San Francisco to Disneyland with a toddler - Fly vs Drive?

[LostVector]

So, we're about to take our first vacation in a while, and Disneyland seems like a good opportunity to do a little road trip with the Model Y.

We're just two parents with a 2 1/2 year old, nothing fancy. According to Google Maps, it's about a 6 hr 30 min drive, and maybe a couple of hours more with breaks. The flight would be only 1 hr 30 min, but when we add up all the extra overhead of getting to and from the airport, dealing with luggage, security, and renting a car, I think we're looking at about 6 hours on the fly side of things.

Pros to driving:
Save on plane tickets, rental car and other misc transportation costs.
We can pack everything!
We'll have our preferred car with us.

Cons:
Toddler will be stuck in the car for a while.
Total travel time will be a couple of hours longer.

The toddler is the wildcard in this. Ostensibly, flying would be easier since she would be doing a lot of different things instead of being stuck in a car seat. On the other hand, although she did get a little grumpy after 4 total hours in our old car on a drive last year to see the grandparents, she actually enjoys the new Tesla and we've been taking lots of weekend day trips with her with no real issues and plenty of naps in the car.

As a side note, the grandparents are roughly on the way, so we have the option of breaking the trip up into two days on the way up and down ... a bonus option for us to consider.

To be honest, my wife thought I was crazy when I suggested driving ... but I think that was a gut reaction based on our previous travel experiences as a childless couple where we would just fly in and uber everywhere we needed to go. To me, there's a lot more overhead to flying now for us, and driving seems like a no brainer for this distance with 3 people and a bunch of luggage in tow.

Thoughts?

 

[ATPMSD]

Of course this has nothing to do with owning a Tesla, except perhaps the extra time needed to charge the car.

If you will be the kind of family that will be making road trips, you may as well get started. Best if you can find fun things to do along the way that will engage (and tire out) the toddler.

As to flying, toddlers sometimes do not do well on an airplane and people really don‘t like to have to endure a screaming toddler for an entire flight. If you fly, have toys and food, and realize one of you may very well spend the entire flight 100% focused on the child. Even so, that may not work.

 

[bmah]

I'd lean towards driving, mainly on the grounds of flexibility (you set your own schedule, and you can stop pretty much anywhere you want if you need to). Also you can bring basically whatever you want and have it available to you all the time (don't need to worry about what you put in checked luggage or what you can carry on the plane).

You didn't specifically address road-trip charging, but I will: Superchargers along the SF/LA travel corridor make Tesla traveling super-easy...lots of places for charge + bathroom stops and there are multiple viable routes (I-5, US-101, CA-99). You can use supercharge.info and threads here to plan out interesting places to stop (such as Bravo Farms at the Kettleman City - Bernard Dr. Supercharger). In all likelihood, charging stops will be insignificant compared to your toddler's needs.

Hope you have a great trip!

Bruce.

 

[jjrandorin]

Based on the descriptions provided, driving seems like the obvious winner here. The fact that you can stop and visit grandparents (if thats something that is actually desired, not everyone finds that great, lol) sounds like a good plus.

Being able to pack everything, stop when you want, etc would make driving a better choice than flying, especially when The time is going to work out to be about the same.

 

[Tronguy]

Having zoomed around the landscape with toddlers, back in the day, I'd make the following suggestions:

• Six straight hours on the road for a bundle of energy that Can't Stop is a bit too much. Our solution has been to find a State Park about half-way, preferably with a beach or something, and let the good times roll for lunch and an hour of steam release. The kid will work off some energy, might get tired enough for a nap, and you'll all feel better. (Our middle area included Connecticut, where State Parks with sandy beaches is a Thing. Not sure what's in the middle for CA, unless one takes the shore route. But even a bog-standard play ground would be better than being cooped up in the car.)
• My SO is the Master of the Diaper Bag. Not for changing, that fell to both of us, pretty much evenly. The miracle was the sheer number of toys in the bag that the kids were either seriously interested in or were likely to become seriously interested with, having never seen said toys before. (Yes, buy some for the trip, and the trip back.) Depending upon toddler age, this can extend to art (scribbling), color books, or whatever is appropriate for your toddler's development age. It's almost amusing seeing other's reactions to this, particularly in airports; people get astonished about Just How Many Things, at 2-3 minutes before boredom of Thing, can be stuffed into the appropriate spots in a bag.
• It's one thing if one is on a short trip and both parents are up in front with the kid in back. It's another when a toddler is dying of boredom back there. Figure that you and the spouse will be, for at least some of the trip, taking turns back there. The driver is not a toddler and can stand being alone by him/herself.
• If the toddler is the right age and can join in, songs are magic. The Mockingbird song with infinite rhymes, the apples and bananas song likewise, and so on. Especially if the toddler throws in a rhyme.
• Reading books appropriate for the age can really use up the time. I have fond memories of the Magic School Bus series; not the later ones that mirrored the TV show, but the originals, which are loaded with visual jokes.

On that last one.. Took a 1 year old and 4 year old to a wedding in San Luis Obispbo (probably got the spelling wrong) and we spent some serious time at a tidal pool amongst the rocks. The kid who was 1 doesn't remember it any more, but the 4 year old definitely does. Watching little crabs and sea anemones doing their thing just fascinates a kid. Especially if one backs it up with a Magic School Bus book on sea life .

Have fun!

(The kids are grown, through college, and are working now. But we have fond memories.)

(Um. One more thing. If you're going to Disney, there's this book, I think it's called, "The unofficial guide to disney" or something. Back in the 90's it was handy for, when we were going to Disney World (not land), figuring out when to zig when everybody else was zagging, thereby shortening the amount of time spent in lines and all. What with Disney's penchant for fast passes and the like, I'm not sure just how useful the new ones are.
However, there was one Extremely Strong Suggestion in that book that, in my opinion, is priceless: Go back to the hotel/motel/resort around noon or lunchtime, and everybody takes a nap. Including the adults and toddlers. Wake up around 2, do a pool if there is one, and, now refreshed, head back to the park.
You will be flat-out amazed at the number of families heading out of the park at that time carrying screaming, upset, overtired children who, and this should not be a surprise, can't handle eight hours of non-stop Disney. It's not a failing, it's kids being kids.
Going into the park in the afternoon, having dinner somewhere inside, and going places with refreshed kids until, what, 8 or 9 p.m. or so is much better with that rest in between.)

 

[vanjwilson]

...

• ...
• Reading books appropriate for the age can really use up the time. I have fond memories of the Magic School Bus series; not the later ones that mirrored the TV show, but the originals, which are loaded with visual jokes.

...

Speaking of books, The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne is great for older toddlers and young readers. We started our kids listening to the audiobook versions on 3-hours trips to the grandparents. They like it so much, they eventually graduated to reading the chapter books, first with us reading to them, and then with them reading to us. Similar vibe to The Magic School Bus, but more focused on history and other cultures than science. (Although there is one volume where they attend a dinner party that includes Edison, Bell, Pasteur, and Eiffel.)

 

[LostVector]

Of course this has nothing to do with owning a Tesla, except perhaps the extra time needed to charge the car.

If you will be the kind of family that will be making road trips, you may as well get started. Best if you can find fun things to do along the way that will engage (and tire out) the toddler.

As to flying, toddlers sometimes do not do well on an airplane and people really don‘t like to have to endure a screaming toddler for an entire flight. If you fly, have toys and food, and realize one of you may very well spend the entire flight 100% focused on the child. Even so, that may not work.

Yes, honestly the supercharging infra for SF -> LA is so good that I'm expecting it to be pretty uneventful and comparable to a gas powered trip. The more frequent charging stops I will end up having to make anyway with a kid in tow. However, I'm substantially more willing to drive now than fly due to Autopilot, which I can definitely credit Tesla for.

I'd lean towards driving, mainly on the grounds of flexibility (you set your own schedule, and you can stop pretty much anywhere you want if you need to). Also you can bring basically whatever you want and have it available to you all the time (don't need to worry about what you put in checked luggage or what you can carry on the plane).

You didn't specifically address road-trip charging, but I will: Superchargers along the SF/LA travel corridor make Tesla traveling super-easy...lots of places for charge + bathroom stops and there are multiple viable routes (I-5, US-101, CA-99). You can use supercharge.info and threads here to plan out interesting places to stop (such as Bravo Farms at the Kettleman City - Bernard Dr. Supercharger). In all likelihood, charging stops will be insignificant compared to your toddler's needs.

Hope you have a great trip!

Bruce.

All great points and the highly built out Supercharging infra here is something I've been taking as a given.

Based on the descriptions provided, driving seems like the obvious winner here. The fact that you can stop and visit grandparents (if thats something that is actually desired, not everyone finds that great, lol) sounds like a good plus.

Being able to pack everything, stop when you want, etc would make driving a better choice than flying, especially when The time is going to work out to be about the same.

LOL agreed. It's a positive overall in our case, but they are not the "doting" types ... they'll be happy to see us come, and equally as happy to see us leave. . We'll offer for them to come along for the trip, but I'm not sure they'll have the energy or desire to come down with us.

Having zoomed around the landscape with toddlers, back in the day, I'd make the following suggestions:

• Six straight hours on the road for a bundle of energy that Can't Stop is a bit too much. Our solution has been to find a State Park about half-way, preferably with a beach or something, and let the good times roll for lunch and an hour of steam release. The kid will work off some energy, might get tired enough for a nap, and you'll all feel better. (Our middle area included Connecticut, where State Parks with sandy beaches is a Thing. Not sure what's in the middle for CA, unless one takes the shore route. But even a bog-standard play ground would be better than being cooped up in the car.)
• My SO is the Master of the Diaper Bag. Not for changing, that fell to both of us, pretty much evenly. The miracle was the sheer number of toys in the bag that the kids were either seriously interested in or were likely to become seriously interested with, having never seen said toys before. (Yes, buy some for the trip, and the trip back.) Depending upon toddler age, this can extend to art (scribbling), color books, or whatever is appropriate for your toddler's development age. It's almost amusing seeing other's reactions to this, particularly in airports; people get astonished about Just How Many Things, at 2-3 minutes before boredom of Thing, can be stuffed into the appropriate spots in a bag.
• It's one thing if one is on a short trip and both parents are up in front with the kid in back. It's another when a toddler is dying of boredom back there. Figure that you and the spouse will be, for at least some of the trip, taking turns back there. The driver is not a toddler and can stand being alone by him/herself.
• If the toddler is the right age and can join in, songs are magic. The Mockingbird song with infinite rhymes, the apples and bananas song likewise, and so on. Especially if the toddler throws in a rhyme.
• Reading books appropriate for the age can really use up the time. I have fond memories of the Magic School Bus series; not the later ones that mirrored the TV show, but the originals, which are loaded with visual jokes.

On that last one.. Took a 1 year old and 4 year old to a wedding in San Luis Obispbo (probably got the spelling wrong) and we spent some serious time at a tidal pool amongst the rocks. The kid who was 1 doesn't remember it any more, but the 4 year old definitely does. Watching little crabs and sea anemones doing their thing just fascinates a kid. Especially if one backs it up with a Magic School Bus book on sea life .

Have fun!

(The kids are grown, through college, and are working now. But we have fond memories.)

(Um. One more thing. If you're going to Disney, there's this book, I think it's called, "The unofficial guide to disney" or something. Back in the 90's it was handy for, when we were going to Disney World (not land), figuring out when to zig when everybody else was zagging, thereby shortening the amount of time spent in lines and all. What with Disney's penchant for fast passes and the like, I'm not sure just how useful the new ones are.
However, there was one Extremely Strong Suggestion in that book that, in my opinion, is priceless: Go back to the hotel/motel/resort around noon or lunchtime, and everybody takes a nap. Including the adults and toddlers. Wake up around 2, do a pool if there is one, and, now refreshed, head back to the park.
You will be flat-out amazed at the number of families heading out of the park at that time carrying screaming, upset, overtired children who, and this should not be a surprise, can't handle eight hours of non-stop Disney. It's not a failing, it's kids being kids.
Going into the park in the afternoon, having dinner somewhere inside, and going places with refreshed kids until, what, 8 or 9 p.m. or so is much better with that rest in between.)

What an incredible amount of advice! Thank you!

Definitely planning for stops every couple of hours, wife already sits with the kid in the back to keep an eye on her. On our shorter local trips she's held up fine just napping and looking out the window, but with a longer trip we'll definitely need to plan for more books, toys and songs to keep her entertained. I hear tablets work well too, but we've managed to get by without them so far, so we'll probably avoid the screen addiction risks for as long as we can.

I'll have to look up that book! In fact, one of the unexpected reasons we love the Model Y so much has been its ability to serve as a retreat / nap space for the toddler in the middle of the day. Getting a good nap in is absolutely essential for keeping her emotionally on track during a day trip and also not blowing up her scheduled bedtime.

With a fully air conditioned car, she takes great naps in the back while I watch and the wife still gets some errands and shopping done. It's something we wouldn't have considered doing with a gas car, tho I suppose it's possible. I'm thinking we might be able to do the same thing at Disneyland as opposed to having to fully retreat to the hotel room, but that will depend on exactly where we end up staying.

 

[dhrivnak]

So, we're about to take our first vacation in a while, and Disneyland seems like a good opportunity to do a little road trip with the Model Y.

We're just two parents with a 2 1/2 year old, nothing fancy. According to Google Maps, it's about a 6 hr 30 min drive, and maybe a couple of hours more with breaks. The flight would be only 1 hr 30 min, but when we add up all the extra overhead of getting to and from the airport, dealing with luggage, security, and renting a car, I think we're looking at about 6 hours on the fly side of things.

Pros to driving:
Save on plane tickets, rental car and other misc transportation costs.
We can pack everything!
We'll have our preferred car with us.

Cons:
Toddler will be stuck in the car for a while.
Total travel time will be a couple of hours longer.

The toddler is the wildcard in this. Ostensibly, flying would be easier since she would be doing a lot of different things instead of being stuck in a car seat. On the other hand, although she did get a little grumpy after 4 total hours in our old car on a drive last year to see the grandparents, she actually enjoys the new Tesla and we've been taking lots of weekend day trips with her with no real issues and plenty of naps in the car.

As a side note, the grandparents are roughly on the way, so we have the option of breaking the trip up into two days on the way up and down ... a bonus option for us to consider.

To be honest, my wife thought I was crazy when I suggested driving ... but I think that was a gut reaction based on our previous travel experiences as a childless couple where we would just fly in and uber everywhere we needed to go. To me, there's a lot more overhead to flying now for us, and driving seems like a no brainer for this distance with 3 people and a bunch of luggage in tow.

Thoughts?

Drive. MUCH preferable to airport madness. Just bring some toys the toddler has not seen in a while. My wife would start hiding toys 6 weeks before a trip.