What do you wish you had for the DRIVE down?

[kstgelais4]

From where I am, Ottawa Ontario, it's about 23 hours to Orlando, Give or take an hour or two depending on traffic, speed, weather.

It takes us abut 24 hours too! Crazy, but we love the drive!

I love all the ideas! We have a lot of these things on our list already, but there was a lot I didn't think about!

 

[Disneywed]

i see a couple of northerners here-were from jersey- my hubby has been wanting to do this drive for 5 years and ive vetoed it every time.we have 5 year old twins and cannot see being in the car that long with them!! also dont u think the time u waste driving would be better spent in the parks..if u fly u get all that extra time..someone prove me wrong here..if u had the $ to fly would u still drive?? hubbys all about saving money but id rather not waste the time! whats ur opinions..

we're doing it from LI with my "irish twins" (5 & 6 when we go...13 months apart) we have the $ to fly, but there isn't enough valium in the world for me ...as much as I don't want to fly, the closer it gets I am afraid we will hear the "I'm bored" chorus 3 hours in.

 

[CindyCharming]

For all you I-75 drivers!

I just picked up these books:

Kids Love I-75
Along I-75

I bought "Kids Love" first, but had I found "Along 75" first I probably wouldn't have bought Kids.

Kids would be nice if you planned on stopping and doing little side trips, which we aren't. The maps do tell you where all the McD's, BK, Chick-Fil-A playlands and (??) Chuck E. Cheeses are, as well as rest areas and what they contain.

Along Interstate 75 tells you ALL the restaurants, gas stations, and hotels at every stop as well as the rest stop info. The maps are colored and are coded to let you know speed limits and areas that are frequented by patrol cars. It also has points of interest and little tidbits. It is spiral bound. The only problem is, it only goes to the Florida border. He does have another book that deals with strictly Florida roads:

Along Florida's Expressways

I'm debating whether or not to pick up that one too. My ILs drive down to Florida and stay in Orlando for 3 months out of the year so I thought at least they'd probably get some use out of it too.

The Kids book does go all the way through FL though so I may just make do.

 

[angiedora]

My kids are older now so they use their Ipods and Ds lites but I remember when they were younger wishing for a partition between the front and back seats so I could just get some peace!

 

[bear74]

For all you I-75 drivers!

I just picked up these books:

Kids Love I-75
Along I-75

I bought "Kids Love" first, but had I found "Along 75" first I probably wouldn't have bought Kids.

Kids would be nice if you planned on stopping and doing little side trips, which we aren't. The maps do tell you where all the McD's, BK, Chick-Fil-A playlands and (??) Chuck E. Cheeses are, as well as rest areas and what they contain.

Along Interstate 75 tells you ALL the restaurants, gas stations, and hotels at every stop as well as the rest stop info. The maps are colored and are coded to let you know speed limits and areas that are frequented by patrol cars. It also has points of interest and little tidbits. It is spiral bound. The only problem is, it only goes to the Florida border. He does have another book that deals with strictly Florida roads:

Along Florida's Expressways

I'm debating whether or not to pick up that one too. My ILs drive down to Florida and stay in Orlando for 3 months out of the year so I thought at least they'd probably get some use out of it too.

The Kids book does go all the way through FL though so I may just make do.

hmm to bad they dont seem to have one for I-10 that I saw.

 

[momof3+twins]

Just remember to get ALL the crayons out of the car as the florida heat can melt them did to ours last year what a mess we also are going again next month (we leave in 29 DAYS)i bought my DD's the markers that only mark on the paper and that is ALL they are using

We use colored pencils. We have learned about the crayons, the hard way.

 

[CindyCharming]

Does anyone know if those Crayola Twistables melt?

 

[momof3+twins]

Wow, ours is only 2100 miles round trip! We'll be driving from Springfield Missouri. Our Expedition will have 2 adults and 6 children in it...NO room for luggage. We have a little rectangular thing that hooks on to the trailer hitch, and that's how we usually transport luggage. The box for the top sounds like a good idea!

I'm really hoping to drive overnight while the little ones are asleep. That would be a HUGE help! My dh wants to wait and leave early Saturday morning, but then we won't get to do anything on arrival day. Maybe I can change his mind?!

We need to buy a new DVD player for the car, we wore ours out on the drive to Ft. Lauderdale in March!! Does anyone have a good one they recommend? That was our 3rd one.

Expedition here too. We have 5 kids so no room for luggage either. We have the trailer hitch thing also. We have a box attached to it and usually pack it full. Plus we went by Uhaul and picked up a soft cartop carrier thing for the roof. It worked really good for things like extra diaper, poptarts, (you know things that would weigh down the roof).
PM me if you think of any great Expedition room savers!!):

 

[momof3+twins]

It takes us abut 24 hours too! Crazy, but we love the drive!

I love all the ideas! We have a lot of these things on our list already, but there was a lot I didn't think about!

My hubby says that once we get to Disney the fun is over...sad that he likes the drive that much!!