What Actually Got Us Through 28+ Hours in the Car With 3 Boys

If you’ve ever looked at a road trip to Disney World and thought, “There is NO way we’re surviving that many hours in a car with kids”...trust me, I get it. But when we saw the prices of flights 😬, road tripping seemed like the way to go this time around!

So we packed up and drove more than 14 hours there. And more than 14 hours back. Now that it’s all said and done, I’m here to tell you it’s doable. Not always pretty. But doable. (And to be honest, there were even some things I liked about it compared to flying.)

Today I’m going over all the details…including exactly what we had in the car to get us through.

Disclosure: You may see affiliate links throughout this post, which means these are the things I handpicked! If you purchase something through these links, I will get a small commission at absolutely no extra charge to you. And that sure means a lot to me, so thank you in advance!

On the way down, we stopped overnight to break it up a little. On the way home? We just...drove straight through. Two totally different vibes, and honestly both had their place.

The overnight stop gave everyone a MUCH needed reset. Plus we arrived to Disney the next day well-rested and ready for the fun! Driving straight through on the way back meant we got to wake up in our own beds after being away from home for a week. And being able to just chill in our pj’s for as long as we wanted that next morning truly felt glorious.

My two cents: We had debated about whether or not to break up the trip on the way down, and I’m SO happy we decided to break it up! Highly recommend breaking up the trip on the way down for the sole purpose of arriving at Disney without anyone being overtired! It really helped us start our trip on a high note, which I think fed into the overall vibe.

One thing that made a real difference: having an EZ Pass. If you’re driving through toll roads, do yourself this favor before you leave. Georgia and Florida toll roads take a bunch of different pass types now, so it’s worth looking into what actually works for your route before you go. Future you will be thankful.

Good news: parking is free for resort guests, both at your resort and at the parks. But honestly? Once we got to Disney, we pretty much just parked the car and let it sit. We used Disney’s transportation to get around for the most part.

The one exception was the water park. We actually drove there ourselves, and I’m so glad we did, because getting to the water parks via Disney transportation is usually quite the process...you often need to take two different buses just to get there. Driving cut that whole headache out completely.

Here’s what we packed that they actually used (for reference, the boys are 5, 7, and 9):

• Tablets and Nintendo Switches—the obvious ones, but still the MVPs...with one caveat I’ll get to in a second

• Crayola Stow & Go—such a good travel-sized kit, keeps the mess contained and stores A LOT (if it’s not available on Amazon, I was able to find it at Target!)

• Twistable crayons and colored pencils—having the twistable ones takes away the “my crayon broke” debacle. I just split up the colors between those two packs, and each kid had their own pencil pouch.

• Fidget toys—for the wiggly moments between screen time. The boys really love this puzzle ball because it’s part fidget toy, part game.

• Paint by sticker books—this one surprised me…they were SO into it

• Hidden Pictures books and How-to-draw books—kept them occupied for a decent chunk of time whenever they’d start it up

And of course...snacks. LOTS of snacks. I’m talking a full rotation of them, because “I’m hungry” five minutes after eating is just a road trip law of nature at this point.

Don’t skip this part—bringing real pillows and blankets made such a difference for actually getting comfortable enough to nap. Not the uncomfortable travel ones! Such a perk of driving: so. much. more. packing. space!

We also made a bunch of playlists ahead of time, and honestly some of my favorite moments of the whole trip were the impromptu singing and dance parties happening in the backseat. Windows up, volume up, everyone belting it out...core memories!

Okay, real talk. Learn from our mistakes!

👉Bubs was deep into his Switch while we were winding through the mountains, and...let’s just say the combination of screen + curvy roads did NOT go well. We had puke bags on hand (these are actually the same ones we use at home!), and I am SO glad we did. Pack them even if you think you won’t need them. Trust me on this one. It’s better to have them and not need them than the opposite way around. On the way home, we limited screen time during any wind-y parts of the trip.

👉The other lesson we learned the hard way: we took more breaks than I would’ve liked. This was mostly due to lack of planning/preparation/thinking ahead. We’d stop just for a bathroom break and then have to stop AGAIN for gas and then a little later, it was time for lunch. Sometimes the kids are going to need a bathroom break right now! So, it is what it is. But we combined things better on the way back home—like getting gas even if we really didn’t need it yet.

Honestly? It went a lot better than I expected. Road tripping to Disney with three boys is loud, it’s snack-heavy, and I guess in our case, it involves one unexpected puke bag moment...but we made it, and it was a good trip.

When it’s in the budget, flying is still our go-to—it’s just faster and easier with kids. But I wouldn’t rule out another road trip! Pack the entertainment, pack the comfort items, pack more snacks than you think you need...and just go into it knowing it won’t be perfect. It doesn’t have to be.