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Pass The Miles Driving To Disney In Style

by Makena W.

“Getting there is half the fun.”  These wise words are very true.  If you are driving to Disney World, staying entertained might seem hard – especially if you are traveling during the night hours.  Here are some ideas that will keep you and your “car mates” amused and upbeat.

Car Bingo
Car Bingo is a classic game that my brother and I have played on every road trip since we were 6. Everybody gets a bingo card but instead of numbers there are things like “birds on a wire” or “toll booth” (you can buy them from various stores or print a few online).   When you see any of these items, you cross it off on the card.  The first person to get 5 x’s in a row wins!  Sounds simple, right?  Well, you can change the difficulty by changing “cows” to “anything that starts with a g” or maybe even make it Disney related with things like “a 3-circle Mickey” or “a D that looks like a G.”  You can do this for hours and not get bored!

Create Your Own Game
Whenever my family and I go on a road trip, I create a game based of a popular TV game show.  Of course, your game doesn’t have to be Disney-related. One year I did Cash Cab (It’s a TV show on the Discovery Network in which Ben Bailey picks people up in a standard NYC cab, and the ceiling lights up once they are inside, and Ben announces that they are inside the Cash Cab, a game show in which you answer trivia questions for different amounts of money. Each question was worth an amount of money between $100 and $500. The questions in my version were about our past vacations).  Another year I did a game inspired by Family Feud (I watched a few episodes to get all the answers)!

Our last big road trip was last August when we drove to Walt Disney World, so this trip’s game WAS Disney related.  I created a trivia game using Lou Mongello’s Trivia Books and the Internet.  Our categories were:  Music, Theme Parks, Movies, Characters and “Mouse”ilanious (see what I did there?)  Each category had 15 questions in it, ranked from easy questions (1) to the hardest (15). For each question you got correct, you would get the amount of points that the number was ranked. For example, one of my questions ranked at a 15 was “Is the larger lamp in the Luxo Jr.  short film his Dad or Mom?”   If somebody answered it correctly, they would be awarded 15 points (and if you were wondering, the answer is:  his Dad.) There are four members of the family (3 if you don’t include me) and we split into two teams.  My dad knows more about Disney than my mom and brother, so he was on his own and my brother and mother joined forces since it would be unfair for me to play because I would know all of the answers!

Choreograph A Dance
This is always a fun thing to do whether you are a kid or an adult.  What you do is very simple and easy-pick a song that you know well, and choreograph a dance!  Now there are two ways you can do this.  You can choreograph the dance in the car or choreograph it before your trip with another member of your family without telling anybody.  My brother and I are working on this now for when we go on the WDW Radio Cruise in November.  My mother knows this but she doesn’t know what song it is to, so there is her surprise.  You could also do a dance that somebody else has already choreographed, like the Harvard Baseball Team’s easy arrangement of “Call Me Maybe”.  You can have your own little flash mob in your car!

Guess the Disney Song
In my opinion, one of the most iconic things about the Disney Company as a whole is the music. People know before lyrics are sung if it is a Disney song by its beat and mood.  This is what inspired this game.  All you have to do is play the beginning of a song, and see who can guess it first.  Some good songs are “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” (Mulan), “Go the Distance” (Hercules), “I’m Late” (Alice and Wonderland), and “A Whole New World” (Aladdin) because it has a pretty recognizable tempo before the singing starts.  This is a good game for the driver to participate in because they can keep their hands on the steering wheel.   They can even pick the song! There is no pre-planning needed – just decide on a song and play.  The person in the end who got most of the songs right wins.

If You Could … Disney Questions                                                                                                                       

While sitting around the dinner table, my family asks “out of the ordinary” Disney questions that really make you think.  For example, if you could spend the night in any WDW Park, where exactly would it be and why?  If you could contribute to the refurbishment of any ride or attraction, which would it be and what would you do to change it?  If you had to choose only one food within Walt Disney World to eat, what would it be?  If you could sit in any location to relax, where would it be?  The possibilities are endless!  Move this from the dinner table into your vehicle and it’s a great way to pass the miles.

No matter how far away you are from Walt Disney World, there will be some parts of your car ride when nothing is going on. These are perfect fillers for those moments. I hope you have fun whether you are on an airplane or in a car when you go to Walt Disney World. I sure do!  Do YOU have any traditional ways you pass the time while traveling to Disney?  Share your ideas in the comments below.

This week’s “Where in the World?” picture was captured in an iconic place in one of the parks.  Where in the World was this picture taken?

See ya REAL soon!
~Makena W.

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About Lou Mongello

Lou Mongello is a former attorney who left the practice to pursue his passion, and is now a recognized Disney expert, author, speaker, and host of WDW Radio. Learn more…

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