Tell Me About Driving 15 Hours Straight Through at Night with 3 Kids!

[kimmer]

I personally just won't do it. We have driven it 2 or 3 times now and we always stop and sleep.

This. We've driven down from Ottawa three times so far, our fourth will be again this May. My husband does the lionshare of the driving and we both just didn't want to be crazy tired when we got there so we've never done the 24hr cannonball run (not since kids anyways). It's just too hard to catch up on sleep once you get there and have three kids to entertain. We stop about half way down (VA area) and just sorta try to make the road trip a part of the trip. This year on our way home, we plan on stopping for a night and a day at a Great Wolf Lodge

Anyways, good luck with your decision & drive safe!

 

[deuceswild10]

It seems like a lot of people who do this spend the first day there taking it easy, napping, etc. Doesn't seem worth it to me. I would wake up really early and then head out, getting there by evening, but able to sleep in a bed, and wake up the next day ready to go.

 

[2Monkeys]

It seems like a lot of people who do this spend the first day there taking it easy, napping, etc. Doesn't seem worth it to me. I would wake up really early and then head out, getting there by evening, but able to sleep in a bed, and wake up the next day ready to go.

Exactly what I was thinking. We have driven overnight (ONCE) to my sister's which is only 7 hours away, and both DH & I were worthless the next day. When we get to Disney, I am ready to GO! I don't want to have to spend a day resting and recovering when the parks are calling my name!!

I think it would be best to leave super early in the morning after sleeping some, then checkin in the evening. You can get a good night's sleep and be ready to go to the parks the next morning!

 

[Nana2Callie]

We have an 18 hour drive and last June we were really tempted to try the all night drive - switching between 2 drivers. But, just found we were too tired and agree with PP that we didn't want to reach Disney drop dead tired. It can take me a few days to recover from lack of sleep so we didn't want to risk not enjoying our vacation to the fullest. So, this year we are planning to leave early Saturday morning and hopefully drive 12 hours and then be able to reach Disney around noon on Sunday without being exhausted and even ready to begin the magic on the first day - or at least that is our plan. We are traveling with our 7 year old.

 

[mommy2_3]

after going back and forth we decided that we will be driving straight through. we are leaving about 2am. we are driving from kansas to iowa to pick up my friend then going right down to Fl. its going to be about a 30 hr drive. i am taking the first shift. i am a night owl anyway. hubby is taking care of the kids while i get to sleep. i will be going to sleep around 4 or 5pm. while i drive hubby will sleep. then when we get to iowa we will eat lunch, let the kids run around for about an 1/2 hr or so, then i will sleep while hubby drives, then my friend will take over and then me and so on. during the day i plan on letting the kids run around at the rest stops when we stop about every 2-3 hours. i figured 15 mins of playtime/pee break should be good. im also going to try and find a few playgrounds on the way there. i am bringing a few balls and some other outdoor toys to play with (getting at the dollar tree so if we leave one behind no worries lol). we have a dvd player in the car so movies the whole way there! Disney movies of course! oh and i have 4 kids that will be 6,4,2 and 1 when we go.

 

[Chelley00]

We also live in Indianapolis and please note that it's not a 15 hour drive. Google list it at 16 and some change and that's not taking into account food or gas stops. The quickest we've ever made it has been 17 hours, that was a few miles an hour over the speed limit, grabbing food and taking a bathroom break only when we stopped for gas.

We usually drive straight through on the way down. We leave around 4 am and the kids sleep until breakfast time. It usually puts us in Orlando later at night. I couldn't drive all night because I like my sleep and don't want to be exhausted our first day. We just give each kid a bucket full of new stuff to play with, get a few movies, a book on CD and snacks. We take a soccer ball for a little running at rest stops.

Never drive straight through on the way back though. You are way more tired than you expect. I cried the last 2 hours of the trip when we did it, and I'm not a cryer . Chattanooga is about halfway and a nice place to stay

 

[amylevan]

We just did it 2 weeks ago. Our car was me, DH and DS 2.5. Our friends had 2 kids in their car - 3.5 & 4.5.

My DH worked a double on Wednesday, came home and went to bed. I got up for work on Thursday and took DS to daycare while DH slept until 1pm. I got home from work, had dinner, gave DS a bath and put him in his pjs and off we went. We left our house at 7:30 pm, DS finally fell asleep around 10pm and slept until 5:30am. At 8am we stopped for breakfast and to get DS "dressed" for the day. He did EXCELLENT!

Our friends left a little earlier than us (around 3pm) and pulled into a rest stop around 2am for a few hours of sleep. Their kids fell asleep around 10pm and slept until 6-ish. We met up somewhere in South Carolina, and pulled into WDW at the same time.

Our way home did not exactly go as planned. We planned on stopping overnight in NC, but do some car trouble, we ended up driving straight through. Left WDW at 10am, had a 2 hr stop near Jacksonville to deal with car trouble, and finally pulled into our house at 6:30am. This time DS slept from about 8:30 pm until we pulled into the driveway.

The drive down was fine, we went to bed early that first night and we were back to normal the next day. The drive back was not as easy. We were tired from a week of vacation, and we got home in the morning-meaning we had a full day ahead of us. Not as easy.

 

[DEA]

Our drive is in the 14-15 hour range. My DW sleeps the day we are to leave until just before we go pick up the kids from school. Stop by Dunkin' Donuts for a snack, and we're heading south by 3:30 or 4pm. DW drives all the way, I sleep somewhat fitfully overnight, and we stop at the Cracker Barrel out on 192 near AKL around 7am. I take the kids to the pool and she finds somewhere to rest for an hour or two, either at the pool or inside the resort.

The kids are great in the car; there's movie time until dinner, then usually another movie afterwards, followed by sleeptime for them. They are usually out by 8:30-9pm, pretty close to weekend bedtime at home. The pool time gives them a chance to have some unstructured playtime that doesn't depend on us getting into lines and waiting to further hype them up and possibly frustrate them. After lunch and a little rest, we head over to MK to ease into the vacation. They've gotten a lot of the nervous energy out by that point, and can focus on having fun.

By the end of the first night, everyone is really ready for a good night's sleep, and when we all wake up, everyone's clock is pretty much back on schedule.

I would suggest some of the following lessons learned:

1. Have something in the car where the kids can rest their feet. In my DW's minivan, we've taken the kids' bathroom stepstools along so that their legs are not dangling over the booster seats without support for a long time. It helps for comfort and is safer.
2. Snacks in the car: The kids want food at their usual school snacktime, which is later in the afternoon, so we try to have plenty of stuff available so that their routines stay similar on the way down.
3. Enforced potty breaks: If you've ever been on a long trip with kids, and have one kid need to go to the bathroom, and the other one refuse to go only to need to go after you've driven another 10 minutes, you know what I'm talking about.
4. The person not driving should sleep: The next day, you are going to need to be the go-to parent, because the driver will not be 100%, with very good reason. Try to get all the rest you can.

Good luck!

 

[MyKidsMom1820]

We drove last year for our first family wdw trip. We have three children and at the time they were 5,4 and 7 months. We chose to drive until tired and get hotels at night. It went pretty well and we are planning on doing the same thing next time.

Im not sure of the precise hours but I think mapquest said 20? We left in the afternoon on thursday and arrived saturday morning. We could have been quicker, but chose to take our time and sleep in a little, ect. This works well for us now, but as the kids get older I can see us pushing the limits a bit, but with a 7 month old, we weren't into that.

Since it was prime spring break season there were hundreds of michigan and midwest plates at every rest stop, and so many friendly people to meet and talk to.

My portable DVD player was my best friend, and also we have aquired a new love of "chick-fil-a" (not open on sundays BTW). Living in Mi, we had never been. Also we had a cooler with tons of drinks/snacks. leapsters or DS's are a must for older ones.

Have a great time!!!

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

We have a 15 hour drive. What works best for us is to leave by 4am and get there around 7pm. We check in, eat, relax and are ready for the morning. This works great!

 

[disney*mom*82]

Im sorry but I didnt read all the posts...but here is my experience with it.
We live in central IL, so about the same amount of drive time. We have driven to WDW 6 times in the past 4 years, our children are now 4, 12, and 13. We have driven while the youngest was roughly 5mo, 17mo, 23mo, 2.5, 3, 3.5. The only rough trip was 5mo and that was becuase I breast fed and she required more stops.

Anyways...it works for us. We leave at 4pm, just as DH and the kids get home from school. We pack the van the day before and I have dinner sandwiches, snacks and drinks packed and within reach for the trip. We usually wait until about 6pm and then get out food and drinks, everyone eats and then we try to only stop for gas and everyone is required to take a potty break then, I dont care what time it is. Up until this last trip I had DD4 wear a pull up even when potty trained, just because sometimes there is a long wait between exits. She never pottied in it, but it was nice to have just in case.

We get to WDW around 9, check-in, unload the van as soon as our room is ready. We nap, kids sometimes nap, usually they just watch tv, our older 2 are old enough to go swim alone if they want. Then we are all up by 3pm, take showers and get around and are ready for a night at DTD!

We leave in 3 weeks, exactly! Cant wait!

 

[disney*mom*82]

Let me add...

we have tried leaving late (1-2am) and driving through, it doesnt work as well for the kids or us. The children then are awake too much for the drive and we are too tired. Our kids are good about sleeping in the car, so that helps Im sure. But, if your children are comfortable sleeping in the car, Ide do that. Ours are usually asleep by 8pm or so, normally from bordom, but then all are awake by 6am. We usually stop and get a quick breakfast, then keep driving.

 

[disneynewbee]

We have driven on 2 of our Disney trips and have stopped at a hotel each time and it worked out well because we would get most of the driving in on day one and so we wouldn't have long to drive the second day. Last year my dd had to go to myrtle beach for a cheer competition and we decided to try driving through the night so that they would sleep. My sister and her family followed us down there. In my car I had a 2yo, 5yo, 8yo, and 17yo in my sisters car she had a 5yo, 11yo, and 12yo. For my bunch it was horrible the baby couldn't get comfortable and would cry at least every hour for a good stretch and she has a nice large Britex car seat. The other kids were too excited and noone got any rest but worse then that they were crying and in general not happy at all. Now my sisters experience was different her kids slept pretty much the whole time so you just never know. I'm glad we tried it thought because we are thinking of driving to Disney again in January and now we know that driving through the night is not for us. It was so bad I'll never attempt it again. I also hate driving in the dark so I prefer to drive in the day and get a hotel.

 

[maxiesmom]

The person not driving should sleep: The next day, you are going to need to be the go-to parent, because the driver will not be 100%, with very good reason. Try to get all the rest you can.
[/LIST]

Good luck!

I agree with all of your tips except for this one. If you can't have 2 drivers awake at all times, you should not do an overnight trip. I have been in the car before where the driver, who swore he was fine and not tired, almost went off the road because he really was too tired to drive. It is just not safe to leave on person awake and have everyone else sleeping.

 

[disney*mom*82]

I agree with all of your tips except for this one. If you can't have 2 drivers awake at all times, you should not do an overnight trip. I have been in the car before where the driver, who swore he was fine and not tired, almost went off the road because he really was too tired to drive. It is just not safe to leave on person awake and have everyone else sleeping.

I dont really agree with this, so I have to say that it depends on the person. Hopefully the driver is smart enough to realize that they are tired and swich drivers. 5 of the 6 trips I did my best to stay awake, he never needed me, he always did fine, then when he was tired and wanted to switch drivers, I was exhausted. The last time I did my best to sleep, I slept maybe a couple of hours and as soon as he felt too tired he woke me, we pulled off and switched. I drove us the rest of the way there while he slept.

I plan on making sure to go to sleep while DH drives his part of the trip and hope to be rested enough to switch once he is too tired. We leave in 3 weeks!

 

[North of Mouse]

It really scares me when people drive so far at night straight through, especially when everyone sleeps except the driver. People say they know when they are too sleepy to drive, but professionals in the know will tell a different story. If that's the case, why do you hear about people running off the road when they fell asleep at the wheel. If they knew they were going to do that, they would stop . The body can just "shut down" when exhaustion overtakes a person without them even realizing it. Play it safe people please, pull over at a rest stop a few hours, or get a motel. WDW will still be there, but you may not .

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We have a 17 hour drive. We drive straight through but our kids are older. The first time we did it the kids were 8, 9 and 10.

We leave around 8 at night and get there around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. We really drive straight through - I pack drinks, food and snacks and we only stop for gas, coffee and bathroom breaks. Of course with three kids we do stop for a lot of bathroom breaks!

The first night we stay in a DTD hotel (cheaper than our Disney resort) and just swim, relax and have dinner in DTD. We hit the sack early that night and then we're up early, check into our Disney hotel and are at the parks by 9 AM!

 

[Mrs K]

We have done the drive from MA 10 times. We leave at 4am and drive till about 6 or 7pm. That usually gets us to the southern part of NC. We check into the Hampton Inn, have take out from the Outback for dinner, watch a little TV and go to bed. We have our free breakfast in the morning and are on the road by 7am. We drive to Orlando and either check in or go to an off-site hotel for the night. My kids are horrible car sleepers and frankly I'm nervous being on the road thru the night. Pack plenty of snacks, a cooler with lunch and drinks and a DVD player and you should be fine.

 

[disneynewbee]

It really scares me when people drive so far at night straight through, especially when everyone sleeps except the driver. People say they know when they are too sleepy to drive, but professionals in the know will tell a different story. If that's the case, why do you hear about people running off the road when they fell asleep at the wheel. If they knew they were going to do that, they would stop . The body can just "shut down" when exhaustion overtakes a person without them even realizing it. Play it safe people please, pull over at a rest stop a few hours, or get a motel. WDW will still be there, but you may not .

As someone who could have died this way I agree. Before my husband and I were married we went to an amusement park and on the way home he fell asleep. We ran off the highway and flipped 3 times. He didn't realize how tired his body was if he had he's a cautious person and would have pulled off the highway and gotten a room.

 

[PlasticRedTopHat]

I enjoy driving! I used to live in GA, and drove frequently back and forth to NH with 2 kids in tow. We would leave at 6pm, and get there at 6pm the next day. NON-STOP! (minus pee-breaks)