Tips to ease a toddler witha long drive down to Disney

[cam&phoebsmom]

We are headed to DW in Jan. 2010. My DD will just be turning 3 and my DS will be 8.

We are driving down this time. I am not worried about my DS-he will be fine with his new DSi Santa is bringing him, and actually falls asleep quite often in the car. He is my easy kid, LOL.

However, my DD is another story! Here is what i have for her already:

DVD player
Leapster (getting in advance so she will have a chance to figure it out before hand)
Coloring books/Color Wonder goodies
Stickers to decorate envelopes for Mousekeeping

any other good tips for a toddler on a 2 day trip?

TIA!

 

[candielips]

We drove down from Toronto, ON w/ our DD when she was 23 months old & she was quite good.
The DVD player saved us. We also brought lots of colouring books, puzzles, stickers, magna doodle, lots of new dinky toys from the dollar stores.
We also stopped at places where she could run around which helped a lot. And while McDonalds isn't my fav place for our family to eat, she sure loves the playlands.

 

[mamamac]

My dd's are 4 & 3 and we have only done a 6 hour road trip. We used the DVD but I hate having it on the whole time. I go to the dollar store and buy some new toys and / or books. I wrap them up in goodie bags and then pass them back after every stop. I even wrap snacks. Check out momsminivan.com They have several things you can print off. Good luck!

 

[disneymarie]

OMgosh I watched the same Thomas the Tank DVD for over 400 miles driving home with ds and grandson.
Maybe it was the familuraity to him.....

I took along some things in a little bag and after each potty stop dug into the bag. The wheels of the ride do help to make them sleepy. When fussy, stop a few minutes to let the run around.

even the 13 year old needed a break and got real burnt out at the end. We changed her seating to the middle from rear.
Enjoy, and it does seem to go fast, thought no way would I do it, but it was not bad as I ever thought.
di

 

[dunbarfamily]

We've taken a few long road trips with our children at different ages. All of my children are young.

We've found that if we lower our standards and remind ourselves that the children are trying to behave, it helps a lot. One thing that really helps is having planned stops about every 2 hours or so. We utilize McDonalds playlands (not my favorite, but we can all use potty, get a drink, wash hands, etc) and even state line tourism info places. The people inside are usually very friendly, and once one even taught our oldest how to use the milleage charts!

Oh, and we sing a lot!

Good luck!

 

[java]

Snacks are great

I brought lacing cards
Pipe cleaners
That glow light writer thing*we were driving at night
tape(he loved that one) and bubble wrap sheets- he popped away an hour!
Oh and I did puppet shows through North Carolina!(the longest part of our trip)with tiny finger puppets. He thought I was very funny!
On Movies we actually rented a bunch from redbox. Then dropped them off at a walmart in Georgia. So only $6 for 6 movies! And they kept them entertained!
I have 4 children. And they've all been in the car for long trips. I feel like felix the cat with my bag of tricks but better to have too much entertainment than not enough!

Bring a change of clothes- things spill in the car.

 

[My_3_Mi_Princesses]

fyi..on the Transportaion section there is a thread called something like 'For 2000+ mile drivers' I can't recall the exact name, but it has 2000 miles in the title. Anyways there is tons of great tips on that thread for long drives like advice what route to take, where to stay etc..

 

[debbi801]

We drove down when my DS was 2. The best thing we did was leave at 4:00am. We put the kids to sleep in comfy clothes, woke them up enough to get shoes on and sleep-walked them to the car. Got them all buckled in with blankets, made a quick coffee run and got on the road. They continued sleeping until 8 or so. It was the most peaceful part of the trip.

After that, we stopped regularly for meals, bathroom breaks, and run-around time. We made sure to stop places where they could really run for a bit--parks, McD's with play yards, etc. When we stopped for the night, we made sure the hotel had a pool and was near someplace to run around--for us it was a chuck e cheese.

For during the car ride, we had the dvd player, game boys, leapsters, pipe cleaners, little snacks that didn't make much mess, stickers, and DS's magnadoodle. I bet something like bendaroos would be a big hit, too.

 

[Mathfailure]

For years we have driven 12 plus hours to get to vacation (not disney!)

A practical bit of advice, find a cheap gallon pitcher and keep in the car for unexpected car sickness or upset stomack from over eating in the car. Also bottled water to wash the 'stuff' off the children and car. A BIG roll of paper towels. An some plastic bags to tie up the garbage in.

Riding with a smelly car and kids is no fun.

Neither of our children usually get car sick, but have both at times on long trips just suddenly gotten sick. The youngest once laughed until he threw up!

I know this is gross, but being prepared has made the incidents easier to deal with, for the children too, because they could freshen up and feel better.