Driving from Toronto to Orlando - vote: drive straight or breaks in 2 days?

[BananaCupCake]

We are planning for our next year spring break trip. Never done any road trip for over 7 hours with my 2 DD. They are 6 and 8.
Would like your input - Would you prefer drive 20 hours straight, or breaks it up in 2 days and stay over night in the middle? And why?
Thanks!

 

[starvenger]

It's all about knowing your limits and what is right for you. Some of the DIS posters and their families can handle the all day drive but my driving stamina (I'm the only driver) gives out at around 10-12 hours and I think the kids (currently 4 & 7) can only last around 7-8.

So for me, it's the 2 day option. I'd probably even do a 3 day drive so we can take some time for lunch stops etc.

 

[minnie mum]

If you have never driven longer than 7 hours, you probably would have a hard time driving safely after 12, let alone 20. And don't forget that that is driving time, not travel time. You still have to add in gas, toilet and meal stops.

We've driven there several times. We did it in 2 days once and arrived very tired. Our first day in the parks was short because we were still tired. So now we do it over 3 days. YMMV.

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

I'd do it over 2 days. For us, none of us sleeps well in vehicles so the kids would be tired and crabby.

We're doing Timmins to WDW over 3 days - 11 hours the first day, 10 the next, 6 on arrival day.

 

[KathyM2]

I agree...I'd do it in 2 days...(also from Toronto). I'd try to push as many hours in on the first day....stop for the night...and then have less hours for day 2 so you can maybe do a dinner when you get there or something...but I wouldn't use a park ticket on arrival day. That's just me though...

 

[migel]

I'd recommend two days. If you can manage it, try for about 12 hours on the road DAY 1 (not including breaks), that will put you roughly in South Carolina (if you take the 77/79 route), making DAY 2 travel a lot shorter.

 

[Colette1970]

We are planning for our next year spring break trip. Never done any road trip for over 7 hours with my 2 DD. They are 6 and 8.
Would like your input - Would you prefer drive 20 hours straight, or breaks it up in 2 days and stay over night in the middle? And why?
Thanks!

We just got back 6 days ago from our first drive to Orlando after having flown our previous 5 trips . We left Barrie at 4:30am on Saturday and arrived in Statesville, NC around 8:00pm and stayed overnight. We took our time, though, and made multiple stops for gas, bathroom etc. We also did a sit-down meal and spent about an hour in West Virginia at the New Gorge Bridge/Visitor Centre admiring the scenery and stretching our legs.
Then we left around 7:30am on Sunday and took our time again (with a sit down meal in Savannah Georgia) arriving in Orlando around 5:00pm as I recall.
Coming home we took a lot less breaks as it rained both days (very fitting for how depressed we felt coming back!)....
For our family, even though we are all older (dh & myself plus 2 teenage boys) we wouldn't consider doing a straight through drive; we found it quite doable & easy and would definitely do it again!

 

[mort1331]

We are planning for our next year spring break trip. Never done any road trip for over 7 hours with my 2 DD. They are 6 and 8.
Would like your input - Would you prefer drive 20 hours straight, or breaks it up in 2 days and stay over night in the middle? And why?
Thanks!

As you saw on a previous post of mine, we will always drive straight. Now when we say non-stop, that just means no overnight sleeps on the road. I drive 2/3rds and my DW drives 1/3rd. I just need about 3 hours sleep at some point then I am good to go.
When we stop for food on the road, it is a good stop. 1/2 hours or so stretch the legs, We don't do MDs or the such at home, but on the road we do for the play areas and let the girls run. Our daughters are 4&8 and were great, but you have to judge your own family and kids.
We have friends that have driven every year for the past 7, this year there drive was 30 hours because they took a different car then normal and the kids got motion sickness after every meal. Ouch

 

[slusher]

We make sure we have one overnight in a motel stop. It makes such a difference to feeling rested to start the vacation.

This year we had three drivers and left at midnight. We have left at different times during the night, because it is easier to drive the roads that we are familiar with during the darkness so we do that first.

We have tried the drive straight through trips and we just can't do it. By leaving during the night, we can fit in the driving to have a motel break. It does help that we are all shift workers and we actually drove our shifts.

 

[sullymom]

We are planning on driving from Ontario as well and our DD are the same age as yours. All the answers have been very helpful. We will probably leave early morning and stop when we start to feel tired. This drive will be our test trip to see what will work best for us.

 

[bankr63]

We did 2 days, heavier first day, and lighter second. This March I was the sole driver on the way down, DW flew down and joined us on the first weekend. She shared in the driving task on the way back for about 5 or 6 hours (I like driving, her, not so much in the Queen Mary (Chev Traverse)). I would recommend 2 days for one or 2 drivers. By the next trip kids should have their full driver's licenses and we may go straight through if we have all 4 drivers (each driver gets 2*3 or 3*2 hour shifts).

 

[mshanson3121]

I would never even consider driving straight. Why risk it with kids in the car? Tired drivers are dangerous drivers.

Then, aside from safety - that's a huge stress on everyone, for never having driven more than 7 hours before. Give yourself at least 2 days, 3 even. Drive as far as you can the first day, 12 hours if you can, then make your second day a shorter one.

Also, how do you want to start your vacation - absolutely exhausted from pulling a 24+ hour day in the car (which is realistically what it will be by the time you have 20 hours driving, stops for fuel, meals, bathroom breaks - AND you're not allowing for traffic delays) or granted, you'll still be tired, but definitely less so, having been able to break the drive up, get a decent sleep etc?

And, it's not just what YOU can handle, but what the kids can handle.

 

[emmamomma]

we drive from montreal and we do it in 2 days

 

[wdw4lif]

Our first trip, we drove straight through (19 hour driving time). Never again. We were so excited to get there, but we spent a good 2 days recovering being so exhausted, then we all got sick for the first half of the trip. I truly say a lot is from pure exhaustion. This time, we'll leave home about about 6 am and stop around 6-7 pm for a good night's sleep, then get up the next morning and drive the remainder and still have the late afternoon/evening to get settled in.

 

[ohcanada]

Have done it when the kids were 2 and 4 from Toronto...was no problem but did a two night stop over. We thought the kids would be better if we left at night as they would sleep so we put them in their PJ's and drove all night the first night....rookie mistake...the kids totally outlasted us and we were total zombies the next day!! We wasted the first day of our vacation de-zombifying! Time contraints are tough on the March Break, I can understand the need to minimize driving time.

 

[Krikir]

We plan on driving for the first time in late December this year. My DD age 7 gets car sick very easily. We are going to do it in two days as well, we plan on leaving early in the morning and driving 10-12 hours for the first day and stay overnight in a hotel. I didn't want to arrive at the hotel late so that the kids have time to decompress before going to bed. Then start again early the next morning to finish. Then they have a day to relax before we go on the cruise.

 

[Evelyne]

We've been doing it straigt for tge past 20 years, the older we get the harder it gets! When you do it in 2 days you can enjoy your time as soon as you get there. In our case we are missing some sleep so our 1st day is not as productive as it should be. For our next trip in September we will do a 2 days drive.

 

[mort1331]

I would never even consider driving straight. Why risk it with kids in the car? Tired drivers are dangerous drivers.

Then, aside from safety - that's a huge stress on everyone, for never having driven more than 7 hours before. Give yourself at least 2 days, 3 even. Drive as far as you can the first day, 12 hours if you can, then make your second day a shorter one.

Also, how do you want to start your vacation - absolutely exhausted from pulling a 24+ hour day in the car (which is realistically what it will be by the time you have 20 hours driving, stops for fuel, meals, bathroom breaks - AND you're not allowing for traffic delays) or granted, you'll still be tired, but definitely less so, having been able to break the drive up, get a decent sleep etc?

And, it's not just what YOU can handle, but what the kids can handle.

Each family is different and my girls,(wife and dd4,dd8) can all sleep in the car with no issues. I only ever sleep 6 hours at night on a good night at home. So we would always drive straight. As mentioned we leave just after dinner time, bulk of the driving is traffic free, and we leave on a friday there and leave on a sat. Less traffic in the main cities. I agree that tired driving is worse then drunk, but we never let it get to that stage. I dont even fuel up on coffee or coke(drinking kind..lol) to keep awake. If I think that I might be getting tired, then we stop and wife drives for couple of hours and then I am refreshed and gung ho.
Have also drove from Toronto to BC solo and many trips to Nova Scotia in one day. BC was 3 days,lol.

 

[BananaCupCake]

Thanks! All the answer are very helpful for us to plan our trip!
We will break it up in 2 days and have to ensure to stay in the speed limit (will be hard...)

 

[BananaCupCake]

Did you guys drive on I95 or I75? Seems like I75 is safer in winter (March break time) but longer...