How bad is it to drive 1,000 miles to WDW with small children?

[dmaz]

We have driven the approx 17hr drive many times with our children who have been a variety of ages. We have driven straight through many times, however the older we get, we have realized we need to stop on the way down. Last trip we left at 3:30AM and drove to Savannah. we went for dinner and were able to get to bed early. The next day we left around 8am and were in Orlando around 12. This worked really well because everyone had gotten a chance to sleep after the long drive. Most trips we drive straight through on the way home.

 

[popej1]

We drove to FL 2 years ago with our boys, who were 4 and 2 at the time. We left early inthe morning, so they napped some. We invested in a portable dvd player so they could watch movies too. At lunch we stopped at a park and had a picnic and let them play for about an hour. When we got back in the car they were ready for another nap. We stopped every couple of hours and let them get out and walk around to stretch their legs. We are going to WDW in November and the boys are now 7 and 4. I know they won't nap as much, but we are probably going to use a similar strategy along with lots of printed games and activities they can do.

 

[Crystal824]

I would never do it. I only have one child. We often drive from PA to NC (where my family lives) which is about half the distance to Orlando. I am a wreck from that trip so I don't think I would ever agree to drive from PA to Orlando. I know many do but I don't think my nerves could handle it. We have thought about driving halfway stopping to visit my family and continuing the rest of the way but by the time to add in all the travel days it would be a VERY short WDW vacation considering the most time DH and I could ever take off would be 10 days. For me, I would just suck it up and buy the airline tickets or wait a year until we could afford to buy plane tickets.

 

[mrseace711]

We did it! We borrowed a friends DVD player with 2 screens it was our lifesaver we stopped and rented movies at RedBox locations to keep movies entertaining. I packed 'trip bags' to surprise the kids filled with a box of fav candy, crayons, paper, coloring books, games, ect and well basically they ate the candy and watched movies the whole ride.

 

[tinkbell13]

As a kid, my family always drove down and it took us about 25 hours.

When DH, DS and I went in 2008 we drove as the cost of flights is way too much from Canada. We flew out of Detroit for our cruise this past January and it was okay but still cost us about 50% more than driving.

It took us about 24 hours in 2008, but we had a lot of bad weather with quite a few traffic tie ups due to accidents. We left Friday after school and drove until I couldn't see because of the snow anymore (about 10pm). Back on the road Saturday by 9am and stopped early that night (about 6pm) at Georgia/Florida border. Hit the road Sunday about 10am, went over to Daytona Beach and arrived at WDW about 3:30pm to check in.

We are going again in March 2012 and we plan on driving. Plan on doing similar plan this time, although MIL & FIL will be in Deland with friends and want us to come early to visit before we all head over to WDW.

My advice is similar to others - DVD's (with headphones!) are your friend, have lots of other activities to break up the movies and stop to stretch your legs often!

 

[quentina]

For our WDW trip this past August we flew and it was a great experience. It was our first trip to WDW and the flight (we're from PA) was only about 2 hours both ways. My kids (ranging in ages from 2 to 9) did well overall during the flights and played with their toys, ate their snacks, and took a short nap. I can't imagine going to Florida any other way since it was such a smooth, quick experience. However, airline tickets for a family of six are not cheap. I would love to go back to WDW next year, but the only way we could pull it off and save enough $$ by next year would be to drive instead of fly. This would be a 16-17 hour drive
I know we would have to split the drive up into two days and stay overnight somewhere; but I think we would just be miserable and exhausted from such a long drive. I also think this would not be a very pleasant experience with my kids who get fussy and antsy when we drive just 6 hours to visit my parents who live in a different state. Any tips or advice on doing such a long drive to Disney with young children? This may be the only way we would be able to visit WDW again anytime soon. Thanks for any feedback

NOt sure what part of PA you are from but, I just had direct flights, out of Allentown, on Airtran for $59.00 each way. Too be honest, I think this is cheaper than driving.

 

[myhappyplace79]

I would for sure break the ride up into 2 days if at all possible. If not then I would leave around 6:00pm and then by the time they start getting tired of riding they will be sleepy and sleep the rest of the way.

 

[JAMminInDisney032012]

So glad to read this thread! We are trying to plan a trip in March and are debating if we should drive or not. We have 3 children...they would be 10, 8 and 6. We would be coming from Illinois. Tickets just aren't cheap right now...at least not that I can find.

 

[daraddg]

We always drive down,I'm from South Jersey and do the drive solo with my 2 kids every year,this year they will be 10&7.They are great at road trips though and are generally happy just listening to music and looking out the window.We usually will stop for meals so they can stretch their legs a bit and I leave around 9am and stop by dinner time so we are well rested the next day, we usually make it to Florence SC for our stop over.Now that they are older they bring their Nintendo DS,Leapsters,portable dvd player,coloring supplies etc for those times they are really bored but its not that bad.We always drove when I was a kid and so for me it is tradition and a part of the vacation.