Driving from T.O. to Disney World - best route? Halfway point?

[ace9224]

Hi guys,

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere before, but since this is one of my first posts, I'm going to play the "rookie" card.

My family and I are driving down to WDW to spend Christmas on-site, and I'm wondering how long it will take to get there? MapQuest says 21 hours...can someone confirm?

We are devoting two days to the drive.

And, what route do most of you recommend?

Lastly, and tied into the above question, what do you consider halfway between Toronto and WDW? Is it smart to stop halfway, or should I try to get as far south as I can on Day One?

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

Welcome to the boards. We usually go down the Buffalo route.

-qew to peace bridge.
- I-190 to I-90 Erie.
- I-90 to I-79 south.
-I-79 Go through Pittsburgh and get off at exit57 which is US-19 toward Beckley.*******DO NOT SPEED ON US-19 YOU WILL GET A TICKET EVEN FOR 2 MPH OVER*******
- US-19 To Beckley
-then I-77 south towards Charlotte N/C.
- I-77 to I-26 towards Charleston. Make sure you go this way as it is just a y in the road if I remember correctly.
This will take you to I-95.
-I-95 to I-4 towards Orlando.

We leave Oakville around 4:30am ish so we miss traffic in Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Works great. This also allows for best lighting conditions for viewing the Mountains. Some people stop in Beckley. We push on as far as we can go. We usually end up somewhere on I-26. 14 hrs of driving. Then 5 hrs to next stop in Daytona and stay on the beach and do daytona USA. Then the next morning we pull into Disney resort early. We have done this 2 times with kids. First time the kids were aged 2 and 4 second time they were 6 and 8.

Hope this helps

 

[beavdisfan]

Hi guys,

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere before, but since this is one of my first posts, I'm going to play the "rookie" card.

My family and I are driving down to WDW to spend Christmas on-site, and I'm wondering how long it will take to get there? MapQuest says 21 hours...can someone confirm?

We are devoting two days to the drive.

And, what route do most of you recommend?

Lastly, and tied into the above question, what do you consider halfway between Toronto and WDW? Is it smart to stop halfway, or should I try to get as far south as I can on Day One?

Hi
we have done this a few times and found two very important things.
if the weather is even close to being bad stay out of the moutains in va and wv.take I 75 from cincinnati. if the weather is good get as close as possible to where you hit I 95. Savanna ga. it's a long day but worth it.
from there dis is an easy 6 hr run and you have a good chance of your room being ready.
the other person who answered is VERY correct about hwy 19. do not speed. caa was warning people to stay off this road.
counting stops and slowdowns i would bet on more like 23 hrs.

 

[canadaman]

WE took the i 75 route. I live 2 hours north of toronto and it took us 24 hours including all of our stops. I think the i 75 route is better during the winter months. less twisty roads through the mountians to deal with on snowy roads.

 

[ace9224]

Thanks for the info, especially the one about speeding!

 

[monkeyhouse]

-qew to peace bridge.
- I-190 to I-90 Erie.
- I-90 to I-79 south.
-I-79 Go through Pittsburgh and get off at exit57 which is US-19 toward Beckley.*******DO NOT SPEED ON US-19 YOU WILL GET A TICKET EVEN FOR 2 MPH OVER*******
- US-19 To Beckley
-then I-77 south towards Charlotte N/C.
- I-77 to I-26 towards Charleston. Make sure you go this way as it is just a y in the road if I remember correctly.
This will take you to I-95.
-I-95 to I-4 towards Orlando.

We have gone this way 3 times. Lucky us have never even seen police on US-19. We did see Biscuit World though. Yum

The first time we tried to stop in Columbia, South Carolina however there were no rooms and ended up somewhere on I-26. The next two times we had reservations for Columbia.

 

[MCFADDEN5]

We have always gone I75 way, this time we are going the I95 way. It is hopefully faster in nice weather. Thinking about driving to Hardiville SC. any hotel recommendations? I75 has always been 22-23 hrs. of driving time.

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

We have gone this way 3 times. Lucky us have never even seen police on US-19. We did see Biscuit World though. Yum

The first time we tried to stop in Columbia, South Carolina however there were no rooms and ended up somewhere on I-26. The next two times we had reservations for Columbia.

Your lucky not to see police. We have everytime we have gone this route. The last time someone else from ontario was following us and got fed up with the speed limit and passed us 10 mins later we passed him. Yep he got pulled over. Biscuit world? whats that? I never saw that. Is it worth stopping at. We are heading down again next year (hopefully) A pit stop is always welcome.
I know what you mean about getting a room. We ran into that a few trips ago. Now we keep a CAA book with us and call some places to see if they have room at the inn before we pull off the Hwy. We usually end up at Holiday Inn Express. A bit more money but well worth it for us.

 

[dancin Disney style]

We've driven down this year and last year. Time wise it's in the 24 hour range when you add in the stops that you have to make.

We do the I-95 route because I HATE car trips and must get there as fast as possible. We leave at about 3am and drive until at least 9pm. Both times we have made it onto the I-95 before stopping. We decided that we wanted to stop at a time that was late enough to get as many hours on the road as possible but early enough to be able to unwind a bit and get a full nights sleep. So around 9pm works for us. For me personally, there is no way that I could split the drive in half. I can manage 1 reeeeally long day because I know I will only have a few hours left the next day. This year we made it all the way to Savannah, GA by 8:45pm so that only left us a little over 3 hours for day 2. It was really nice to get up and have a leisurely breakfast before hitting the road to finish the drive.

 

[monkeyhouse]

Biscuit world? whats that? I never saw that. Is it worth stopping at. We are heading down again next year (hopefully) A pit stop is always welcome.

Biscuit World is a mostly West Virginia chain that serves a large variety of biscuit sandwiches as well as other breakfast and lunch dishes. I've only had the biscuit sandwiches, but they are great.

Here is a link to their website. http://www.tudorsbiscuitworld.com They have a menu and locations on there as well. Mmm makes me hungry

It's worth the stop for us. We stopped on the way down and the way home last time

 

[JL2002]

Biscuit World is a mostly West Virginia chain that serves a large variety of biscuit sandwiches as well as other breakfast and lunch dishes. I've only had the biscuit sandwiches, but they are great.

Here is a link to their website. http://www.tudorsbiscuitworld.com They have a menu and locations on there as well. Mmm makes me hungry

It's worth the stop for us. We stopped on the way down and the way home last time

Which one is closer to the interstate along the way?? Interested in checking it out!

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

Thanks for the link i'm gonna keep that bookmarked for the future.

 

[JL2002]

Which one is closer to the interstate along the way?? Interested in checking it out!

Googled it, Fayettevilles' location is on the 19!....anyone know the approximate price of the combos there?

 

[monkeyhouse]

Which one is closer to the interstate along the way?? Interested in checking it out!

We've never actually stopped at the one on 19, but that is where we learned about it. The two that we have been to are

1521 Johnson Ave Bridgeport, WV (Right off I-79)
and
1334 Harper Rd, Bluewell, WV (a few minutes east I-77. And I'd say it is in Beckley, but their website says Bluewell?????)

I don't really recall the pricing though.

 

[pkitty]

We've done the drive 10 years in a row and prefer to drive I-75 all the way to Macon Georgia. It's about 18 hours. We then sleep in the next day and have a leisurely 6 hour drive to WDW. We bust our butts the first day but usually arrive in Orlando at around 1 pm....just in time for lunch and check in.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I would use Interstate 75 all the way down.

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

I would use Interstate 75 all the way down.

From Windsor down to Orlando and Hamilton down to Orlando it takes the same time. The difference in time if you go I-75 is 4 hrs plus to get From Hamilton to Windsor. This is the main reason we go I-95. I-75 has a better selection of hotels for stopping though

 

[CanadianPaco]

Bump.

 

[disneynovic]

We have decided that our half-way point will be Charlotte, SC on the way down, and Berkley, WV on the way home. In Charlotte we will be staying at the Sheraton Airport(free with points), and at the Berkley Micro Inn, also free with Aircanada Gift cards. Both have indoor pools, a must for my three kids, especially in November.

 

[Joe Dirt 1972]

From Toronto what is the gas cost there and back and what is the best and cheapest and safest hotels to stay in on the way there and back. Should I book them a head of time as well?