LONG POST traveling from PA with 2 kids

[Tomandtammy]

and a tent! LOL Ok ok gonna sound odd, has anyone traveled from PA to FW? We are following our family down. We have 2 kids I was wondering if anyone had a travel potty or is there such a thing? When my kids (4 and 7) get bored they want to eat and pee and drive us nuts! Also my 4 yr old doesnt shower and we are taking our tent. Has anyone ever seen a blow up bath tub in the shower room? If not when is the best time to sneal her in! LOL

So if your there in March and you see a crazy lady bathing her daughter in a blow up Tub be sure to say Hi!

Also is there anything I need to know about camping? This is our first camping trip and we are driving 18 hrs for it! LOL

 

[tim5055]

Tammy,

I can't help you with the inflatable tub, but portable potties are available if you have room in the car.

The primary manufacturer is Thetford North America . For what you are thinking about, the smallest unit would be fine. You can usually find it at Wal-Mart or a camping store for under $60. They are nice to have around the campsite also.

If you drop by my web site Natasha's Camping Site You will find photos of the "potti tent" we use at the camp site to cut down on those late night trips to the bathhouse.

Have fun in March. With a little luck we will be at FW next Monday!

 

[campingcorgi]

I'm pretty sure that you can find the small inflatable potties at The Right Start or OneStepAhead on the net. You put small bags in the potty and it is the right size for use while traveling.

When we went with my great-niece we took her bathtub to the comfort station. I would set it up on the counter and add water. Her's is a plastic tub with a drain in the end. Just take some extra plug covers, because the outlets are right there. Your 4 year old might prefer if you set the tub up in the handicapped shower--but there is plenty of room for it and the shower head is the hose type.

You'll have a great time!

Barbara
170some days to go
(scratches head)

 

[loriandmatt]

Tammy

We are not that far away from you (we are from Norristown, but we start out camping travels from Skippack. both of these places are outside of Philly and only about an hour away from Reading.) We drove to FW this past October with out camper in tow. The trip was 16 to 18 hours depending on speed and trafic volume. We have only one child, a 6 year old son who admittedly travels very well.

The potty thing wasn't an issue for us, when we did have to stop there were plenty of comfort stations along route 95. (I am assuming that you are traveling 95. it is the most direct route, and if you schedule it so you don't hit the baltimore/dc beltway at AM or PM rush hour, it isn't too bad.) The other suggestions on the potties for traveling are good ones. (We looked into them as well, but for us decided against it.)

As far as the inflatable bathtub thing....if you have to go that route here are a few suggestions..... you could certainly fit a small inflatable pool or bathtub into the handicaped shower stall. the shower only hits one side of the stall and your little one could be off to the other side bathing away. The volume at times can be very heavy in the bathrooms though and you may want to consider doing this at an off time (EARLY - and i do mean VERY EARLY in the morning; after 10 AM; or evenings. Mornings can be very crowded in the bathrooms - especially the womens. Example: all week i had free access to the showers anytime, but on the weekend the campground filled up and i found myself going from loop to loop trying to find a shower that didn't have a line 8 people deep. And that was on the "off" season!)

Just a few suggestions - i hope all goes well. (i can give you more details about the driving thing if you want. I am silly with keeping notes on travel time, gas prices and such. just say the word.)

- lori

 

[Tomandtammy]

Lori that would be great having 2 kids I an trying to make the trip as painless for me as well as for them, SANTA is bringing my youngest a lepa pad coloring type thing and my son the pixter, i am not telling them where we are going so we are going to give them a gift for every so many miles....... Some will be hints to where we are going others will be things to keep them occupied, like for my son the other cartridges for the pixter! But do you have any other ideas???

 

[loriandmatt]

A few of the things we did....

like you we did the "little gifty" every state or so. We also had lots of activity books and cheapo games from the dollar store. He would get a new one every state (two if the state was very long like virigina or georgia!) I also found a US map with stick on lables. He had a ball labeling up the states as we crossed into them. It wan't too long though that he notice the direction we were headed on the map and figured out we were headed towards Florida. Which as any self respecting 6 year old knows is where Mickey lives. We also would play the "guess how many miles we went so far" game. The one who got the closest (me or patty) got candy or a disney dollar. He loves read along books on tape (the kind that give you that cool "ping" sound to tell you when to turn the page.) there are lots of those out there and many are Disney stories, they even have them on CD now. those kept him quiet for quite a while.

You may want to stop at South of the Border. looking for their billboards along 95 was a fun game for my 6 year old, and he wanted to see what all the hub bub was over. He wasn't too impressed wiht the actual place and neither were we, but we can say we were there. Hunting their billboards was twice as much fun as the place itself!

We left our hitching spot in PA at around 11AM and stopped in North Carolina at around 9 or 10 PM. (Microtel with only a double bed - crowded, but doable for us - ran us 50 bucks.) Got up at 5 and hit the road and got to FW at around 11AM.
On the return trip we got a late start and didn't leave FW until 5pm. (packed up and checked out at 11 AM, but left camper in parking lot and did a final swing around MK) We stopped in mid georgia at 11pm. (Knights Inn, again with all of us crammed in a double bed - ran us 50 bucks. Next time i will budget more for hotels on the way down and back. A little bit nicer place with enough beds for all of us!)

Adverage gas price was $1.13/gal and we spent about $100.00 each way on gas. (we were driving an 8 cylinder truck towing a pop up camper so we ate gas quicker than your adverage minivan) Warning: the gas in virginia seemed to be so much more expensive than in other states and the speed limit is enforced stronger in both virginia and georgia!

-lori
(always here with a long winded answer - i just can't stop gushing about our vacation at FW!)

 

[J63holland]

We do a lot of traveling with our sons, who are now 9 and almost 6. Several years ago, we bought a 9" TV/VCR combo for the car. It fits nicely inbetween the seats on the floor, and it really keeps them busy on those long trips. You can buy one of these tvs for about $150, and it is definitely one of the best investments we have made. When we get to the campsite, we take the tv inside, and the kids can watch tv early in the morning, or when the weather is bad. They can also play video games on it. We try not to let them watch too much tv, but this keeps them entertained when we travel. When the kids say, "Are we there yet?" every 10 minutes, after several hours, it can get old! Good luck on your trip.

 

[welovemickey]

We make the trip every October/November from Massachusetts towing our pop-up. We find that travelling at night is the easiest! We usually leave around 2pm and I drive until about 11:00pm while DH naps. He then takes over for the late night driving until breakfast. We're usually in S. Carolina at 7am, I drive for a couple of hours and then he finishes the trip. We're usually set up and ready for the parks by late afternoon. Yes, we're wiped out until we get that first good nights sleep, but it's definately worth it! With 3 boys (11, 8 and 3), the noise in the car can get VERY loud!!! Especially the 3 year old!

Our kids love to play their Gameboys and we have one of the TV/VCR combos as well. We also listen to books on tape. We've also made up a scavenger hunt game for the ride when they get really bored. But, for over 1/2 the trip they're sleeping.

Have fun on your trip!

 

[kingdomqueen]

Living in Va with family in Mass and traveling to WDW at least yearly we have made many trips over the years with our now 10 YO twins. We have been traveling with them since they were 3 months old. We have a TV for the car, but one of the boys gets motion sick, so we have to limit that. I think the idea of a new gift for each state is a great idea. We also bought inexpensive cassette players for the boys and made tapes for them to listen to or books on tape. They enjoy listening to the stories. Not everyone can travel at night, but if you can it kills two birds with one stone. the kids sleep, and there is not much traffic. Be sure you stop if you get sleepy, or switch up often. Hope this helps. KQ