Ways to make a 15 hour drive fun for kids?

[stobaugh6]

We are driving from the Houston area to WDW in April. We have 7 kids ages 18, 16, 14, 10, 7, 5 and 18 months. I'm looking for ways to make the drive enjoyable. We will drive 11 hours the first day and 4 hours the second day. Any tips, advice, suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!!

 

[marmalade]

We are driving from the Houston area to WDW in April. We have 7 kids ages 18, 16, 14, 10, 7, 5 and 18 months. I'm looking for ways to make the drive enjoyable. We will drive 11 hours the first day and 4 hours the second day. Any tips, advice, suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!!

We drove once when our kids were 6 and 7. We did the standard portable DVD player, Nintendo DS, coloring books and crayons. One thing that my DD7 loved was tracking our trip on the map and marking off each state we passed through. All and all they were really good and managed the ride better than I would have thought.

Our trip was 20hrs from start to finish and we drove the entire way there and split it into two days on the way home. We stopped every 2-3hrs for a bathroom break, quick stretch and filled up the gas tank. We had a cooler filled with food, snacks and drinks.

 

[ariane37]

We're considering driving for the first time in August. I wish it would only 15 hours, but our drive will be 24 . We'll stop overnight and I'm hoping since our kids aren't that young anymore (will be 13 and 9) it'll go ok, but younger DS starts asking "are we there yet" about 20 minutes into a 50 minute trip

We did drive 10 hours to Va. Beach a few times when they were both under 10, and like marmalade we had the DVD player, coloring stuff, and stopped often to stretch. Also had lots of snacks and I had bought some of those cheap travel versions of games like bingo, scrabble, and some others I can't remember. Target and Toys R Us used to have them.

 

[Feberin]

We're big fans of audio books. Libraries around us have Playaways, which are little handheld things that you plug headphones into and can listen to audiobooks. Great way for different people to listen to different books. We also have playviews at the library, which are the same basic thing but with a screen. The library only has them for young children but they were great for our kids. I also downloaded a movie on the ipad for my son. We also listen to audiobooks on CD as a family.
We also fed the kids in the car. It saved time and then when we stopped they could run around and play instead of being forced to sit down. Plus it gave them something to do during the drive.
We left at 4 am, which allowed for additional time in the car with the kids sleeping. They were wide awake when we left but eventually fell asleep and took a long nap.
We also took various small toys for them to play with in the car. We had Color Wonder coloring books and paints. My son had his Leappad to play on and we brought a toy laptop for my daughter. We also brought a lot of books for them look through. Our drive was about 13 hours and we drove down all in one day. We took more time going back up.
Also not a car trip but on the way back we stopped at a hotel with an indoor pool, which was a hit for the kids. They were so full of energy when we first arrived but after an hour or so of swimming they were as tuckered out as us.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

We drive and it's about a 24 hr drive. We stopped overnight last time, and it seemed worse then just driving straight through. I make up bags ahead of time with cheap dollar store type toys. When they get restless, I pull out something new for them to play with. Books, games, light up toys.

 

[scrapquitler]

Consider leaving in the middle of the night/very early in the morning. If your plan is to stop after 11 hours, consider leaving somewhere in the 2-3AM range (have the driver go to bed as early as possible the night before). Hope that the kids sleep for at least the first leg of the trip. Drive 4 or 5 hours, stop for breakfast. Arrive at your 'destination' somewhere around mid afternoon, and have something fun planned for the family to do while you are there that day while the driver(s) gets a chance to rest....maybe stay at a hotel with an indoor water park or something of the sort where the kids can have some fun, burn off some energy and be tired enough to sleep well that night. Then get up in the morning and be ready to finish the last few hours.

If you do this, it makes the road trip part of the fun, not just something to be endured.

 

[tina.tina]

We have a 12 hour drive. For one trip, we drove 9 hours one day and 3 hours the next. We left at 4pm and drove until 1am. We had a 5.5 year old and a 10 year old then. We never even turned on the radio on the way down. We talked about what rides we were most looking forward to and went over our itinerary. We played road trip games to pass the time. We played the alphabet game and a travel bingo we made up as we went along. We stopped at rest areas and got maps of the states for the kids and plotted our route on the maps. I told the kids that I had prizes they could win if they worked together on the games. The prizes were just things I picked up at the Dollar Tree along with some of the Play Packs with crayons, stickers, etc. When they were getting bored with the little prizes, I gave snack prizes and bigger prizes like tshirts, stuffed animals, and small amounts of cash. They both got prizes because they worked to win/finish the game together. This helped them to "make" them get along. We spent lots of time apart at school/after school programs and work so we truly enjoyed the family togetherness time.

 

[WIDisneyFan]

We drive from Wisconsin and have a few things that help pass the time. Top of the list would be a few new movies (DVD player in the car is a wonderful thing). Second on the list is small gifts at or near each state line we cross, this seems to turn it into lots of shorter trips. We also have the normal collection of coloring books and puzzle books. We break the trip into 2 days and view it as part of the adventure.

 

[OZMom]

Our trip is 24 hours, again we did standard DVD's and our kids have leap pads (HEADPHONES ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND!) We make "car kits" for each kid with crayons, legos, books etc. We left at night so our kids slept almost the entire first half of the trip. Lots of snacks and audio books are helpful too. I am totally stealing the "mapping the trip" idea from Marmalade for our next trip!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Lots of movies and books lol...we make the drive from NJ which is similar to the time u are driving. My older son has his iPad which has movies and tv shows plus games on it, he also brings books and we usually pull him out of school for our trip so his teacher sends home school work for him so he has that as well. I also made him a vacation journal that he can work on so he learns different information about the states we are driving through. My little one is easy though. He's only 20 months so put on some movies for him and he's a happy camper. For him give him movies, snack, and nap time and he's happy lol

 

[Bkk40in2011]

We are driving from the Houston area to WDW in April. We have 7 kids ages 18, 16, 14, 10, 7, 5 and 18 months. I'm looking for ways to make the drive enjoyable. We will drive 11 hours the first day and 4 hours the second day. Any tips, advice, suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!!

OP we are doing the same at the same time so I will try and post any valuable info I have on the drive as I find it.

 

[Bkk40in2011]

We have CDs called Adventures in Odyssey. They are done by Focus on the Family and are excellent radio dramas for kids of all ages. My 14 year old still loves them and I have friends whose high schoolers will still listen to them. You can buy them online on amazon. Each CD set is about 6 hrs so that is a lot of playtime and as an adult I like listening to them.

Also we found out that RedBox (the red movie rental DVD kiosks outside of gas stations and McDonalds) will let you return their movies to ANY RedBox kiosk in any state. You can call to verify for your peace of mind like I did. I just did that for my kids for a trip back from AZ and they loved it! Got to watch new movies just released to DVD and I was able to just pay $4 for the 3 movies instead of $30-$60. It was fun for them to go to a random DVD kiosk in Ft. Stockton and rent movies mid trip. This may be especially helpful for your teenagers.

Another tip I saw was someone gave their children $10 in quarters each which was souvenir money. Each time they asked when will we be there they had to pay out a quarter or 50 cents of their money.

 

[theyoungs07]

We've driven 3 times, soon to be 4...this time with 8 kids 13, 12, 10, 9, 7, 5, 2, 6mo. We use DVDs, DS's, grab a power inverter if you don't have one to charge devices. We have time in the van where electronics need to be off so they are forced to have a break from them.

We pack brown paper bags with "prizes" that we pull out regularly, or when the kids seem like they need it. We pack them some with treats, some with small toys...etc. Remember to leave some for the return trip.

I get the kids out at a rest stop and tell them to race around a tree or two to get their blood pumping. I've been known to lead them in push-ups...etc .

Remember that with that many bladders and needs, you will bleed time. Our Google drive time says about 17hr 45 mins door to door, but we drive for 12-14 hours the first day and then have a large amount left for the second. Don't count on a 15 hour drive, road time will probably be closer to 18-20 depending on whether you stop for a sit-down meal.

Be flexible and realize that your timetable will get blasted, you just never know what'll come up.

Maybe get them a new game/DVD for the trip and don't let them have it until then. I'm going to probably try the redbox thing as well this time.

 

[monorailsilver]

Thelongest trip we took was about 23 hours to south FL

The kids each had a device to watch a movie-2 portable DVD players and a laptop so no one had to complain about not wanting that specific movie.

They all had some kind of electronic device.

They all had puzzle type books-my kids love the extreme dot to dots, the mystery pen/marker books, as well as other brain teasers/questions.

Crayons/markers and coloring books or paper.

They each got a print out of the U.S. and Canada and would color the state when they found a car from there.

They each get road trip bingo.

And I gave them a scavenger hunt from here:

http://faculty.deanza.edu/donahuemary/stories/storyReader$1473

But I did delete some things like drunk driver, etc....

We did not travel at night because dh and I don't normally stay awake past 11/12 nor did we leave to early since we don't normally wake before the sun! We did leave early enough to avoid NYC traffic which was a priority.

 

[mercydisney]

I would wrap presents for them. Nothing big, crayons with coloring books a movie that was jut released. Items I was planning to surprise them with anyway. It was a lot more fun watching them open it especially when it was an items like a disposable camera (my kids are older now). The excitement was more for them in the unwrapping then the present itself.

 

[Yumi696]

I have a Spotify playlist of Disney songs in my signature that is roughly how long our drive is going to be this summer! I agree w/ the DVDs... way back when VHS was a thing, we had a VHS player in our car and would play the Disney sing along VHS tapes that we had lol

Coloring books and anything to do w/ writing might be difficult with a moving car, although I wouldn't really know. Bring some books? Kingdom Keepers to keep with the Disney theme?

Talk about landmarks that you'll be passing, maybe stop for five minutes to get a picture (depending on how cool the landmark is).

 

[froggibabey]

We drove from PA to FL, and then back again. And from PA to SC, and back again, and not a single "Are we there yet!".

The first trip, they were 2months, 6 and 8, and the second they were 1, 7 and 9.

What we did was have the girls each pack a bag, and bring their DSs (though on the FL trip.. they forgot GAMES for them, and just packed the DS and plugs ). We also made them little presents and stuffed them into paper bags, one for every state line (or 3 hours, whichever came first... because VA especially is a longggg state to go through!).

So on our way to Disney, their bags had stuff like new crayons and coloring books in one package, new toothbrushes and toothpaste (Disney themed, of course!) in one, Sunglasses in one, sticker and activity books in one, etc.

Trying to think what else we did.. oh. Bows and necklaces were a big one. Personalized water bottles. A few new books. We got them each their own hairbrush, which was a big thing for them, because we always share one

But anyway, they were always so excited to mark states off and play with their new stuff that they didn't complain!

And we generally put a small snack in the bags too.. fruit snacks, dried bananas, fruit pouches, etc. It worked out so great!


We also stopped and made everyone do stuff like 10 jumping jacks, running in place, lunges across the grass, etc. That helped everyone with the antsy "stuck in the car with your knees in your mouth" feeling.

 

[PizzaFryGirl]

Once we had two kids we started driving down to Florida. As others mentioned, we have the DVD player for the kids to watch movies. The older kids also pack their own activity bags with books, coloring and activity books and games, etc.

It helps to have new items like movies, games and toys to make it more exciting since they are doing/seeing something different.

We also play travel / car games like the license plate game. We are fortunate that my grandmother lives in SC which is almost the half way point from our house so we usually split the trip into two days.

If you can't split your trip up, it helps to have one driver (if you have two) get plenty of sleep and start driving in the evening so the the kids sleep through most of the driving.

We try to stop every 3 - 4 hours for a bathroom break and for the kids to run around. Pack plenty of snacks but limit the drinks so that you don't have to stop too often.

 

[GruCrew Mama]

We make up Trip Binders every time we have a long car ride, and the kids love them! I always include a map of where we are going, different state maps for each state we will go through, a car bingo card (I keep Hershey kisses up front for every bingo), a travel scavenger hunt, a page of State License plates, and a Slug Bug page (we got tired of the kids trying to "slug" each other, so now they just keep track of which color slug bug they find.) I also give them each a sheet of small stickers to mark off what they find. Then I throw in crossword puzzles, coloring sheets, wordsearches, or other things in the theme of where we are going. Keep pencils and colored pencils (no crayons as they sometimes melt in the heat) in a zippered pouch in the front of the binder.

 

[tadamom]

I suggest the little gifts too. I did this the first time we drove down with both of my kids (then DS5, DD2.5, DNiece2). We obviously had the DVD in the van but we did not turn it on until they started to get antsy the first time. I had wrapped up things for all 3 of them to open everytime we needed to stop. I had: new coloring books/crayons, a new movie, special snacks that they typically don't get at home, new washcloths for the hotels, car games, new water bottles, mini fans & new pajamas to wear on the first night at Disney. That was a great traveling trip. We stopped about every 1.5 hours b/c it never failed that someone needed to go to the bathroom and everyone was able to stretch their legs. Now that my kids are older (13 & 10). We do movies, I make car games (license plates from every state, ABC game, etc). We take our Disney Trivial Pursuit cards with us to play too.

Also another thing I suggest (if you aren't already using them) is buy the little organizer from the Dollar Tree to put food in. so you can go thru the drive-thru and get back on the road. We use these all the time!!!! I am able to put their whole meal in these baskets and we can eat on the road -- that saves us at least 45 minutes to an hour!!!