Family Trip Tips from a Newbie

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We headed out on our first family trip as a family of four. I see now that it was very ambitious. 686 miles. A four-year-old and a two-year-old. First drive over 3 hours with kids. All in one day. Then there was Disneyland and the beach. All very overwhelming with kids.

I looked up plenty of tips and tricks and tried to prepare as best I could. But to be honest, I jumped into that trip knowing I would learn a lot and make plenty of mistakes. There were so many firsts and so many things I couldn’t account for. Now, I’m not one of those people that road trips once a month or goes to Disney twice a year. I don’t have tried-and-true tips for you. But maybe you could learn a thing or two anyway…

Road Tripping with Little Kids

The trip was an estimated 9 hours and 40 minutes of driving time. I figured it would take 12 or 13. We planned to head out around four or five in the morning and have the kids sleep for the first few hours. I also wanted to make sure my husband and I were rested enough. We ended up leaving at 6:00…and the kids didn’t sleep.

The first six hours were kind of fun. Watching the sun come up. Stopping at a gas station for doughnuts. Knowing I had lots of snacks and toys and shows for when we needed them. After lunch the kids were tired and I took over driving so my husband could take a nap. After that, the day really started to drag. Or, I guess, time went faster than we could!

We stopped at the Seven Magic Mountains just south of Las Vegas. They were really cool, but the kids didn’t care. Thus, the stop was more stressful than it was a break. That happened a lot. We stopped at the largest Chevron in the world, and that was more exciting for the kids than the Seven Magic Mountains.

Traffic was excruciating after that. It was so, so slow getting into California and on and off for hours and hours. By the last hour and a half, my four-year-old was wriggling and saying how he “hated this” and had to get out of the car. Excruciating. We couldn’t get to the hotel fast enough.

I’d worried about driving that far in one day but know of a lot of people who have driven that far. I dreaded the ride home all week.

Now, I’m sorry if I made this sound awful. It was fun to hang out just us, eat whatever we wanted, listen to music, listen to my two-year-old watch Toy Story (4 times!), and look forward to Disneyland. And it was definitely an experience full of memories.

I did learn a lot though, so here goes:

• Do what you have to do. Period. Electronics, snacks, whatever the kids want, go with it. This is not a time to worry about how good of a parent you are. Survive.
• Separate children when possible. The middle row in our van has two seats and one can be moved to the side or the middle. I quickly learned it was more peaceful when the kids couldn’t touch each other.
• Make a map for the kids. I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was great! I expected the whole, “Are we there yet?” question. My kiddos can hardly make it a half hour on a normal day without asking how long our drive will be. I printed out a road and some pictures of things and places we would pass. I taped it all on the roof on the car and as we drove, I would move the car so they had a visual of how far we were. It wasn’t magic, but it definitely helped.
• Don’t overpack. I tried to take everything we could possibly need. Even with just two kids, our van was full. SO much stuff. I like to be prepared but it was to the point where we were overcrowded and couldn’t even find what we needed. I’d have rather had less and had to stop somewhere for something if we really needed it.
• Bring new toys. I went to the dollar store before our trip and grabbed some cheap toys at Target’s dollar spot. I took a cookie sheet with magnets. I took a clipboard with paper and crayons. They cared about very little, to be honest. The best thing I took besides electronics were packs of dry erase cards with markers. They were for road trips and had things like road trip bingo and dot-to-dots. Sooo… bring new toys, but make sure they are as different from their normal toys as possible.

Staying in a Hotel with Little Kids

After the drive we had, the hotel was magical! Honestly, the kids seemed 10x more excited about the hotel than Disneyland. Of course. But I don’t even care. They explored, asked if we were really staying there, were excited about the big beds, watched cartoons while we got settled, and were so happy.

The week went by really quickly, and time spent in the hotel was almost relaxing because the kids were content there. We didn’t need toys or books or anything to entertain them. The newness and cartoons we never get at home were enough!

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Tips:

• Don’t worry about the mess. I tried to clean up, but we were off our routine and on vacation. I clean up all day every day at home. Just enjoy not doing laundry or dishes or making the bed.
• Go to bed when the kids go to bed. I was a little worried that it would be hard to put the kids to bed because I didn’t think I’d want to go to bed that early. Between the long vacation days, me being sick, and the time change, we were all ready for bed about the same time. I’m glad we got in as much sleep as possible.
• Take time to enjoy the hotel. This may seem silly, especially on a trip like Disneyland, but to the kids, the hotel might be just as exciting. We didn’t spend a lot of time out in the hotel, but we went to the free breakfast, stopped on the floor with the balcony, went to the little outdoor pool a few times, and rode the elevator plenty.
• Unpack things like toiletries. I’m not one to “move in” when I go to a hotel, but I learned that with kids, it was best to put a few things in their place first thing. I put all of our toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, hairbrushes, and even snacks out so the things I knew we would need everyday were in their places and accessible.
• Bag kids’ clothes by day. This was probably the best thing I did in preparation for our trip. I used gallon Ziplocs and put shirts, shorts, socks, a diaper, and a pair of underwear in each bag and labeled them. This was a total lifesaver for getting ready in the mornings.
• Take advantage of hotel breakfasts. This may be obvious, but because feeding a family when you are out of town can be expensive, make sure everyone gets good, big breakfasts if they are included in your hotel stay. We even took a few things back to our room if the kids didn’t eat it all. Waste not!

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Getting to the Parks with Little Kids

This was a huge ordeal for me. I knew getting a hotel close meant you could walk. I also remember long walks to Disneyland when I was younger. I hated that you had to pay just to park at your hotel, so I figured we could find a hotel we really liked at a good price, not pay to park there, and just pay to park at Disney instead. Sounded legit to me. I really loved our hotel, but we will definitely be staying as close to Disneyland as possible next time.

We parked in the Toy Story parking lot all three days. The traffic getting in there was crazy. It was expensive. The lines to get on the complimentary buses were long. Ultimately we waited in traffic to wait to pay to wait to get on a bus to wait for our bags to be checked to wait to get into the park. It was a LOT of waiting, especially with littles.

The first day we decided to just walk back to the parking lot at the end of the day. We didn’t want to wait in line for the bus, but more than that, our stroller was kind of a disaster that I didn’t want to try to organize so I could hold everything and get two tired kids and a giant stroller onto the bus. The walk really wasn’t bad. I just felt like we wasted so much time getting to and from the park.

Day two we rode the bus to the park and then we had the (legit) genius idea to let the toddler sleep in the stroller while my husband and older son went to get the van. They rode the bus to the parking lot only to realize I had the key to the car. Lucky me, I got to walk all the way to the parking lot by myself while they wandered around the parking lot trying to find the van, since we somehow forgot where we parked.

Day three we walked to and from the park wishing we’d just gotten a closer hotel.

Tips:

• If you can, get a hotel in walking distance of the parks. I don’t know anything about what close hotels are good, but I will definitely be researching that next time we go.
• Be prepared to load onto the bus. If you park in a lot and ride the bus, be ready to get the kids out of the stroller, fold it up, and somehow carry all of your snacks, drinks, jackets, etc. I had our diaper bag backpack plus a small bag with snacks and jackets to make the process easier. My husband handled the heavy double stroller, and I herded the kids.
• Consider walking to and from the parking lot. The walk sounded far to me initially, but after a day of walking all over Disneyland, the fairly uncrowded walk to the car in the evening light was not bad at all.
• If you do any kind of drop off/pick up, don’t forget the keys. I was so excited to not have to walk or ride the bus and just have my husband pull up to pick us up. I thought we were being clever. We obviously didn’t think that through. Consider the details!
• Pay attention to where you park. Heading to Disneyland can be a little chaotic and exciting. I was so focused on remembering everything we needed and hurrying to the buses that I didn’t think about where we were parked. I honestly didn’t think it would be hard to find the car, but it was.

Disneyland with Little Kids

Alright, I don’t want to be a downer, I really don’t. But Disneyland was not at all as magical as I remember it being. I was in college last time I went, so it’s not like I only went as a little kid, either. I legitimately don’t remember it being so dang crowded. I felt like I couldn’t breathe walking through the crowds. Strollers EVERYWHERE.

Another thing I didn’t expect was for it to be so hard to keep my kids happy and excited. Like, of all places, I figured Disneyland would be somewhere I could count on happy kids. You know, “Happiest Place on Earth” and all. Yeah, no. I don’t know if it was their age or their personalities or that I didn’t show them enough Disney movies first or that we only got to go on, like, three rides a day, but I felt like I was constantly telling them what next thing we would do would be exciting.

One of my happiest moments were when both boys were running around together on the walkway in California Adventure. We were across from the Mickey Ferris Wheel and it basically empty. I loved watching my four-year-old go pay for a churro all by himself. I loved seeing his excitement when he got to throw pennies into the water and make wishes. I loved hearing my two-year-old get excited over “up-ream” (ice cream). I loved seeing my boys walk around holding hands.

I am so glad we went on this trip, but it wasn’t anything like I expected. I tried, I really tried, to just enjoy what was, but it was hard. It was hard because the trip was expensive. It was hard because I wanted my children to love Disneyland as much as I did. It was especially hard because I was sick and didn’t have the energy and motivation to get out the door early and handle everything the way I wanted to. But my kids made memories and had some cute moments together.

Tips:

• Buy Disney clothing beforehand. Whenever I go to Disneyland, I want shirts or jackets, but they are so expensive! I loved the idea of all of us wearing matching Disney shirts and found a good deal online.
• Get souvenirs on the last day. There are SO many cool things at Disneyland; I knew my kids would want something. Or lots of things. I made it clear that they could get one thing each but that they had to wait until the last day to decide. I was reminded about the stuffed Dumbo every few hours, but it worked!
• Put your phone number on your kids. One of my biggest worries was losing my kids in the crowds. At four and two, I knew they wouldn’t be able to explain themselves or know much of what to do. (I do talk to my four-year-old about such things all the time, but he gets very emotional even when he can’t see me when I walk out to the car.) I bought a bunch of disposable bracelets like you get at theme parks and festivals and wrote my number and my husbands number. Thank goodness we never needed them, but it gave me peace of mind.
• Pay attention to where you park your stroller. There are strollers EVERYWHERE. We mistakenly thought you could park most places… until we lost our stroller for a good 4-5 hours. I wandered around. My husband wandered around. We both swore we knew where we’d left it. We eventually gave up and tried to just enjoy our last day. A Disney employee mentioned that they often move strollers and sometimes really far. There weren’t “no parking” signs or anyone to tell us they moved strollers from that spot. By the time we found it, my arms were tired from carrying kids and my toddler’s diaper had leaked. My advice: find designated parking and take a quick picture of where you leave your stroller just so you don’t go crazy trying to remember where you left it.
• Go with the flow. I really tried to set low expectations. I did. But it was still hard to have things not go the way I hoped. I would say to pick a few things that are “must dos” and just enjoy whatever else you get to do.
• Plan fun things for waiting in line. I didn’t even think about how much time we would spend waiting in lines. I did wear a fanny pack over one shoulder with some gummies and crackers and tissues, etc, but I wished we’d had more to do. What you could do would depend on your children’s ages. Maybe make some kind of Disney bingo with characters or items. Maybe play the alphabet game or Heads Up! or Catchphrase or the telephone game.
• Take phone chargers. This was one of my big worries because I knew I would be taking pictures constantly with the lighting on my screen all the way up. That kills my battery so fast. We took several portable phone chargers to the park. Because I was sick and we had little kids, we weren’t at the park more than 8 hours most days, so I only used them one day. But the peace of mind was worth it.

Visiting the Beach with Little Kids

Sawyer was most excited about going to the beach. When we’d talk about going to Disneyland, he would just ask about the beach. He would even tell people we were going on a trip to the beach and not mention Disneyland. So, the biggest stress here was that the beach wouldn’t live up to his expectations.

We drove for about a half hour and found parking after about five minutes of wandering. We parked in a tiny parking lot for $10 for the day, but it was mandatory valet parking. It was a little stressful trying to unload two kids and everything we might need while the guy stood there waiting! I was not that organized by day four of our trip.

We found a nice spot on the beach and spread out our blanket and array of sand toys. The lifeguard came over and let us know about how careful we needed to be, especially with little kids. I was a little sad we couldn’t do more than dip our toes in the ocean, but we spent hours digging in the sand, trying to make sand castles, burying Sawyer in the sand, eating snacks, and taking pictures.

Sawyer didn’t find any treasure like he hoped, but we all had a lot of fun.

Tips:

• Prepare! You’ll want to “relax” as much as possible at the beach. Take lots of sand toys, sunscreen, snacks, and sunglasses.
• Put sunscreen on before going in the sand. I think I was in such a hurry to get all of our stuff and get to the water that I didn’t put sunscreen on the kiddos until we got everything set up… and we were covered in sand. That made applying sunscreen harder!
• Take shade, especially if you are going to be there for more than a few hours. It’s much more enjoyable if you can get out of the sun here and there.

Road Tripping Home with Little Kids

The drive home was rough. I think a lot of it was in my head, though. After the long drive to California, I could only imagine driving back would be just as bad or worse. We were all tired. We didn’t even try to head out early what with packing up, getting breakfast, and checking out after staying at the park until 10 the night before. I honestly went into it expecting to have to stop somewhere for the night and was glad we didn’t have to be anywhere that next morning.

Our car was a lot less organized, and we relied on electronics even more than before. We didn’t hurry through our stops because we knew we needed the breaks. We ate junk food and gave in a lot, but we survived.

We tried to stay in St. George for the night, but there was an event going on, and the few available rooms were super expensive. Sooo… we went to a park and let the boys play until it got dark. We figured we could make it home while the boys slept, but when we pulled into a gas station at nearly 11 that night to two cranky, very awake boys, we checked into a hotel.

We went to the room, crawled up in the beds, watched a show, and fell asleep. We slept through breakfast and then headed home. I hate coming home from a trip, but I was ready to be home!

Tips:

• Be flexible. This obviously goes for the whole trip, but by this point, I’d lowered my expectations a lot. Stop when and where you need to. It’s not worth rushing home. We spent a good hour at a park, tried to get a hotel in one city, and ultimately stopped for the night in another city when we’d planned to make it home.
• Save something for the ride home. I took some new toys and road trip games for the drive to California, but I wish I’d thought to take something new for the drive home as well.
• Don’t forget to recharge everything. I was pretty on top of charging everything for the first drive but forgot to charge the tablet for the drive home. It had a little battery life left, but it died about halfway and by then I had no idea where any of the cords were.