Car Trip Packing and Survival About This Page:

[kjkjmommie]

Not sure if this will help or not. But I spent 18 years as a single mom ( first DH was killed 3 months before second DD was born) so traveling with 2 DD along meant planning well. 2 things I did was I let them make mega car bingo... with items they thought of that we might see, this let me play with them too. The second things was I gave them each a coin/token holder like you get a Chuck E Cheese, I filled it up with quarters that they could spend as soon as we got to the hotel, which meant games snacks what ever they wanted... I had NO VETO power. The catch was arguing cost a quarter as did the most dreaded question " are we there yet?" after forking over a few quarters.... that I got ... they were so good. This worked for many trips. Hope it helps you too.
Laurie
DD - 24 married
DD - 26 applying to law school YEAH!!!

[BigfishSM]

Great thread! We're thinking of driving next year to save money on airfare. We have a long trip from Cleveland, OH but not much longer than our yearly vacation to Hilton Head Island. I figured another 4 hours extra.

[Evil_Queen]

I agree about the zip lock bag for tolls. I also think to avoid hurt feelings over snacks to make each girl a zip lock gallon bag. Put snacks for each girl and maybe a note pad and pencil. You can ask the girl to find things along the way and to write them down.

If not you could also have them find a map of the state you stop in that evening. I also like the 75 book. I'm not sure if you will be traveling that but it has great historical facts and is a welcome break to the the long drive.

We have found that a book on tape for the adults is great. If the girls take a nap then you can listen as you drive. You can also rent DVDs from the library.

We had it easy when the kids were smaller. You knew that after a while the road would get to them and a nap would soon happen. Now that they are older we just try to keep the battery from kicking it from all the electronic hooked up to the van.

Good luck it is longer than our 12 hour drive. Be sure to post when you get back!

[klositis]

CHECK OUT SITE CALLED MOMSTAXI.COM ( I CANT SEEM TO FIND SITE IN MY WDW STUFF) BUT I THINK THATS THE NAME, THEY HAVE TONS OF ROAD GAMES (IE ALPHABET FOR OLDER KIDS AND PRESCHOOLERS, ALL KINDS OF COLORING SHEETS AND ROAD GAMES THAT I HAD NEVER HEARD OF)
ALSO CHECK OUT CRACKER BARREL FOR BINGO TYPE BOARD GAMES. WE HAVE SOME THAT HAVE DIFFERNT ROAD SIGNS, AND CONSTRUCTION VEHICLES. YOU PLAY JUST LIKE BINGO AND NEED NO MARKERS. IT HAS RED SLIDE WINDOWS THAT YOU JUST SLIDE ACROSS THE PIC WHEN YOU SEE WHATS ON THE CARD. BUT OUR PERSONAL FAV. IS ALPHABET BILLBOARD GAME.
TAKE THE ALPHABET IN ORDER AND YOU HAVE TO FIND WORDS THAT BEGIN WITH THAT LETTER ON BILLBOARDS AND SIGNS. THE Q'S ARE KILLERS AND IT WILL TAKE QUITE SOMETIME TO FIND A SIGN WITH A Q ON IT!!!!!

[kim looman]

Originally Posted by kitkat

These are great tips! We are planning on leaving about 3am so the kids will be asleep the first part of the trip.
Has anyone drivin from the Chicago area? How long did it take?
Thanks,
Kat

We drive from Holland, MI to Orlando (we have been taking trips since 1999) and still we do it again! It takes us just under 22 hours total and we are about 1 1/2 hours north of Chicago. This trip we are taking in a few weeks will be on I75 from Detroit to Orlando. We have two boys; 4 and 10, and they are going to have their own maps of each state we pass through, with stickers and highlighters to find cities, capitals, rivers, etc. The 10 year old is keeping track of gas milage (a simple chart on excell) bringing along his calculator for math practice. Thanks for all the great tips and ideas for travel, they are very helpful to keep adding new ideas for the long trips in the minivan!

[jennimouse]

I don't think anyone said a book light for when it gets dark.

[emtpej]

I have seen some really great tips! Thank you!
One tip that I like from the PassPorter is a power strip to use for your chargers in the hotel. We usually use one in the van because until this year we used a regular (small) tv, vcr/dvd player, and a game console from the house in our van. We now have a dual-screen DVD player (that runs on car-plug power), but we will probably keep the inverter because of the gameboys and "you just never can find that car charger when you need it" problem. The only thing I would suggest with it is to not turn it on until after your vehicle is running and not use it unless you really need it. They are becoming more affordable and some vans have them built in!
I am also thinking about getting some “Disney Treasures” DVDs for the trip there and back because the DS and DW have probably not seen many of the older shows (it may help prevent boredom and AWTY?) and the information might help us win a trivia game on the DCL!
I am also considering getting an epass / sunpass transponder just to save time and frustration as I am planning using the “western way” to WDW and we will also be driving to Port Canaveral on the Beachline. I am also starting to get the vibes from the DW that this may not be the only time in our lives that we will be making this trip.
Also, I checked on the drivei95.com website and the 4th edition (2007) and beyond has Florida all the way to Miami! I’m going to the bookstore and will probably use my giftcard to get it.

[Evil_Queen]

You know...we have a 15 hour drive and something we liked was Sirius radio. You can get a cheap hook up for $19. You just plug and play. You family can listen to Disney Radio on the trip. They also have traffic channels that we loved.

You have 100+ channels of entertainment. They even have a radio station of old radio shows. The kids love the family stations with trivia. I know it can get old after a while but for those few hours it really works.

[bitterchickey]

Don't underestimate the boredom of teens as well.... last year on a drive to/from Branson, MO, we invested in a wireless card on our phone plan with AT &T. TRUST me, we will be using it on the trip to WDW again this year. It allowed DD (13) to chat with friends, surf, check emails etc for the 12 or so hr drives. It works as long as you have cell reception, which with us was basically everywhere. And in the spots (few & far between) that it did not work, she used the laptop to watch dvd's or play games.

[lanie875]

We have always driven to our vacations in Florida (from Michigan) and I love it! Last time we drove we had our three kids (ages 11, 2 and 4) and my parents with my younger brothers and sister were in another car. It went great. We stopped two nights and stayed in hotels and we made sure to stop every couple of hours to eat or stretch our legs at a rest area. We even saw the Blue Angels practicing from one rest area. Most of the time the kids watched DVD's on the little dvd player I bought but otherwise we did Madlibs, colored or listened to music. My little ones each got a new toy (small Dora figures) and they played with those a lot in their carseats. I guess it depends on your kids but having things to keep them busy and stopping often is the key to a happy trip. Oh - and SNACKS! We had lots of snacks like pretzels, fruit snacks, apples, bananas, water, juiceboxes etc. I may be abnormal but I actually enjoy the drive down. It's amazing to see the differences in each state the further South we drive. I take a lot of pictures to document our trips there and back too

[Dale_Loves_Mickey]

We too, Have always driven from Michigan. 22 or so hours straight through can be a very long trip, but well worth it when it comes to the savings. I have to stress to you all to use a regular gas station. Ie....We use Speedway because of their rewards system. It is better on your car engine to use the same gas as there are a few stations out there that do some unusual things to their gas.
Back to the rewards system. We use our rewards points to get "free" gas cards. When we reach a certain point we can redeem our points for a gift card that can be used towards gas. Last year we had enough points to get $100 dollar card and this year we will be able to get 2 of them. That is enough to pay our gas from home to the furthest south station in Corbin Ky. (Also happens to be the home of the first KFC> fun to say you ate there...) then all the way back from that point as well. For points south of Corbin we only use Shell Stations. We can purchase their gas cards before we leave home and then we have all our gas money set aside and I don't have to worry about "accidentally" spendind too much while at WDW.

I also went on line and noted the location of our favourite auto parts stores making sure there were pleant of places along 75 to get parts should the worst happen. When packing the car for your trip make sure you have at least a basic tool kit in the car with some open end wrenches to fit you car (Metric if you have a forign car and standard for those great domestics.) and a screwdriver or two. If your like me and know only where gas and oil goes you will at the least have a few tools on hand should some nice guy offer to help you out. And of course know where your spare and jack are stored. You might not know all the ins and outs of changing a tire, but as long as you have a spare and jack, again, some good semaratin might be able to help you out (DH has done this on SSOO many occasions...) Of course, any road side assistance plan is a good idea, but make sure you know what is offered and all your coverage offers. We once had plan that wouldn't cover tows unless they were to a licenced garage. Not a good plan for DH who does most of our maintnance himself.

Keeping the kids happy is a good thing, but if the worst should happen and you find yourself on the side of an unfamilliar road, it won't matter the mood the kids are in, if mom and dad are off their rocker. Take it from a seasoned car traveler (DF and DM were a bit of Gypsies and we traveled cross country most of my growing up years. And we were not often even financially set for our trips if you catch my drift) I have spent many days and nights on the side of a major highway waiting for someone to bring Dad back from a local auto parts store so he could fix the car so we could get back on the road. (I wouldn't trade my travel experiences for anything, but I could have done with quite a few less of the hicups along the way! LOL)

[simplosys]

i did not travel in the car with the kids, thank god for that, the short trips were enough to give me many a sleepless night. but the one thng about them is that once they are all tired out, they just drop of to sleep which means that for the parents it is relax time!

[emtpej]

Everything here is great! Thanks for all the tips!
The mental survival is important, but so is physical survival.
I just wanted to mention to everyone that with all this neat stuff that we can put in our cars these days is that we should try and do it safely.
Don't have so much stuff going on that the driver is distracted.
Please make sure that things that are mounted on the dask are not impeding air bags, and that they are securely attached to a surface. Try to keep loose things in the car to a minimum so they don't fly around (and injure someone) if you are in a crash. I know it goes without saying, but if you have someone that is small enough to be in a car seat, please make sure that it is properly secured in the vehicle. The instructions that come with it should help, but if you don't know how to do it, please ask someone!
Take it from me (or any other first responder) I have seen some stuff that you just don't want to hear about.
Sorry about the long post, but with travel season coming up, I just wanted say this.
I hope everyone has a safe trip to WDW(and back home again)!

[tink'72]

We drive every year. It's me, DH, DS 15, DD11 and DS 5. My kids are actually excellent in the car. We drive from Boston each year and I think you definetly make it to Virginia. You have a great packing list. I do personalized goodie bags each year for the kids. They each get a new movie that they have not yet seen in their bags along with , for the older kids new books. I also go online and print off WDW travel items. My daughter loves to write , so each year I print out a travel journal and she writes in that. I also print out crossword puzzles and word finds.

Another tip- I stop every 3 hours if not more. I know that sounds like a lot but it really isn't and with 3 small kids it breaks up the ride. We take 2 days to drive. The first day we stop in Virginia and the second night we stop right outside of Florida in Georgia. That way we wake up that morning head into Orlando and hit the parks.

I also agree with having your windows treated with Rain X. I did it for the first time last year and what a difference. Enjoy your trip!

[Michoubi]

This is a great thread. I live in Ottawa, Ontario and we are planning our first Disney trip in October. My hubby, myself, 2 boys ages 17 & 4. We decided to drive down since the airfare alone would be $2000.00!!

I am slowly making lists of things to bring in the van. I have no idea how my 4 yr old will be so i'm hoping he will be ok. We plan on leaving home around 2 a.m. so he should sleep a good part of the beginning. I would like to drive at least 12-14 hrs that first day so should be just past Virginia. Then stop at a hotel, sleep then leave early in the morning again to make it to Florida, stop at a hotel again, sleep then we should not have too long the next day to get to Disney.

Thansk for the tips. This site is great