HELP FIRST TIME DRIVING FROM NY TO WDW - Need help w/ planning

[fairytinkerbell]

Hi Everyone,

Long time, no write! Hope everyone is having a great time planning their WDW trips! :banana:

We decided to save some $ by not renting a car, and not flying down, but rather driving from New York to Orlando.

We've never done this. :confused:

We would leave NY on a Saturday and have to be home in NY by the following Sunday. I figure with travel time we would end up with 5 solid days in Disney.

Can you help me figure out how it would work out as far as
when to book a hotel for Saturday nite, where would we be at say, 7pm?
We'd like to stop around that time to eat and go to sleep. Will probably be tired of driving by then.

Is this a good idea? Then we would leave early on Sunday morning to complete the trip to Florida. I was hoping I'd have a chance to check out some antique malls in the Wilmington NC area. (if you can work that in somehow.)

Also, I would like to avoid the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (scared of it) - how do we get around it on this trip?

I guess we'd check out of Disney hotel area by the next Saturday morning and begin our drive home to NY. Would have to sleep in a hotel on the way home. How do I know where we'll be?? Should I shop for antiques on the way home instead?

Sorry so many questions - help! :confused3

[michellem1118]

If you buy the Microsoft Streets & Trips program, it has tons of hotels, etc programmed in, so you can chart the route, then look for hotels in the area you're going to be in @ the time you want to stop. Its one of the better mapping software programs out there.

FWIW, I just used google maps for directions from NYC to Orlando, and it doesn't take me anywhere near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge - but it does take me through Washington D.C., Baltimore, and a few other really big cities, so that could impact driving conditions.

[If U Had Wings]

I drove down from CT 2 years ago to Disney. If your a member of AAA have them make you up a trip ticket. That's what we did. They'll take any requests you have and incorporate them. We avoided the Cheasapeake bridge too, but I can't remember which way we went. (When I'm not driving I tend not to pay as close attention.)

We left CT (near the Bridgeport area) around 7 am or so and drove down a little past the South of the Border area that first day (Dillon, SC). I don't remember exactly what time we stopped. The next day we started early again and got to Orlando around 4 pm or so. We didn't make any reservations, just played it by ear. When we got as far as we wanted to go, we stopped and had dinner. At the restaurant we picked up a discount book and used a coupon from there. On the way home we drove to about the midway point in North Carolina before stopping. Again we just stopped when we had enough and were getting too tired to keep driving. (Much more exhausting on the trip home after a week of crazy hours at the parks).

I don't know what time of year you are making the trip. We went the last week of May, into June. Had no problems at all finding a room. There were tons of hotels in both areas we stopped all with vacancies. My brother and his family drove down last August with no reservations. They didn't have any problems either.

[If U Had Wings]

We did go around the beltway to go around DC. Leaving on a Saturday you shouldn't have too many problems with DC.

[fairytinkerbell]

Wow, I will take that into consideration. We will be going at the end of July and returning in the beginning of August.

Has anyone stopped in Wilmington, NC to antique?? If so, any recommendations?:cheer2:

[michellem1118]

Wow, I will take that into consideration. We will be going at the end of July and returning in the beginning of August.

Has anyone stopped in Wilmington, NC to antique?? If so, any recommendations?:cheer2:

Hmm, so we'll be in WDW around the same time, then!

I vaguely remember antique-ing in Wilmington when I was about 12 when driving through with my parents.... but that was more than half my life ago, so no recommendations, sorry...