advice on driving

[Bethis26fan]

I need some advice I'm trying to figure out if I want to dry half way (4 hours) and stop at like 10:30 pm and then drive the other half to Disney the next day. Or should I just leave at like 3:00am and drive straight to Disney. We are taking my 4 year old nephew with us. The day we arrive at Disney we don't really have any "major" plans. We just want that to be our DTD day. It's about an 8 hour drive and I give at least an extra hour for restroom breaks.

[dfamasb]

Since you are going with a 4 year old I would break the trip up, you don't want a cranky preschooler to start your vacation. I drive to WDW with 3 kids under 4 and it takes us 2.5 days to get there but we try not to drive more than 6 hours a day. It's much more plesant to take your time, stop and stretch and enjoy yourselves.

[Tygger7]

I'm probably not the best person to comment, but here goes anyway. It's a 16-17 hour drive for us, and we drive straight through. Personally, I would leave at 3am (or sometime before 6am) and drive it straight through, and here's why: traffic & construction. At least half of the drive will be "at night", which means lighter traffic, and easier to get through construction. We tried splitting it up on our trip home by stopping at Hilton Head, but would rather just get to where we need to be.

[kadesha]

it takes up 8-9 hours to get there and we always drive. I have 4 year olds. We always leave at like 3 am, as you mentioned, and arrive that morning. It works for the best that way because the kids sleep right through the drive. However, last year we ran into a problem. When we arrived our room wasn't ready, so we ended up having to go spend a few hours at the parks. DH and I were exhausted after driving all night. We'll still continue to drive through the night though, becasue that's what's easiest on the kids.

[NJGIRL]

When my family goes to Williamsburg we drive straight thur only stopping for a meal and the restroom. Our drive is 7 hours plus one hour to eat. I would drive straight thur if it were us. Eight hours really isn't that bad.

[Bethis26fan]

I was think that he could sleep for most of the drive. I just don't sleep good unless I'm in my own bed so if we stop at 10:30 it's probably going to be 2:00 before I ever fall asleep to get back up at 6:30. I figured i could just go to bed about 7:00 the night before and "try" to sleep till like 2:30 then get up and be on the road by 3:00. We always drive it straight when we come home I just wasn't sure about driving with Logan.

[joonyer]

It's only about a 5-hour drive to WDW for us, but we drive to Indiana & Michigan (12-13 hours) a couple of times every year. When our kids were younger, like your nephew, we usually drove all night, while the kids slept most of the way, which made the time fly by for them, and my wife and I took turns driving and listening to audio books which kept us awake. This method maximized our time at our destination rather than at a motel along the way. Destination time was always a priority for us, as it is when we go to WDW. That's why we drove all night. The disadvantage of doing it this was is the kids have more energy on arrival day than you do.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I would leave early and drive straight to WDW!

We have a 21-23 hour drive (if we drive), and we do it in two days...a really long (14-15 hour day) and a short day.

When DD was small, we would leave between 4am and 5am, and she would sleep in the car. DH and I always bring an audio-book, it really does help pass the time.

We pack a lot of snacks, and a portable DVD player for DD, and she really does well on the trip. I have also (when she was small) gone to the dollar store and bought a bunch of new small toys, colouring books, etc and packed a "trip backback" for DD. Since it was all new, it was especially entertaining for her.

8 hours really isn't that long...I think you can do it in one day :car:

[FaithTrustPixieDust]

8 hours in one day . . . . totally do-able with kids. We sometimes pack sandwiches and stop at a park or rest stop rather than a fast food restaurant. A few minutes of open space and fresh air helps all of us to keep going!

[Bethis26fan]

Cool Thanks everyone i think I would like to leave at 3am atleast that will save us 100+ on a hotel.

[Breochaid]

Our drive takes about 18 hours. We leave at 4pm and make our first stop about 8pm for a late supper. Then we head out again and take turns driving through the night. The kids (age almost 3 and 5 months on our last trip) slept most of the night. :sleepin: We usually stop about every 3 hours to get out to stretch and use the restrooms. We stop for breakfast when we hit Florida and usually arrive at WDW around lunch time. :mickey: So far we have been lucky and have been able to get into our rooms early. The first things we do are shower, nap and eat supper. On our next trip our DD will be 5 and our DS will be 2 1/2, so I plan on taking a children's potty chair along for the drive, just incase the kids can't make it to the next stop.:whew: We have a mini-van with a DVD player and I also pack a bag of activities (ones they haven't played with before, it keeps them entertained longer that way). Good luck! We really enjoy the drive, it is a great family bonding time for us!:grouphug:

[irish1967]

I think your plan is good. We often do something similar and here is my advice:

You want the time between physically getting your nephew out of bed and into the car to be as short as possible. We would have a change of clothes easily accessible in the car and changed them from their pjs into their clothes the first stop. (Now that they are older, they sleep in the clothes they wear the first day.)

Once the adults were ready to get in the car and drive, we would wake up the boys enough so that they would go to the bathroom (You'll probably need to hold him in place while he is going to the bathroom - groggy boys tend to have terrible aim :secret:) and then put them in their car seats with their stuffed animal and pillow and leave. The one year we didn't do this we had really excited children wake up completely and stay awake for hours- which meant they were REALLY tired and cranky later in the day.

We also found that telling them several times a day for the week before the trip: "the day we leave, we are going to wake you up REALLY early. You are going to feel REALLY tired, so all you need to do is go to the bathroom and then get into the car and go back to sleep."

Plan to stop every 2 1/2 hours or so (not during the time when your nephew is sleeping!) We make a point of doing so and always fill up with gas and require every passenger in the car to at least try to go to the bathroom. This prevents any problems if you hit a long stretch between exits because there is an unwritten rule that if you don't do this, you will hear the words "I gotta go" as you are passing an exit with 5 clean gas stations and looking at a sign that says "Next Exit 50 miles!" In 8 years of driving 20+ hours for vacation, we have only had to make one unplanned stop for a bathroom break (We do make it very clear that as long as they TRY to go during a planned stop, it is perfectly all right to need to stop before the next planned stop.)

Have a great trip! :mickey:

[Bethis26fan]

I think your plan is good. We often do something similar and here is my advice:

You want the time between physically getting your nephew out of bed and into the car to be as short as possible. We would have a change of clothes easily accessible in the car and changed them from their pjs into their clothes the first stop. (Now that they are older, they sleep in the clothes they wear the first day.)

Once the adults were ready to get in the car and drive, we would wake up the boys enough so that they would go to the bathroom (You'll probably need to hold him in place while he is going to the bathroom - groggy boys tend to have terrible aim :secret:) and then put them in their car seats with their stuffed animal and pillow and leave. The one year we didn't do this we had really excited children wake up completely and stay awake for hours- which meant they were REALLY tired and cranky later in the day.

We also found that telling them several times a day for the week before the trip: "the day we leave, we are going to wake you up REALLY early. You are going to feel REALLY tired, so all you need to do is go to the bathroom and then get into the car and go back to sleep."

Plan to stop every 2 1/2 hours or so (not during the time when your nephew is sleeping!) We make a point of doing so and always fill up with gas and require every passenger in the car to at least try to go to the bathroom. This prevents any problems if you hit a long stretch between exits because there is an unwritten rule that if you don't do this, you will hear the words "I gotta go" as you are passing an exit with 5 clean gas stations and looking at a sign that says "Next Exit 50 miles!" In 8 years of driving 20+ hours for vacation, we have only had to make one unplanned stop for a bathroom break (We do make it very clear that as long as they TRY to go during a planned stop, it is perfectly all right to need to stop before the next planned stop.)

Have a great trip! :mickey:


We talked about having his clothes in the car and stopping for breakfast when he wakes up and change him then. I'm thinking he'll sleep till atleast 7:30 - 8:00 and I know we will have to make atleast one stop before then for me to take a bathroom break. lol but I think we are pretty much going to do this. Thanks everyone.

[Queen Stephanie]

Driving 8 hours :drive:straight through is not so bad, especially if you leave early and allow the kids to sleep while DH drives. Now this is one thing to consider...is DH going to be cranky up arrival, because he didn't get any sleep? :crazy: Good luck.

[avantgardeinker]

If I only had an 8 hour trip I would definitely drive it all in one trip. It takes us 14 hours to get there so we stop a little more than half way. It makes the 2nd day's driving seem really short.

:mickey:

[Bethis26fan]

no DH involved so no cranky DH. It's going to be me and my cousin and her nephew. I'll be driving.

[Mickey'sGirl]

We have a 23 hour drive from our place -- so an 8 hr ride is just a half day! ;) Our full day is the 15 hour day.

With activities, I would imagine that it would be an easily attainable goal with a 4 year old. If you left at 7 am, you would still be down by 3 or 4 at check in time.....and you wouldn't be too tired to enjoy the evening! Just my opinion.:thumbsup:

[busterthebronco]

i would go for it but if you get sleepy driving swap off or find the next rest stop and take a nap in the car.
i am very scared of falling asleep while driving and go to great lengths to not do it.

[Bethis26fan]

i would go for it but if you get sleepy driving swap off or find the next rest stop and take a nap in the car.
i am very scared of falling asleep while driving and go to great lengths to not do it.

I'm not worried about falling asleep. I drove from North Kingstown RI to York SC which is a 14.5 hour drive with at stopping (other than food/bathroom breaks) I just wasn't sure about trying it with a 4 year old.