Tips on car/driving entertainment?

[kaabost]

For those of you who drive from afar to get to Disney, what do you do to pass the time in the car. We play the alphabet game where everyone tries to be the first to find a word beginning with each letter in the alphabet (in order). We always make an exception for X....it can be found in a word.

Anyway, this fun game gets old fast. What do you do? Do you have any different games that you play?

 

[jennz]

Glad to see this post! I'm debating a 20 hour drive. Our longest with DD, who is 4 1/2, has been 7 hours. She's a good traveler BUT...that's just a long time! We have the tv/vcr combo and that will take up about 2 or 3 hours (she'll watch almost 2 movies). Crayons and paper help. I want to try the books on tape, my friend says they are great for her 4 1/2 and 7 1/2 yr olds, but mine won't be quiet long enough to listen!

I'll be watching for more tips...

 

[pattybe]

How about books on tape? You can get them at Cracker Barrel and return them at any location. They also have them at local libraries.

 

[TLinden16]

I've travelled from Massachusetts to South Carolina by car with my nieces and nephews several times. One thing that I've done is have surprise wrapped gifts for the kids that I give them at every couple of hours. They were just small things like Mad Libs books, Invisible Ink books, hand held games, coloring books, and those writing things that you write on with a plastic "pen" and pull up the sheet to make it disappear--whatever I can find at my local dollar store or buck a book. I usually wrap each gift with a small amount of candy (a roll of smarties or a couple of starburst--enough to make them happy but not put them on a sugar high). The kids love getting their gifts, and it helps them pass the time. If they start getting fussy, we remind them they have another gift coming in x minutes, and they usually stop acting up.

One of my sisters had luck keeping her kids from getting too fussy in the car by telling them that if they would good, they would get some extra spending money.

On a recent car trip with my five year old cousin, we passed at least an hour by making up a story one line at a time (when you go around, and everyone adds one line to the story). We let the five year old lead the way, and of course, being a five year old, he decided the story had to be about a smelly fart man. But it kept in happy in the car for an hour, so we played along.

We also never travel without a walkman for each child, that way there's no fighting over what to listen to. My niece road round trip on the train from Boston to New York listing to the "Spirit the Stallion of the Cimmaron" CD and we barely heard a peep from her.

Have a great trip.

Karen

 

[The Sybah Shelstah]

Our previous trip was a 20hr trip each way- and we drove with a 2yr old, 5yr old (just turned 5) and 8yr old. All the suggestions here are great!! I can't really say more except I have to mention my all-time FAVORITE thing to buy and take with us on every long driving trip like this (or even much shorter ones) are the crayola/pads combos they sell at Walmart for about $6 each. They come with crayola markers that can't write on ANYTHING except that pad's special paper! This is a Godsend for anyone with a child young enough that you can't trust them enough to just hand them a marker... not unless you want their clothes, skin and your car/carseats redecorated in lovely colors. LOL This way I can hand them each their little thing (*it comes in a pkg with a hardbacked thing with the pad sticking out of it and a zippered pocket at the top that holds 4 different colored markers*) and no worries how they'll look later!

 

[stacy6552]

I highly higly reccommend the harry potter books on tape. The thrid one was over 8 hours long and the 4th is 22 hours!

 

[photobob]

Our drive is about 9 hours and we've in the past had a few games we play as we drive, alphabet game, counting how many different state car tags we see etc. This year I'm thinking books on tape and I have a laptop computer that will play DVD's....

Bob

 

[SC Minnie]

We did the car tag one on our last trip to Florida. We actually saw over 35 different states and 2 provinces! It kept DD8 occupied for over an hour- I think next trip I am going to get her a map and have to find the states too.

The personal CD player is a must with a variety of CD's. Crayons and markers, books, and several handheld games. We also play I Spy for a while. DD usually falls asleep after about 4 hours in the car so that buys us some time . Snacks and juice boxes- nothing too messy though.

DD likes to look in the Atlas and find where we are and how much farther to the next big city or the state line. It keeps her attention by looking for the green sign with X city 150 miles then X city 125 miles and on until we get there. It also teaches her how to read road signs and she doesn't even know it!

 

[Yvette Q.O.D.]

I let my kids each pack a back pack of "stuff". They can pack just about what ever they want as long as it fits and they can carry it (all items must be approved by me). They usually end up bringing crayons, pencils, empty (or nearly so) old notebooks for writting or drawing, coloring book, reading material,game boy, stuffed animal and maybe a couple action figures. We also bring at least 2 books on tape. One year they were so into it they prefered the book on tape to anything else.

45 days!!!!

 

[WindowsJB]

We have taken several trips to Colorado and Florida From Southern Illinois (just on the other side of St. Louis, MO). We will leave right about supper time and drive through the night. This way the young ones sleep most of the time and you get there in the early to mid morning hours. If you can get into your room a little early this works great.

Obviously, this works out the best if you have more than one driver. One person can nap while the other pilots. If you find yourself getting tired, rotate your shifts to shorter intervals. We usually try to go at least 3 hours before trading places, but sometimes you just get too tired.

You can also always pull over in a rest area for a quick cat-nap.

 

[mickeysaver]

Might I suggest making your own activity books? I came up with a bunch of links for printable Disney themed activity packs before our last vacation. They did help keep my partner busy and awake for the trip down to FL. Keeping her awake is a good thing, because if she sleeps, I get very sleepy.

Anyway, check out the link below. The folks over at Disney Dollarless thought it was worth keeping around. Mickey

http://www.disneydollarless.com/articles/mickeysaver070402.shtml

 

[cgcw]

We have the tv/vcr which helps alot. In December when we drove home from WDW, it was not working. We thought the kids (DS2 & DS8) would go crazy sitting in the van all day but they did really well. We told stories about when they were little, we played the radio and kids tapes we brought along and low and behold, we sang Christmas caroles - something we have never done as a family. It was kind of fun to point out different scenery along the way to the kids that they wouldn't have cared about otherwise (hey, look over there at all the cows or see that pasture of horses). They really did great.

 

[crusin'minnie]

We have done the drive from Louisiana to WDW many times. This past Thanksgiving I got $36 in ones. For every hour on the road that DD(11) and DD(6) did not argue, complain or ask how much longer they got $1. I handed it to them right then and there. It seemed to work much better than just promising them the money. When we arrived I just collected their respective money pouches and held them in my fanny pack so they would not get lost.

For the trip back I had purchased a few little surprises for them at WDW and for each state line that we passed and they were good they got to open a surprise souvenir.

This was the most pleasant car ride we have ever taken. And well worth the money I spent (and probably would have spent on them anyway.)

 

[JetMom]

A similar thread led me to www.momsminivan.com You will find lots of good ideas on this site for kids of all ages.

We drove from NY to WDW last year with 3 boys who were 9, 7, and 3 at the time. These are some of the things that worked for us:

1) Empty notebook/sketch pad and colored pencils
2)Books on tape/read-a-long books & tapes with individual walkman (less than $10 at Wal-Mart for walkman)
3)Gameboy
4)Puzzle Books
5)Road Atlas from the Dollar Store to follow route
6)Colorforms
7)Disney for Kids by Kids guidebook
8)Snacks
9)Happy Meal type toys
10)Always stop for meals at a place where the kids can blow off steam(run around the grassy area of rest-stops, Mickey D's with PlayPlace, etc.)

 

[akrake]

the wonder paper & markers were the BEST thing for our 6 & 3yr olds......they loved it! perfect pics everytime....i also bought lap desks for them so they could store their stuff in. (at target)


ours was a 16 hr drive...we broke it into 2 days...the first day was only 6 hours so the next day we left at 4am and were able to drive until 6:20am before the kids woke.....they were excited about a first visit to wdw so they didn't really fuss at all. i actually was able to save the wonder colorbooks until the drive home!

akrake

ps...we got the disney greatest hits collection (5 cds) and played those the whole way to keep them in the "mood".

 

[mm6mm6]

My DD was five when we went last year. My DW38 and I (DH37) really liked the "Kids Bop" 1, 2, and 3 CD's. Our daughter loves the music and it's cleaned up from the regular versions by the pop stars. We liked the music too, it's the most recent stuff (Pink singing, "You'll be watching me pass" instead of "You'll be kissing my *ss") and I can handle it alot better than a CD of nursery rhymes!

 

[tiggereyore]

Not one time did I see the TV thing!!! I was giving up hope on us parents (don't get me wrong I too looked at them). Our almost 2 yr old and 4 1/2 yr old did great we took 6 (yes 6) days driving down (spent 2 at Okefenokee Swamp) and had 5 days for coming home (made it in 4 even with tropical storm Kyle following us and going inland to avoid the whole DC mess this fall)

We did the Atlas game even the 2 yr old had fun (I made color copies of the route so they could see it)

Color wonder makers saved my life with him (still looking for one cap its probably still in FW)

Walkman save the 4 yr old although we did do 2-3 hrs of kids songs a day (DH knows them by heart now)

I spy we did on the way home

When 2 yr old slept we did a road kill (tires count) game ( i know this sounds gross but it was kind of funny listening to a 4 yr old trying to guess what a blanket was... (doesn't have to be an animal)

snacks and drinks were a must but we had the camper along so each time we stopped it was easy to give the kids a quick choice of the pre done basket fill up the 2 cups each (anymore than 2 and the 4yr old had to pee every 1/2hr.)

Lunch at rest areas with large grassy spots

hand held games too.

The ONLY time they asked when are we going to get there was when we stopped at the outlets that morning!!! I can't go 20 min down to the plazas without them asking twice. I thought I'd be in big trouble but they were great and The ONLY time they said I want was when they saw the helium ballons at MK at night. BTW they had earned money for odd jobs or going to bed with out a hassle the 2 yr old for sleeping though the night (10 cents to 75 cents at a time. by the time we left 2yrold ha $35 and the 4yr old had $55 plus the disney dollars from gifts. They both thought things through when shopping (yes you spend more at the resort but it isn't as overwhelming). hope this helps

 

[loriandmatt]

The drive for us is an 18 hour one.

We generally take along the camper, but even when we don't we play the "Camper" game. you get 1 point for each camper you spy first. (on the road or off of it) someone else has to see the camper as well for you to get the point. if you call out camper and it ends up being a bus or something you get a point taken away. first one to 20 wins.

I also use alot of the other suggestions. new cheapo gift at the begining of each new state. (i try to make them related to the state). Hand held videogames, walkman, books on tape. (take along lots of batteries!!!)

We recently bought a van with one of those nifty entertainment systmes, so movies are the ticket now. it also has an input for other audiovisual equipment hookups, so i will be buying an adapter and stuff to hook up the Playstation. He won't want to get out the van when we get to WDW! (not to mention that i may have to drive the entire way, as DH will want to be in the back playing motocross games with him!!!)

 

[kevind65]

we make the drive in about 15-16 hours. we live about 15 miles northeast of downtown st.louis. we generally leave between 2 and 3pm. we do the drive through the night thing and usually pull into the world between 6-7am. we allow our dd to pack a carry on bag full of her stuff(funny thing is, she hardly touches most of it) to bring along. we listen to cd's(some disney) and play games like: counting the # of waffle house's we pass along the way. we enjoy driving. we can stop if we see something interesting and it's a great time for us to just talk as a family and enjoy each other. i usually can last to about 3am before starting to get too tired and need dw to take over for a while. dw and dd are also sleepers when they get in the car....so that makes it easier as well. I think the thought of the drive is worse the actual drive...you'll probably be surprised at how well the kids can handle it.

 

[katalina]

All very excellent suggestions from other posters!!! I have to say that we bought a minivan with a tv last year, and it's been a godsend. It also has earphone hookups to all audio in the car, so that some can listen to video, while another can do a CD, while Mom & Dad can have the radio. We did an 8-hour drive to Montreal last winter, and the kids hardly complained once. They are now 5, 10 & 12. Age spread makes it difficult at times, but also it can be more interesting.

We do "20 Questions", where the guessers can only ask up to 20 yes/no questions to see what animal/veg/mineral you are thinking of. We have also bought a scavenger hunt game for about $6.00 at an educational store. It's a laminated folder and has different games for different types of trips. We also got an electronic "Taboo" game, which is just like the board game but without cards, etc. It's about the size of a videotape. That has proved to be a lot of fun. Even the 5-year-old enjoys it. Who knows, maybe the kids will learn something on the way!