? for people who drive to WDW

[ahutton]

We've done 2 1100ish mile trips in the past couple months. DD1 is almost 4, DD2 is 20 months. On the first trip we learned it is very important to make as much progress as possible on our first day of driving. That way the kids are excited about the trip (little DD is more excited that her sister is excited but gets a general idea) and they have a bit more patience. We drive as long and last as we can on the first day, so the second day we can wake up, have breakfast and some good play time and then make the last dash. When I did it in reverse and did a short drive the first night the second day was difficult for us, the kids ran out of calm. However on the 2nd trip we bought a power invertor (Sams Club or Radio Shack) that allowed DH to plug in his laptop and they watched movies. Much easier. Stops were for food, gas and play all in one.

My biggest tip: When we did the food stops, we picked a place with a play area. We let the kids run and play while we ate. We then took their food to go and let them eat in their seats. It meant they got a good 20-30 minutes in the playscape instead of sitting at a table eating. Sadly, that meant all fast food stops, but it was worth it in their "getting the bugs out" credit!

 

[cinder1]

The stopping at a playland area reminded me of something my stepmother used to do when my half brothers were little. She did lots of long distance trips and she would stop at a fast food place and get food to go, then head to a park or rest stop to eat so the kids could play outside for awhile. Depends on the time of year you are driving and where if such a thing is feasible. We stopped at McDonalds several times so the kids could play. It really helped.

 

[cecamut]

My wife and I drove from just north of Philly to Disney last August with a 9 month old, 6 year old and 11 year old over a 3 day period. We left on a Thursday morning at 6:00am and drove to just north of "South of the Border" in North Carolina. That part took us 8 hours with a few stops. It was nice to stop there and take a break for the day. The kids went swimming at the hotel and we did some other touristy things in the town.

Friday morning, we left at 7:00am and drove to Daytona Beach. We arrived in Daytona at 4:00pm - again we stopped along the way for a few breaks and lunch. In Daytona, we sunbathed on the beach and went swimming in the ocean and in the evening, we went to the local hot spots for dinner and some sight seeing.

We had reservations CSR for Saturday. We left Daytona at 9:00am and arrived at CSR at 10:30 - nice short trip! We were just going to check in and leave for the parks - one nice surprise was that they had our room already. We unpacked the car and by noon, the 5 of us were on the Disney bus riding to Magic Kingdom!

We had reservations for the hotels on the way down already. So we didn't have to hurry and find a place to stay.

The trip went so well with our kids that we plan on driving down to WDW this coming June. We spent about 200 dollars on gas and tolls. The hotels were about 80 and 110 dollars. When all totalled, we saved a ton of money by driving down and not flying and then renting a car. Hope this helps. Any other questions, feel free to email me.

Charlie

 

[kadaten]

Just did 11 hour drive with 3 year old and 18 month old.

Didn't plan to drive all night and get in at breakfast, but since we spent our entire first day of driving in the ER with allergic reaction, was the only way we would make it on time! That said, I think it was the best long-distance road trip we've taken. DD (3yo) doesn't mind the car, but 18mo DS hates his car seat. Even movies only keep him occupied for so long. Put them in the car at 5pm....drove until dinner time (6:30)...dinner out of the car to stretch legs and put on jammies....back in and drove all night. DH did most of the driving with me snoozing or keeping him company. We took a potty break at a rest area and switched off driving. Pulled into Waffle House for breakfast 20 minutes from Disney at 6:15am. Not bad with dinner stop, rest area stop, and gas stop. Much more pleasant for DS to be sleeping rather than screaming

Checked in at 8am and rooms were ready! Put down bags and found the rest of our group!
Katie

 

[margiemc]

We live in Philly, and we drove down the last two times we went and are driving down again in a couple of weeks! We usually leave between 2 and 3am and drive all the way through until Kingsland, GA, which is 3 miles outside of the FL border. Plenty of hotels and restaurants at that exit. That's about a 14 hour ride. Next day, we leave around 8am and are at Disney by 11:30am. My DD6, slept from the time we put her in the car, until about 8am. We were almost out of VA by then. We had a gameboy, colored pencils (no crayons, they melt in hot cars!), books on tape and a Discman. The Discman was the best! We stopped for lunch, and restroom breaks and walked around when we stopped. We ate dinner at the Chik-Fil-A near the hotel, because it had a playground inside it. It worked out great! Enjoy your trip!

Go Eagles!

 

[lagirl]

We are driving to WDW next month. We have plans to leave my house around 1pm on a Friday (have to check out DD from school) and drive halfway (about 5 hours) to check in a hotel and eat dinner. Saturday morning we'll get up, eat, pack up the car and drive to the house we rented, only stopping for a quick lunch and potty breaks (we have a DD (6) and DS (3)). Coming home though, we'll drive straight though.

 

[gulley5]

We've done the driving thing four years straight now. What we have found works best is that we go to bed early. And then pull the kids out of bed and still in jammies at about 4 am to leave. We try to drive straight through. By the time they wake up at about 9, we have been on the road for 5 hrs. We live in northern Ohio so with stops and everything, it takes about 19 hrs. My kids do really well if we take our time at stops. And we watch videos the whole way down. btw I have a 5, 2, and 1 yr old. Last year we drove with a 4, 1, and newborn. That was the only time that we have had to stop and stay. And that was because of the newborn.

 

[MiaSRN62]

We're from the Philly area. We've been driving to WDW for years. We do have a VHS player in the car so it really helps. Also, I bring puzzle books, coloring books etc. My son brings his gameboy and personal CD player.
Our plan is we usually leave around 6 am and drive until about 7 pm. Definitely take some short pit-stops (bathroom trips) and try and stop and get out and stretch around noon-1 pm for a sit down lunch off of one of the I-95 exits, even if it's just McDonalds. Try to not drive past 7 pm because sometimes those motels/hotels along the way really book up. We ran into this one time and never again. We drove up until about 10 pm at night and couldn't find a vacancy anywhere ! This was after about 15 stops in the state of North Carolina. A couple of the clerks told us they had rented all their rooms by 8 or 9 pm. On the way down, we like Waltersboro, SC (it's souther SC) because they offer a free hot breakfast and the rooms are pretty clean and fairly recently refurbished. It's a Days Inn I believe. We have also driven as far as GA and stopped at the Savannah Inn---very clean, but only a continental breakfast (aka donuts, coffee, cold cereal). I think the secret with young kids (mine are now 11, 13 & 17) is frequent, short (5-10 min) rest stops to stretch legs and maybe get a drink or snack. The first time we drove down, my kids were 7, 9 and 12.
I would discourage driving straight through for exactly the reason you mentioned. You and your husband will be beyond exhausted and grumpy. We did a drive straight thru once and felt our entire first day at the resort/hotel was a waste. We were too "out of it" to really enjoy anything. The most you'll feel like doing is sitting and veggin' by the pool---and believe me, you will feel like "vegetables". And even if your kids do sleep straight through----it won't be as restful a sleep as they would have in their own beds and they may be a little grumpy too. I feel it's worth it to splurge on the extra 2 days (1 on way down and 1 on way back) to sleep the night. True, you do have to schedule an extra 2 days into your vacation, but well worth it imho. Good luck and have fun on the drive !

 

[BruceTheShark]

We too have driven the past 3 trips. We live in Chicago and it is 19 hours with no stops which of course we must make. We typically drive to GA about 12 hours and spend the night and then get up early and drive the rest of the way. My son was 2, and 2 1/2 the past 3 trips. One of those my DS and I drove it alone as we were staying a week and DH flew dwon to meet us for the weekend. I brought with tons of story tapes from the library, a magnadoodle, a tray that attatches to the carseat so he could color and build with legos. I wrapped up snacks in gift paper so it was fun for him to open. I brought bubbles and a football and we stopped at rest stops to get out and stretch our legs.

When we go back down in May we are driving straight through. We figure it will take us about 22 hours if we stop for meals and potty breaks. My son typically doesn't sleep in the car (really) and we are hoping that when we check n about 2am he will fall right asleep along with us in the hotel and sleep in the next day. We are using our first day there as a non park day.

Have a safe drive!

 

[kaylajr]

i posted earlier but i wanted to add

not all kids sleep in the car on the way down

when we drove from NY to FLA with a 4 and 6 year old
they did not sleep in the car for even 1 minute not down or back

and i had counted on them sleeping some so be prepared in case yours decide to stay awake also

 

[JillL.]

We drove to WDW in september and live in NW ohio its about a 19 hour trip but we split it up like this...Leave at 6pm after a nice dinner and warm baths and PJ's for the kids(DD41/2 and DS 18 months)...(note i also made sure they had lots of running around time during the day)...drive to just inside Tennessee(8 hours with 2 stops)... i have family there and they left a key under the mat for us... we slept till about 8am and spent the day with family kids running around out side with cousins...(could easily spend the day at pool at hotel)
then dinner and nice warm bath and PJ's and at 6 pm we are off agian...arriveing at an off site hotel in orlando at 6 am its so in-expensive we pay for the night before so we can have the room waiting for us..we then have our continental breakfast and hubby sleeps first shift of 5 hours...while the kids and i shop for snacks and drinks to take to park and play in the pool...and i sleep second shift :Just a few hours as he drove the most of the way..at dinner time we eat at a nice place...last year at margaretavilles at UScity walk and shopped a little..then back to the room and early to bed and early check in at our resort and off to the parks...we were all rested and the kids were in great spirits! the way home we did it in reverse...everyones tips about snacks art supplies and the dvd in the car helped pass the time till they fell asleep! the pluses NO TRAFFIC~ Kids Sleep~ minnimal stops~ Relaxed arriving at WDW!

There are cons to this if your kids dont sleep in the car...YIKKEES dont do it! if you cant trade off driveing( my dad wont let my mom drive) , or if you cant stand the thought of being in orlando area one day and putting off going to WDW!LOL
you know your family!

 

[Mackie's Mommy]

We drove from Northern Virginia to WDW in August. DH got off at 6 p.m., we left by 8:30 p.m. I drove the first part while he slept, he drove the middle and I drove until breakfast about 75 miles from WDW. We arrived at WL at 10 a.m. and got our room immediately. DD was four at the time and watched movies on the laptop until she crashed. We relaxed at the pool, tag team napped and then had an early dinner at Chef Mickey's.

We are going back this August and doing the same trip. Just worked out really great for us!

 

[Lorix2]

We've driven down from NH twice now.

We left at 4AM and got to VA by 5PM or so, stayed for the night and on to FL the next day.

My kids were 5 & 10 the first time. THey were so excited, we brought plenty of stuff for them to do, packed snacks and lunch the first day. We stopped every couple of hours for bathroom breaks, stretching, eating, walking around, kicking a ball for a bit...

It was an adventure and anytime day or night if you're kids are going to be cranky, there going to be cranky, right? You don't have that bad of a drive, maybe they might surprise you. THey might be just as excited.

Not only will you and DH be exhausted driving thru the night and have to sleep when you arrive and have the kids complaining....it's really dangerous I think to drive in those wee hours after the bars close, etc.. just my thoughts.

Have a great vacation!