I have only ......... days/months till I go again.

[Amy]

21 days till our WDW vacation yay! This time will be our 15-month-old's first visit! Super excited but hey if there are any tips anyone can offer on Disney World with four kids (ages 12, 9, 3, and 1) and driving straight about 15 hours with them too let me know! Would greatly appreciate it !

And definately gonna get one of those Dole Whips!

You have quite an age difference with your children. I haven't traveled with kids to WDW, but I would guess that it will be super important to get the youngest two naps during the afternoon. That might be a good chance for the older ones to get some time in the pool.
As for the drive, letting each one choose what they want to take in the car, games, books, stuffed animals, a pillow, or better yet a pillow pet to combine those last two things helps them enjoy the ride a bit more. DVDs and portable games will help pass time for the older kids as well. Definitely some favorite snacks too!
Hope you have a great time and take some photos to share when you return

[DisneyYorkie]

21 days till our WDW vacation yay! This time will be our 15-month-old's first visit! Super excited but hey if there are any tips anyone can offer on Disney World with four kids (ages 12, 9, 3, and 1) and driving straight about 15 hours with them too let me know! Would greatly appreciate it !

And definately gonna get one of those Dole Whips!

I have never traveled with FOUR that young, but I did travel with 2! I'm thinking we went for our first time with both of my two when they were 3 and 9. When they were young like that, we did the same thing as you are planning: driving straight through. We usually kept the kids up very late and left sometime between 9 and 11 because that way they would sleep for a good part of the trip since their bodies were ready for sleep at that time. Our drive was 15 hours as well (West Virginia to Orlando). So leaving at 10 PM and driving straight through put us there between to 1-3 PM the next day with stops.

The other thing that I did when my two were young was start building a "surprise box" several weeks ahead of the trip. The surprise box contained lots of little goodies: small, inexpensive toys, arts/crafts things that could be done in the car, that kind of thing. If you have "dollar stores" or 5 Below stores, those are great possibilities for the kinds of things you can throw in the surprise box. With your 1 year old, as long as he/she has food and clean diapers and you give him a break out of the car seat occasionally, he/she will be fine. But the other three will enjoy the surprise box. With my kids, I explained that every 2 hours they would get something new to play with out of the surprise box. It worked (for me) like a charm. My kids were happy and looked forward to the surprise box treats, not only for the first trip where we did this, but for all trips after that. We did this at least four or five of our Disney trips.

[cy1229]

21 days till our WDW vacation yay! This time will be our 15-month-old's first visit! Super excited but hey if there are any tips anyone can offer on Disney World with four kids (ages 12, 9, 3, and 1) and driving straight about 15 hours with them too let me know! Would greatly appreciate it !

And definately gonna get one of those Dole Whips!

Best advice I have for seeing WDW with young kids is to not sweat the small stuff. Don't try to push a certain pace or schedule. Ask your two older kids what their top 5 attractions are, and make sure you see those. The baby won't remember a thing, and will likely be afraid of the characters so be prepared for that. The three-year-old will possibly be very shy and not interested in the characters, too. Try to be at the parks at rope drop when your little ones are fresh and ready to go, then alternate with your spouse every day, and take the little ones to the hotel for a nap in the afternoons. The other parent and the two older kids can do things in the afternoons that the little kids can't or won't do, like ride Space Mountain or have a cannonball contest in the pool.

ADR's are a good idea for dinner, but try to choose really casual restaurants, like Whispering Canyon or 'Ohana, where your kids won't feel shy about getting up and moving around, and being super quiet isn't expected. That way you won't have to do the "eat and dash before the baby starts to pitch a fit" routine.

I'm willing to bet with 99% confidence that your kids won't be outrageously thrilled with Hall of Presidents, Carousel of Progress, and similar attractions. Also, while World Showcase is AMAZING, most young kids get bored after looking through the fourth shop with unusual things. Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom will probably be the favorites.

Right off the top of my head, I can't think of anything else to suggest. Most important is to just have a GREAT TIME and just enjoy being a family. HAVE FUN!!!

[Len90]

I think cy1229 posted some great tips. Definitely try not to sweat the small stuff. You can't expect to adhere to a regimented schedule, but have a rough timetable to ensure things flow smoothly.

1 month, 3 weeks, and 2 says... Final payment is due soon!

[mindflipper]

I think cy1229 posted some great tips. Definitely try not to sweat the small stuff. You can't expect to adhere to a regimented schedule, but have a rough timetable to ensure things flow smoothly.

1 month, 3 weeks, and 2 says... Final payment is due soon!

The 2 says what?

[Amy]

I think cy1229 posted some great tips. Definitely try not to sweat the small stuff. You can't expect to adhere to a regimented schedule, but have a rough timetable to ensure things flow smoothly.
1 month, 3 weeks, and 2 says... Final payment is due soon!

The 2 says what?

Reminds me of one of my students' little sister. She walks around singing the "A says a, the A says a"...

[mindflipper]

Having fun with Len90 for having two left thumbs...

[Amy]

Having fun with Len90 for having two left thumbs...

Maybe his iphone is starting to rebel with auto-correct ~ you know, testing the waters before having a full on tantrum

[dstrawn9889]

gaaaah, you beat me to the iphone quip....!

[mjmcsl4me]

21 days till our WDW vacation yay! This time will be our 15-month-old's first visit! Super excited but hey if there are any tips anyone can offer on Disney World with four kids (ages 12, 9, 3, and 1) and driving straight about 15 hours with them too let me know! Would greatly appreciate it !

And definately gonna get one of those Dole Whips!

You have quite an age difference with your children. I haven't traveled with kids to WDW, but I would guess that it will be super important to get the youngest two naps during the afternoon. That might be a good chance for the older ones to get some time in the pool.
As for the drive, letting each one choose what they want to take in the car, games, books, stuffed animals, a pillow, or better yet a pillow pet to combine those last two things helps them enjoy the ride a bit more. DVDs and portable games will help pass time for the older kids as well. Definitely some favorite snacks too!
Hope you have a great time and take some photos to share when you return

Thanks for the info and help I was so excited to see the help I got on here, this is great! Yeah we were thinking about the nap in the afternoon thing but have yet to do it but that might be best and a great idea about the older kids doing the pool at that time. We always tend to just stay at the parks and never leave! As for the drive that's great about them choosing because sometimes you think about packing so many things that didn't need to be packed.

[Amy]

DisneyYorkie gave a great suggestion as to the surprise boxes too. I still remember when we went on trips, we had surprise balls. Mom would get little toy trinkets, candies and the like, and roll them into a ball using crepe paper. Every 50 miles or so we got to unwrap a certain amount. I think some of the fun was you never knew if you were going to get to a surprise in that time of unwrapping or if you would have to wait until the next time frame. There were three of us, so at least one of us would manage to unwrap something each time. Thinking back I don't really remember if it was measured in miles or minutes, but I still remember those fun little surprise balls! I believe I ended up seeing them in stores one time and found out they actually sold such a treat, but my Mom chose to make ours to save money and make sure we would like the surprises inside

[mjmcsl4me]

21 days till our WDW vacation yay! This time will be our 15-month-old's first visit! Super excited but hey if there are any tips anyone can offer on Disney World with four kids (ages 12, 9, 3, and 1) and driving straight about 15 hours with them too let me know! Would greatly appreciate it !

And definately gonna get one of those Dole Whips!

I have never traveled with FOUR that young, but I did travel with 2! I'm thinking we went for our first time with both of my two when they were 3 and 9. When they were young like that, we did the same thing as you are planning: driving straight through. We usually kept the kids up very late and left sometime between 9 and 11 because that way they would sleep for a good part of the trip since their bodies were ready for sleep at that time. Our drive was 15 hours as well (West Virginia to Orlando). So leaving at 10 PM and driving straight through put us there between to 1-3 PM the next day with stops.

The other thing that I did when my two were young was start building a "surprise box" several weeks ahead of the trip. The surprise box contained lots of little goodies: small, inexpensive toys, arts/crafts things that could be done in the car, that kind of thing. If you have "dollar stores" or 5 Below stores, those are great possibilities for the kinds of things you can throw in the surprise box. With your 1 year old, as long as he/she has food and clean diapers and you give him a break out of the car seat occasionally, he/she will be fine. But the other three will enjoy the surprise box. With my kids, I explained that every 2 hours they would get something new to play with out of the surprise box. It worked (for me) like a charm. My kids were happy and looked forward to the surprise box treats, not only for the first trip where we did this, but for all trips after that. We did this at least four or five of our Disney trips.

Thanks for the tips! Yeah we were thinking of leaving around evening time too so that they could fall asleep in the car so I'm glad to know it can be done. Yeah your trip sounds similar to ours being we're leaving from Virginia. I LOVE the surprise box idea or any idea that gets me to go shopping but I did not think about the two hour idea that is awesome and will try that!

[mjmcsl4me]

21 days till our WDW vacation yay! This time will be our 15-month-old's first visit! Super excited but hey if there are any tips anyone can offer on Disney World with four kids (ages 12, 9, 3, and 1) and driving straight about 15 hours with them too let me know! Would greatly appreciate it !

And definately gonna get one of those Dole Whips!

Best advice I have for seeing WDW with young kids is to not sweat the small stuff. Don't try to push a certain pace or schedule. Ask your two older kids what their top 5 attractions are, and make sure you see those. The baby won't remember a thing, and will likely be afraid of the characters so be prepared for that. The three-year-old will possibly be very shy and not interested in the characters, too. Try to be at the parks at rope drop when your little ones are fresh and ready to go, then alternate with your spouse every day, and take the little ones to the hotel for a nap in the afternoons. The other parent and the two older kids can do things in the afternoons that the little kids can't or won't do, like ride Space Mountain or have a cannonball contest in the pool.

ADR's are a good idea for dinner, but try to choose really casual restaurants, like Whispering Canyon or 'Ohana, where your kids won't feel shy about getting up and moving around, and being super quiet isn't expected. That way you won't have to do the "eat and dash before the baby starts to pitch a fit" routine.

I'm willing to bet with 99% confidence that your kids won't be outrageously thrilled with Hall of Presidents, Carousel of Progress, and similar attractions. Also, while World Showcase is AMAZING, most young kids get bored after looking through the fourth shop with unusual things. Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom will probably be the favorites.

Right off the top of my head, I can't think of anything else to suggest. Most important is to just have a GREAT TIME and just enjoy being a family. HAVE FUN!!!

I like your idea of doing the top five attractions for the oldest because you do want to make sure they are enjoying as much as possible. I will have to look up those two restaurants they sound perfect for kids! Right now we have Crystal Palace and Sci-fi which that's one where the "eat and dash before the baby starts to pitch a fit" will probably be of concern Great tips for us! Thanks so much and hopefully we can stick to just relaxing and yes enjoying it as a family!

[mjmcsl4me]

I think cy1229 posted some great tips. Definitely try not to sweat the small stuff. You can't expect to adhere to a regimented schedule, but have a rough timetable to ensure things flow smoothly.

1 month, 3 weeks, and 2 says... Final payment is due soon!

Yes very true! You want to kind of go with the flow and enjoy things without a certain schedule but you do need some type of timeline! Great advice! Thanks

[dstrawn9889]

Right now we have Crystal Palace and Sci-fi which that's one where the "eat and dash before the baby starts to pitch a fit" will probably be of concern Great tips for us! Thanks so much and hopefully we can stick to just relaxing and yes enjoying it as a family!

sci-fi shouldnt be as much of a concern, the theatre sound makes is difficult for conversations, should mask a goodly portion of 'unhappy lil'one'