How to prepare for a long car trip to Disney

Keeping your home clean with kids can be a challenge enough, but it is an even bigger challenge when you have to take a long road trip with your kid or kids. Depending on how far you are coming, your car trip to Disney could be anywhere from a couple of hours to 1-2 days.  This is one very challenging task that requires a lot of preparations. Even if you only travel with one kid, if he or she is too young to understand what is happening and has fits of anger or crying, you need to be prepared.

And not only for the kid’s behaviour, but also with your car’s cleaning. Keeping your car clean is the second hardest thing when you travel with a baby or a toddler. It depends on the age of your kids but whether they are babies or toddlers there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

If you have a baby it might spend a lot of time sleeping, but you would need to do more frequent stops to change its diaper. And if you have a toddler, you could spend a lot of time distracting it by various activities but a toddler might give you more troubles with their attitude and make a bigger mess.

I think that there are three key things that you any parent should do when they are preparing their car for a long trip with the kid to Disney.

1. Baby wipes are a must-have. Food, drinks and snacks are inevitable when it comes to long trips, and not just the kids. We, grown-ups love snacking, too. But every time there is food or drinks in the car spills and crumbs will inevitably end up all over the car. The floor, the seat, the door, yourself, etc. Keeping one or two boxes of baby wipes will help deal with spills right away and pick up some crumbs. Also prevent stains settle in on clothes or fabric.  You’ll also find that they come in handy once you reach Disney World – you can use them in the hotels or throw them into your park bag!

2. Also, prepare your own safe washing detergent. Mix water and some liquid dish soap in a bottle and shake until combined well. This solution can be used to clean tough stains and spills from things that stain a lot on your car seats’ upholstery. This is the safest way to go because any car is a small confined space and spraying cleaning products might irritate you or your kid and it is just not a smart thing to do. Dish soaps are mild and safe and even better when they are diluted and will do a great job while you are on the road.

3. Hand sanitiser. Many people think that wet wipes do the same job but a hand sanitiser does a lot more. You can buy one or you can make one – mix ½ tbsp rubbing alcohol and ½ tsp glycerine, then add ¼ cup aloe vera gel, you might want to add 10-15 drops of tea tree essential oil because it has antimicrobial properties and will do a magnificent job. Also, you can add another essential oil of your choice to make it smell nicer.

Your kid might not want to clean itself in times of fits and crying but at least with a safe hand sanitiser you could do most of the job hands washing would do. And pack snacks in advance in boxes with lids to limit the number of crumbs on the floor of your car.

I think these are the main three things you should definitely prepare before travelling with small children. Also make sure you stop regularly and use the time to do some cleaning, pick up trash in a bag, get rid of crumbs, etc.

As for trying to have an enjoyable and calm ride with your kids, make sure you pack some games, even tablets or any other device or electronic game they can entertain themselves with. Also, you can play games with them. Have a safe and a clean trip to Disney World!