tips from families who drive to WDW

[shananv]

We are taking our first trip to WDW in November, and we are driving from Tulsa. I would really like to hear your money saving, sanity preserving, and ways to keep from hating your family road trip tips! My DH will do most of the driving but I will help, the kids are 7 and 8 and they will have portable DVD players. We will have a cooler full of drinks and snacks, and we plan to spend at least one night in a motel to break up the trip. Any ideas?

Katie 7 DH Hank 8 Me

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

The DVD player did the trick for us!! Worth its weight in gold, if you ask me!

I also wrapped up a few little things for the kids that they got to open along the way - nothing major - just enough to keep them busy.

Oh, and some Excedrin for me, just in case!

 

[trulygoofy]

We stop at a Cracker Barrel on the way so we get a good break and the kids enjoy looking around the gift shop. We also like to stop at Chilis. I mention these places because I am saving my MyPoints to get gift certificates for both places for our next trip. It is nice to have free meals during the trip! I have learned not to pack too many things to eat. I do have a cooler with drinks and I bring a few things to snack on, but we usually stop at McD's or Wendy's for a snack and potty breaks during the trip.
I also buy small toys throughout the year for my younger ones and hide them just for the trip. I put them in an organizer that hangs on the back of a car seat. Each kid gets their own and I put them in the car the night before we leave. The kids don't know what will be in them and they can help themselves. With 5 kids we rarely get kid's meals, so we buy them for the younger ones on trips and the toys keep the kids occupied for a while. The older ones are happy with their iPods and sleeping. We enjoy car trips and the kids very rarely watch a movie. We really have a great time joking around and talking.
Be sure to bring some sacks and paper towels just in case someone gets car sick. We bring airsickness bags and they have really come in handy.

 

[linda0706]

The DVD player did the trick for us!! Worth its weight in gold, if you ask me!

AMEN SISTER!!!

 

[pha1226]

We drove from NJ to Florida in March with my 5 and 7 y.o. dd. Along with the dvd player, snacks and drinks, we found that providing them with a variety of things to do kept the whining to a minimum. We did split the drive into one long haul, sleep in a motel, then a shorter drive to Orlando.

They each had their GameBoy. There's a sticky here somewhere with printables. I printed out coloring pages, word finds, mazes, etc. with Disney themes and put them in a notebook for each kid. They had notebooks, stickers and coloring books. They had mp3 players for when they needed to veg out a little. They didn't sleep as much as we'd hoped. They LOVED playing 20 questions with us. At every bathroom/gas break, we let them run around as much as possible and gave the money for a small snack or candy.

We tried to approach the drive as a family adventure and part of the vacation and it really wasn't that bad! Good luck.

 

[*disgal*]

Well, this only works if both of you don't mind driving overnight.

We come from NY so our drive is about 19-20 hours of driving time. We used to split it up but that means two days of driving 10 hours each. Our three kids work on each other's nerves by that time, needless to say mine.

So the last two times to Disney (and a week from today...yaaa!!) we have done the overnight haul.

We start out at 6pm and I have something packed for dinner. Sandwiches, usually. About 10 or 11pm, the kids start nodding off to sleep (kids are 14, 11 and 7) and sometimes I get a little nap then too. DH drives until anywhere from 2-4am, then I drive a couple hours. The last time, both of us got sleepy around 4am so we pulled into a lighted rest area and slept for about 1 1/2 hours. Then he usually drives until breakfast time, 8am and we all have a good breakfast somewhere around the Florida state line.

After breakfast, DH gets about 3 hours sleep..........the kids are awake now and busying themselves with games or DVD's or music. Then DH and I switch and I get a little more sleep too.

We ususally pull in to Orlando about 2pm. We get to the hotel and swim and relax. Off to bed early that night to get a full nights sleep and hit the parks early the next morning.

This way, the kids only have 10 hours wake time instead of 19-20. We find we are all much nicer to each other this way.

Ofcourse, we will be in Orlando for 15 nights, so maybe this wouldn't work with a shorter trip.

 

[rhonhod]

My kids are 13 & 14 and still finger foods. Anything that will fit in a baggie. My kids love the uncrustables (peanut butter and jelly). Most of all baby wipes!!

 

[james'mommy]

Our Minivan has a dvd player which is a lifesaver. We also make sure to pack our son's leapster and all his games. Plus we slide a tote in front of his seat so that he has something to rest his feet on so he's more comfortable and more likely to fall alseep.

 

[MommyBoo!]

We have 3 kids - 12, 10 and 3. Each one has a plastic box with a cover and whatever they want to take in the van must fit in that. We take a cooler with drinks, snacks and sandwiches. They each have a travel pillow, travel blanket and one doll/stuffed animal if they want. OK, the dds usually sucker Dad into 2.

We have a dvd player in the van. The older two have mp3 players. They each have a Nintendo ds lite and the youngest has a leapster. They all bring books. Each one gets a new game for the trip and we try to get a couple of new dvds too.

Each one has a notebook, pens/pencils and the little one has coloring books, colored pencils and stickers. Also, magnet activities are great for her. Last year she had a Vet shop book with all kinds of animal magnets to use with it; she loved it.

Everyone gets out at rest stops to run around. We let the kids take turns taking pictures and videos in and out of the van (these are SO funny to watch after the trip).

Dh goes to bed really early the night before we leave and I keep the kids up really late. A few hours after they fall asleep they are up again and in the van. One by one they (and then me) nod off for awhile.

We also switch seats around so everyone is not sitting in the same spot for the whole trip. DS is tall enough (taller than me ) and heavy enough that he can sit in the front seat so I can sit in back with the girls sometimes. We keep one seat down (stow and go) the whole time which makes the van more roomy.

We break the drive up into 2 days. Next June, one of the ways (can't decide yet if it will be on the way there or back) will be 3 days and we are going to stop at some of the tourist spots.

 

[MommyBoo!]

Forgot to add: We save plastic grocery bags and bring them with. Every time we stop, all of the garbage leaves the van. It really helps to keep it neat.

 

[MindyLuvsMickey]

You can't go wrong with the DVD player! It was definitely a lifesaver for us.

We drove from PA to WDW with our then 22 month old. We left just shortly before his normal bed time and drove straight through. We would wake briefly for our gas stops but did well other wise. We made sure we had lots of stuff to entertain him, as well as plenty of snacks and drinks.

 

[partyplannermom]

It's always a good idea to bring a couple of older beach towels or large towels. They work wonders for spilled anything or in case someone gets carsick. I ditto the plastic grocery bags. Also, bring some baby wipes they are handy for many things too. Another tip, we do roadtrips quite often and my DH always gets a good hotel rate- especially if we roll in after 8pm, he reasons w/ the hotel "it's late, would you rather a room go empty or give it to me for $75?" I didn't even know hotel prices were negotiable!

 

[disney_me]

Never drove to Disney yet but have taken many 2-6 hour road trips. DD 12, DH 39 and me 35 love to play the alphabet game. Everyone starts on "A" you look for a road sign or a license plate that has an "A" at the beginning. who ever spots the letter 1st get to move on to "B" and so on. You can't go to the next letter until you get the letter your on.

Hope that all makes sense

 

[FunFunFun]

We drive from OK (Tulsa!) to PA frequently and will be driving to WDW in Sept. The key to happiness in our car is variety. Prior to a trip I start collecting small toys, books, games, dvds etc. and during the drive I try to pull out something every hour or so. Sometimes it's just a snack. Car games are great and you can find many online - just google "kids car games", MomsMiniVan.com has lots of games. One of our favorite games is a drawing game. One person draws a shape (we use our magnadoodle - but paper would be fine too), the next person has to turn the shape into something. Younger kids get simple geometric shapes and bigger kids get odd squiggles. Also when I was a kids we always read aloud in the car and my kids really like this too. Take a chapter book and stop at all the exciting parts so they are left wanting more!
Have a great trip!

 

[dyna]

We always tried to allow for 10 or 15 mins of play time at the rest stops took ball an jump rope in your case you might need 2 jump ropes.

Picinic lunch at rest stop might work well allow the kids to play while you eat then set them up to eat once you back on the road. We used to do that at MickeyD's when DD was younger yours might be little old for the playgrounds tho.

Those metal lap trays are a godsend tho makes eating and drawing etc much easier while riding in car.

 

[da-winnie-pooh]

We have a house in TN and one in central Florida, so we make the drive A LOT. We've found that driving straight through "ruins" one day, but stopping and spending the night "ruins" two days. We like to leave at night, a few hours before bedtime. The kids sleep and dh and I take turns switching and driving. The traffic is better at night, too. Then we nap for a few hours after we arrive.

We also have snacks and drinks, and a VCP (we are SO last-century).

The last time we were at the MK until midnight and drove back. THAT was hard. We slept quite a bit at rest stops. The ones in Florida have good security, so we felt safe.

Also, don't drive through Atlanta if you can help it. We have almost always had traffic problems. The last time we barely missed a very bad wreck - a truck was pulling a trailer, the truck hit the guardrail and the trailer kept going.

Have fun!

 

[Tammysue5]

We are going in Sept. for 12 days. We are driving from Il. (20hr drive) We have a DVD player in the Danali and another portable to go. I have bought each of the kids a movie. (They do not know about it) We also are taking the Game Cube to hookup to the DVD player. (I bought them a game they have never played, but wanted, this is also a surprise) We have plenty of room so everyone will take a pillow and blanket. MP3, Ipod. Snacks, water. We actually like to talk with each other so will probably play 20 questions etc. on the way down.(or at least at the beginning of the trip) We are starting our trip at 4pm and driving through the night. We have nothing planned upon arrival to WDW... resting up and starting early the next am. We are leaving as the kids get out of school for the day, so I am hoping they will sleep for a portion of the trip.

Me DH DS16 DD8 DD5