Do you fly or drive to Walt Disney World? Our family drives. It’s only 9 hours and so much cheaper for a family of 5 to drive. The only downside to driving is the fact that 5 people are stuck in the same car for 9+ hours together!
What can you do to help pass the time and keep everyone happy? Here are a few suggestions my family and I like to do on our long trek home:
- Books– Buy new books for your kids to read in the car. If your child can’t read, try the Leapfrog “Tag Reader” System. It’s great for younger kids who can’t read on their own yet!
- Music– We always make a Disney playlist for the ride to Orlando. We add our favorite songs from movies, TV shows and park attractions. It helps get us even MORE excited about our destination!
- Presents. Visit dollar stores, party stores and drug stores to buy cheap Disney themed treats. You can give one to your children at certain points along the route- after each hour you’ve traveled, at certain mile markers, or when you cross state lines. It gives the kids something to look forward to and it’s another “distraction” for the kids!
- Snacks- Pack healthy, non messy snacks for all of your kids to munch on during the ride. Food always helps me travel better!
- Play Games– Get the whole family involved! Traditional car games are “I Spy”, the “ABC game”, and “Car Bingo”. You can always Google additional ideas for games to play during car rides.
- Crafts– Don’t forget to pack coloring books, paper, markers and crayons! You’ll also need clipboards or lap desks to provide a hard surface. Other fun “crafty” things are stickers, pipe cleaners (twist them into different shapes), magna doodles, and dry erase boards/ markers.
- Smart Phone/ Tablet– Some families don’t want to use technology with their kids and that is fine. But, if you have one of these devices, you may want to download some apps for your toddlers, kids and teens to keep them occupied in the car. You can also download movies onto your phone or tablet and let them watch movies. Also check out some of the great Disney Apps we feature here on Chip and Co.
- DVD/ Movies– If you don’t have movies downloaded onto your phone or tablet you can always put in your favorite Disney movie in a DVD player and let the family watch a movie. Check out some of the new movies on DVD here.
- Visor clips- To help keep behavior in check while traveling, each child has three clips (clothes pins with their name written on them) clipped on the sun visor of the car. When a child misbehaves, a parent removes one clip. The children who have all three clips left once they get to WDW receive a special prize!
- Pay Your Mom– Another trick to help keep kids from asking the dreaded questions, “Are we there yet?” and “How much longer?” is to have your kids pay mom (or dad). At the start of the trip, give each child a certain amount of quarters. Each time they ask one of those 2 questions (or ask or do anything specific that drives you batty), they have to pay mom a quarter. Once they get to WDW, they can use the remaining quarters in the arcade, to buy pressed pennies or to put towards another souvenir!
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Luckily we dont drive to disney. but i think lots of books on tape, movies, and handheld games are the way to go.
We have a 13-15 hour drive (depending on which way we go.) This last trip we had to leave early from Northeast Mississippi because of snow (we didn’t want to wake up at 2 am and not be able to leave because of ice). We stopped in Columbus GA and was able to have a leisurely breakfast (with it snowing again) before heading the rest of the way. Most times however we just drive straight through stopping only for bathroom breaks and gas breaks (usually stop at either Huddle house or Denny’s on the way for meals).
I usually fly but I listen to Disney music on my iPod. I have been obsessing over Food and Wine menus so this time on the flight I will probably make my husband reshash everything we have eaten and plan to eat.
What a great idea to make binders for the kids! I’ll keep that in mind for our next trip!
I would definitely break up at 16 hour drive too!! Great movie choice by the way! 🙂
We have a 16 hour drive from Delaware and break it up into 2 days. We always have Muppet Treasure Island on the DVD.
In the past I’ve made binders with Disney print outs: quizzes, maps, word searches, coloring sheets, etc. I’ve packed bags with Disney toys, cards etc from Dollar Tree, etc, and snacks. Last trip the grandkids were older so we relied on Disney movies, electronics, snack bags and their usual picture calendar with the plans for each day ( more words now but they still love the icons). Surprisingly, at 9 & 7, they spent more time in conversation and scenery watching than with those things. Very nice!