Those with larger (5 or 6) families that have driven.....

[vellamint]

I am considering driving from LI NY this summer and have a couple of questions...

When you stop for the night (which I will have to if hubby doesnt drive with us) can you find accommodations that fit 5? How do you handle this. I know how hard it is to find rooms for 5 or more as most with more than 2 children must know! I would like to make reservations but am not sure where we will be at what time and would like to drive as much as possible the first day. Any suggestions or specific hotels that accommodate 5? Hubby will probably fly down a few days later and then would drive back up with us - dont know if we will stop on the way back with 2 drivers available but I would LIKE to!

Also - any I have NEVER seen anyone post this question.....do you use the luggage container on the top of your car? You know, we call it the "bubble" but I dont know what the real name is! Anyone with insite on whether you FIT in the Universal parking garages with them....I know it wont fit in hospital garages around here (someone I know had a little accident with that!). I was wondering if anyone with a MINIVAN with one of these on top ever had any problem.

And you dont think anyone would steal from it when we are sleeping in our little hotel that accommodates 5 or 6 do you! (maybe I am paranoid but have just waded through a few hundred posts on "driving" and have noticed quite a few people mentioning areas that were not desireable to stop in.

Thank you for any and all input....my children are 12, 11, 9 and 9...am I CRAZY for considering driving alone....I just dont want to spend $1300 for airfare and a rental car....or should I say $1000 by the time I pay for gas and tolls.

 

[luvflorida]

My husband, myself, and three children have driven several times to Florida and we've always stayed at motels with standard rooms, two double or queen size beds, usually a Marriott owned property, Holiday Inn, or something similar. My son would share a bed with his Dad, and our two daughters would share the other bed with me. It would only be for one night and we were up and on the road early the next morning. This was when the kids were all under the age of 12. When they were older, we got connecting rooms, guys in one, girls in the other.

 

[AspiringCindy]

Driving to Fla. isn't such a crazy idea. It really was not that bad. Last summer DH,3 DD's(the younget was 1 and the oldest was 9) and I drove and had a great time. We left in the morning, by-passed D.C. traffic and stayed over night at Santee, S.C. You just have to check ahead at some hotels to see if they can accomodate 5 or perhaps the 3 smallest in a queen bed. By the way, we did use one of the overhead carriers but it was a kangaroo one(soft sided). Unfortunately, we removed it at night because we feared someone would steal it. Ours was easily removed! Hope you plans work out!

 

[lizfromfl]

This year when we drove to NJ at Christmas time, we stayed at Country Inn and Suites hotels. We got a "suite" for around $70. The "suite" had a small little living room area with a pull out couch and a chair or two, a little round table for eating, a coffee maker, a bar size refrigerator and a TV. The bedroom had two queen size beds and a TV. Both Country Inn's that we stayed at (on the way up and on the way back) were very clean. They serve continental breakfast in the morning so you can get something to eat and get right back on the road.

Have a great trip.

Liz

 

[Praise2Him]

We have 3 children and we usually try to get a room with a king bed and a sofa bed. We like Country Inns and Suites, but there are others too. 2 of the kids sleep on the sofa bed and the youngest in the king bed with us, or sometimes on a sleeping bag.

 

[HappyDVCer]

When we drove to WDW we stop in Lake City Fl. and stayed at a Best Western. They had a room with 3 beds, which was great for the 6 of us. It was in the $55- $60 price range. Have fun planning!!

 

[HappyDVCer]

When we drove to WDW we stopped in Lake City Fl. and stayed at a Best Western. They had a room with 3 beds, which was great for the 6 of us. It was in the $55- $60 price range. Have fun planning!!

 

[AnnaS]

Wow Vellamint, when were you driving down? I could of followed you since I had the same thought. I chicken out very easily. We got a refund on our Delta flights that were all moved/cancelled, etc and cancelled our quick WDW mini-trip (in addition to Jupiter). We have since booked Amtrak.

 

[vellamint]

August.....

Please anyone know anything about the "bubble" on the car....with 4 children and a minivan I think the inside of the car will be full of the kids, pillows, tapes, etc.......throw in a cooler and I dont think the luggage will fit. If I use my "bubble" will it be any kind of a problem. Someone else must have used one of these and stopped on the way to sleep.....etc.

Thanks.

 

[AnnaS]

We used it last year when we drove down to Myrtle Beach, S.C. We borrowed it from a neighbor and she had small locks (luggage locks). We did stop and sleep overnight. No problem, we left it on roof, plenty of people have them. The place we stayed in also had parking under (outdoor) the building. There was one side that we would not have been able to park because of the height.

 

[VickiVM]

There were six of us when we drove last fall from San Antonio. We found a great La Quinta Inn near Lake Charles, LA that had a 2 bedroom-3 dbl bed "suite" for around $99. On the way back we got two rooms at at HoJo that was just horrible compared to what we had just left (a BCV 2 bedroom villa), but it sufficed.

As far as the "bubble". We used a canvas soft-side carrier that was strapped to the luggage rack and put all of our clothing in it. I was paranoid also and had my DH remove everthing off the roof when we stopped overnight on the way over and back. It was only clothes and probably low risk, but just the thought of someone potentially stealing our clothes made us uneasy (plus I really couldn't afford to wardrope the six of us if we didn't have any clothes).

There are several inexpensive hotels that are nice and have a second bedroom - Drury Inn comes to mind. Amerisuites are usually pretty reasonable and nice. Why not just bring a couple of sleeping bags and have one of the kids camp out on the floor? Truthfully, the only reason we went with two bedrooms/two hotel rooms was because we had my mom with us and I wanted her to have her privacy. Otherwise, when we go out of town, we either find an inexpensive suite (under $100), or all 5 of us stay in one room. Disney is not the only resort that offers little in the way of accomodating families of 5 or more.

Good luck on the drive. A road trip is one of the precious things we can enjoy as Americans and I'm glad we did ours on the road. Now, my husband on the other hand stated that that was the last time we drive to WDW. But we'll see next year when airfare runs upwards of $1000 for the 5 of us...