Woohoo! We survived the car trip from MN to WDW!

[disneymom3]

Actually it all went quite well! Background--me and DH, DD 6, DS 2.5 and DS1. Left Mpls at about 6:30 at night after DH had slept all afternoon and got himself a Dunn Bros coffee for the road. As we left, two year old was developing a cold. At three in the morning, baby came down with a fever. Gave him tylenol and mommy rode in back pattting his tummy so he could sleep. We did have a few rough moments that night, in particular the two yo announcing in no uncertain terms that this was a very bad idea, you were not supposed to sleep in a car, you were supposed to sleep in a bed!

the next day improved. We stopped to run around several times, had a picnic lunch in a not spectacular area of TN, went to the various welcome centers, listened to books on tape and kids music on the CD player. I had little gifts like front packs with pez dispensers, a new book for each, and magnet story boards that we broke out when they started to get crabby. Had hoped to make it to Macon, but needed to stop around 5:00 and we were still about an hour north of there. Stayed in a Ramada limited with free breakfast and a fridge for baby's milk and that worked out fine.

The next morning went well. We broke out the gameboy we had borrowed and the LeapPad, stopped at the FL welcome center to run around and then drove through McDs for lunch on the road. Horrid traffic on I-75, arrived in Orlando at about 5:00.

Return trip was actually easier. Drove through the night again with DH and I taking turns and sleeping kids. Actually made it to Madison by 5:00 that day and figured what's another 4 hours so we drove on home. The new leappad book and gameboy game made the whole day quite pleasant.

If you have any questions let me know. We spent about $200-$250 on gas, $70 on lodging, and $80 on food. Way cheaper than flying and a lot less hassle.

 

[BCV23]

Sounds like a great trip. Was it 1400 miles or so? I'm leaving for a 1000 mile drive to WDW on Saturday and found your post quite encouraging !

 

[hercamore]

Good job, and how was your time in the parks?

When our kids were little, we took MONTH long road/camping trips across country. It was great.


Herc.

 

[disneymom3]

The trip was just over 1500 miles each way. When I was little we would drive from so'CA to MN almost every summer--that's 1900 miles. Dad is famous for his line of, "Be quiet and look at the beautiful scenery!" ...in Death Valley....

The parks were good, of course with little ones it's a lot of work and half days only and then there's the fact that their favorite activity was going to the hotel pool. No problem though, we all got to do something we had wanted to. (Never did make it to Beaches and Cream though!)

Herc, I haven't worked up the courage to go camping since my oldest was born. I miss it! Think I'll be up to ut when the baby is three., but I can't see it happening before that! You must be organized to keep it all together for a month on the road!

 

[tinaluis]

Sounds like you all had a nice time. We're planning on driving down near the middle of January and I'm looking forward to the drive -- but I'm also a little apprehensive about it. Last year, I chickened out at the last minute and bought airline tix but I've vowed that this year WE WILL DRIVE! We have a TV/VCR for our van and various activities to keep our three DDs busy so it shouldn't be that bad -- YEAH RIGHT -- LOL. Anyway, I was very encouraged by your post and glad to hear that your drive went well.

 

[Rhonda]

We drive down from Minnesota every year and camp at Fort Wilderness for 2 weeks. We love the drive!

 

[Bichon Barb]

Isn't it funny. Whenever you are worried about having a tough time with the kids, it ends up being a piece of cake. It's when you get too confident that everything falls apart. LOL. When our boys were 2 and 4, we drove to Atlanta (16 hour drive). Our plan was to stop in VA overnight, but they were so good we just kept going. On the way home, we decided we'd drive straight through again. What a holy terror that was!

About camping. We bought a pop up trailer a few years ago (actually, the same year as the Atlanta trip), and we love it. I wish we had more time for vacations, because we'd love to take it down to Ft. Wilderness. Well, maybe one of these days.

 

[denisenh]

What a wonderful post!! We are in the planning stages of our February trip and have flown several times to Florida over the past 2 years or so, never having the time to make a road trip.
I LOVE a road trip! It is so much more exciting to me. Well, DH is able to get away for 2 weeks instead of one this Feb and I am hoping that we can drive down and visit Orlando, Bonita Springs, Key Largo (via Alligator Alley) and Cape Canaveral before heading back home.
Thanks for the positive experience post!

 

[VickiVM]

We drove from San Antonio just this past September with our 3 kids and my mom. Not too bad. We've done it one other time when our son was 3. My husband, however, said it will be the last time we drive to WDW...next time we fly or we don't go at all. Hey, at least he's conceding to a "next time" and I intend to hold him to it.

 

[disneymom3]

We had a very negative flying experience last Feb (just one of the things that went wrong--we left Chicago midway 5 hours after we were supposed to BE in Orlandn the return trip, we DROVE home from Chicago because we gave up on our flight ever leaving--our luggage arrived THREE days later!) My DH actually has the opposite attitude when traveling with the kids. His theory is, if we can't drive there, we aren't going until they get a lot older! We just loved being able to stop when we wanted to, the ease of bringing stuff for the kids--you want to bring BOTH of your dollies--okay throw them in the van!--and not having to worry if the two year old had a tantrum that it was disturbing anyone else.

We're actually thinking of renting an RV next time we go and then camping at Fort Wilderness.

(Oh yeah, we do have to fly for our next trip. Father in law is paying for a land/sea vacation and we'll all be flying. I guess we can tolerate it for a free trip! LOL)

 

[jamsmom]

I think driving is cheaper, but as a single parent- I love flying I hate to drive and since there is not way my parents would dream of me driving to FL from Texas, then it gives me a good reason the fly.