need tips on driving from sc

[Jsbl24]

i was wondering if anyone had any tips for driving to wdw from
sc. we were thinking about driving through the night to avoid the
traffic jams in jacksonville and orlando. does anyone have any
better ideas for avoiding the traffic.

[Kermit]

Where in SC? We drive from Greenville. Last time, we left around 5:00 in the evening. DH and I are fine with going to sleep late and were planning on driving straight through, but we hit stopped traffic due to construction north of Jacksonville. We ended up stopping further down 95 because of shear exhaustion.

My recomendation, if you live somewhere that's near 75, is to check construction reports and avoid 95 if it's supposed to be bad.

[Jordan's MOM]

We travel that route and we try to travel on week-ends to avoid business traffic. Works well though we got a little construction traffic in Jacksonville .


Jordan's mom

[Jsbl24]

hey, we will be driving down from myrtle beach and always
go down 95. i wonder if there ever is a good time to go
through jacksonville?? everytime we go through there and orlando
we always seem to get into a 1-2 hour delay from
stopped or almost stopped traffic, it really starts your
vacation off on a bad note. kermit i can't believe you got stuck in
traffic even in the middle of the night, i guess that blows my
theory out the window. anyway thanks for answering my ???

[Bob NC]

We'll be leaving from Winston-Salem, NC 2 weeks from today. We usually leave about 3 pm and stop in Jacksonville about 10 pm for the night. We go down I-85 to 77 to 26 to 95. This time I think we'll leave about 2 pm and get to Disney about 11:30, (hopefully).

[LKS]

Wow, you guys must have bad luck. I lived in Jax for 6 years and traveled constantly to SC to visit my family (Charleston), DHs family (Brevard, NC) and I never had long, long delays like that except the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend which is to be avoided at all costs! I did, however, commute during rush hour for those 6 years and that was the absolute pits. Whatever you do, avoid 6:30 - 9am and 4 -7pm on weekdays. And, it's not a bad idea to go ahead and take the I-295 bypass around downtown because I-95 makes that ridiculous merge downtown and that is frequently slow. We lived south of Jax right off 295 and I often went that long way around to avoid traffic.

Hope you have better luck (and hope we do too, now that we live near Savannah and have to drive THROUGH Jax instead of leaving from the southside.)

[mjenni27]

What is the drive time from G'Ville by way of 75? We will be leaving Anderson about 9 PM this summer and driving through the night. Is there a chance that we will be in FL by sunup at least (Orlando would be great but I will settle for FL)? We don't really mean to stop except for gas (that is the reason for driving at night as we have 2 kids). Any help will be appreciated.

[EUROPA]

We live in Greenville also...it takes us about 9 hours total to get to Orlando. We go 385 to 26 and then 95 down to Flordia. I think this is the most direct route. We've lucked out each time and never ran into any traffic jams. Of course we go in November. One tip that I have is to get gas before you get to Jacksonville. The price of gas in Jacksonville is usally about 20-30 cents higher than anywhere else.

You should checkout

http://www.mapquest.com/main.adp


Or


http://www.mapblast.com/myblast/index.mb

for good directions.

[Kermit]

I've only driven down 95 myself. I have a friend who's family lives about an hour north of Orlando, and they do 75. They go down 85 and then take some highway (not interstate) that bypasses Atlanta and joins up with 75 somewhere in the southern part of the state. I'm not positive, but I think it goes from Commerce to Macon. It takes her about 8-1/2 to 9 hours to get to her family's house, so you'd add about an hour to go all the way to WDW.

We've only gone 95, but we really regretted it last time. When we don't hit bad traffic, it takes about 8 hours. (I can't believe I drive faster than Europa! I thought you were more daring that I am. :D) With the traffic we hit last time, it took about 10-11 hours. On the way back, which was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we took a little over 9 hours.

[mjenni27]

Coming into Hotlanta after rush hour (after 7-8 PM) I haven't had any problem with traffic snags. Maybe I have gotten lucky but we go through there to get to Chattanooga about once every three months. I think that is the way we will try. It is supposed to be shorter from our house to go 95, but if I use an address about ten minutes away it takes me the 85/ 75 route. So apparently Anderson is the switchpoint. So do you think 9 -10 hrs is a reasonable expectation?

[ellyn2000]

We always drive into Orlando on a Sunday and have never been stopped in traffic. We return home on the next Saturday (early morning) and don't have any problems, either. I hope I haven't jinxed our next trip by saying this........

[EUROPA]

Originally posted by Kermit
We've only gone 95, but we really regretted it last time. When we don't hit bad traffic, it takes about 8 hours. (I can't believe I drive faster than Europa! I thought you were more daring that I am. :D) With the traffic we hit last time, it took about 10-11 hours. On the way back, which was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we took a little over 9 hours.


Small Bladder :) :) ...We've been lucky when we've went...I can see in Jacksonville where the traffic could get very bad . They've been working on the Interstate their for at least the last three years.

We are at the point where I wish it made sense to Fly down...if we lived any further away we would...its just so much more cheaper and easier to drive down. It only cost us 100 bucks to dirve down and back. Plus we have the use of the car. Contrast that with paying 400 bucks for plane tickets and having no car. Plus last time I checked the total flight time was going to be around 5:00 hours...with the layovers (no direct flights). Boy do I hate that drive though :(

[cottontail]

Hi Folks:

Is there no traffic jams between 6.30 and 9am and 4 to 7pm in jacksonville on saturdays and sundays?

I may change my trip plans if this is so. We were going to leave ormond beach to come home on a friday am, probably hitting jacksonville about, 7 am or 8 ish. Sounds like we should leave later or earlier, or stay an extra day. lol. Any comments.

Deb.

[LKS]

Cottontail,

I think you have the perfect excuse to stay one more day! And Sunday morning, well, everyone is in Bed or Church, so maybe you should stay two more days, LOL! If you do hit Jax between 7 and 8am on Friday, definitely go around on 295. DO NOT try to go straight up I-95 at that hour - that was my commute. It is usually bad and often horrid. You may hit some traffic before the exit for 295, but then you will be mainly against the flow. It would be much worse to be heading south on 95 at that hour.

[Jsbl24]

does anyone know what the best day and time would be for
getting through orlando?? i'm thinking sunday morning.

[cottontail]

Hi LKS:

Thanks for the info, it is very nice having someone in the area to advise people who are from so far away. It will be a 24 hour drive back to ontario for us, yuck, but we will break it up into two days.

Deb.

[ellyn2000]

We always leave WDW on Saturday morning by 7:00 am at the latest---never had a problem of any kind with traffic. Always drive into Orlando on Sunday morn or early afternoon and have no problems then either. Have done this for the past 6 years.

[SnowByte]

We're also from the upstate SC. We live in Piedmont, SC and we drive to WDW every year. As long as we drive on a Sat or Sun we never have a problem on I-95 around Jax. We've gotten stuck for over an hour outside of Jax during the week though. It was miserable! Try to avoid week days if you can.

[Ratpack]

We are leaving Charlotte, NC about 5 in the evening and driving to Jacksonville to stay the night. we will get to Jacksonville no earlier than 10pm but more like 11-Midnight. We hope to be back on the road by 7 am the next morning to finish the drive. Are we looking for trouble here???

[Ratpack]

We are staying right off Exit 101 from I-95 in Jacksonville, would we be better off to take I-295 around and come back up to the exit instead of going straight through?

[LKS]

That late at night, you can probably go straight through. In the morning, if you are then heading south, you will be against traffic. I don't know exit numbers though - Is that Philips Hwy (can't remember any hotels) or Baymeadows Rd?

[SC Minnie]

I can't believe there are so many people from SC that use this board!!!


We went to WDW last year at Easter (I know we were just stupid!) we left about 1:30 - was worried about Jax traffic but didn't have a problem. We got into Orlandi about 10:30 pm and absolutley no traffic! This past Jan we drove to Port Canaveral for the cruise and went thru Jax at about 4:00pm. I think we were just ahead of rush hour. Between 4 & 6 is going to be conjestion on any major highways in large cities.

We are heading back to Orlando at the end of May and are travelling on Sunday. We are anticipating getting to Orlando around 3pm. I hope traffic won't be too bad, Sunday is usually a heavy travel day but we are going Memorial Day weekend (hoping people are travelling Friday and Monday!)

[FFerret]

Could anyone help me out here?

I've planning way ahead, but before I read this thread I thought about leaving early Saturday morning during Thanksgiving weekend from Atlanta to WDW--is that just a really bad idea? I've never been to Florida before so I have no idea what traffic will be like.

Thanks!

[LKS]

FFerrett,

Wednesday and Sunday will be terrible days, but most people are more or less where they want to be on Saturday, so it shouldn't be all that bad.

[lynniepooh]

How long does it take to drive to WDW from Myrtle Beach? We will be going to MB for a week after our WDW stay.

[Dr.Mickey]

We also live in the upstate. We take 85 to Lavonia, GA. Drop down through Ila to Athens to Madison to Monticello (take one exit up on I20 as you cross) and head down towards Macon through Juliet on 83 I think. We connect back up with I-75 in North Macon at the Riverside exit and head down. Once we get near Orlando, we take the road through Clermont instead of heading all the way down to I-4. I know that may seem round about to you, but we never hit Gwinnett/Atlanta/285 traffic and we don't have to worry with beach traffic or Jacksonville traffic or race traffic. We never hit any snarls. If we drove straight through (which we can't seem to do), it would take us about 9 hours. My parents live in Columbia and tried 75 their last trip instead of 95. Only added about 20 minutes to their trip and saved lots of headache.

If you need more specifics about great rest stops, hotels along the way, or specific road numbers, just let us know.

[Jsbl24]

hey lynnipooh, it takes us about 8 hours including one twenty
minute stop, if we don't run into a major traffic jam. but i must
add that my husband has a lead foot (usually going 85+mph).
it is a very easy drive, we go out of mb on hwy 9 since we live
on the north end of the beach, and are on 95 within an hour.
hope this helps!!

[PLibster]

Hey Jsbl24, I am in Little River, SC!!! How weird is that!!! The funniest thing is that my husband drives 85+ as well!!! So I am with ya sis, LOL! We are taking HWY 22 to 501 then to I-95. You must be like some of the people we hook up with on 95. We stick with those who are speeding, LOL. Well happy traveling and maybe I will see you around.:smooth:

[booh]

We're in Columbia, SC, and go by way of Atlanta to 75 and down through Clermont straight to Kissimmee - avoid Jacksonville and Orlando traffic. We can handle Atlanta traffic if you hit it at the right time, but Jacksonville is a problem any time of day or night.

[Jsbl24]

PLibster how funny i'm from little river too, small world!!

[PLibster]

:D
Ok this is weird, do I know you????