Has anyone driven to WDW with a 20 month old?

[jenny2]

After finding out that I'm pregnant with #2, DH and I decided to make a trip to WDW in Feb. with our then-20-month-old DD. DH and I went in September by ourselves and had such a wonderful time that we'd like to go once before baby #2 comes so we can focus all our attention on our DD. I'll only be 4 1/2 months pregnant by then so I *should* be OK The thing is, DH doesn't fly (and he's an aircraft mechanic... imagine that!) so we're driving down from Mass. When we did it in September it took about 21 hours driving straight through.

My *plan* is for DH to get some sleep during the day we leave (he works nights), and we'll leave after dinner (around 5). DD should fall asleep around 7 and DH can drive through the night. We've both done long road trips before, and he works at night so is used to staying up all night. I'll take over sometime in the morning when he gets tired and drive till DD wakes up, hopefully getting in 12-13 hours of driving by then. We can then take it by ear... we'll stop for breakfast and let her stretch her legs, drive for a few more hours, stop for lunch, (hopefully) she'll then take her afternoon nap and we should be able to get to WDW by dinner time or a little after(24-26 hours with the breaks).

I planned it this way so that DD would be asleep for 1/2 the trip down. The longest she's been in her carseat is 4 hours, and I don't want to push her by making her stay in her seat all of one day, sleeping in a hotel, and then waking up and putting her back in her seat. I figure the more driving we can do while she's asleep the better

I'd love to hear from anyone who's travelled with a +- 20 month old... I'm looking for pointers!!

 

[Aurora2000]

last June we drove down with our DSs 8 and 22 months. Both DSs like car drives and we stopped at rest areas so he could toddle around and get some exercise. I brought bubbles for the rest stops..... crayons and other new lil toys for the ride. We left at 5:00 am in the morning and though they were up when we left they soon fell back to sleep.

My toddler has favorite music tapes so we brought them along as well.
We stopped 2 nights on the way down but he did great . I made sure each place had a pool or jacuzzi so they could get even more excercise. I was so suprised how well he did. he liked all the new places and even the hotel stops were not bad plus he got more places to explore!

We are driving down again this coming June!

 

[leelee1971]

I drove from NJ when my son was 20 months. Surprisingly, he did very well. We stopped every four hours or so to change his diaper, let him stretch his legs. etc. We stopped one night in North Carolina. We gave him books to look at, small toys, snacks, etc. He was never a really great traveler, but did good on that trip.

We would make sure we allowed time for him to stretch out, walk around, etc. when we stopped. We drove down during the day, and he only napped once for about an hour!

It's fun, though. And, we did it again this year when he was 3 1/2.

Good luck.

 

[mrs.pixiedust]

Our first trip was with our then 24mo old dd. She was fantastic! We were sure to stop every few hours to let her stretch. We also divided the drive between two days. This year we drove and my dd is now 4 and my ds was only 9mo. We were soo worried b/c he's not as laid back as our dd. He shocked us! He did even better than our four year old. We drove straight through. The main thing I regret is that instead of taking our first full day off to relax and recoup, we hit the parks for early entry. Ugh! Please take time to recover from the drive. I started the trip out tired from driving then added days of getting up EARLY andtreking around WDW in the heat. Needless to say, my patience wore thin easily and I wasn't as fun to be around as I should have been at times. Same goes for the rest of the family. Good luck!

 

[brittsmum1998]

COMBO TV/VCR & MOVIES We have flown and driven from Mass also. Our DD is now almost 4. We much prefer driving to flying. Her first driving trip was at 17 mos. I have a tv/vcr in the kitchen that comes w/ an adapter for the car. It goes on a stand in the mini-van and she picks out a few movies. She brings her favorite "chuckie" pillow and her blue blankie. And she's so happy!! Sometimes I'll tape a 6 hours worth of her favorite Nickelodeon shows. We had more problems w/ her flying than driving. I bring a "goody" bag of course. ( This last trip she wasn't interested) She would snooze along the trip etc. We bought a car seat strap on tray at THE RIGHT START (I'm sure you can get these anywhere.) She spent alot of time playing w/ her "little people" . She loves to drive now and usually 10 days before our trip she starts singing "ON THE ROAD AGAIN". I do believe that if you can make the trip fun and start the road trips when they are young, like everything else they get used to it. Family and friends thought we were nuts when we said we were driving the first time. My DH says its "quality familly time" Of course he doesn't like to fly either Good Luck and have a wonderful time. Don't forget YOU will need as much rest as your DD, so take it easy and relax. WDW will still be there for your family once your darling 2nd child comes along!!

 

[catwho]

If you have a laptop with a DVD player you can even skip the TV/VCR combo. We also have travelled to Disney (9 hour drive for us, but all daytime hours) and found that snacks and drinks in spill proof cups help. Tapes with stories or music (John Lithgow isn't too bad and we adults even find his songs funny) New books, coloring books and crayons, hand games. Our toddlers love playing with hand held electronic games (like Simon) even when they can't play them well. They love pushing buttons and making sounds.

It may slow you down a bit, but consider stopping at each state welcome center. It will allow her time to stretch her legs and run a bit and it also helps with parental fatigue from driving. You could also tell her, "We have 5 more state stops to make, then we will go on a toll road where there will be lots of Disney billboards and then we will be there!" Believe me, those billboards save us. Our kids know that they dont' have that much further to go once we get on the toll road. And it is fun to see all the billboards as we get closer to WDW!


57 more days!

 

[jenny2]

Wow, what great responses. I'm really grateful for all these ideas I'm taking notes, so keep the ideas coming!

 

[luvmy2sams]

We drove with our then 21-month-old DD from Oklahoma in October 2000. The first leg of the trip started around 6am and we stopped at our hotel in Pensacola around 10pm that night. The next morning we started out around 8am and reached Disney around 6pm. She's been taking road trips averaging about 7 hours since she was 6 weeks old, so it wasn't a big deal for us.

We stopped for meals at Burger Kings or McDonald's (whichever had an indoor playground) and let DD play while we ate. We'd order her meal when we were ready to leave so she could have a hot meal in the car and didn't have to stop playing while at the restaurant. I had a snack bag filled with juice boxes, cereal bars, crackers, etc. in case she got the munchies.

I brought along a Magna Doodle, some colored pencils and paper, her Sesame Street ABC game and our TV/VCR combo. I think we watched The Aristocats and The Tigger Movie 100 times! We also had some Disney tapes to get us all in the mood.

It was a wonderful drive, and we can't wait until we do it again next fall! Hope you have a wonderful trip...getting there is half the fun!

 

[WDW4XMAS]

Aurora 2000, I have a question for you....
We will be driving from CT in just 14 more days
and we also plan to stop in NC or SC on the way down. We have found several hotels with outdoor pools but aren't sure if it will be warm enough or if we should keep looking for an indoor pool. (Do they even have such a thing in warm climates???) This is our first trip to Disney with a 7 and 11 year old. We had flights booked but when my DH was on a plane on 9/11 (landed safely, thank God) we quickly changed to driving! Swimming would be a great release after 15 hours in car!! Could you please let me know where you stayed and if it had indoor or outdoor pools??? Thanks so much!

 

[momx2]

Another idea, if your child colors, get the wonder markers with wonder paper and coloring book. My DD loved that when we drove this past Sept.

 

[MaggieMouse]

for more ideas. We're driving down with an 8 yo and 15 mo.

Thanks

 

[Crow]

We went for a tour of the southwest with our 20 mo. old. He did fine!! We got all those little car steering wheels and car toys...plus we stopped a lot and let him run around. Rest stops, restaraunts, and info centers. You shouldn't have much of a problem at all...especially doing the bulk of the trip at night...good luck, and have a great trip!!