OK, Fayetteville is 1/2way point...

[kimmar067]

...now where do we stay overnight, since we are driving....??? (Off I-95 of course) Reasonable rate and CLEAN!!?!?!?!

[4nana]

I would suggest you do a search for that area. Fayetteville
has many nice motels/hotels . We stayed at the Holiday Inn
Express once - reasonable, clean, w/cont brk on Bragg Blvd.
I have had good luck w/ http://roomsavers.com/roomsaver/.
They have coupons for several listed in that area w/maps.
I hope this helps :)

[kimmar067]

...thank you for your reply. I think I will try your suggestion....!!:)

[Coldpony]

Fayetteville is a college town and some of the rooms can be a little run down.

I would suggest going a few minutes further south into the Bentonville area (which is the Headquarters of Wal-Mart). With mostly business people frequenting these hotels, the rooms are generally a little better kept up.

I usually stay at the Courtyard by Marriott and have never had a problem there.

[bigs1923t]

Not sure what time in the am you will leave or what route you will take. Leaving Lodi I would think it would be GSP to Turnpike & over Delaware Memorial Bridge. We are about 1 1/4 hrs from the Del Mem Bridge and we try to leave no later than 2 am if its a weekday. This puts us through Washington by 6am. We usually stay somewhere in SC. This time we left at 4am on a Saturday and stopped about 30 miles north of the Ga border. There are loads of places to stay along the route. We stopped at Ramada Limited that I think was in Manning SC, about a year old and VERY clean. Rate was about $45.00 with 2 beds and a free cont breakfast. But even if ya get a dud its only one night and you are on to WDW !!! From the Ga / SC border you are only about 5 hrs from Orlando

[Bob NC]

Uh...Fayetteville is in NC, Bentonville is in Arkansas.

You might find better accomodations looking in Lumberton, NC. It is maybe an hour south of Fayetteville and it has an entire compliment of hotel/motels. They have a lot of the chains, a lot of them are new properties. There is a Comfort Inn there I have stayed at A LOT, and right down the street is a Cracker Barrel, (Love their breakfasts!!!). There's a Ramada Inn I stayed at many times too, it is a little older but they have a restaurant/bar onsite. There are newer Holiday Inn, Hampton Inn, Quality Inn, etc type places too.

[GeorgeG]

I agree with Bob about Lumberton. It's a good half-way point and there'a also an Outback Steakhouse. From there you can easily be at WDW my mid-afternoon the next day. One year, we did make it to about 30 miles north of the Georgia line and were in WDW by noon the next day.

A lot depends on how you drive (stay safe) and how tired you get the first day. It is helpful to stop and rest for lunch to break up the first day of driving.

Once you get to the Carolinas there are billboards advertising all the hotels and motels at just about every exit. Lumberton does have a lot of options, though.

[karyn]

I think you replied to my posts about flying out of LGA and postcards for the Willowbrook Disney Store. Anyway, i see you are taking to the road. Our friends usually stop in Lumberton and stay at the Hampton Inn. They like the Crackerbarrel. On the way back they stop in Florence. We did the drive a few years back and made it to Hilton Head by dinner.That was leaving at 2am. It was a killer to say the least. The next day we were in Disney in about 5 hours. My husband is talking about doing this again. This time I think we will only do 8 1/2 hours each day.

[kimmar067]

...you said that you left at 2AM? Our arrival date is for Fri, July 26, so we were going to leave Lodi by 4PM (beat 5PM rush hour traffic coming out of NYC). Last year (Feb) we left on Fri. nite around 7:10 PM, and arrived at WDW around 2:45PM the next day, driving straight thru. We vowed NEVER to do that again, so on the way back we ate at Lumberton, but kept driving to Va where we stayed overnite. This time, we will be driving in a conversion van, but we will have 4 adults...so, we may drive straight thru again. I would definitely stay in Lumberton, though, if we DO stop overnight.....thanks to all that replied(especially with the 411 on Fayetteville!!!!Yukkk!!!)

[karyn]

Oh, a conversion van sounds great! We have a Nissan Pathfinder. I didn't want to be a van mom anymore once my older 2 began driving. My younger sons will be with us so we only have 2 drivers . Yes we left at 2am but we were getting really tired before we reached Hilton Head . We took a longgggggggggggggg lunch at a shaded rest stop. We are trying to do this vacation on the somewhat cheap as this will be out third visit to WDW in a year. I want to stay onsite and have reservation for All Movies. Got a great deal as we are going at the end of August and have an AP.

[kimmar067]

...my sister & her family will be driving there the end of July with a Pathfinder. They are stopping in Savannah, Ga (not sure coming or going) We drove to Williamsburg, Va last summer in this van. Very comforable, roomy; it has a tv, DVD and VCR players, stereo system, and a bench seat in the rear that unfolds to a queen-size bed!!! Are you a pin trader. if so, check out Disney Store at Paramus Park on Tuesday nights....

[bigs1923t]

Guess we should change the name of this thread to "Driving to WDW from New Jersey" :) I used to live in Paramus but now have retreated to Ocean City NJ (the good part of NJ LOL) We also have a conversion van but only one driver ( I feel lousy if I ride in pass seat) so we usually dont go much more than 12 hrs on the first day and run with the traffic flow. The long first day doesnt seem bad to me, I guess I'm so keyed up it keeps me awake. I did the non stop a few years back. Had coolers with beverages & sandwiches, plenty of snacks and a porta potty for the kids. I told wife we are cruzin till I need gas or have to stop myself. The ride went so great. We left home at 1:30 am on a Friday. The van has 2 fuel tanks and we were pulling into South of the Border at 10:30 am to get fuel. This stop was 20 minutes long, our first & only stop till we hit Orlando. We rolled right along & I figured we would stop in the late afternoon. By 3pm we were in Jacksonville (stuck in traffic from a wreck for over an hour). After we started moving again we were in Daytona by dinnertime and decided why stop now. We were eating dinner in Orlando at 7:30 that night after checking a hotel. Needless to say I slept well that night and vowed to never do it again LOL !

[kimmar067]

bigs1923t-
I read you LOUD AND CLEAR!!!!!
(yippee for NJ!!!)

[robinb]

I stayed in Fayetteville at the Ramada via Priceline in December and it was a DUMP. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I would recommend that you go a little farther as the other towns looked nicer.

[kimmar067]

...another testimonial for a "thumbs down" on Fayetteville.....

[erick10520]

We will be driving from next door (Wallington) in Nov 2002, hopefully planning to go straight thru, but we will see!!!! Any suggestions for route through Washington DC?? I see 295, 495, etc...which one??

[karyn]

On my recent trip to WDW a couple, from Toms River, told me the Walmart in Orlando (?)sells cheaper pins and then you can trade at Disney for better ones. Does this make sense???No, i'm not into pin trading but it sounds like a good time at Paramus Park. Do you go there to trade?

[karyn]

Last week i was just reading about which is the best way around Washington as we will be driving in August. I should have jotted it down. I'll look around the boards and get back to you once i find it.

[Bob NC]

To the locals, Fayetteville is known as Fayette Nam.....For good reason

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Karyn, Disney pins at a WalMart in Orlando is a new one on me, and I moderate the Collectors Board. I'm not saying they don't, though; you can post a question over there and I'm sure you'll find an answer.

Erick, what day of the week and time of day will you be going through DC? Traffic on the beltway can be murder during the week, especially at the Springfield interchange, in VA where 95, 395 and 495 all meet. On the weekends might be better, but it's been a while since I've been up there.

Going up to Baltimore one time I took US 301 across the Potomac into MD to Bowie, then Route 3 to I-97. Traffic wasn't too bad, but it's been about 3 years since I drove that. The downside is that 301 and route 3 are not limited-access highways and you do hit traffic signals. It's a way to get avoid the hassle of traffic, but not necessarily a faster route.

[kimmar067]

karyn:
If the pins are not official Disney pins, then they are not tradeable. I can't see Walmart having access to Disney pins, but I guess anything is possible. I will definitely check when we go there in July....

erick10520:
howdy, neighbor! We just drive on I-95 straight thru. Since we will be leaving at around 4PM to miss the NYC traffic (YOU know how crazy:crazy: that gets!!!!) we will also miss the DC traffic, which lets up around 7PM.

Bob NC:
Fayette Nam - ho, ho, ho, that's a good one!!!! (I guess I get the point....)

[erick10520]

We will be leaving Nov 28 at 4AM (thanksgiving morning), so I don't know how traffic will be in the DC area, but any suggestions would be apprecitated......btw.......anyone know how airports are on thanksgiving morning??? Half of us are driving and the other flying on our first DVC trip!!

[Bob NC]

lol...just testing the countdown clock

[karyn]

Like i said i just got the info from the couple on the bus. I don't know if the Walmart is in Orlando but give it try. I should have paid more attention. Shame on me!

[kimmar067]

...I guess I'll forgive you THIS time (lol) !!!!!

[clkelley]

You must not be referring to Fayetteville, TN??

[Bob NC]

clkelley....Fayetteville, NC....

[karyn]

I didn't forget you. The directions i found were GSP, turpike,I-95 around major cities, I -895 around Baltimore (best kept secret), I-495 around Washington, I-295 around Richmond, I-295 around Jacksonville. Hope this helps with your Thanksgiving trip planning. Let me know if you have any questions?

[kimmar067]

I do not believe that traffic for the airports(meaning amt of people travelling) on Thanksgiving AM will be as bad as on the Wed before...that (along with XMas eve. day) is the CRAZIEST :crazy: as far as air travel goes....have fun!!!!

[bigs1923t]

we dont take any of the beltways except the 495 around washington. dont run into any traffic problems with the exception of Jacksonville and that is not bad if you dont hit the rush hour.

[john23tc]

Bigs1923t- We are from Ocean City too. It is a great town. I have been here 16 years and my wife has lived here just about her whole life.

[bigs1923t]

Cool, we love it too. Stop by and see me sometime at Playland on the boardwalk. I drive the train a couple nights a week.

[cindala]

Hey Kim,
Just had to put my two cents in for this!:) We did this drive for 5 years in a row, the last one straight thru. We always liked to drive more than half way the first day, and get the bulk of the journey over with. We stayed in Hardeeville, SC (about 830 miles from home) and about 5 miles from the Georgia border. We stayed at the Comfort Inn there which at the time was $54 a nite with the AAA discount. We picked the hotel from the AAA guide book; always looking for hotels with at least 3 stars and card locks as opposed to key locks. This Comfort Inn even had a complimentary Continental breakfast included. It was clean and modern, and we were happy with the hotel. WDW is another 317 miles from here, or about 5 hours. :D

The year we drove straight thru, was the year Florida was on fire, and 200 miles of I-95 were closed, so we had to detour thru I-75 via Tampa, adding another hour onto the drive. Still, leaving at 5:30pm, we arrived at WDW at 1pm the next day. Only stopped for gas, bathroom and food. (Very quick stops I might add.)

If you belong to AAA, go to their office, and pick up a map, triptiks, and the guide books for the states you're driving thru. This will give you a better idea of which hotels to avoid!:eek:

Cindy



:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[karyn]

Curious about the car you drive down? We keep tossing it around if we should drive in August. Personally i hate the thought but then i'm not stuck on a schedule only stuck in the car! Hey do you know Kim? She is from the same town. I was in Little Ferry the other day visiting my friend's mom.

Karen

[kimmar067]

...we will be leaving around 4PM and we will have 4 drivers, so we figured at 5 hrs each, we can make it by lunchtime the next day (Fri) We will be using my S-in-L's conversion van, which is really comfy (tv, DVD, VCR, stereo). The 3 DS's can sleep during the nite, along w/ the non-drivers. BTW - do you know when E-nights are offered in July/Aug???

[karyn]

I'm so jealous that you have the conversion van. Unfortunately we don't have relatives that have one:(

Karen

[kimmar067]

Yes, we also used it last year when we drove to Williamsburg, Va. Only 2 of us drove (THAT'S another story....) and we arrived in fairly good time. (Last year the 5 of us drove to WDW in a 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis - yes, I AM nuts...!!!! So this year will be a "piece'o'cake" *lol*)

BTW - cindala and I do know each other....and, Little Ferry is a "stone's throw away"....

[karyn]

Going to Williamsburg from Jersey is nothing compared to hauling to WDW. Been there and have done both.

Karen

[cindala]

Kim,
I just posted a question about the e-nights in July on the Attractions Board. The dates are not released yet, but if you can go by last years schedule, they were on Tuesday and Friday nights. We're hoping to catch one the beginning of July when we go!:) Hopefully they won't be cancelled like the May e-nights have been!:eek:

karyn,
When we drove, we used my Honda Civic four times, (and got 41 MPG too!) It was getting cramped as our DD's got bigger, so the last year we drove, we rented a Dodge Caravan. However, that wound up costing as much as flying with an average fare. The last several years we've been able to get great airfares, so we have flown.:) (Little Ferry is about 5 miles from us.)




:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[karyn]

We checked some rental prices at a car dealer in Morris County. The Intrepid they wanted 400.00 and the van 675.00 for 10 or 11 days. I keep checking air prices and Orlando car rental prices.

[bigs1923t]

My wife & I are the only drivers in the house and have 5 cars. One is an old 1930 Ford hot rod, 2 regular cars, a Voyager & a Conversion van. We have taken the Voyager a couple times but now with the kids getting older the conversion van always wins out. Another nice thing with the van other than space is it has 2 fuel tanks & we can go from south Jersey to Orlando with only one fuel stop. Remember the one with the most cars wins LOL. I have my eye on an Amigo to take to the beach. Who knows?

[kimmar067]

do ALL vehicles win? We have 3 4-wheelers (quads) 2 trucks (my DH's business) and a car. So that's 6!!!! (lol)


(Ooops! I forgot to mention - my DH has a '56 T-bird...)

[bigs1923t]

They have to have tags & be street driven LOL:))). But that 56 bird does raise an eyebrow !

[kimmar067]

...I met my DH in 1980, just after he purchased the T-bird (he was set on completely restoring it). Now, 22 years later, it still sits in my M-in-L's garage. I think now that our oldest DS is 15, maybe he can help Dad....!!!(Remember the show "Vegas"? It looks just like "Dan Tanna's" car)

[karyn]

I knew i could find you over here. I'm off the topic but i'm in need of some info concerning LGA and parking over there. Also driving along route 80 to LGA. I think you or Cindala, your buddy from Lodi had some good info awhile back. May need it if i decide to book out of there instead of Newark. Thanks a bunch.

[karyn]

Check what i just posted to Kimmar067. Can you help me? Thanks a bunch.

[kimmar067]

...do you need directions via Rt 80 to LGA? Rt 80 goes right into GWB. Take the Cross Bronx Exprswy to either Major Deegan South or to I believe Tri Boro. If you follow signs to Shea Stadium you will have to pass LGA. (I will get more detailed directions tomorrow....I know how to drive there but I am not 150% sure of the road name and I certainly do not want you to get lost!!!!)
kimmar

[karyn]

Kimmar067

I know this is so totally off the subject matter here. I actually put a post subject just for you and Cindala yesterday. It's on the first or second page still under Transportation. Anyway i was really searching for parking lots (cheap ones). You must be kidding?????????????I can't remember if it was you or your buddy Cindala that flies out of LGA and found a few inexpensive parking lots. I had a pop up on my screen for 70.00 that i got rid of it without thinking giving it a thought when i was searching lga. I couldn't get it back. Rats! Anyway yes
if you have driving directions that would be great too. I found great airfare but hubby isn't so happy with going to LGA. I'm on a ticket hold for 24 hours. Get back to me and see what you find out. Thanks a bunch.

[kimmar067]

...both into and out of LGA and it really wssn't that bad!! One advantage it has over the other two (JFK and EWR) is that it is so small it is easy to make your way around it (and it's RIGHT off the main highway...I'll get that info to you asap) As far as the parking thing--cindala has to answer that for you (parking is not an issue cuz' we always use a limo)

[karyn]

Kimmar067

No big rush as for directions as we aren't heading out until August. Thanks.

Karen


ps I should come out to Paramus Park during the summer and meet up with you for pin trading
even though i don't have pins...

[kimmar067]

...so coool!!!!You don't have to be a pin trader to join in on the fun. There are a handful of "Disney junkies" who meet at the Disney store at Par. Pk every Tues eve. around 8PM, usually to kibbutz about the different pins, experiences at WDW, comparing resorts and restaurants, etc. It's really nice to get together with people who have a common interest. I don't go every week - actually I go only once in a while. There is a CM who has a lanyard that you can trade pins with. I'll definitely get you those directons, too....(you can definitely go on the Cross Bronx Expressway and follow signs to Triborough Bridge and take that highway into Queens...)

[cindala]

Sorry, I didn't see your post earlier!:rolleyes:

We have flown in and out of LGA for 2 years, this summer will be the 3rd time. We always seem to get better fares from there than Newark. Can't give you parking info, since we take a limo in and out! We like the airport; it's not very big, right off the highway, and no farther for us than Newark is.

Kimmar067 will have to get you the directions there though. I know you take Rt. 80 over the GWB, and then you cross a couple of bridges, but I don't know specific directions. It's right by Shea stadium.

If you are flying Delta, go to their website. Click on a flight going out of LGA, or airport info, and I think you can pull up more information about the airport itself. There may be parking info on there. All I know is that short term parking is $4, or was last summer.:)

If you need any more info about LGA, let me know. It's really not bad, especially if you have any early flight out, before the delays begin to build up.:)




:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[kimmar067]

missed you in school today....:(

[cindala]

Eve finally came back, and no one was out since it was payday. So I had a day off!:D




:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[karyn]

I went back to the Avistar parking website and the pop up ad came back for LGA. Thanks for all your help so far.

Three other families we know are going around the same time as us. Yipee!!!


:bounce: :Pinkbounc :bounce: :Pinkbounc