Disney Advice

My parents have generously offered to take us to Disney with my 2 year twins.. they are paying for everything but the only problem is my parents WON'T fly.

They are trying to talk us into making the 16 hour road trip with my two, two year olds..and I think this is insane.. I know my kids, and they don't watch TV, they are very hyper, and I think this will be a disaster.
At first they said we could take the amtrack but now are trying to back out of that for the extra 300 cost.. I am very grateful they they are taking us, but I don't think it is fair to ask my kids to be in a car for that long on the way there and then the way back.. Please give me your input if you have done the road trip with toddlers or any other advice you can give..

Thanks!

Re: Disney Advice

Can they drive down and leave one day early, and you fly and meet them there? Assuming that you can afford the airfare of course

I don't really have any other advice, I would only drive that long of a distance with my kids if I absolutely had no other choice

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My Cousin and his wife drive down 2-3 times a year to Disney with their 3 kids. What they usually do is leave at night (like 7pm). The kids generally sleep all night in the car. They take turns driving so the other one can sleep. By the time the kids wake up they are generally at least 2/3 of the way there.

They stop and have breakfast somewhere and get back on the road and are generally in Disney by early afternoon.

Or as LB said maybe see if you can get inexpensive airfare for the 4 of you to fly and meet your parents down there.

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Well I don't want to ask them if we could fly, because I would need them to pay for it.. They haven't offered that, so I am assuming they don't want to pay the airfare.

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Message edited 3/28/2011 12:38:58 PM.

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When my DH first suggested we drive with my 3 I thought he was out of his mind. We did it twice inthe past 12 months. My kids were 15 mos, 3 and 4.5. We survived. We left at like 2-3 in the morning so the kids were asleep for a good stretch and stopped over night in NC. I bought a much of car friendly activities for them, new movies and alot of snacks. We also stopped often. Its doable. Good luck.

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We've done the drive, and even gone a few hours further south in FL.

I pre-bagged portions of their favorite snacks so they could nosh in the car. We never let them eat or drink in the car so that was a big treat.

I got them each a new backpack and filled it with new toys, books, coloring books, stickers, etc. so that they'd want to play with them. Also got new DVDs so that it was stuff they hadn't seen before.

The best thing, we got these travel lap desks which were fantastic. We still use them on road trips.

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It really is a long drive - but I know a lot of people do it. I'm not sure my DD#1 would sit for that long either so I understand where you are coming from.

Well you could - either offer to pay for you all to fly with the kids and have them leave a day or two earlier and they can drive.

If that is not an option. I kind of feel hey if it is a free trip sometimes you might have to put up with some things that aren't optimal.

Are you on a time (# of days) crunch? Can you break up the trip - if you could say take 3 days down so you drive less each day and take time out for the kids to play/run/swim it might make the drive doable? If not - can you drive mostly when they would sleep so that they would just sleep in the car for say 75-85% of the trip?

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Bumping for any advice on how they sleep in the car seat.. seems like it would be very uncomfortable for them.

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Dont worry about them sleeping. Kids arent like us, they can be comfortable almost anywhere!

DS has taken a few road trips (most was 7 hours) and he fell asleep each time.

When we travel distances I put on DVDs (I know you said they dont watch TV, but this might occupy them because they are in their seats unlike at home where htey can run around) I get new toys and old faves and bring them with us. All the fave snacks and expect to make stops every few hours to let them out to run around a bit.

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I personally cannot imagine such a long trip in the car. DS would probably sleep. And I would do most of the drive at night. Like leave late afternoon (but you would hit traffic by NYC). That way, DS would be awake for a while, then go to sleep.

I could not make it. I can't stay that long in a car trip. I find it so uncomfortable.

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We drove down for 2 weeks this past Oct the kids were 14 months and did great. They watched dvds, played with a few toys and books. When we stopped for gas I would take them out of the seats and just let them stretch for a few minutes before getting back in the car...we are driving back down in Oct for 2 weeks again...but I am lucky bc my kids love being in the car and going for rides. Good luck with whatever decision you make.

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I also agree for driving t night we have gone from NY to Fla with dd about 1yr old we have gone to New Hampshire Mass Penn (about 2 yrs) we are going back to NH in may, SC in Sept and disney in Jan (now 2 1/2) each time we have driven at night where she would fall asleep in her car seat my dd is very active and is not a sit and watch TV kind of kid she is lets climb the bookcase when mommy isnt looking kind of kid and she had no problem driving 20 hours or more in her seat we did have to make serval stops to stretch though going down we stopped in NC and spent the night that broke up of the ride

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We are considering driving to Florida next year. DH and I did it and I loved it.

Do your kids sleep in the car now?

My kids fall asleep all the time in the car. They just fall asleep sitting up.

They have slept for hours in the car like that.