Talk to me about driving to Disney/Orlando-TIPS/Advice needed.

We are planning to drive down in the winter.

For those who don't know I have a 4 yr old and 2 yr old twins.

Whats the best time to leave? after dinner? at night? How long to drive for etc?

Where do you stay if you don't drive through? Some place for the kids to go to release some steam mid way?

Any Tips/tricks/advice for the drive?

TIA!!

Re: Talk to me about driving to Disney/Orlando-TIPS/Advice needed.

We drove straight through. Left at 10pm. DC slept for the first 8-9 hours. I think that is key

Just be prepared to stop 9838 times

Re: Talk to me about driving to Disney/Orlando-TIPS/Advice needed.

I have a few options I'm toying with.

Leaving NY at like 3pm on a friday and stopping for dinner in Jersey, then they sleep we drive through.

Or leaving NY at like 1am, driving through to mid afternoon the next day, stop for dinner, stay at a hotel..continue.

I just dont know, so many options.

Re: Talk to me about driving to Disney/Orlando-TIPS/Advice needed.

My cousin and his family drive down once or twice a year. They generally leave right after dinner. The kids usually sleep through the night. My cousin and his wife take turns driving and sleeping. They usually stop the next morning around 8ish and get something to eat, change the kids, stretch their legs and get back in the car.

They are usually in Disney by early afternoon.

Re: Talk to me about driving to Disney/Orlando-TIPS/Advice needed.

the only thing that concerns me about driving at night is all of the construction. The 'new thing' is doing construction at night...so be SURE to map your route and if you have a GPS - that's even better!

Re: Talk to me about driving to Disney/Orlando-TIPS/Advice needed.

We leave at 5am... I wake DS up, change his diaper. Give him some milk and we get on the road.. We stop in south Jersey for breakfast. DS was only 5 months old the last trip, but we have taken many long road trips since then. We tried to leave at night once and hubby and I were screwed up for days from the drive.. Our friends have been going down since their kids were infants. Now they are 10 and 13 and they always leave at 5am.. They drive until SC or Georgia and stay overnight.. We are going in November and we are doing the same thing.. DS will be 2..

Re: Talk to me about driving to Disney/Orlando-TIPS/Advice needed.

We drove to Orlando the last 2 years. My boys are 6, 2, and 1. We leave around 8am. I pack a cooler with juices, waters, snacks. We have a dvd in the car so that helps with the boredom, we also bought a cheap gaming system for them. We usually stop every 2 hours or so at rest areas or info centers so I can change the little one and let everyone stretch their legs. We drive to Fayetteville NC, which is the halfway point to orlando, stay overnight and head out the next morning.

VA is the worst part, the traffic there is horrendus, we ended up adding 2 hours to our trip because of VA. We use 95 S the whole way, but to avoid DC area traffic I believe we take 295.

Re: Talk to me about driving to Disney/Orlando-TIPS/Advice needed.

Last year we left at 2 pm and stopped for dinner and continued straight thru. I rather just get there. This time we are leaving after dinner and driving straight thru again only stopping for gas and bathroom.

I would only stop if the weather is bad when you are driving down. Make sure you have snacks and stuff for the kids to do in the car...toys, DVDs, books and they should be fine. Let them get out and walk around when you do stop for gas and bathroom breaks...