Thinking of driving with 2 and 5 year old DDs...are we nuts?

[DduzDis]

We have driven to Galveston (from AR) for a cruise with our then 4 yo and it was a great road trip. We have a Spring Break trip booked in March and was intending to fly for quickness and convenience with the 2 year old. With flights priced where they are we are considering making the drive to WDW. We intended to start making the drive when our girls were a few years older, but we figure it may be as good a time as any. We would split it up between 2 days down and 2 days back. I know every family is different, but I would be curious to hear the good, bad and the ugly from those who have or still do make a 14 hour drive to see Mickey.

 

[BillPA]

We use to drive, we quickly went back to flying. When you add up the cost for gas, food, hotels and the loss of 2-3 extra vacation days to drive, with 4 it's not that much difference in cost. And you still have most of your sanity when you return home. The real killer to driving was that 2 days on the road to end the vacation, not a lot of fun and all that vacation relaxation is gone by the half way point.

 

[chicagoshannon]

We always drive. We used to leave at about 7pm and drive through the night. Would get us there about noon. Might be a good option for you. We don't do that anymore, getting too old but it worked really well for a few years.

 

[DduzDis]

We use to drive, we quickly went back to flying. When you add up the cost for gas, food, hotels and the loss of 2-3 extra vacation days to drive, with 4 it's not that much difference in cost. And you still have most of your sanity when you return home. The real killer to driving was that 2 days on the road to end the vacation, not a lot of fun and all that vacation relaxation is gone by the half way point.

My DW is already bad on FLIGHT home. Lol!

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

We are 15 hours away and our kids (9, 5 & 2) are road-trip warriors We've taken 9 trips to WDW since becoming parents and usually split up the drive about halfway and stay overnight at a Comfort Inn (usually we can get a promo like stay 2 times within a certain timeframe get 1 night free). I'm a teacher and like to keep things organized so I make an itinerary for activities. If I let the kids reach for whatever, whenever they want they seem to get bored really quickly. For the first hour we listen to a CD of songs we all like, sometimes DH will make a CD for us or it might be a kid's movie soundtrack that we all like and we talk about the trip since the kids are so excited. Then we break out toys like magnatiles, legos, etc. We have a snack and some electronics time. We will stop for a meal or eat in the car depending on whether I was able to prepare and make a meal. Afterwards our youngest will take a nap and our 2 oldest will read and maybe doze off for a bit. When our youngest wakes up they will watch a movie together. Then it is snack time again, the kids get to play with their toys and then have electronics time. If we drive when it is dark we break out some glow in the dark bracelets to keep them entertained.

I bought a BUBM electronics/chord organizer to keep all of the wires from our tablets/etc from getting tangled and always within reach. We bring our portable DVD player with a headphone splitter so they can all watch the same movie while the adults listen to our podcasts over the car speakers. We pack everyone's favorite snacks and make sure to keep the salt low and protein high (unsalted nuts, applesauce pouches, freeze dried fruit). This keeps everyone from feeling sluggish or bloated. We pack a separate small suitcase for the hotel we stay at along the way, that way don't have to lug in our large suitcase and dig through all of our clothes to find what we need.

Before we leave to drive home, each of the kids gets to pick a special snack from the resort store for the ride home (Mickey pretzels or a rice krispy treat).

 

[hakepb]

I’ve always driven with kids.
For us, flying direct to MCO would mean driving 3+ hours to a bigger airport, + a 2 hour buffer for security lines..
(And we have to eat everyday, at least food on the road is cheaper than WDW)

Driving makes it easier to spend a couple of days on a beach (to decompress) after WDW.
I grew up with long driving vacations, so I like the driving. Kids have it easier with iPads, etc.

 

[DduzDis]

We are 15 hours away and our kids (9, 5 & 2) are road-trip warriors We've taken 9 trips to WDW since becoming parents and usually split up the drive about halfway and stay overnight at a Comfort Inn (usually we can get a promo like stay 2 times within a certain timeframe get 1 night free). I'm a teacher and like to keep things organized so I make an itinerary for activities. If I let the kids reach for whatever, whenever they want they seem to get bored really quickly. For the first hour we listen to a CD of songs we all like, sometimes DH will make a CD for us or it might be a kid's movie soundtrack that we all like and we talk about the trip since the kids are so excited. Then we break out toys like magnatiles, legos, etc. We have a snack and some electronics time. We will stop for a meal or eat in the car depending on whether I was able to prepare and make a meal. Afterwards our youngest will take a nap and our 2 oldest will read and maybe doze off for a bit. When our youngest wakes up they will watch a movie together. Then it is snack time again, the kids get to play with their toys and then have electronics time. If we drive when it is dark we break out some glow in the dark bracelets to keep them entertained.

I bought a BUBM electronics/chord organizer to keep all of the wires from our tablets/etc from getting tangled and always within reach. We bring our portable DVD player with a headphone splitter so they can all watch the same movie while the adults listen to our podcasts over the car speakers. We pack everyone's favorite snacks and make sure to keep the salt low and protein high (unsalted nuts, applesauce pouches, freeze dried fruit). This keeps everyone from feeling sluggish or bloated. We pack a separate small suitcase for the hotel we stay at along the way, that way don't have to lug in our large suitcase and dig through all of our clothes to find what we need.

Before we leave to drive home, each of the kids gets to pick a special snack from the resort store for the ride home (Mickey pretzels or a rice krispy treat).

This sounds like a great plan.

 

[jbh275]

We drive once a year. It's a good 1200 miles for us. I try and knock out a big chunk on the first day. Usually 750 miles. Then we get in at a decent time the next day and have all afternoon to recover. I've found with kids, being on the road at 5 am works great. We can get in 250 miles without a break. But in the late afternoon it seems one of the kids needs to use the restroom every 100 miles or so.

 

[cruisin5]

With electronics it's much easier. Air travel with 2 kids isn't a walk in the park either. Plan some stops for the way down and the way back. 14 hours isn't really all that far.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

The time we drove we stopped at a Great Wolf Lodge on the way home which made the vacation seem like it was still going.

 

[Micca]

I have great admiration and respect for those whose kids are great road warriors. I just don't think I could do more than about 6 hours or so in the car, even without the kids. I agree that flying with kids isn't a picnic either. It also boils down to how many of your vacation days you want to spend in the car.

 

[DisneyKeepsUsYoung]

We've taken long road trips with the kids many times. It's 18 hrs according to google to Disney for us. Last trip was with 4.5 yr old and almost 3 yr old. We prefer driving as we are at least on our own schedule and time line for little kids. Airports with Security lines, flight delays, and cramped flights with 2 small kids is not fun to us. Plus we love having a car at Disney.
We start early the first day 4-5 am and drive until we can't take it anymore and find a hotel, Usually around 10pm or so. That leaves us with a short easy 3-4 hr drive the second day which we make a pool/hotel day. On trip home we play in the pool until 11 or so to wear wear the kids out before starting our trip back home.
I actually like the relaxed drive home to end the vacation vs worrying about flight times and such. Plus with giving the kids much more screen time than they would ever be allowed at home, my husband and I get quite a bit of time to just chat without interruptions which we enjoy.

 

[DduzDis]

Normally we would drive to

I’ve always driven with kids.
For us, flying direct to MCO would mean driving 3+ hours to a bigger airport, + a 2 hour buffer for security lines..
(And we have to eat everyday, at least food on the road is cheaper than WDW)

Driving makes it easier to spend a couple of days on a beach (to decompress) after WDW.
I grew up with long driving vacations, so I like the driving. Kids have it easier with iPads, etc.

We would normally drive to Memphis 3 hrs the night before, but their flight schedules are pretty bad and booking up so unless we pay more to fly out of Little Rock with a layover in ATL, we are looking at a 5 hour drive to Dallas the night before. It is really the drive back that has me worried, but if we fly out of Dallas we will have the flight and the drive home anyway. The more I think about it, the more I think we might take the car (unless prices bottom out from Little Rock).

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Not to mention the wear and tear on your car. The possibility of something mechanical happening to your car causing you to spend a night or two waiting for repairs. I would pick flying.

 

[NickBCV]

I agree....FLY if possible. I remember drives to Myrtle Beach from CT when we were kids! OMG.....drive down manageable...drive back, awful!

 

[kniquy]

The 4 year old might be ok, but the 2 year old strapped in a car seat for long stretches is tough. I would imagine the couple hour flight would be tough for the 2 year old too, but at least you know it will be over sooner than later. At that age they are bred to be on the move constantly. Really only you know how they will be. I know my now 4 year old would have been a nightmare just a couple hours into a road trip. Older kids are a little better at preoccupying themselves. There are only so many movies you can watch too before they become disinterested in that too. If there were other older kids involved then they could possible be assistance in keeping little ones occupied -- the 4 year old might not be much help in keeping the 2 year old calm and entertained.

I also look at it as 2 less days to relax and enjoy disney, yes with driving you have your vehicle and you are on your own time, but it is still stressful to deal with traffic and the unexpected travel delays. Something you don't need after a vacation. If you are only going for one week that doesn't give you much time to really unwind and relax before doing the drive all over again. If you were going for a 10d or 2 week trip then driving might not be as bad, but there is still the 2 year old to content with. Just fly this trip and as they get older they will travel much better.

I too think the cost of driving in the end doesn't save a significant amount of money - when you factor in gas, wear on the car (needing an old change sooner) staying in a hotel at least for two nights - how much are you really saving? only you can do the number and see if saving a few hundred $$ is worth the drive. I always look at my free time as being very valuable. I have also considered doing the 20 hour drive from MA but when i have factored all the things mentioned above i just can't bring myself to deal with the kids in the car for that long.

 

[rocketriter]

You'll get a lot of different opinions here, both because different parents have different ways of working with their children and because kids are different from one another. When our son was little, we realized that the soonest we could take him to WDW was at age 5. Even then, when we did, he was overwhelmed for a couple of days until, on the Peter Pan ride, he figured out what rides are and how much he could enjoy them. A few years later, however, our daughter was pretty much born ready for the parks. In your case you're juggling two sets of decisions: financial and behavioral. I'd suggest you start with the behavioral decision: can your kids handle the long drives and the parks. If so, then look at the finances to see what will be most practical.

 

[mort1331]

We drive 25hrs straight from north of Toronto Canada. We split the driving and stop for meals and gas. For the 4 of us it is less than the cost of one airline ticket. We ahbe had long drives all the time. No issues even when younger. You have to know uour own family. Driving 25hra waa easier than flying 11hrs to Greece one year. I like my minivan and have no issues driving.

 

[3cuteboys]

We drove straight through in about 14 hours this year with an 11, 9 and 2 year old all next to each other the whole trip. Electronics are wonderful! I think what really helped was we started out at 4am, so we were there by 5:30pm even with several stops to get out and stretch, eat etc. Getting there while it was still light out made a huge difference too. The ride home we went straight through as well. We actually left in the afternoon so the kids were worn out. All asleep by 10pm and were out the entire rest of the trip. So for us, the kids didn't mind the long drive at all, it was hardest on the driver really.

 

[rowrbazzle]

Everyone is different, but we've taken a bunch of long road trips (12-14 hours) with our kids to different places, beginning when the first was an infant and now with kids age 4, 2, and infant. We have regular books and coloring books and some toys and the occasional book-on-tape. We spend a lot of time talking (the 4-year-old, in particular, really likes to ask questions) and playing games together. We make sure to take stops, usually every 2-3 hours so the kids can have a snack and run around. It's not nearly as easy as driving without kids obviously and the kids do have their occasional meltdown (just like they do at home), but we've always made it and always plan to do it again.

I think GinnyBear's_mom has some great advice. Having a plan not just for your route and stops, but also for what you'll do in the car will make it better.

The cost difference is substantial, at least for us. Four tickets for us to Disney would be $1,200-$1,400. There's no way we'd come anywhere close to spending that on a drive, even taking into account stuff like wear and tear on the car. Of course we'd prefer to fly, but the $$ is a big factor.