surviving the 13 hour drive

[G. Fite]

Hello! I have been buying little surprises to give my girls on the LONG drive to WDW.

I have 3 of the Disney Essential guides (from Amazon-really cool!), assorted activity books, new reading books, pipe cleaners and I plan on getting High scool Musical as a surprise to watch in the van.

I know if I give it to them all at once they will tear through every thing before we are even out of the city limits!

so, any suggestions on handing out gifts/surprises during the driving part of your vacation? Say, every 100 miles? or every hour? what has worked best for some of you?

thanks!!!!!

 

[2poohbears]

We drove 12 hours to WDW in JAN with 2 1/2 y/o twins, so I feel your pain! lol

We left home at 3:00 am so the boys slept for the 1st 4 or 5 hours of the trip. I played it by ear as far as deciding when to pull out a new toy/book. Some toys/books seemed to make it 1 1/2 to 2 hours before I had to pull out anything else! I saved DVDs for the drive back. The boys were great until the final hour...by then they were tired of the car and wanted OUT! So did we. At least we made it through the 1st 11 hours with no crying.

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[OhioTony]

15 hr drive here usually! I'll second leaving around 3:00 am.
You can get a big chunk of the trip done while the little ones snooze!
A portable dvd player is a must! Our library has every Disney movie you can imagine, so I check a bunch out for the trip. This is a wonderfull way to set the mood for the whole vacation! ps the kids LOVE the old stuff! Old Yeller, Swiss Family, Marry Poppins, ect...stuff they never see on TV..with 1/2 the trip done while they ...ZZZZ.. and a batch of DVD's your trip will be no problem!

 

[daisyduck123]

We always drive a 13 hour trip to Disney.

In the past, DD11 & DS8 have always brought lots of activity books & Color Wonder type stuff to do in the car.

Well, no more of that. They NEVER touched it.

For this trip....I told them they could each bring his/her own portable DVD player & Nintendo DS, plus a book or two.

That's it.

We had way too much stuff cluttering up the hotel room last time.

 

[alicenwonder99]

We always drive a 13 hour trip to Disney.

In the past, DD11 & DS8 have always brought lots of activity books & Color Wonder type stuff to do in the car.

Well, no more of that. They NEVER touched it.

For this trip....I told them they could each bring his/her own portable DVD player & Nintendo DS, plus a book or two.

That's it.

We had way too much stuff cluttering up the hotel room last time.

I agree...with 4 kids in the back of the minivan, there was so much stuff all over the car. Everytime we opened the doors things seemed to just fall out all over!!! lol.

When we drove (we said never again...twice was enough for us), the thing that worked the best for our kids was watching movies. We had a 2 players in the car (one for the teens, one for the younger kids). The kids were angels on our 2 day drive.

 

[Katy Belle]

I've heard of people handing out tokens(poker chips) for 30 min. of good behavior, etc. and then letting kids cash them in for prizes along the way. I've always just handed them something new when they start to get restless. I agree with the recent posters...my kids don't use much of the stuff I bring, especially since they are getting older.

Another thought, I've traded stuff with friends, movies, books with noises, music cds, etc. Their kids play with some of your kids stuff while you are gone and your kids play with their stuff on your long car ride. Works well and costs nothing!

Good luck. Kids always do way better than people expect them to on long drives.
Katy

 

[pbharris4]

We took a huge tote of toys for my DD when she was 13 months and 2 yo but she never played with them. For my older DD (10) we take 4-5 books. SHe has to read 10 books over the summer so she gets a good chunk of that done on the car ride down and back. (It's around 12 hrs for us, but we break it up overnight-as my youngest does not sleep in the car-not even a nap.) SHe also takes her CD player and Gameboy thing.

What I've done is buy 2 new DVD's every now and then and then hold them until our trip. That way they haven't seen them and are more interested. I take about 10 DVDs (some for the youngest (3) and a few for my older DD. I just bought another DVD player so my older DD can watch something else if she wants at the same time. I also buy a few new video games and then give to her to play on the trip.

Yes....I think it's a good idea to give them a little something every so often. I wouldn't tell them or let them see what you have that way it'll be a surprise. That's what I did on my older DD's 1st long car ride (she was 3)and it worked perfectly!

I don't know how old your girls are, but at BJ's I got this American Girl Book and it has all sorts of puzzles, brain teasers, puzzles etc. in it. It looked so fun that I'd want to do it too. I think they had 4 different ones.


Have a great trip!

 

[youngdizluva18]

Try driving 21 hours with a screaming 9 month old!

 

[alicenwonder99]

Try driving 21 hours with a screaming 9 month old!

Done it! This was in 2001 and we still cringe when we think of it!

 

[G. Fite]

Thanks for the replies/suggestions.

I have also found that they NEVER play with their Leap Pad books or all the million toys they bring! NO toys on this trip and I really really mean it!

I have new books, a new DVD and pipe cleaners put aside for them.

I guess I will just plan to pull them out as boredom sets in.

Less than 4weeks!!!!!!!