Tips for driving to WDW

[mom42860]

I know a saw a post on this somewhere but can't find it, I am looking for tips on what to pack in the truck for the drive down. Have some ideas on keeping the kiddos happy but can always use more and also ideas for those things I may not think of -Thanks!!

 

[jtopp]

Driving from Mass. Buy a small tv-vcr to plug in to your power port.
It is the best investment you will ever make for peace while you drive.

 

[kbuck]

We drove from New Orleans in June.

This is what I did to keep my kids busy (ages 4 and 7). I made each child 10 grab bags. And every hour the would get one. I puchased all Disney related items and put those in the bags. (I got items from Dollar Tree, Big Lots and a few things from the Disney store). This really kept them busy. They loved picking their own bag. This also made my 7 year son watch the clock.

I also had a bag of new kid meal toys. I have a friend with no children who loves kids meals so she gave me all this toys. I would give this out when they would get restless.

I hope these ideas help

 

[brittsmum1998]

From Mass also....we drive twice a year w/ dd who is now 4. We have never had a problem on the drive. TV w/ VCR is a definate. She has a tray that attaches to her car seat. Even has the cup holder. She does alot of coloring, stickering etc. We never bring markers unless they are the "special" crayola ones that only mark certain paper. We haven't had to use this YET but we always pack the potty chair incase she can't wait on the highway but as I said...haven't needed it yet so we may leave it home this time. I will mention...we have a Ford Mini Van and there are only me. DH and DD. We did purchase one of those luggage containers that go over the roof rack last week. It seemed to me that it was somewhat crowded in the van w/ the cooler, tv, her bag of toys and tapes, snacks, etc. This time at least the "weeklong" luggage can go above and we will just keep the overnight bag in the van. that may be something to think about. We got ours at Sears for 149.00.

 

[GenePA]

We drive down quite often and it always seems to go pretty well. Both kids (now 15 & 10) have their own handheld games (GameBoy) which occupy them. Our drive is around 16-17 hours and we tend to leave in the early evening. This enables the bulk of the trip to be at night and the kids tend to sleep a good portion of the time. In addition, we like to listen to audio books and play word games. I like to drive down and find it not to be a problem at all.

Don't forget to pack snacks and drinks to occupy everyone too!

 

[bobcat]

Books on tape are great. We listened to the first Harry Potter last summer and we didn't want to stop. LOL

Both of my kids have trays that attach to the back of the seats with pockets in them. Found these at Target and they work well. I always pack paper and markers or gel pens and they love to draw. I also make word finds puzzles at discovery.com (go to discovery school) with trip and disney themes. The kids like their own personalized word finds. They also have great mazes.

I get a couple of suprises, books, magazines, puzzles and small toys to give them when they get bored. I pass these out as needed.

Each kid has a cd player or tape player to use. Lets me listen to my music!

Non messy snacks are great when you need a little peace and quiet. If mouths are full they can't be yelling!

We spend time talking and planning our trip on the ride down. It's a great time to have a conversation with my kids.

 

[April Trip]

I make my own version of travel bingo for the kids to play while traveling.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We live in Louisiana, so we wind up taking I-10 east. Once we hit I-75 near Lake City FL, we have a contest about which dwarf will be on the next Disney billlboard, and what color will it be. You'd think that after this many trips, we'd remember the order and colors, but we don't. We we lived in Montana and drove 160 miles just to go shopping for the day, we looked for watertowers and horses. I guess some kids just wouldn't find that interesting. We don't plan on buying a TV/VCR combination. We do like the Harry Potter books on tape. We're up to the 4th one.

We also play a game called Categories that my son played at the lunch table in Kindergarten. Everyone comes up with a category (i.e., favorite Disney movie, favorite place to stay at WDW, favorite ride/park, etc) and take turns answering. We talk a lot in the car to each other.

 

[MichaelH]

Well I am a geek and I love gadgets. I kept myself entertained on our drive down last October by playing with my GPS that I got for Christmas. If you have one you could make some sort of game maybe. I know that they do have some sites on the internet where people put in the location of items and you can go find them.

One bonus to the GPS, when the kids ask how far you can show them. The GPS will calculate your speed, give you the distance to your next waypoint, and the time you will reach it at the present speed. Like I said this may not interest everyone, but I find it passes the time quite well.

Just a thought.