Greetings fellow 2000mile+ drivers and Happy New Year!
We just returned from our wonderful Christmas trip spending 6 nights at Bay Lake Tower and our last night at Pop Century.
We left South Jersey at 6:45pm on Friday, 12/21, for our 7th drive to the World! I (DH) took the first leg of the trip and drove until 11:45pm. We caught a little congestion south of DC, but it didn't slow us down. DW and I then switched up again at 2:45am and 5:45am. We stopped periodically for bathroom breaks and filled up the tank twice and topped it off once. We got to the Florida Welcome Center, drank some delicious orange juice, pushed off again, and arrived at the Winn-Dixie just outside Disney at 12:00 noon. Total drive time: 17 hours, 15 minutes. Total Miles: 1,034.50
We spent the week at Bay Lake Tower and the weather was wonderful. Certainly a whole lot better than Jersey weather in December. We ate at Be Our Guest for both lunch and dinner and it was awesome! That will be the first res I make for our August trip. New Fantasyland is great. No detail left out!
Enchanted Tales with Belle is a must do. That was the first thing we did on Christmas morning at 7:00am. What an experience for both kids and adults!
So, fast forward through our week to Friday, 12/28, when we checked out of Bay Lake Tower and headed to Epcot for our last day in the World. We then checked into Pop Century late that evening to get some rest before our drive home in the morning.
We pushed off from Pop Century at 6:20am Saturday, 12/29. We had rain showers and some wind through Florida and parts of Georgia, but it didn't severely hamper our drive time. There was an accident on I95 in Jacksonville, so we drove the loop around Jacksonville for the first time.
The rest of the drive on I95 North was fast and uneventful. We stopped for some quick bathroom and gas breaks and Starbucks, too! We got some Burger King in Florence and Chick Fil A in North Carolina. The traffic heading south was pretty heavy with the Bowl Games and folks heading that way. We saw two accidents that closed the road and caused a pretty hefty backup.
We arrived home in South Jersey at exactly 10:35pm, which was a family record time of 16 hours, 15 minutes. Total Miles: 1,046.90.
We wish everyone a very Happy New Year and safe travels to and from Walt Disney World! We are already planning our August trip!!