Every family has to decide how to haul everyone to the parks! We asked our Parenting Panel: Planes, Trains or Automobiles: How do you transport your family to the Disney Theme Parks? What tips or tricks can you share? Last time, we heard from parents sharing their experiences with airplanes. This week, we have two perspectives on driving long distances to Disney Theme Parks. And once again we’re happy to welcome a new voice to our Panel, joining our established veteran Panelists!
Andrea Thomas is married and the mother of two boys, 8 and 11, living in Portland, Oregon. They travel to Disneyland any chance they get, which isn't often enough! Andrea writes:
When we go to Disneyland, we drive most of the time. We try to go once a year, sometimes its more like every 18-months, as we live in Portland, Oregon. It takes some planning and saving to make it work. We have flown before on Alaska Air when they offer kids fly free, but they don't seem to offer that much these days or, when they do, it’s not during the time of year we plan on heading down. It’s my husband and I with our two boys, so the price of gas for us is much more reasonable than the price of four plane tickets—even with the crazy gas prices, it’s still a better deal. It’s also nice to have our own car for little trips to the beach, In-n-Out or to the grocery store to stock up on snacks and waters for the park.
We try to head out and hit the road after dinner. To drive straight through down I-5 takes about 16 hours. I can't sleep in the car and the excitement of going to Disneyland keeps me wide awake. The kids sleep through the night and pass out around 11 p.m. or midnight after their excitement gets taken over by sleepiness. My husband sleeps for a couple hours when we are in the Central California area. Around 6 a.m. or 7 a.m., when we are an hour or so from the Grapevine, we stop at Denny's and get breakfast. The kids rise and we get changed and cleaned up a bit.
We arrive in the resort area about noon and, if we can, check in to our hotel. We generally hit the park that day after a quick lunch. I can go all day and even stay out until midnight during the summer, but, let me tell you, I sleep really well that first night. The kids are pretty good because they have slept most of the car ride anyway. With them getting a bit older, they are much more able to go with the flow. When they were younger, we most certainly had naps and shorter trips in the parks. I love that they are older and can keep up!
We generally spend five days in the parks and have a day or two with other non-Disney activities. The trip home isn’t nearly as exciting, and we don't look forward to that one much. Last trip we went to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, California, on our way home which made that part of the trip a bit more exciting. The factory is about an hour detour from I-5, but the tour is free and a lot of fun. We got treats for the rest of our ride and a few presents for family and friends. We tend to drive six to eight hours and then sleep in Stockton or Sacramento. We head the rest of the way the next day to break the ride up a bit as we are normally pretty beat from our fabulous trip. We have lots of snacks handy in the car and the kids bring their iPods, Nintendo DS games or watch movies.
Chris, also known as GusMan, is always planning his next family trip to the Walt Disney World Resort and loves to help others plan their trips, as well sharing his experiences. Chris writes:
I have to admit—I love to travel. At the same time, I also love to fly. Though, with travel costs in general rising every day, you sometimes have to ask yourself—what is the best travel value? For my family and I, we used to fly to Orlando all the time. It was quick, not a lot of hassle, and even affordable at times. I have to admit, once the air travel started to look more like a mortgage payment, the open road started to look like a better idea. However, I had to force myself to not picture the journey looking similar to a scene out of National Lampoon’s Vacation.
There were many factors we considered when we decided to drive. We knew that our vehicle had to be maintained and checked over before the trip (which needed to be done anyway, to be honest). We still had to include costs for fuel, tolls, and food during the travel portions. We needed to be sure that our kids could occupy themselves during the long drive. We even decided to do a few “one-tank trips” to practice for the journey, mainly to see how the kids would do in the car for that long a time. All indicators pointed to this being a good decision, and we have not looked back since.
After a few trips, you learn that you don't need this much stuff. Photo by GusMan.From the South Chicago Suburbs, the total trip is approximately 1,200 miles, give or take. If you follow what many web mapping sites say, it should take approximately 19 hours or so. One would think that, between two drivers, this should not be all that big of a deal. After all, we can split the driving, and travel all night long and it would not be all that bad. This is what we had planned for our first driving trip and we worked our vacation around it. We thought it would be great to drive, save the extra travel expense, and stay a few extra days because of it.
We were mistaken in thinking that we were ready for such a test of our endurance.
What the GPS or mapping Web sites don’t tell you is that every time you stop, plan on it taking at least 15 minutes. Gas stops—probably 20 minutes. Meals—30 minutes to an hour. Add them up and your 19 hours on the road just became 22-24 hours. They also won't tell you that going through the mountains in the middle of the night frazzles the nerves as you cant really see where you are going, since it is pitch black outside. And one more thing… energy supplements that claim to give you a certain number of hours of energy don’t always work as you would expect. Also, truck stop fountain drinks usually don’t use filtered water. Oh yes, the small details add up.
That might seem like I dreaded the travel portion of our first driving trip. On the contrary, it was a great learning experience. I got to spend ample time with our family and talk about what we wanted to do during our trip and some of the things we wanted to see. We stopped and saw friends and family that we have not seen in a long time. Our GPS took us different ways down and back, so the scenery was different between travel segments. We also found out what works and what doesn’t when it comes to how we like to travel. These learning experiences can only be obtained if you actually do the trip yourself.
Over the past five years, we drove down all but twice and actually prefer driving over flying. Granted, we don’t drive straight through like we did in the past, but, as a result, we feel like the drive is safer and more fun. We still make it a point to see friends and family during every trip. We try new places to eat and new things to see. One time, my daughter and I even got to take a tour of plant where they build Corvettes! None of these things we could do if we flew.
This sight never gets old, no matter how you arrive. Photo by GusMan.One of the biggest benefits to driving, at least for us, is flexibility. Since we usually have an abundance of time, we can add on extra days to our trip to do different things at the last minute. For example, our spring break trip one year was plagued by some of the biggest storms ever recorded in central Florida. The day before we were to leave, we decided that we wanted to stay an extra day to make up for it. So, we made the appropriate hotel arrangements and enjoyed some of the nicest weather at the end. Last-minute changes like this happen more often than not for us, which just enhances the magic.
Of course, we now have our trip milestones. We know that when we get past the mountains, we are about half way there. We know what when we start seeing signs for Tifton, Georgia, we are about three-fourths there. And. most of all, when we see the sign for the Florida visitors center, we know that Walt Disney World is just a simple three-hour sprint to our finish line. That is, of course, after we get our sample of fresh orange juice and pick up a map and some reading material.
Overall, the drive is long, but very worth it for us. We have time with the family, and that is never a bad investment. Sure, we had to learn a few things to get it so that the trip is more fun than stressful, but it is just yet another chapter in our Disney vacation experiences.
It's your turn—keep the discussion flowing!
Visit the Parenting in the Parks forum on our MousePad discussion board, and share your opinions about this topic or many others, or send your suggestions via e-mail. Reader-submitted tips might be used in a future article, and you might be selected to participate in an upcoming panel discussion!
