Driving to WDW with toddlers

[marieNJkitty]

My husband and I are planning on driving to WDW with our kids in November. It will be about a 22 hour drive from our house. Our DS will turn 3 and our DD will be 14 months during our trip. Has anyone driven this far with toddlers? Do you have any tips or advice on how to keep everyone happy during the trip? Or do you think we are crazy for even thinking about driving this far? Thank you!

 

[jazzmine]

We are driving with my three year old next week. We figure we'll either say "that wasn't so bad" or "NEVER again!" We have the dvd player for the trip, favorite snuggly toy, snacks, juice boxes, and we don't mind stopping for breaks or to get out and stretch our legs. We are going to have my inlaws GPS system so we can find Chik-fil-a on the way down so my DS can get out and play and run some energy out. We aren't going to RUSH getting down there - we are stopping overnight on the trip.

I'll post when we get back about how the drive went!

 

[Aliceacc]

Not crazy, but certainly braver than I

I've never done it. But until the pros arrive, I'll offer common sense stuff you've probably already got covered:

- Assume you'll hit some snow-related delays. So have extra blankets etc ready, along with a shovel and anything else that might help. You live in Michigan; you know the drill.

As much as you would love to drive 5 or 6 hours without a stop, realize that you kids simply can't do that, especially your older one. He'll need to stretch his legs every 2 hours or so.

Will he be toilet trained at that point? Either way, pretty much assume he'll have some accidents.

You NEED a DVD player for the car. And a good supply of movies they haven't seen yet. Save a few for that long ride home; you don't want to use up all your surprises on the ride down.

 

[ChillyWilleys]

I've done it twice from MA to WDW with DD first when she was 2 then again at 3, and will be doing it again this year at 4. We go straight through. No overnight stops. People think we're crazy, but I really didn't think it was that bad. We had the portable DVD player, brought snacks, and occasionally I'd whip out a small toy (preferably new) just to give her something to grab her attention for a bit to kill the boredom. She slept a great deal of the way since she napped and slept over night. It was a bit of a restless sleep though which made it difficult for me to sleep because every wimper she made woke me up. DH had no problem sleeping through it when it was my turn to drive. In the morning though she wasn't cranky so I don't think it was even as bad as I made it out to be. We stopped for BR breaks and to stretch legs probable every 3 hours or so, and stopped to eat 2 times. We thought we'd be exhausted when we arrived but actually got a second wind.

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

We will be driving to WDW in June this year with my two toddlers. DS will be almost 3, and dd will be 5 in August. We are bringing lots of movies for the drive, snacks, and activities to do in the car. It will be a 15 hours drive and we do plan on stopping for the night somewhere before finishing the trip the next day. This trip will probably decide for us if we will drive again next time, or if we will go back to flying.

 

[syko]

We drove from WDW to DL last year with our 12 month old.
By the time we got back we knew every Micky Mouse Club House DVD word for word!!!!!!!

 

[kileybeth]

been there, done that, lots of times. You'll manage just fine. last car trip everyone got the stomach flu, at the time it was stressful sure, but looking back, you just keep going and stopping and going and stopping but eventually you get there and in our case, everyone was over it once we arrived (24 hour drive, should have been 16) and after a days "rest" we were ready to go and missed no park time.

so I would say take a pack of lysol cleaning wipes under the seat, grocery bags for trash stash, and box of baby wipes for little ones. quarters for laundry once you arrive.

we have never had a DVD player in car until last year and never missed it at all. we do usually knock out 8-10 hours by driving over night. those window clings are fun to play with. colored pencils are good, no crayons, they will melt. audio cassettes really hold ther interest b/c it's something different, books on tape. always something new is a good bet.

just make sur eyou laugh t it all and don't let it turn into a nightmare. Remember this is suppose to be fun. We have laughed our way through some looong trips.

Driving again in a week, after flying last couple trips. with 4 kids, 2 teens, 2 toddlers. We will see if we are still laughing this time! 2-3 hours vs 20-24 hours. oh boy.

 

[tzolkin]

we are driving about the same distance. (kids 9, 4, 22mo) we are going to leave in the late afternoon and will be driving straight through. (we learned this tip from my parents who used to drive back and forth between NY and FL many times with 4 small children. it seemed that every time they decided to stop over at a hotel the youngest ones would not sleep because they had been sleeping/sitting in the car for 12 hours.) we will be visiting family for a few days in FL, so we won't be heading straight to the parks after the long drive. it may be tough to drive straight through and then spend all day in a park. but i guess if you only spend on day driving that will give you an extra day to take it easy while you're there.

 

[mickeyfan0805]

A loyt of good thoughts here - will use them myself down the road. I'll add two considerations.

1) Have you travelled long distances with young ones before? If not, make sure you are conservative in how much ground you expect to cover per hour. The overnight thing will help (if your kids will sleep in the car), but when they are awake, frequent stops will hinder your progress. We're usually lucky to average 55 miles/hour when we factor in stops.

2) Do your homework to make sure it is worthwhile. We were planning a similar drive from MI to ME this summer. With the rise of gas prices, a recalculation of the cost meant that we were only saving $200 by driving instead of flying (including the costs of car rental, etc... when we are there), and that was without factoring in ware and tare on our car. That was not worth the hassle or effort. We've now booked flights and are a lot more excited about the trip.

We will be far more likely to do teh straight-through drive stuff in the future, but with our dd's (3 and almost 2), we have struggles with the 6 hours trip from MI to WI at times. So, for now, it's not worth the couple hundred bucks we'd save.

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

we drove from chicago to WDW when DD was 1

the BEST thing we EVER did was to get a DVD installed in the car & we brought about 20+ dvds!!

it was awesome...she watched & slept (and ate)

it was really not bad at all

its just good to stop & let the littles ones stretch the little legs if you can

 

[marieNJkitty]

Thanks for all the great tips and advice!!!

 

[Goofy'slady]

We're driving down in May and we did as well last year when our youngest was 23months and our other daughter was 8. It's about a 15-16 hour drive from Maryland but we split it up into two days. We have a mini-van but our's doesn't have the dvd player in it cuz my husband was too cheap to have one put in; "why have one installed when we can just bring the laptop and they can watch movies on that? and it's a bigger screen". What can I say? Anyway we bring movies for the girls to watch, coloring books and markers by Caryola(the ones that don't write on anything except their special paper) they're great cuz the interior of you car won't get dirty with marker marks. We also grab some new cheap dollar toys they girls haven't played with so they have that "new" feeling and we make frequent stops to let them stretch and run around.

Hope you have a smooth and carefree drive.

T.

 

[Mommymcgee]

All our family lives far away so we've driven many, many times with little ones.

One important tip, whenever you stop for bathroom break/food etc. GET GAS! Even if you have 1/2 a tank. That way if you are lucky and the kids fall asleep, you can drive, drive, drive w/o stopping. Nothing stinks more than to have sleeping kids, making good time, then have to stop to get gas and bamm they wake up and are miserable.

 

[GoofyG]

We've made the trip 3 times in the last year. Our drive is about 21 hours. We usually stop overnight. A DVD player and Color Wonders are great. We stop at McDonalds and go to the bathroom and then let the kids play for about 15 minutes, grab some food and eat it in the car. That way they get to stretch and burn some energy. The last trip the almost 4 year old played with her leapster the whole trip.

 

[stacy6552]

We took a road trip once when our sons were 7 and 18 mos. Out of desperation about an hour into our trip (fighting kids), we stopped and bought the Harry Potter book on CD that we were in the middle of reading to our older son. It was magic. Not a peep out of either one down or back. I think its Jim Dahl, the reader. HP4 is about 22 hours, total.

 

[canadianmom2three]

We've done the trip a number of times too, and it is right about the same distance for us 22-24 hours. Our first year DS was 6 months, DD 3 and DS 6We drove straight thru as well, but since then we've done it a lot of different ways, but straight thru is the best with really young kids cause they end up sleeping for so long the trip isn't as unbearable. We didn't have a DVD player for that trip, and it was fine. We did some books on tape, and brought along some toys etc. but what we did do that made it really fun, was we went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of small toys etc, and wrapped them in tissue. Along the trip we would give them to the kids to unwrap, and then they had something new and novel to play with for a bit. They love crayola window writers, and window clings too, little lights, glow bracelets, and really anything actually, unwrapping was half the fun! When they got older, we gave them maps, so they could follow where we were. HTH.

 

[bweagle]

We took a trip from Ohio to Yellowstone last summer with a 3 year old and 15 month old. We bought Dual-screen DVD players for the trip, which quickly became our good friend. We also packed a variety of kid friendly CD's to listen too. We tried not to push how far we drove every day (kept it to about 500 miles max) and made sure to stop frequently to stretch. I kept an organizer on the back of my seat for my son to reach with a variety of little toys to keep him busy and also kept a bag near me of toys I could pass back to my DD as well. It also definitely helped that we were blessed with kids who travel well. We did have times here and there when I thought we must have been insane for making the trip, but they quickly passed and the vacation is one we'll always remember. Enjoy!

 

[stitch1094]

My husband and I are planning on driving to WDW with our kids in November. It will be about a 22 hour drive from our house. Our DS will turn 3 and our DD will be 14 months during our trip. Has anyone driven this far with toddlers? Do you have any tips or advice on how to keep everyone happy during the trip? Or do you think we are crazy for even thinking about driving this far? Thank you!

I've done the drive from Hartford to WDW a few times with young kids. My advice is .... TO FLY! Seriously, if there is anyway to book airfare then do it. Driving with small children is awful, especially when its 22 hours. If you MUST drive, then I would highly recommend driving through the night while the kids are sleeping. Also try to make regualr stops so the kids can get out of their car seats and walk/crawl around.

Good luck!

 

[ibela]

There are some really great tips here, thanks! We're driving with our 2 yr old in May from NJ. She enjoys being in a car and sleeps in her carseat, I'm just concerned about the distance. I'm crossing my fingers that it goes well, I'm sure these tips will help!

 

[Sheaboys]

We also drive straight through from Mass. to Florida. Last time we drove was June 2007 with a 9, 7, 5 and 10 month old. We had 1 dual DVD player with head phones, one single screen DVD with headphones, CD players and MP3 players. Books to read, Leapsters (with headphones). For the baby just his little rattle type toys.

We drove leaving around 4pm. Stopped and ate supper on the road, around bedtime, stopped again for potty breaks and to change into jammies. Got everyone settled with blankets and pillows to get comfy. They all fell asleep very close to normal bedtime and slept all night. Up around 6:30-7am or so. Works out perfect for us.