Driving to WDW with toddlers

[sk!mom]

Or do you think we are crazy for even thinking about driving this far? Thank you!

I think you're crazy! and A lot braver than me.

I could have done it with mine at 3 but driving that far with a 14 month old

My DD was such a bad traveler at that age that I dreaded a drive to the grocery store with her.

Good Luck! Your kids must be better travelers than mine if your planning it.

 

[katerkat]

We've not driven to WDW, but we drove from WA to OK, back, NJ to Kansas, back, and we're getting ready to do WA to OK again. Those trips were 20-28 hours of driving. We were anti-DVD player - after all, I didn't have one when I was a kid and I survived! Gramma brought her portable DVD player on the NJ to Kansas and it made a huge difference! Enough that Russ' third birthday present was an installed DVD player with wireless headphones.

We stop every two hours to stretch and change drivers. And we realize that these stretches with a toddler take 3x as long as they did when it was just DH and I. We fill the car with car at each stop. Break out a new toy to entice Russ back into the car. Stop at places with play areas (or a park) for lunch so he can burn off some energy. Get a hotel with a pool so he can burn off energy when we get there, so he'll fall asleep at night. We try not to drive more than 8-10 hours a day.

We can't drive at night, though, because I am very badly night blind.

We also have a GPS so we can plan the next stop and route around traffic if need be.

 

[bear74]

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.

where in Tx are you driving from? Mapquest says 17hrs from our house we are driving this Aug with DD's 5 and 10 months when we go

 

[IdoBeliveinFairies]

we drove 20hrs last year with our 3 year old. It went much much smoother than I ever thought it would. we left at around 6 in the evening and drove throughout the night so she mostly slept we stocked our car with juice and water and snack foods some good snugly toys and after super we changed her into pjs and let he watch movies till she fell asleep. She didn't wake up until breakfast time the next morning and so we just made a stop for some breakfast and shortly thereafter we hit Florida she was so excited at that point it wasn't hard to keep her entertained. So I wouldn't worry about the 3year old, but maybe the 14 month old..and i would drive through the night. Good luck. Oh and my dd wants to drive again this year instead of a plane ride

 

[bear74]

Question for those that drive thru the night.

How do you keep yourself awake. Are you used to working night shift? Trying to figure out when we are going to leave our place.

TIA

 

[GoofyG]

Mapquest says 18 1/2 hrs from our house but we've never done it in less than 21 hrs by the time you make all of the pit stops.

 

[marieNJkitty]

That is a good question.

You are all very helpful! I would like to try and drive at night. Do any of you have a good car seat you can recommend? I am concerned about the comfort of our car seat. My DS has an Evenflo Triumph. When he falls asleep in it, he slumps forward and looks so uncomfortable.

 

[belle92471]

Hello,

We will be driving to WDW from NE PA in Aug. with an almost 5yoDD and 22 mos old DS. I posted a similar question a ways back and the help and tips I got were tremendous. So thankful for these boards and the wonderful people who respond with advice.

In your last post you said you are concerned with you sons car seat. My DD has always slumped forward in her car seat/booster and it just looks soooo uncomfortable. About 2 weeks ago I was at the $1 spot at Target and found those soft travel pillows (the ones that are moon shaped - they were $2 at the $1 spot - go figure!!!) Gonna try it for my DD tomorrow night for our drive home from NJ after Easter dinner. Hoping it will help. I'll let you know. She now sits in a booster seat with no back and hoping we can tilt the seat back a bit so she is more reclined. Don't know if the pillow will work for my DS but bought one anyway ($2 right)

ME(36) DH(39) DD(4) DS(1)

 

[3mickeymom]

We have made the trip to Disney from Nj and we also drove at night, leaving around 6pm. stopped for dinner, watched a movie and then all 3 of my boys fell asleep until morning. My husband and i sleep and drive in shifts. If you choose to drive at night bring - a sleep mask for the person resting
- earplugs
- hats with a brim that you can place on the
kids heads to block ou the bright lights at
rest stops
-a large plasric jar with a wide opening and a
very secure lid(if you have a little boy)This is
for when they have to go peepee NOW. We
also brought a little potty lined with plastic
bags.
-Remember crayons MELT in hot cars
Driving down was not too bad because we were so excited. Coming home was long, sad and we were exhausted. We should have planned to stop somewhere.

 

[Drewsmommybear]

This will be the second time we drive to WDW with DS3. Not only will we drive straight thru pulling our camper, but we will also do most of the driving at night. DH and I have this deal--he doesn't fly and I don't drive so if we drive, he does the whole thing. DS and I will leave the house for most of the day next Saturday. When we come home, my son will get a bath and his jammies and then we'll wake up DH, get in the car and go. DH and I listen to books on tape and talk all the way down. Last year, our son woke up in Georgia, just in time for breakfast and then he watched movies on the DVD player or read books for the rest of the trip.

If you're going to do this, I suggest a day in between for resting.

We didn't have the luxury of driving through the night on the way home so DS watched movies and we listened to XM kids for most of the trip. In the middle of Georgia, we stopped for lunch and he threw up all over the Crystal Burger. That kind of put a damper on the trip.

Some of our other life savers were a magnadoodle, Crayola markers, and a whole load of Mickey stickers.

 

[The Lion King]

We leave tonight and here's how I got ready. Yesterday we went to the library and checked out some Disney movies that we didn't already own or that they have not seen. Also for the last couple of months I have been picking up Disney toys wherever I have seen them: Family Dollar, Target, Wal-Mart, Michael's and put them in a box. I found some Disney lunch sacks at Kroger and put the toys in several bags so I can pass them out along the way.

We also have plenty of snacks, gameboys, activity binders with games,etc. Our children are 8 and 5; plus we are taking our 9 yo niece and 17 yo nephew. We are leaving around midnight tonight.

 

[tmatthews]

sorry for any repetitions since I didn't read all the posts but I thought I would throw in my 2 cents! We drove twice DD13, DS10, DS2. The first time it wasn't bad. We had just purchased a Yukon XL so there was a lot of room to move around. Bought DVD players and plenty of DVDs. I stocked up on dollar store stuff to keep everyone occupied. We only stopped for gas and bathrooms and stopped to eat a real breakfast once in FL since we were going to arrive very early. Kept a cooler closeby w/ drinks and snacks-easily reachable. now the second time it was a disaster from the start! DS3 threw up in VA NOT GOOD PICTURE YOUR GETTING RIGHT!?!? Worse in person. For some reason we couldn't make it through w/ the driving. We pulled over in a rest stop to sleep for a couple of hours. All in all...if the savings was big enough..I would do it agaiN!