I’ll bet after reading the title most of you are thinking I must have lost my mind that there are no advantages of driving to Walt Disney World with children. So, for those of you who think that let me just say, I beg to differ.
With my family driving to Walt Disney World this year my wife and I have been bracing ourselves not just for the long drive but for the expected fighting between our 17 year old son and 14 year old daughter. Separately, my children are wonderful angels, but put them together and you have Maleficent meets Jafar. The only reason we decided to embark on this long journey from Thunder Road and the Jersey Shore to the Sunshine State is a Bar Mitzvah we are attending in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since we planned on driving to the Bar Mitzvah we decided why not extend the journey to the land of hopes and dreams, Walt Disney World.
All my wife and I could think about was what a nightmarish drive this is going to be, even with a two night stay in Charlotte. We were making the classic mistake of thinking the worst about a drive we haven’t even started. So, rather than continue to look at it as the glass half empty, we decided to look at it as the glass half full. We started thinking about all the positives and advantages that come with such a long drive with our children. While it wasn’t easy, I came up with a top seven list of advantages to drive to Walt Disney World with your children.
1. If you’re flying you need to take precautions when packing everyone’s belongings. If you don’t properly secure liquids in your suitcase, you can ruin your clothes, or worse yet, your child’s favorite things, and then have to deal with their tantrums. Driving allows you to keep all liquids separated from the luggage and other valuable items.
2. When flying, your luggage can get misplaced or lost. If your child’s belongings happen to be in the missing suitcase, be prepared to console an upset crying child. Lost luggage will also cause you to arrive late for your date with Mickey and friends. By driving down, you can rest assure your luggage is safely secured for your arrival to the promised land, Walt Disney World.
3. An advantage of driving is that, eventually, the car will lose reception of your children’s favorite radio stations. Once you’ve entered radio nowhere, you’ll be able to listen to Disney podcasts from your ipod.
4. I don’t know what it is about flying on a plane, but for some reason the Stewards and Stewardesses think my kids are elephants. Half way through the flight they throw a small bag of peanuts at them. If you drive, you can load up your car with all sorts of goodies to eat along the way.
5. If your child has to relieve themselves on a plane, you’d better hope the “fasten your seatbelt” sign isn’t on and the bathroom line isn’t long. However, if you’re driving and the nearest rest stop is miles away, you can pull off to the road on to backstreets and improvise.
6. Driving with screaming children is like having a constant alarm on to keep you awake. Unless of course you hit your child’s snooze button!
7. If your child misbehaves on a plane, there is no place to give them a time out. However, when driving you can pull off the road, remove the child from said vehicle, and give the child a very long time out. Just remember the location of your child and don’t forget to pick your child up on the return trip home.
Disclaimer: The above statements are make believe and were written with the express intent to provide amusement and should not be tried at home or on the road.
Contributed by: Stuart S. (NDD #47). Stuart is our resident Disney geek and creator of Disney Geek Dad.
