Driving to WDW: Am I Crazy to Consider this?

[mom4boys]

Hi!!!

I finally got my husband on board to go back to Disney.. and we're going to drive.. as well from Northeastern PA..

In our group.. we have 2 grown sons that are able to drive.. so that leaves 4 driivers.. for our group.. of six.. our other sons will be nine and fourteen..


Plus we drive to myrtle beach every year .. and the kids .. for the most part are pretty good..

 

[C&G'sMama]

Also, Its easier to pack more, like surprise souvies for the kids, breakfast foods, and snacks, which can end up saving you even more money!

Yup we do the same thing with souvenirs. We shop the Disney Outlet during the year. We usually get costumes after Halloween to bring with us. Last year is was a Tinker Bell Dress (adult size) and a Jack Sparrow Outfit for DS. We get them for under $20, much less then you'll pay in the parks.

And then we get Beach Towels, T-Shirts etc on Clearance and then leave them on the bed after we leave the room so the kids have them when we get back.

 

[lowdybug]

We have done a 16 hr trip by car twice and flown. We are driving this summer, not to save money,but because we really don't mind the drive that much and like having our vehicle available. One trip we stopped overnight and one trip we drove straight through because all the kids were asleep. Probably just play it by ear this time as well. The switching planes and catching shuttles, etc. is almost as exhausting to me as the drive.

 

[trasor]

Spirit out of Atlantic City has airfare in July from $58-67 pp one way. We're flying in August with the same rates and for a family of 4 it's $610.00. Atlantic City is a wonderful airport to leave from. It has 5 gates so there is seldom any delays. We never arrive more than 1 1/2 hrs before because security moves quickly. Coming home you can have your luggage and be out of the airport in 15 min. Check it out.

 

[CuteAndFluffy]

We drove straight through with 4 adults and 1 toddler in a minivan. It wasn't bad. The parents were more go-go-go than my husband and I are (we would have stopped more frequently), but everyone still liked one another at the end.

We're driving with our 1 year old this spring and they'll be driving down at the same time in their own car. Little One's pretty good in the car, but we'll likely start driving early (5am) and go about 2 1/2 hours before a rest stop break and then 5 hours for a big break. We'll split the driving over two days so that we can stop about 3/4 of the way down and just have a short drive and some park time on the second day.

We'll stop at rest stops for breaks and fast food places with playlands for lunches. Ipod video and books in the car. Balls, frisbees and other games for the rest stops.

One thing we're going to do is try not to eat in the car. We think if we save snacks for stops it will stay more in line with regular eating habits...we'll see how it works

 

[southtexasmom]

My family of 6 is driving for the first time this year, not because of the airfare but because our oldest is graduating from high school in May and this could very well be our last family vacation with all 4 of our kids. We want to make it last as long as possible. Its an 18 hour trip but we are taking 3 days to get there with several stops planned along the way, we plan to drive home in 2 days.

 

[AirGoofy]

Not from Philly, but we have a 13 hour car trip, and make the drive every year and twice last year. Two dds do not ride well in the car, and if we stopped as often as we threatened to with them, it would take 4 times that long. Originally, we started leaving around 6:00 PM at night and roll into Disney around 8:00 AM (time zone change). Now that they are older (8,5), they still do not ride well, but we have the DVD player and each have a Nintendo DS to keep them occupied. On the way home, we drive with more daylight.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

We love road trips. We can afford to fly, but prefer the drives. Our vacation starts the minute we pull out of the drive...

 

[billybobblockhead]

We're gonna drive this year too, but unlike the majority of you folks, we only have about 9 hours from NC. Leaving after work, stopover in Savannah, and will make the full drive back home in 1 day. Looking forward to it as we have flown multiple times, but have never made the trip by car.

 

[lovemygrowingfamily]

We just returned from Disney and our first road trip with out kids. We are from Northern Minnesota.All 4000+ miles roundtrip with our kids who were 1,3,5,7, and 10 when we left for the trip.Now a week after we got home they are 2,4,6,7, and 10

Let me tell you it was wonderful!!We drove straight through only stopping for potty breaks and gas fills. My kids had a wonderful time and actually were really good both down there and back. It was great taking our truck to the parks some days and we didn't have to worry about what we bought and luggage fees. It cost us about $650 for gas driving a suburban. We had a box of snacks,backpack full of color books little dollar store toys and 2 portable dvd players that would play 2 different movies at 1 time. Driving at night when they kids are sleeping and there is less traffic on the road is what i recommend. You get farther with less diaper changes and crying.

We are planning our next road trip to Florida to both a beach and a couple days at disney and we said it was a 1 time deal lol.

 

[happymommy]

We live near BWI, and in the summer the airfare (Southwest) can be rock bottom (we've gotten as low as $100 round trip).

We did drive once, the December after 9/11. I didn't really want to fly, so we took two weeks. We set off after school on a Friday (the kids were almost 3 and 5, and in half day preschool). Picked up DH from work and left about lunchtime. We planned on stopping, but the kids fell asleep about 8:00 pm, so we just kept on going. And going. Got into Orlando about 1:30 am, slept a bit, but the kids were up at 6:00 am. That first day wasn't too much fun, but we had a lot of time (11 nights in Orlando, then one night down in Naples to see my folks). The drive home, honestly, wasn't fun.

The pros were that we could be on our schedule, and I had our new minivan packed with lots of food (we were at the BWV in a one bedroom villa) and our double stroller. We didn't need to do any grocery shopping, as I had lots of pantry items and soy milk, juice boxes, water, etc. in the van.

The hard thing was the drive home.

My DH has said he won't do it again. I won't either, as we usually get pretty great airfare from this area, and have 3 airports to choose from.

If I were you, I'd just start checking out airfare. Summer is usually cheap from the East Coast. Right now it's $89 each way nonstop from Philadelphia to Orlando on Southwest or Airtran.

If you have a lot of extra time and want to try the road trip, it can be fun.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

We drove from central IN last spring. We stopped just north of the GA/FL border and went the rest of the day the next day. Stayed off-site that night then went straight into the parks the following day.

Things that were invaluable to the drive: breaks! Get out and stretch your legs! Portable DVD player. Kept the kids distracted - especially when we hit traffic in ATL. Coloring books, maybe bendaroos. We also took a Nintendo DS for our oldest. The drive was actually better than we could have ever expected.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We are a bit further North, but we have driven from Rochester, NY every one of our trips to Disney. We have gone with one, two and three kids as youngas 9 months old (and as old as 14 .) We actually have a lot of fun with it. We drive straight through for the most part (pulling off for a couple hours nap if we need it.) We could nevere go to Disney (well, maybe pone but not every other year) if we had to fly and the kids know this so they make the best out of it. They watch movies, play games, work on their scrpabooks and rest up for the week ahead that awaits them (and on the way home the week they just had.) People say we are crazy, but we really don't mind.

Oh, and one thing I did on our last trip was bribe the kids. Yes, I said bribed them. It may not work for some families but it worked for us. I told the kids at the end of each hour I would give them each $1 if they didn't fight, ask if we were there yet, or generally be irritating to their sisters. It is a 21 hour ride so they could earn $21 spending money for our trip. If they did act up, they owed us $1. So in the end they could make up to $21 or loose up to $21 of the money they had earned in the months leading up to our trip. It worked AMAZING!!! Best money we ever spent! The younger 2 got their full $21 and my teenager got around maybe $18 but for her that was amazing!!! (She loves to tell her sisters to be quiet in a not as nice way for everything including sometimes breathing!) It was great and made for such a smooth ride. In fact we didn't do it at first on the ride home and my DH said let's offer it again so we did about half way home and again it changed the tone of the trip. It may not be for everyone, but it may help some people out. Truth is $20 I would have bought them a shirt of something for that much anyway, so really it wasn't any different but they saw it as them winning a prize and it worked well.

But crazy to drive? We'd say no but I suspect many of your friends will tell you differently. Whever we say we are going people say "you're driving??? Are yo usure you want to do that???" and when I tell them we have many times before they do say we are nuts.

 

[Roveer]

In just a few weeks we will be making our 9th trip to WDW . It will be our 8th time driving from northern NJ. It started out with 1 kid, then 2, then a 3rd and finally a 4th. We've probably done it 4 times with 4 kids. 2 days, 1,100 miles and while it may be challenging at times, we really look forward to the entire adventure. As a matter of fact we just had one of our disney map Sundays. That's where mom takes out the basket with all the maps, pictures, and other paper stuff we've accumulated over the years. The kids just love this on a cold February Sunday morning.

Tips:

1. Plan, plan, plan...

2. Leave Early. When we leave by 6am the day goes much better. One year we didn't leave until 9:30 and it was the worst drive we ever had. Wife was ready to kill me. That will never happen again. This year I'm going to try and get on the road by 5:30am.

3. NJ to Florence SC first day, then on to orlando the 2nd. Don't stop in Rocky Mount, it's not far enough. If you get to Florence and get an early start the next day, you are pulling into WDW by 1pm and that's with a stop for lunch.

4. TV's, DVD, walkmen, DS, anything it takes to keep them occupied. This year I'm upgrading the whole entertainment system. 4 10" screens with the ability to play 3 different movies at the same time on any of the screens. Dora for the little one, Mighty Machines for the boy, and something else for the other two. Inflight entertainment to the max. Also bringing my EVDO router so we will also have mobile internet for the laptops. Whooaaa...

5. Pack what you know you'll need in the car. Wife has to down to a science, snacks, garbage containers, wipes, napkins you name it.

6. Make it an adventure. Our kids prefer to drive over flying (don't ask me why), but we make the first day and night a fun part of the vacation, not just a boring drive down the highway. When we pull into the hotel in Florence, we have a really great indoor pool waiting for us. Then off to dinner and to bed.

7. When the meltdown begins, it's time to stop. Our meltdowns seem to happen right at meal times so it works out pretty well. Sometimes I push it a litttle too far and I end up paying for it. Funny thing is, with absolutly no planning for what exit we are going to get off, we find we stop in the same places each year, southbound and northbound. Really crazy.

I just looked at airfare this morning for the 6 of us on continental. Now granted It's easter week that we are travelling, but it was $5,500.00 on Continental. I sneak the gas receipts into my expense report and end up paying 118.00+110.00 for the 2 hotels. Ah, hello, that's lots of extra days at WDW for us...

This year since we are going during easter break (along with the entire east coast), I'm really considering a detour down route 81 to get around Baltimore and DC. We hit bad traffic in DC last august and don't want to experience that again.

Best of luck.

 

[Desiree430]

Hello!

We are in NJ here not far from Philadelphia. This is our 3rd year driving and we have 2 children ages 6 and 4 (this trip). We leave at midnight and drive straight thru. It really hasn't been a bad drive for us and much cheaper. We spend about $400 round trip on gas. $150 going down and $50 for the week in Florida and $150 coming home and one last $50 fill in Delaware and that tank ends up lasting us the rest of the week. (we take our own vehicle)

I pack activity bags for the kids with their travel journals, books to read, coloring books and for my son his DS. We also have a portable DVD player that helps keep them entertained. We also keep a cooler with juices and sandwiches for them to snack on.

We usually stop every 4 hours for gas and bathroom breaks. Usually hitting South of the Border about 6:30am. We leave on a thursday night and don't have to check into our place until saturday so we usually stop around Daytona Beach (usually around 3:30-4:00) and check into a room their...shower, eat and get to sleep early. The next morning we eat breakfast and go to the beach for a few hours since this is the only chance on the trip for the beach. We leave about 1:30and it's about another hour to Orlando at this point. Check in is at 3:00pm for where we stay (off-site)

The kids really do well and sleep thru most of the trip. So you definitly wouldn't be crazy for driving

 

[Fantasmic23]

We just got back from our second DW trip. Again, we drove from Connecticut!

We left last Saturday morning (the 13th) and drove as far as North Carolina (to where my brother-in-law lives). We stayed overnight and continued on to Florida on Sunday morning (the 14th). We arrived (in Kissimmee, where we were staying) sometime after 5:30 p.m.

My best advice? Take advantage of the rest stops along the way! Not only to go to the bathroom, but to let the kids blow off a little steam. It's also a great opportunity for you and your DH to stretch and walk around a bit.

My DD (11) took along her iPod and her portable DVD player. My DS (7) took along his Nintendo DS. His sister also shared her iPod with him and he also looked on as she watched her DVDs (many of them Disney-themed).

My kids tend to get sick to their stomachs when they try to read in the car so when they tired of the electronic entertainment, they played games such as I Spy and "I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing ... Apples. I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing ... Barbecue Sauce."

Lots of snacks helped, too. I packed bottled water, juice boxes, apples, crackers, cookies, baggies full of cereal, etc. We kept a box of garbage bags in the car and at whatever rest stop/gas station/restaurant we stopped at, we threw the bag out. A container of baby wipes helped a lot, too!

DH did all of the driving, so he would revive himself with a cold bottle of water and a small can of Red Bull every now and then. He and I listened to the radio, CDs and did a lot of talking.

 

[Faldred]

1. Plan, plan, plan...

5. Pack what you know you'll need in the car. Wife has to down to a science, snacks, garbage containers, wipes, napkins you name it.

Seconding both of these. It may sound a bit over-the-top, but I had extremely detailed checklists on not only what to pack, but where it was going to go in the car. Between the night before departure and the morning of, the checklist was executed, everything was in its proper place, and we had the smoothest car trip we've ever had.

For shorter trips (to grandparent's places), I haven't bothered, and we always wind up forgetting stuff. Not so with our Disney trip -- for a 10-day trip (including travel days), there wasn't one time where I said I forgot to pack something.

As a general tip on this score, I'd recommend breaking down your "loading list" in this manner:

• Cargo Area: Note what items you're going to need on the road and what items you won't need until you get there. Load the cargo area so that you can easily access the stuff you'll need during the drive (including for an overnight hotel stay, if applicable) without having to unload and then reload the car.
• Rear passenger seats: Put a list together for each child's area of what it is going to need to be stocked with, and make sure it's all there before departing. Much better than finding out 2 hours down the road that someone forgot their iPod or DS (or favorite cartridge).
• Front seats: As over-detailed as it sounds, plan out not only what you'll need up front, but where it goes (glove compartment, center console, etc.). It just makes it that much easier to ensure that everything is in place before you start.

Anyone who knows me would tell you that I'm not anywhere close to this kind of organized on a day-to-day. But for a trip like this, planning and organization help a lot. You want to make sue you don't forget anything, and you want to have ready access to the things you will need on the way. Detailed checklists for packing and loading will make things run much, much more smoothly.