Tips for long car trip

[ELopez]

I remember seeing at least one thread on this before.

We are driving to Miami next month to visit my husband's relatives, then to Disney. We will be in the van quite a few hours, and I already have anxiety about the drive. My girls are 2, 7, 8, & 9 (turning 9 & 10 during the trip!). Anyway, we do have a DVD player, but I am thinking that will only work for so long. I would like to make some activity sheets or something for my older daughters.

Anyone ever had a similar experience? Have any ideas? If you can find one of those old threads, could you post the link(s)?

Thanks!!

 

[WTBAD]

Try "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader". We have a 9 hour ride to WDW & have used that when Movies or compter games don't work.

 

[smk]

WOW. How long of a drive? Do they play video games? Know any good car games like "I spy" or games like that? What about taking a game like mad gab or Jr Trivial pusuit and just asking the questions from the cards.

We drove from Indy to Oregon when our kids were 5, 7 and 9. We put the oldest in "charge" of the maps (kinda) even tho we knew were we were, it wasn't hard to figure out, but she felt like she was helping us, and gave her some good practice at map reading and mileage charts, exit numbers etc... Our son who was 7 helped to add the gas reciepts and keep track of miles (good for adding skills) and the 5 year old just kept track of who was touching who etc...This was in 1992, longggggg before a portable dvd player. I think we may have had a walkman that trip although I am not sure. We made it just fine, even did it again two years later (crazy, I know). We took books on how to tie knots, and yarn games to help with the boredom. We also took coloring books and crayons but forgot to take them out of the sun one time and had melted crayon in a cup holder, about the only bad thing that happened on both trips.

Good luck and have fun. Your kids are making memories that will last a lifetime and that is more important than anything else, ever. :wave:

 

[Pixie_Pirate]

I'm from Ontario, and we've drove down to Florida about 4 times. It's just me and my parents so it's not bad. We have portable dvd players and watch movies that the driver can listen to. Music, is really good, pick a soundtrack that EVERYONE likes. Trivia pursuit, just the cards. A cooler is really good that way you don't have to make too many stops!

hope that helps

 

[H20Babie]

Toys R Us had a BOGO sale this weekend on travel games (Operation, Connect 4, Hungry Hippos, etc.)

You should be able to buy a cord for the DVD player that plugs into a cigarette lighter (or whatever they call them now).

I second the trivial pursuit game cards

 

[piggy1116]

Have you tried the web site momsminivan.com. They have a lot of games and ideas for longs car rides for all ages.


30 days until we hit the road. Disney here we come

 

[disneygirl76]

My husband and I read the Disney Trivia Pursuit cards to each other and I just got the portable/travel Disney Sceen It for the car!

 

[slappy magoo]

you're going to Disney. There's NO shortage of Disney stuff on DVD. And you can go beyond the usual suspects like Little Mermaid or Lilo & Stitch. Pick up some of the Walt Disney treasures discs, stuff hosted by Walt himself. Get some of the true-life adventuiure nature dvds. And if you have a dvd recorder, burn some of those travel channel specials. Last trip we took, I threw tons of stuff on my PMP - Travel Channel specials, old Mickey Mouse b&1 toons, Song of the South & various old Disney movies I digitized from Turner Classic Movies. And of coursen there's also no dearth of WDW planning books, disney-themed card games or board games, soundtracks...

For non-Disney related themes, we listen to a good chunk of old time radio thrillers (there's a channel devoted to it on satellite, but I havev cds & mp3s too), and there's naught wrong with kids having their own books and/or cd/mp3 players

 

[disneynut4u]

We have a 16 hour drive from Louisiana to Orlando. We stop at Panama City Beach (it's about halfway for us) to break up the drive and spend the night. We have a Cracker Barrel restaurant close by that sells BINGO travel games. There are sliders that cover the spaces. You look for things like fire trucks, corvettes, barns, etc. Some are more difficult to find than others (bicycle, antique car). That makes it fun. You can also try to find license plates from each state. I printed up the states and they could mark them off as they saw them. BUT THANK GOD FOR DVD PLAYERS!!!!! (and headphones :hammer!

 

[Raven66]

On our very first trip we drove from Michigan to Orlando. We only have one DD, so it's a little easier. We made the backseat like a rolling bedroom. She had a portable DVD player, CD player with headphones, books, coloring books with crayons. We played road games like the license plate game and we also had Disney music CD's. It was actually an enjoyable trip. She was only 5 then, she is 11 now. We just took a trip from Arkansas to Michigan and all she needed was her IPod and a book and she was happy.

Have fun on your road trip!!

 

[Boray]

We do the drive from Wisconsin to Orlando every year. I buy about 6 or 7 new, small gifts for my kids and give them out during the trip. I have "Brain Quest" cards (got them at Barnes and Noble) new books to read (B & N as well as from a local used book store) new DVDs to pop in, small craft things that I picked up at Michael's ($1-$2 each) and then they bring their GameBoys as well as other stuff they usually play with. We have trays for the car that have a lip on them so stuff doesn't easily slip off (bought those at Walmart in the check-out lanes. They were on the bottom shelf under the gum, Purel and other stuff), they use that for playing with small Lego sets ($5 "creator" sets that I got at Target and have also seen at Walmart). I also got some kits to make home-made Halloween cards, I'm going to have the kids make those in the car (they are stickers, so no glue) and we'll send them to aunts, uncles and grandparents from the Magic Kingdom. My son likes Star Wars action figures, I'll probably give him one of those and a small Polly Pocket set to my daughter. The local Dollar Store also has some fun little toys that you can give the kids. Part of the fun of the drive is getting something new to play with to pass the time.

The trip just flies by when they have something new to occupy them. Good luck! :wave:

We leave in 25 days!!! Wooo Hooo! :sohappy:

 

[daringstoic]

We made the long drive from Detroit to Disney every year from the time I was 1 until I was 18. We also did long road trips to the Grand Canyon, Maine, Yellowstone, etc. several times. When I was in middle and high school, I would spend a week or so before the trip making a binder of car activities. I had a page for the license plate game, word searches, coloring pages themed to our destination, info sheets about places of interest along the way or about our destination, anagram games, crosswords, roadside scavenger hunts, other assorted car games, and a full-page map of our route. I just printed out copies for everyone, punched holes in them, and stuck them in a 3-ring binder for each kid. We would spend hours working on them, and they were fun because they were personalized and were themed to our location. I was actually disappointed when we got a DVD player in the car and nobody bothered to do the binders anymore. If it's something that interests you, I can try to dig up the files somewhere, but I'm pretty sure they were mostly done in Print Shop.
Also, never underestimate the power of The Silent Game. We were always super-competitive, so it was a pretty effective way to get the noise in the backseat to stop. Siblings never want to lose anything to one another.

 

[shurst]

Between our Nintendo Ds's and the dvd player they usually keep us entertained. The Ds's usually keep me and daughter entertained through most of the trip playing against each other. Other things that make it exciting is just that last minute planning on the way down, talking about the plans for the week and what were most looking forward to. granted at times it may make the trip time go slower cause you have that much more anticipation for getting there. haha

 

[RiversideBunny]

The DVD player can show episodes from a TV series that they like. It doesn't have to be movies, which can be long.

The last time we drove to WDW, we watched Seinfeld episodes from a boxed collection. The nice thing about Seinfeld was that you didn't really have to see the screen all the time because the show's effectivness is mostly in the dialoge.

There may be an equivalent TV series for their age level and interests.

Good luck.

 

[ELopez]

WOW. How long of a drive? Do they play video games? Know any good car games like "I spy" or games like that?

We drove from Indy to Oregon when our kids were 5, 7 and 9. We put the oldest in "charge" of the maps (kinda) even tho we knew were we were, it wasn't hard to figure out, but she felt like she was helping us, and gave her some good practice at map reading and mileage charts, exit numbers etc... Our son who was 7 helped to add the gas reciepts and keep track of miles (good for adding skills) and the 5 year old just kept track of who was touching who etc...

Good luck and have fun. Your kids are making memories that will last a lifetime and that is more important than anything else, ever. :wave:

We are splitting the 13 hour drive to Miami into 2 days. Then 2 days later, we are going to WDW - about 4 hours from Miami, I think. No, they aren't really into video games.

I LOVE the idea about giving them jobs. We have already told the kids their jobs and they are very excited! Thank you!!


I also like the idea that another poster said about buying them some small new things to give them along the way. I will definitely be trying that!

I do have some new DVDs that I am saving for the trip.

redwingchick - the binders are my favorite idea! I have all girls and they would be very much into something like this. I am going to start working on them now!

Thank you everyone!!!:wave:

 

[Susan Savia]

My kids were little long before the dvd craze and we played simple games like...beginning with letter A, name something or someone Disney that begins with the letter A etc., and went on thru the alphabet. Maybe an attractions name, a character... Also, I usually made up a little gift pack for each of them, with puzzle books, crayons, sketch pads, etc.

We played verbal games like I Spy, or the game when you pick a subject...say animals, and then one person says the name of an animal, the next person says that animal plus says another...next person says the two before and adds one more. Kinda interesting to see how far you can go before someone forgets one.

___________________________

Next Trip - January 2009

 

[smk]

You're welcome, have a great trip! :wave:

 

[DisneyGigi]

If your kids are anything like mine, they will not be able to sleep the night before the trip. (neither can I) This is a good thing! We only have a nine hour drive but we still leave early and the kids sleep much of the trip because they are so tired from staying up. We take a dvd player and watch Disney movies on the way down. To be honest I am worse than the kids - I hate to be in the car and only do that long of a trip for WDW.. :lol:

 

[lighteningqueen]

At Family Dollar if you have one they have these table trays that stand up in the floor board they tuck under the seat, the curved legs do,was so perfect fopr my grandson 4 and he was and still is in a car seat. We decided to bring the computer and put it on the bigger screen than the dvd player so that his mom and I could watch Disney movies all the way down. 2 days, by the way 24 hours.. We did stop to sleep the first night at midnight at a hotel then off we went at 7 the next morning. Boy is it a long way from the middle of Texas...

 

[RiversideBunny]

What makes the trip longer, I think, is that, coming from any direction, when you cross the state line into Florida there is a tendency to say,
"Yeah! We're here." :sohappy:


Then your realize there's still a long way to.


"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep."