How do you stay awake while driving through the night?

[marieNJkitty]

My DH and I are hoping to drive through the night to WDW with our two toddlers. For those who have done this before, do you have any advise on how to keep awake? What are your experiences? Thanks!

 

[imthatgirl]

my husband works overnight so i sleep he drives.
honestly its a really bad idea if you dont normally stay up all night. find a cheap motel, otherwise its just dangerous.

 

[mom2boys77]

My advice would be not to do it. We tried on our first driving trip down there and were so exhausted. It just wasn't worth it. Now we leave our home in NJ around 4:30 and drive until we get to the end of Georgia (usually around 7 at night) sleep in a hotel. We leave early the next morning and are in Disney by lunch time. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

 

[piratemamaof3]

When we lived in St louis and my family was in VA. we used to drive through the night all the time. The hardest part is that when we got there the kids were rested and read to go and we were really tired.

If you decide to do it here are some suggestions.

Try to get a nap later in the afternoon (so you are rested at time to start). Take turn driving.
If you feel sleepy pull over. Walk around, get a drink some thing like that to move around.
Find what keeps you awake. I listen to up beat music. DH usually trys to find some thing like sports that he will pay attention to.
We tend to snack a lot, on candy and such. Keeping your mouth moving.
Find a safe lot (like a gas station where truckers are parked over night) and take a short nap yourself.

HTH

 

[Fantasmic23]

My DH and I are hoping to drive through the night to WDW with our two toddlers. For those who have done this before, do you have any advise on how to keep awake? What are your experiences? Thanks!

I'm going to have to agree with the other posters and advise you not to drive through the night. Not only is it dangerous, it'll make for cranky moods from lack of sleep once you reach WDW.

Where are you driving from? We drove from Connecticut and stayed overnight (with family) in North Carolina. It was a struggle just getting (and staying awake) to NC (Dang, Virginina is a long state!).

To stay awake while driving, I would reccommend:

1. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, soda, etc. Anything with caffeine, chocolate, sugar, etc. DH kept reaching into this huge bag of M&Ms. Of course, this is only going to invite a sugar crash, so go easy. Actually, super cold water works best for keeping me refreshed when on the road. Fruit is good, too. Healthy and not as much sugar (well, depends on the fruit, I guess).

2. Not necessarily loud music, but something peppy, happy and upbeat. Maybe before the trip you and DH can make a mix tape/CD of your fave songs. Comedy CDs are great, too, as well as books on tape.

3. Talk, talk, talk. DH and I will talk about anything (usually something funny - a funny movie, a funny story, etc.).

4. When you see those rest stops ... STOP! Get out, walk around and stretch.

Good luck and have a wonderful trip. Happy and safe driving!

 

[MomofKatie]

We don't drive through the night, but we do get up very, very early- 3am- and drive straight through. When DH and I are both in the car, it's easy- we talk and listen to 80's music, and we trade off driving every 2 or 3 hours.

When DD and I go alone, it is a bit more challenging- I have to do all the driving. I listen to upbeat, sing along music or listen to books on tape. Once DD is awake, she usually keeps up a nonstop stream of chatter that keeps me alert- we play the alphabet game, do math problems, and just tell each other what we are excited about doing at WDW.

 

[Kimmumum]

When we drive (we of course prefer to fly) we ALWAYS drive straight through over night. We can make if from Chicago to Orlando in 16 hours because there is hardly any traffic at night. We stop every 3 hours for gas and bathroom breaks whether we need it or not. Also, we both stay awake in order to talk to the drive to keep them awake. We try to take a short nap before we leave. If we leave around 8pm we will get there around noon the next day. By the time we check in and get situated we go to downtown disney, shop a bit, eat and by that time everyone is ready for an early bedtime. We get up the next morning ready to go.

We have never had a problem.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Hi, We are also driving to Disney World, we have a 21 hour drive! Dh and I are going to take turns driving, and sleeping. I know we won't be well rested when we get there but, we are going to stay at a hotel nearby that first night, we should be getting in hopefully sometime between 5-10pm. This way we can just get there, and go to sleep without pulling into Disney World at 6pm with kids that are ready to go to the Magic Kingdom and parents that feel like they are on drugs. This will be our first time driving, so I'm hoping to find some good tips as well. I work 2nd shift, but usually stay overnight, dh used to work 3rd shift, so I think between the 2 of us, we should be able to do all right with switching every 2-3 hours through the night. I'm sure it must be tough driving in the dark, with no other cars in sight except a few here and there, all while trying to make sure we are going the right way. And like I said, we are going to book a hotel in florida, but if we need to stop, we will stop. Better safe than sorry! Happy Travels

 

[kellyg403]

I agree with the others, if there is a way to stop I would. We only have a 10 hour drive but we leave around 4 in the afternoon, stop in Savannah and then get up and head to WDW. Our first trip we did the whole 10 hours. The kids were ready to go but there was not enough excitement for dh to not be tired and cranky.

But, when we do drive straight through to PA to visit relatives (about 17 hours)
1. We switch drivers every 3 or so hours. I tend to not sleep so well on long trips and do better off NC part of I95. Just seems like so many trucks on a little road.
2. Coffee. And lots of it towards the end.
3. Getting out of the car and rest stops. DH has been known to do jumping jacks in the parking lot to get his blood moving again!

We don't do it often but this seems to work o.k. for us. No matter we are always tired at the end whether caught some zzz's for not.

Kelly

 

[marieNJkitty]

We will be driving from northern MI. It is about a 22 hour drive. We could leave around 8 p.m. and try to make it as far as southern Georgia (16 hours) and stay in a hotel the next afternoon/evening to rest. Then we would have a short drive the next day.

 

[fortheboys]

I'm a road tripper at heart, and have driven thru the night lots of times with no real tricks or gimmics (I never take any No-Doze, Rip Fuel etc), but when we've done it as a family, my husband takes the 1st driving shift, and I nap while he's driving. Then I drive the next 5 or so hours, and he sleeps. I sing to the radio, when I can find a station, talk to whoever might be awake,eat anything I can get my grubby hands on, and I make lists, to do lists, shopping list, anything to keep the mind busy... and avoid books on tape like the plague, as they put me right to sleep! If I get tired, I pull over, take a walk around the rest area, wash my face etc. I'm able to go on much less sleep then my DH, so he gets around 5 hours, and I get less, only becuase I usually refuse to give up the wheel once I start driving.

 

[A4Disney]

My advice would be not to do it. We tried on our first driving trip down there and were so exhausted. It just wasn't worth it. Now we leave our home in NJ around 4:30 and drive until we get to the end of Georgia (usually around 7 at night) sleep in a hotel. We leave early the next morning and are in Disney by lunch time. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.


We are from CT and this is what we do.We leave between 4:30 and 5 am and we make it to southern Georgia by 8/9 at night.That way we only have 3 hrs to go the next morning and everyone is rested,dressed,ready to go.

 

[amsafko]

We just returned a few weeks ago and drove straight through with 3 little ones (6, 4, and 2) from NJ to Fl. My dh got up at 3:30 the night before and went to my mom's house around 1:00 to sleep until 7 or 8 (he wanted to feel tired enough to sleep at 1:00). We left at 9:00pm and stocked up on coffee for him. The kids slept great. I slept a bit throughout the night and took over in the early morning hours, (around 4am) - I had a harder time with the lack of sleep than he did so he took back the reins around 6am. Stopped for breakfast and continued until we got there around 3:00, oh and I did drive the last few hours. We hit a bit of Hurricane Faye so it took a little bit longer. We checked in, ate an early dinner and went to bed. Everyone was fine the next day. This worked really well for us but make sure whoever drives the bulk of the time gets a good long sleep before leaving. Our kids have tons of energy so they weren't really impacted by it and by getting to bed early the night we arrived helped us tremendously.

 

[RMulieri]

My advice..don't do it.But if you are going to, make sure the person doing the bulk of the driving takes a nap before and is well rested.Avoid energy drinks etc.They give you a boost of energy, but also cause a huge drop in energy after the high wears off.Be safe.

 

[Fabinva]

We tried it driving from VA and the most we were able to stayed awake enough to drive was around 2am, we pulled over got a room and sleep until next morning. Coming back we left Orlando around 1pm and got home around 3am, husband did all the driving, I tried to stayed up and could not do it. It was hard even for him and we agreed never to try that again.

 

[kileybeth]

Go over to the transprotation board and you will get quite different advice.

We drive though the night and it works out fine. We take plenty of breaks to just sretch, get a drink, always a drink, insures you will stop again soon! Great way to have kids sleep through lots of those long hours.

 

[nessz79]

Sorry, I'm a wimp! I've always told my DH that there's no way, no how that I can help drive through the night. We once tried to do this on our way to VA (from FL) with just him driving and it was miserable. The kids couldn't get comfortable and I just could not sleep soundly in the car. I can nap in the car, but not sleep through the night. They're 2 different kids of sleep.

Anyway, when we have gone to VA, we left at 3 AM after having about 5 hours of sleep (which is adequate for surviving the travel day). We then started taking stops around 7 AM. It went something like this:

3- Leave
7- Breakfast at Cracker Barrell
9- rest stop, gas
12- lunch at fast food
2- gas, snacks
4- stop at South of the Border. Browse to stretch our legs
7- Dinner @ restaurant. However, we decided next time we'd do Fast Food as our son was incapable of behaving himself b/c he was tired.
9:30- arrived at our destination.

Not too terrible. DVD Player a must

I think this was way more info than you were looking for, but you can travel in one day and have it NOT be overnight.

 

[jenrein]

I am a pro! I drove home from our Disney trip by myself the WHOLE way- from FL to NY!

 

[powellrj]

we have tried it before and have never been able to do it. We can drive straight though leaving early in the morning, but everytime we try to drive through at night we have never been able to do it.

Our last trip we left Orlando at 7am and drove except for gas and restroom/meal breaks and made it home at 11:30pm.

 

[TinaLala]

We drove from MA to GA in 20 hours straight, stopping only for pee, food and switching drivers! Wouldn't do it again. We took turns - usually 6 hour increments. DH wants me to say Red Bull, Amp, Monster, Rock Star with a Hershey bar chaser I don't know, but he did some pretty long stretches of highway on the way down.

Honestly Bonine worked great for us with the car sickness feelings. Which would have been a problem for everyone.