Anyone ever drive to Disney from NJ w/o stopping?

[DizWacko]

We will be making the drive to Disney from NJ in early January, just myself and DW. We have always flown before.

My understanding is that it approx a 18-20hour drive, not incl meal stops, etc. Anyone ever do this w/o stopping overnight in a city in between?

I suppose the best thing to do would be drive to the South Carolina/Georgia border (14 hours?) ... stay the night, and continue to Disney the next day (5 hour drive?) so that its not a totally "killer" drive.

What do other NJ-ites do? Do you stopover for the night somewhere when making the trip via car, if so where do you stopover?

 

[thedukeofmontague]

Made the trip once, took 17 1/2 hours from northern NJ. No meal stops, just fuel/bathroom breaks and not really driving over the speed limit.

 

[DizWacko]

Thanks, Anyone else?

 

[AspiringCindy]

We live in northern NJ and drove 2 years ago. We stopped in SC for an over night stop. On the way back, we drove straight through, but not by choice. We couldn't find a hotel room in NC or even VA! If you do decide to drive straight through, leave very early in the morning! The trip took us 18 hours of driving...SWIFT DRIVING!!!

 

[DizWacko]

The trip took us 18 hours of driving...SWIFT DRIVING!!!

LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I am dreading the return trip, not so much the trip down there. We would leave at midnight, get ATLEAST past Wash. DC before rush hour. From there, drive as far as our butts can take the soreness....

I would assume there are plenty of hotels/motels on I95 in SC/GA? We would be staying over 1/2/06 ... hopefully people will be done with New Years by then and plenty of vacancies.

 

[phorsenuf]

We drive straight thru from NH. I think our best time was about 24 hours. We stop for gas, potty and food (we have the usual places when we go! LOL)
The last 2 times I did pull over at a rest stop to "rest my eyes" for about an hour or so.

 

[Kristi1357]

We drive straight thru from NH. I think our best time was about 24 hours. We stop for gas, potty and food (we have the usual places when we go! LOL)
The last 2 times I did pull over at a rest stop to "rest my eyes" for about an hour or so.

We do the same thing - esp. the resting the eyes part!

We also found that staying over in southern GA worked well for us one trip. We drove straight through to Kingsland (I believe) and stayed at a Country Inn & Suites. From there, it was a 3-4 hour trip the next morning. We got into FL nice and relaxed. I wouldn't hesitate to do that again.

 

[byoung]

As long as I can get Southwest rates I would not attemt to drive. Leave Phila 7 am in hotel usually before 11am.

 

[TheresaNY]

We have driven past 2 years in the summer from Long Island. We stopped this past year in Savannah, Ga. and drove back straight thru. Going down we had the excitement and anticipation to keep us pumped up UNTIL we got to the LONG and BORING sections of I95 through the Carolinas. OMG !! So we stop once we can't take it anymore. Savannah was great because that only left about 5 hours for the next morning. Plus I didn't want to start our vacation by being so tired from the drive. Coming home it was pretty hard to stay motivated to drive all night. My husband and I were supposed to split the 20 hour drive but he was falling asleep before we even got out of Florida !! So I ended up driving 17 hours out of 20 !! NOT FUN !! Needless to say, when we go in 6 weeks we are flying !! I will definitely miss not having my car but I don't have 3-4 days to spend driving. Good luck to you ! Make sure you have an easy pass and time all the bridges and tunnels right and you will do fine !! Safe trip !!

 

[CherCrazy]

We drove home once to South Jersey in 16 hours. It is such a hard trip. That was years ago, have flown down ever since.

We drove to HHI this year. 95 was a NIGHTMARE Worse than it had ever been.

I guess the best advice I could give you would be to drive on the off hours...leave at night or after work.

 

[jonestavern]

Heck, DW and I once did a non-stop from Tampa to Rhode Island straight through. We did'nt intend to do it at the outset, but that is what ended up happening. Counting breaks it took about 25 hours.

Wouldn't recommend it, but it is possible.

Chris

We were young & foolish & our bladders held up much better! I was drinking iced teas & coffees like a camel I swear to you that man does not like to make pit stops! We lived in RI & who likes to stop & spend the night in Connecticut, it's just next door! I was hallucinating--without benefit of drugs!-- by the time we arrived in North Kingstown!
It's been jets & drinks ever since!

Jean

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

Me, my wife and 3 yr old drove down to WDW in my Nissan Xterra from Boston a couple of years ago and stopped only for Gas and bathroom breaks. It was alot easier than I thought it would be for a long ride with a 3 year old.

The Trip

Stopped 5 times on the way to WDW at:
212, 395, 661, 870 ,1080 and 1331 odometer trip miles.

Stopped 6 times on the way home at:
1,530,1,708 1,882, 2,063, 2,358,
2,539 and 2,776 odometer trip miles.

Boston to Walt Disney World 1:30 pm
Boston to New Jersey 212 6:00 pm
N J to Aberdeen MD 395 9:07 pm
MD to Rocky Mt NC 661 1:36 am
NC to Florence SC 870 4:40 am
SC to S Newport GA 1,080 7:58 am
GA to WDW 1,331 12:00 pm

Started, Friday, 3/26 1:30pm
Finished, Saturday, 3/27 12pm
A 23 hr trip with 5 stops
76 gallons of gas $131 17.51 mpg

Walt Disney World to Boston 11:00 am
WDW to St Augustine FL 116 12:44 pm
FL to Savanah GA 294 3:55 pm
GA to Florence SC 468 6:22 pm
SC to Battleboro NC 649 9:30 pm
NC to Aberdeen MD 944 2:17 am
MD to Bloomfield NJ 1125 5:30 am
NJ to Quincy MA 1362 9:30 am

Started, Friday, 4/02 11 am
Finished, Sat, 4/03 9:30 am
A 22 1/2 hr trip with 6 stops
81 gallons of gas $126 17.58 mpg

NO BIG DEAL !!!

Good luck all

 

[DizWacko]

Wow, ALOT of great posts. Thanks so much, Im lookin at it as kind of an adventure (done the I95 to Columbia, SC plenty of times) ... lookin forward to Cracker Barrel on the way down, maybe a pit stop to visit the seediness of South of the Border, and maybe Savannah, GA for our overnight.

I like the previous posters idea of a pitstop most of the way there, then just 5 hours or so on the day we checkin

Thanks again everyone

 

[jchice2]

My wife and I have driven 5 times from South Jersey, about 20 minutes from Phiiladelphia. We have driven once straight through with our newphew and the other 4 times with a stop in Jacksonville. When we drove straight through with our nephew, we left around 4:30AM and got to Disney around 8PM. When we would stop in Jacksonville, the first day would be about 12 hours and then we would get up around 8 and be in Disney by noon. Good Luck!!

PS I finally convinced my wife to fly for this December's trip!!

 

[klh999]

We just got back from Disney but Sister and her Husband along with three kids just drove from Long Island, NY.

They did not make any overnight stops. They did stop for mails, but they made it to Orlando in less than a day!!

 

[QT Pooh]

Hi,

I've driven by myself from southern NH without stopping overnight. It took us 21 hours in total. Me & the kids left at 7 pm and we arrived at 4 pm the next day...just in time for check-in! I don't think I'll ever do that again (especially without a second driver)...I was exhausted.

 

[RobynK]

My parents drive from Kenilworth NJ to Melbourne FL in one day all the time. They leave around 10pm-midnight and get here around 3pm-5pm the next day. They stop for gas and meals usually at the same time. PM me if you have any other questions

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Just got back from our trip with a 3 & 4 yr old and oh what a trip it was!!! Drove from Auburn, MA - left on a Sat. around 5:00PM - pulled into WDW All Star parking lot around 4:00PM Sunday. 23 hours with bathroom, gas, meal stops and sometimes just to get out and stretch. Took about 4 tanks of gas to make it there - we refilled every 1/2-3/4 tank as I get nervous when the tank starts to get low and I don't know where a station will be. We took the 84,81,77,95 route and found it to be a relaxing drive. Not too much traffic and bypassed NY, DC, busier areas. More scenic route but not sure how accessible to you and no tolls. Drove straight through on the way home to and about the same time - 23 hours from here. Overnight definitely a better drive than during the day as there is less traffic but I am a night owl so it didn't bother me and hubby took over driving in the AM so I could cat nap in the passenger seat for a couple hours. It also helped that we had 2 days to rest when we got there and 2 days off before we had to go back to work so we could rest up after such a drive.

 

[stacy6552]

We drove from DC straight through a few years back. The drive itself was no sweat, suprisingly. However, I do have to say we kinds felt jet-lagged the first day or 2 of our trip.

 

[MaryPoppinsLives]

I have driven down 3 times from North Jersey and stopped over night in GA. We took the autotrain once and that was great. You may want to check the cost of autotrain considering the BIG$$$$ gas is costing. If you have an American Express rewards card one of the rewards is Amtrack GC which helps cut the cost.