Driving......

[WDWorBUST]

We are driving from Tulsa, Ok for the first time with a 2 year old. We drove before but with 7 people in a minivan and it was not a pleasant experience. There will be 4 adults and the 2 year old. My question is this....do you think we would be more comfortable in a full-size SUV (IE: Chevy Envoy) or mini-van (IE: Chevy Uplander)??

 

[Got Quattro?]

just make sure you use the roof rack...too many people stuff everything into the car taking up space for people..use the roof rack to give the people room.

on driving with the 2 year old... DRIVE ALL NIGHT

levae at 6:00pm or so....drive all night while the kids are sleeping. you will be so much better

 

[WDWorBUST]

I'd love to use the roof rack - but it's a rental and they don't allow it. So we're stuck with everything inside and hopefully packing light. I would love to leave at 6pm and drive all night but unfortunately that won't work either because we're leaving the day after Thanksgiving - and we have too much going on Thanksgiving Day to leave that early. But thanks for the very good advice - even if I can't use it this time

 

[luvmy2sams]

Hello fellow Oklahoman!

I think either car choice would be fine and quite comfortable for your trip. I'd probably base my trip on which vehicle rides smoother and gets better gas mileage.

We've driven to WDW from Lawton with DD when she was 21 months and again at ages 3 and 5. We've also towed DS at age 15 months. We'd never be able to drive through the night, since it's too important to us to get a good night's sleep and arrive well-rested. We never had any problems with either of the kids, and we made some road trip memories that I wouldn't trade for anything. With that said, we found great airfare out of DFW for our January trip and will be flying with the 2 kids for the first time.

Have a great trip!

 

[WDWorBUST]

Well hey there down there

Sammi does pretty good in the car - but we've never went farther than 6 hours away so being stuck in the car for two days I'm sure will be difficult on her. But she's a trooper so I think she'll ultimately do fine.

I'm mostly worried about luggage room. Going in late November/early December you never know what the weather will be like so it seems like we take even more clothes then.

We're taking a DVD player with us and probably books and toys for her....any other suggestions to make the trip easier??

We have flown her two prior trips and to be honest I'm kind of looking forward to driving. Hauling a carseat and stroller and luggage through the airport was just not fun either time. And we tried to consolidate the second trip. However she did GREAT flying so it wasn't all bad - and we got there a lot quicker.

Have fun on your trip and thanks for the encouragement

 

[luvmy2sams]

Last trip down we bought empty sticker books for the kids (DD was 5 and DS was 15 months) and would hand out a page of stickers every so often. DS wasn't into putting the stickers in the book at that point, but he loved being able to play with the Buzz ones once DD got them off the page for him. He's really into doing it all by himself now, so maybe yours would be too. In the past I've also made Disney coloring books. Magna Doodles are great, too. We drive to my parents in Houston every time school is out, so the kiddos are used to 7+ hour car trips. I think I've got a whole closet full of tried entertainment things, but my brain is not coming up with more than this today.

Where are you planning to stop for the night? We've stayed in Shreveport, Nachidoces (know that one's spelled wrong), Gulfport, Pensacola and Tallahassee over the years, so if you need a hotel recommendation (or warning ) let me know.

We always stopped to eat at either McDonald's or Burger King..something with an indoor playground. I think I know where all the playgrounds are from here to Orlando . We'd let the kids play while we ate and then would do a happy meal to go when the kids had run off some energy.

DH is already stressing about the airport. We can't decide whether or not to take the stroller and carseat. I'm sure we'll be debating that one up until we walk out the door.

 

[WDWorBUST]

We're actually going across I-40 and then cutting down. We're staying in Macon, GA or Tifton, GA - just depends on how things look that day at the point I have to cancel one or the other. We were originally going to go down and across the coast and stay in Biloxi - but after the hurricane we don't want to go through that area. And actually I got a letter that our original hotel could not honor our reservation - I'm still puzzled by that since I had already cancelled it myself but hey - it's all good.

I hadn't thought about sticker books and she does love them so I'll have to pick up a couple of new ones for her. And she just got a small magnadoodle for her birthday....I'll have to make sure I take that too.

Well try not to stress too much about the airport. And as big of a pain as it is - I would take both carseat and stroller again - if that helps at all

 

[Got Quattro?]

I'd love to use the roof rack - but it's a rental and they don't allow it.

It's a rental...who cares what they say. the roof rack was put on the car for you to put things up there. If you are worried about damage...then buy the insurance....then who cares what you do to it.

USE THE ROOF RACK

 

[JodyTG]

It's a rental...who cares what they say. the roof rack was put on the car for you to put things up there. If you are worried about damage...then buy the insurance....then who cares what you do to it.

USE THE ROOF RACK

I agree. Don't ask about it and if someone says something to you when you return the car, just say, "I didn't know."