Kid-friendly stops en route to Ocean City NJ

[Anonymous]

We will be driving to Ocean City NJ from NoVa with a newly potty trained toddler next weekend, and I'm trying to map out in advance places where we can stop for bathroom breaks or places where DD can play or walk around to expend some energy. I've found some options along the route through Maryland and Delaware, but I'm having trouble identifying any place to stop in NJ. We're leaning towards taking the 'backroads' route described below (pasted from an earlier DCUM thread):

I-95 thru Delaware, cross the Del-Mem Bridge. Take the "last exit before toll" (Rt. 40). Follow it thru Woodstown and Elmer to Rt. 55. Exit onto 55 is just before you get to Malaga. Go South on 55 through Vineland and Millville. Exit onto Rt. 49 (look for the big water tower off the highway). Follow 49 to Tuckahoe. Turn right onto Rt. 50, and follow till you get to the split off to Tuckahoe Road. (623?). At Marmora, the road turns into Roosevelt Blvd. follow Roosevelt Blvd across Rt. 9 and under the GSP and into OCNJ. (This route will drop you onto the island at 34th Street. Have a great vacation! (3 to 3.5 hours, depending on where you are starting from and when you are going 'down the shore.)

If you've taken this 'scenic route,' is there any place to stop for a potty break (besides a gas station; I'm too germ phobic for that)? Even if there's no traffic it looks like that's about an hour and a half drive after our last planned stop in Delaware, so I'm not sure DD will be able to make it that long. And yes, I know this is bad timing for a road trip in light of the potty training, but DD decided she was ready for underpants a couple weeks earlier than we'd expected, so we had to seize the day and get started.

[Anonymous]

WaWa!

There might be a park somewhere along that drive, but it's mostly rural farmland and small towns. Maybe an ice cream shop?

If you stayed on Rt 40, Storybookland is cute.

I think there is a glass museum in Millville that might have a play area.

Could you time the drive with a nap so you don't need to stop as much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WaWa!

There might be a park somewhere along that drive, but it's mostly rural farmland and small towns. Maybe an ice cream shop?

If you stayed on Rt 40, Storybookland is cute.

I think there is a glass museum in Millville that might have a play area.

Could you time the drive with a nap so you don't need to stop as much?

Thank you, I will look these up. We are hoping that we can stop for lunch somewhere in Delaware that has a play area (considering christiana mall or a park) so that she will be tired enough to nap for the rest of the drive. But the last time that we tried to schedule a road trip around sleep (by leaving 2 hours before her normal wake-time and putting her in the car in her pajamas) she stayed wide awake the whole time.