the next day and jsut book it to WDW. Once your past DC, its just smooth sailing. We bring a bunch of snacks. Saves a bunch of money and stops for the hungry bellys in the back seat. We also bring pillows. The first trip we made our kids fell asleep in the back and their heads were all over the place. So now on top of the DVD player, the walkmans, the snacks, coloring books, books, we bring pillows and blankets.
As for stops, we always have Waffle House for breakfast. So tasty! For those of us who dont have any at home lol. SOTB, stopped there once, that was enough. The signs are funny and a good way to keep track on how close you are to being out of NC. Cause that state irritates me the most!lol Too long!!
All in all, we enjoy the family time, and seeing different things. The only time we get anxious is when we get into FL past Jacksonville. It seems like forever after that for some reason. Have a great trip!

 

[Nlbnikki]

We just did the drive from Pa in Nov. On the way down we left at 8pm and drove straight thru. This worked out fine and DH & I took turns napping. We always stop for gas at SOTB and wake the kids up DD's 6 &2,this trip they then stayed awake for a couple hours,which we were fine with. Our kids favorite thing is pipe cleaners,actually we all play with them. Our kids are realy easy to travel with in the car. When we eat we stop somewhere with an indoor playland & let the kids play while we eat. Then we get there food to go. This is a big treat because we try to avoid those places usually. The whole trip both ways my kids only asked for a movie 3 or 4 times, not too bad for over 40 hours in the car. Have fun.

 

[starann]

Do not stop and eat at Country Skillet....BAD,BAD, Bad

Stick with places you know, like Cracker Barrell and so on.

We drove straight through from PA (3 adult drivers) so I have no hotel reccomendations

 

[armomof3lvsdisney]

Check out the Transportation board, there is alot of information on there for us who drive to WDW. There is a sticky at the top for drivers and there is a really great post for 2000+ round trip drivers, you may have to search a couple of pages to find the tread but it is worth your time to check it out. Have a great trip, we always drive and find that it's part of our vacation experience. It's such a great feeling when the car's packed and house is locked up tight, and all of that hard work is done (it's hard work getting everything ready for a trip) But you get in the car and your on your way and all that hard work is so worth it. It may not be relaxing for DH because he's the driver. (I would help drive, but he doesn't like the way I drive ) But for me it's really relaxing and exciting at the same time. I read and do puzzles and eat, if only I could Dis it would be perfect. The kids all have things to keep them occupied, thank goodness for small electronic devices. No matter how old the kids get they still like to play the license plate game. March can't get here soon enough!!

 

[LovinPooh]

I will add that there is a EconoLodge right by Kings Dominion that I would recommend staying away from. The place is down right gross and exspensive!

 

[daisyduck123]

No stopping overnight for us...just for 3 or 4 potty breaks.

We drive straight thru, exactly 14 hours. We leave at 2am, & arrive at 4pm...check-in time. It works perfectly for us.

We bring the Gamecube (would never bring our Xbox 360 or Wii) in our Denali & the kids play that on the way down.

 

[LovinPooh]

hadnt noticed if anyone had posted this link.
Its great.


http://www.i95exitguide.com/index.php

 

[btcrane]

While we used to always fly on our vacations to Florida, the past couple of years we've decided to drive because of all the hassles, and the cost of flying five people. Thankfully, our kids have always traveled well. Personally, I'm one of the few that don't like driving through the night while the kids are asleep. I would be tired and cranky when we eventually arrive--no fun for them to begin a magical vacation. My favorite thing to do is leave around 3 or 4 in the morning--they fall back asleep for a couple of hours after getting in the car, then wake up for breakfast. I only need 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night, so I'm good to drive until afternoon, then DH takes over. I'll then nap for a while and we can drive straight through (about 13 hours). We only stop when necessary as we drive down. Everyone is so impatient to be at Disney World, they're not interested in making any long stops along the way.

This year, we won't get to leave until the kids are through with school for the day (Friday), so will stop around Savannah for the night.

Everyone here has already given great tips--my one piece of advice will be to plan ahead and make a reservation someplace. Maybe it's my own bad luck, but when I've tried to just drive until I'm too tired to drive and stop for the night, I can never find a hotel room. That is NO FUN at midnight, believe me.

 

[tinkyrie]

We have decided to drive down this Jan------we are coming from NJ-------where do people normally stop???? ANy must-see places along the way????
We are hoping this trip will be full of memories for them (and not all bad ones!!!)because we will tour on the way down and back home(we usually fly)
Any advice would be appreciated.........Please tell me the good,the bad and the ugly, so I can prepare enough headache medicine

I say, make the most of it and ENJOY!! My boys got the Disney Scene it game for Christmas and we all LOVE it! It would be a lot of fun to have on your trip.
Watching older Disney movies that you haven't seen in a while would be a fun way to pass the time as well. Have some special snacks and make stops when it feels like you're all going crazy!