For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only! (III)

[emksmama]

We did a straight thru trip last year, Kokomo Indiana to Ft Myers Beach, right at 1200 miles. Wasn't too bad, took about 22 hours with two kids, 7 & 8. Did it both ways and are doing a straight thru next weekend to Disney!! That's about 1050 miles I think?

[Desnik]

We're doing it! We're driving to Disney for Xmas!!!

It's been about 7 years since we've driven to WDW. It's an 1150 mile drive each way and about 19 hours. (Although my BFF does the drive twice a year & swears it only takes her 17 hours with 4 little ones in tow!)

It's DH, myself and our 2 kids. DD(14) DS(9). The trip is going to be a surprise for them so all my planning has to be done secretly.

We've decided to take them out of school early on Dec 21st and be on the road by 11am. (This way we can pack up the car while they are at school!!) We plan on driving until about 10-11pm. That should put is in SC, I hope. So any suggestions on where to stay off i95 in maybe Florence, SC?

I've been spoiled by flying on all our recent trips & I'm really nervous about this drive! I'm going to be armed with a Kindle & iPad (loaded with movies) and I hope this will help pass the time for the kids.

My one dread is the ride home. Any suggestion on where to stop over for a night on our way home on the 28th off of i95 North about 6 hours away from WDW?

Thanks for any advice!

[monymony3471]

We have tried driving straight through once and it was really hard. We now plan overnight stops so we don't start our trips exhausted and cranky. We were gonna stay off sight right outside Disney once and wound up getting a room only ressie on site and switched the next day when the package started; we thought why spend the money elsewhere.

We are leaving from MI Aug 5 and just booked a room in Savannah for the night.

Good luck with the planning.

[dvczerfs]

Originally Posted by marmalade

Has anyone else "pushed through"? We are leaving Sat. Aug 25th from Western NY (Tonawanda in case anyone is interested) and my plan is to spend the night around Savannah and arrive at WDW sometime in the afternoon on Sunday the 26th and check into ASMo. My DH however thinks we should try to drive straight through and spend saturday night outside of the world, and we will be right there Sunday to get started on our trip.

Who has (other than Julluvsdisney) had plans to stop, but then decided to continue on to Orlando? Our trip is approx 1220 miles.

1096 miles straight through. we leave at 3am and arrive at okw around 7pm.

[dvczerfs]

Originally Posted by Desnik

We're doing it! We're driving to Disney for Xmas!!!

It's been about 7 years since we've driven to WDW. It's an 1150 mile drive each way and about 19 hours. (Although my BFF does the drive twice a year & swears it only takes her 17 hours with 4 little ones in tow!)

It's DH, myself and our 2 kids. DD(14) DS(9). The trip is going to be a surprise for them so all my planning has to be done secretly.

We've decided to take them out of school early on Dec 21st and be on the road by 11am. (This way we can pack up the car while they are at school!!) We plan on driving until about 10-11pm. That should put is in SC, I hope. So any suggestions on where to stay off i95 in maybe Florence, SC?

I've been spoiled by flying on all our recent trips & I'm really nervous about this drive! I'm going to be armed with a Kindle & iPad (loaded with movies) and I hope this will help pass the time for the kids.

My one dread is the ride home. Any suggestion on where to stop over for a night on our way home on the 28th off of i95 North about 6 hours away from WDW?

Thanks for any advice!

spoiled flying?

private jet? (im just kidding around by the way)

[julluvsdisney]

Ok I need some expert advice! This is our second drive to disney from Boston! On the way down we are driving straight through like last yr but on the way home I'm hoping to have a better plan than last year. We ended up leaving Orlando vey late and barely make it to savannah before we were so tired we had to stop to sleep! We would like a few suggested SAFE areas to stop a little less than half way from Orlando to Boston. I'm thinking about 8 -10 hrs from Orlando. What's a good safe inexpensive place right near the highway to stop ? TIA!!!!

[marmalade]

Originally Posted by emksmama

We did a straight thru trip last year, Kokomo Indiana to Ft Myers Beach, right at 1200 miles. Wasn't too bad, took about 22 hours with two kids, 7 & 8. Did it both ways and are doing a straight thru next weekend to Disney!! That's about 1050 miles I think?

Originally Posted by dvczerfs

1096 miles straight through. we leave at 3am and arrive at okw around 7pm.

I am thinking our trip will be about 22hrs with stops (mapquest says 19.5). I just assumed I wouldn't be able to get up as early as 3am and stay awake the entire trip, but now I am rethinking things especilly since we will have 2 drivers. Hmmmm, I never thought we would be able to drive straight through, but now I am thinking it might be possible.

[emksmama]

We are leaving around 7 or 8 Saturday night, with stops we hope to arrive at Shades around 2 Sunday afternoon, then rest, swim and hit DTD that evening. With two drivers it is very doable!!

[Echo queen]

Originally Posted by marmalade

I am thinking our trip will be about 22hrs with stops (mapquest says 19.5). I just assumed I wouldn't be able to get up as early as 3am and stay awake the entire trip, but now I am rethinking things especilly since we will have 2 drivers. Hmmmm, I never thought we would be able to drive straight through, but now I am thinking it might be possible.

After subscribing and reading this thread what you think is impossible becomes possible. The tips, suggestions, live drives are the best to be found.

[Desnik]

Originally Posted by dvczerfs

spoiled flying?

private jet? (im just kidding around by the way)

[sharadoc]

Originally Posted by marmalade

I am thinking our trip will be about 22hrs with stops (mapquest says 19.5). I just assumed I wouldn't be able to get up as early as 3am and stay awake the entire trip, but now I am rethinking things especilly since we will have 2 drivers. Hmmmm, I never thought we would be able to drive straight through, but now I am thinking it might be possible.

I don't recommend a straight through drive right off the bat. The last 5-6 hours when you go straight through are really tough for us. Plus then we arrive really tired and end up sitting around the resort and watching TV until the evening or even the next day.

Our next trip we will stop on the way down after about 12 hours, then we'll have about 5 hours the next day. We'll sleep, arrive refreshed and ready to attack the day. We have the vacation time to do it, so we'll go Monday through the following Thursday and go at a leisurely pace.

Unless you have a sense of how that drive feels, you could end up starting your trip off miserable!

If you listen to DVCZerfs, it's a piece of cake! But he's a machine!!!!! For us normal humans, it's a little harder than he makes it out to be.

[BC1836]

On This Day In "For 2,000+ Mile Round Trip Drivers Only!" History:

July 12, 2010: The second thread of this site begins.

[See the first post on page 1 for more info.]

Happy Driving....

All the best.

[marmalade]

Originally Posted by monymony3471

We have tried driving straight through once and it was really hard. We now plan overnight stops so we don't start our trips exhausted and cranky. We were gonna stay off sight right outside Disney once and wound up getting a room only ressie on site and switched the next day when the package started; we thought why spend the money elsewhere.

We are leaving from MI Aug 5 and just booked a room in Savannah for the night.

Good luck with the planning.

My original thought was we needed to stop in Savannah for the night and have a shorter drive the next day. My first thought if we did drive straight through was to stay off-site somewhere outside WDW, but now I am thinking of trying to get a room onsite. That is if we even make it.

Originally Posted by sharadoc

I don't recommend a straight through drive right off the bat. The last 5-6 hours when you go straight through are really tough for us. Plus then we arrive really tired and end up sitting around the resort and watching TV until the evening or even the next day.

Our next trip we will stop on the way down after about 12 hours, then we'll have about 5 hours the next day. We'll sleep, arrive refreshed and ready to attack the day. We have the vacation time to do it, so we'll go Monday through the following Thursday and go at a leisurely pace.

Unless you have a sense of how that drive feels, you could end up starting your trip off miserable!

If you listen to DVCZerfs, it's a piece of cake! But he's a machine!!!!! For us normal humans, it's a little harder than he makes it out to be.

My initial plan was to try to make it to Savannah and stop for the night, then my DH starts with we should just drive straight through. We are still leaving at the same times as we would if we were going to stop, so if we can't make it all the way through we will not be thrown off schedule at all. I guess we will just have to see how it goes, this is our first drive down.

[marmalade]

Originally Posted by Echo queen

After subscribing and reading this thread what you think is impossible becomes possible. The tips, suggestions, live drives are the best to be found.

This is our 1st attempt at driving, I am excited! This board has been useful so far. Who knows? We may become regular drivers.

[dvczerfs]

Originally Posted by sharadoc

I don't recommend a straight through drive right off the bat. The last 5-6 hours when you go straight through are really tough for us. Plus then we arrive really tired and end up sitting around the resort and watching TV until the evening or even the next day.

Our next trip we will stop on the way down after about 12 hours, then we'll have about 5 hours the next day. We'll sleep, arrive refreshed and ready to attack the day. We have the vacation time to do it, so we'll go Monday through the following Thursday and go at a leisurely pace.

Unless you have a sense of how that drive feels, you could end up starting your trip off miserable!

If you listen to DVCZerfs, it's a piece of cake! But he's a machine!!!!! For us normal humans, it's a little harder than he makes it out to be.

rookies!!!!

i should put a disclaimer in there. im an outside rep. for a hvac supply company. i drive around 40k a year for work so i spend alot of time behind the wheel. on most days, im on the road by 4am so leaving at 3am, staying awake till 7pm driving, is no big deal for me i do it everyday. family wise, my wife can read, sleep in the car with no problems and when our dd was little (her first trip was at 9 months) is a great traveler. dd is now 19 and she has made the trip 26 times. she has been itching to do some driving but i dont trust her.
so yes, if your not use to driving long distances, hours on end of looking at black top and white lines zipping by you, you may want to have a plan b when making your first attempt. if you have little ones, only you know how they are in a car.