Should we go a couple of nights less so we can fly instead of drive with 18 month old

[Camping Griswalds]

We're going in Jan of 06 with 13,9 and 18 month old. The big boys have done the drive (about 18 hours) multiple times, so I'm not worried about them, but DD dosen't travel particularly well in car ie dosen't sleep except for about 30 min compared to 2-3 hour nap in crib. Should we just go for 7 nights instead of 10 and fly??

 

[deacondarlin]

I wouldn't worry about the baby...a little dimeatap or benadryll will take care of any fussiness...it's the teen and preteen that would drive me nuts....

Then again, I have no kids, what do I know? I'm just kidding about the medication.

 

[NotUrsula]

I sure wouldn't. Flying with young kids is MUCH easier than driving long distances w/ them, IMO.

 

[mom22boys]

I would definitely fly! If you only had one day of driving, I would drive, but two back to back days might be tough!

Just like your son, our youngest DS will only sleep 40 minutes at the most in the car, compared to 2-3 hours at home. He is 28 months old and we had a couple of big road trips this summer. One thing that surprised me this summer was how uncomfortable he seemed to get in his car seat. I think the five point harness really limited his mobility and with him getting bigger he felt the need to stretch and move a little bit. I know that even with my seatbelt on I am constantly changing positions, and I noticed that he couldn't. We really felt badly for him and made extra stops just so he could move around a little. I am afraid and 18 hour drive to Flordia could take forever!

Best of luck!

 

[safetymom]

I would fly.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

FLY! FLY ! FLY! Our 23 month old DD is not a good car rider at all. She drives me crazy in the 2 hour day trips to get to my inlaws cottage. She doesn't sleep in the car. And Benedryl actually makes her more hyper. We are flying in 2 weeks. You could be there in 2 hours instead of 2 days. With gas prices it may be cheaper to fly.

 

[molly2004]

I would fly too. A word about Benadryl. Be sure you KNOW how that affects your child before you give it to him. I gave my then 17-month old twins Benadryl before our flight to see how they'd do. It knocked them out. Day of the flight? No such luck. Everything on the plane was too interesting for them so they bounced around the ENTIRE time; a temper tantrum here and there. They are usually quite angelic; no one on the flight would have believed it! I felt so bad!! I guess it was my bad for not taking car seats on the plane. That't just my $0.02.

 

[cruiserkaren]

Fly! Seven days is still a great vacation. I couldn't imagine putting my DD2 in the car for that amount of time. 30 minutes is her limit and she wants out! Getting to my family's house in Ft. Wayne, about an hour and 45 minutes is rough. JMO

edited to say: I hate giving DD Benadryl. She becomes so sleepy and just can not sleep. Gets very hyped up and miserable.

 

[jorodopo]

Only you know your toddler but to share our experience.

We drove 18 hours in late aug. We left at midnight and drove though the nite with ds9, ds6 and dd2. Put dd to sleep in her crib and then moved her to the car. Everyone woke up around 8am when we stopped for breakfast. When we do it again we will leave at around 8pm. (wanted to do that this time but DH had to work late). The last 3 hours were not the best, mostly for dd6. By starting earlier, it will break up the awake time for the boys. At the time gas was ~~ $2.50 and working out the numbers for a family of 5 it was still cheaper to drive.
If your baby will stay asleep when moved into the car and you are willing to drive through the nite it might be an option. We were nervous that we were going to be exhausted and useless when we got there but we both were happily surprised that we were okay. Amazing what that adrenaline/pixie dust can do.

Have a great time however you choose to get there.

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

Hummmmmm..........I'm not sure what I would do if I were you. Only you really know your child, but.........

I have flown with a 16 month old and I have driven from NY with a 20 month old...............I would so much rather drive and I have a longer trip than you do. But that's just us.

We have flown so many times......to San Diego, Orlando.......and we have driven to Myrtle Beach and Orando about four or five times now. I just don't like that I can't take everything that I want on a plane, but yet it seems like I'm taking the house when you have to carry it all through the airport. The car seat, the stoller, checking the stroller, connections (we live by a small airport so we always have a connection flight ), uptight because I think my kids are being too loud on the plane, feeling like sardines, ........and that was all before 9-11......now with more restrictions on what you can take on board and waiting times, I almost break out in hives thinking about it.

But I can understand you not wanting to drive if you don't have a child that is a good sleeper or doesn't like to travel. We are very fortunate in that way, I guess.

When my son was 20 months old we went to WDW. We broke up the trip and stayed overnight in a hotel. No problems, but he was a good sleeper even in the car.

Last year, when he was 4, we started out at 7pm. The kids were awake for a little while and then it was bed time and they slept all night until 8am when we stopped for breakfast. We got into Orlando around 2-3pm, checked in and took a little nap. DH and I both decided we would do this again. We have a conversion van so we have tons of space, we stop whenever we want to at rest stops or a for a "pretty sight", we also stop for a meal or two that is sit down and we take our time. But because we drove at night, we only had about 10 hours of them being awake. And believe me, I needed the break from my 11 and 8 yr. old DD's as much as I did the 4 yr.old.

But like I said, only you know your child. this is just what worked for us.

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

Oh, and forgot to add..............even with our big conversion van, it will only cost us about $350 for the trip in gas. Our family of 5 could never fly for that. And then we would need a rental car, so the price would go up even more.

And ofcourse, I'll take whatever time I can get at WDW, but staying more than a week is wonderful. You don't feel like you have to rush to get everything in.

 

[Camping Griswalds]

I must admit, I'm kind of surprised about these responses! I figured that on these boards where everyone is so Disney crazy like me, that they would be saying "stay the extra nights" however the general consensus seems to be to fly. Any idea how to go about booking of looking into cheap flights? I have not personally booked myself a flight since 1999. I've flown since then, but only when someone else has booked my flight for me.

 

[disneymom3]

I know I am in the minority but I would rather drive any day than fly with kids. DH swears he is never flying again until all of our children are at least 7 years old. We had the flight experience from #@%$ a couple of years ago and basically could have driven the vast majority of the way in the time it took us to fly. In fact, coming home we drove from Chicago, leaving at 11:30 at night while our plane that was supposed to leave at 10:00 was still on its way to Dallas. We pretty much decided that having control of our own schedule and being in the comfort of our own vehicle way outweighed the time factor. Plus, when you figure in cost.....We live in the Mpls area and flights around here are never under $200 and that would be an incredibly good price. DH won't fly anything but a nonstop at this point and after the last experience, so that adds twists and with all the problems NWA is having, we are definitely driving. AND the craziest thing is our kids are excited about driving. Actually, our last trip was with extended family and we did fly and the whole time, the two oldest kept making sure that our next trip we would drive again.

I have to say though, that overall our kids do really well in the car. We drive overnight too and it is a beautiful thing that by the time you have breakfast you are (alomst) halfway there.

 

[cgoldburg]

I spent 5 hours in the car with a screaming toddler! For your sanity, break out your CC and buy plane tix.

I got an amazing deal through the AA site. Non stop from Cali 3 tix for $770.00

Hope that helps!!!

Also try priceline???

 

[mjmcca]

I have driven with my kids all over the place since they were very small. They are used to long car rides. This past summer I flew with them to Fla once. DD didn't want to go back tot eh airport to go back home. She really didn't enjoy the flight. A few weeks later my husband drove them to Fla to do some work on our home there. I had to work but flew down to join them for a few days, DD gave him a problem just driving to the airport to pick me up.


I drove them back down to Fla by myself a few weeks later. My kids do well in the car they both take naps and they entertain themselves with the toys i bring. I play music for them. I want to get a DVD player for the car as my next large purchase.


Since i drive alone i cant drive all night so i drive for a long time the first day and stop when i am tired get a motel room and continue the next day.


I like the freedom having my own car while on vaccation .

 

[eeyoreiscool]

I would probably say fly but if you do the driving late at night it probably wouldn't be much of a problem. While this doesn't help the cost, you could add an extra day to the driving so that the time in the car is smaller and possibly more manageable.

 

[Barb D]

We're going in Jan of 06 with 13,9 and 18 month old. The big boys have done the drive (about 18 hours) multiple times, so I'm not worried about them, but DD dosen't travel particularly well in car ie dosen't sleep except for about 30 min compared to 2-3 hour nap in crib. Should we just go for 7 nights instead of 10 and fly??

I checked Southwest a couple of days ago, and we could have gotten all five of us to Orlando from BWI in January for less than $900. I'm figuring about $500 to drive, including gas, food on the road, and motels. We're driving in April because DH hates to fly. (If we had gone in January we would have had to fly because of school schedules.)

 

[MamaLema]

I'm in the minority but I would rather drive than fly with kids. Our drive is about 24 hours and we did it with boys 12 months, 5, and 7.

It can be done with lots of preparation and frequent stops. Plus we love the scenery driving from Canada all the way to Orlando.

 

[3littleHalls]

Here is our experience....I have a 6, 3, and 18ms at the time of our trip in Jan. We have driven long trips and flown long and short trips with our children at all ages. We are driving this time. We have a method we use and it keeps our kids from fussing. BTW, our baby doesn't like to drive and she loves her bed too(3 hr nap, sleeps all night in bed) First off we have a conversion van...so that is a huge help. We take turns picking movies, have snacks at the ready, our car only toys(magnadoodles, magnet playsets etc) and we stop every 2 1/2 to 3 hrs(unless someone is sleeping) we run around, potty break, stretch, takes about 10mins then we are back on the road. We don't hear how much longer, are we there yet and no screaming b/c backs ache. Last year we drove from Indiana to Orlando in one day no overnights and minimal crying. Good luck with what ever you choose! Have a magical trip!