Driving to Disney – do you drive overnight or during the day?

[rotlex]

It is at least a 19 hour drive to Disney for us. If we have two drivers, we opt for the straight through and get it over option. If there is only one driver, we have to stop. Just priced out flights for my family: Milwaukee to Orlando was over $1600! Looks like we will be driving if we want to visit Florida anytime soon.

Cost was the biggest reason we started driving going back over the years. (Although now, as I noted above, it has become one of the things we actually look forward too).

With the flight costs today, plus transportation, rental etc., driving lets us either save a nice sum, or, do an upgrade once in a while to a deluxe. It's also caused us to extend our average trip from 8 days, to usually 12-14.

 

[bluezy]

We always drive from southeastern PA. It's a little over 1,000 miles for us. We usually leave around 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and stop around 6 or 7:00 in the evening. That typically puts us in Savannah, GA for the night (though one time, due to awesomely light traffic, we made it to northern FL that first night). The kids enjoy swimming at the hotel, we order pizza for dinner, and get a good night of sleep. We try to be on the road by 8:00 the next morning so we arrive at Disney by early afternoon (we could get there by noon if we wouldn't need to stop at the FL Welcome Center for that free orange and grapefruit juice!). Driving home, we leave Disney by 6:00 a.m. and drive about 14 hours. Ideally, we like to get past Washington DC before stopping for the night so we don't have to deal with that traffic in the morning.

We have 5 children (though 2 of them are now in their mid 20's so they don't typically travel with us anymore) so the cost to drive has always been significantly cheaper than flying. Between gas and hotel rooms, we usually spend about $600 round trip. We're fortunate that my husband has 28 days of vacation/personal days at his job each year and I only volunteer at a local non-profit so we have the luxury of being able to use 4 days for travel on top of 7 days at Disney. But most importantly, our kids all travel really well, otherwise I'm not sure I could tolerate all of that time in the car with them. We try to make the trip tolerable by stopping every few hours either for a gas/bathroom break or for a meal/snack. We're not commando drivers.

 

[huntconn]

We drive down from eastern PA every year and we really enjoy it as a family. When the kids were younger I used to commando style drive straight through but those days are over. I came to the realization that being exhausted and miserable on my 1st day in Florida just wasn't worth it. Both of our boys are great travelers. They watch movies, play video games, eat snacks, whatever. We now get on the road in the early afternoon on our departure day and drive until 9pm or so then stop for the night. We all get a good night's rest then get back on the road around 8am. We get to my parents house by dinner time. My parents live about 1 hour from Orlando in The Villages so that is always our first stop. We always stay with them for a bunch of days then it's on to The World!

 

[JPKnapp]

If you are within 12 hours, leave really early in the AM. We like to leave at 3-4am for the 12 hour drive. Car all packed up night before. Wife and kiddos go back to sleep quick (6,3,&1 last trip). We are half way done by the time they wake up at 9 or so when wife takes over the wheel (well rested) and I get my Z's. Check in around 4, hang at resort that night, early to bed for a full and well rested day at the parks. Drive home is reverse. Leave parks at 1-2pm, kids fall asleep, and I inject redbull through an IV bag.

 

[StLDisFan]

From St. Louis it is about 16-17 hours (w/ stops for food and gas). I am a bit of an insomniac so driving through the night doesn't bother me; with the exception of EEA, I have fear of sleeping in moving modes of transportation (I'm weird, I know ). I actually love road trips though, especially solo so that I have time to reflect on life... aka Disney. However, it get's a bit tedious by about the time you hit FL in the early hours. I am an anomaly but I drive thru the night, check in at the resort at ~7-8am (I've done it a couple of times and the rooms has been ready by that point!), and then somehow manage to find energy to hit up the parks for the day (too excited I guess). I sleep like a rock that night and have a "slow day" the following day to recover. Not sure if I can keep that pace up as I get older but it works for now.

Knowing your limits is the most important thing when driving though. That tragic story about the 16 year driving during the family trip (and countless others about falling asleep behind the wheel) is so sad; it has got to make you evaluate your limitations. Admittedly, on my way back home in September, I did have to take a 3 hour snooze in the car at a rest stop, but that's because I stayed an extra full day and closed down the MK at midnight.

I am flying down in May, but that's b/c I can't get off of work until Thursday night and wouldn't make it in time for the start of the 24 hour event. YMMV

 

[Flamingeaux]

We drive from Baton Rouge and it takes around 10.5 hours. We leave around 5 in the morning and get there before 5 that afternoon. I do most of the driving so DW and DD aren't that tired so we will either head to MK or Downtown Disney. It would drive me nuts to get there and not do something.

 

[4under4]

We've done both. It's 17 hours if we drive straight through from MI. My brother lives at hour 6 (Louisville), a DH has a cousin & aunt that live at hour 12 (outside Atlanta) so we've broken up the trip a couple ways over the years. We've also stopped at a hotel on the way back once or twice.

Our preference is to leave late afternoon and just go straight through - in both directions.

 

[shaymin2348]

We have traveled to Florida a lot and have always flown, but once our daughter became the age of having to pay for a flight, we’ve had to weigh the costs and time commitment of flying vs. driving.

Read more here:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/walt-disney-world/driving-to-disney-do-you-drive-overnight-or-during-the-day/

When we drive to WDW, we normally start driving at around 4 in the morning and get there around eight or so, given we dont stop for a break and we don't need as many gas stops. One of the perks of living in south florida is that everyone is asleep drunk half the time so nobody is really on the turnpikes .

 

[thefatmanrocks]

I love driving at night. Drove from Erie, Pa for NYE this year. There were lots of hours where I only saw one or two cars. And even fewer semis. I enjoy stoping to fill up and get a coffee and whatever snacks I'm in the mood for at that moment. I listen to few Disney podcast. So I stock up on a few of those and hit the road!

 

[thefatmanrocks]

We drive down from eastern PA every year and we really enjoy it as a family. When the kids were younger I used to commando style drive straight through but those days are over. I came to the realization that being exhausted and miserable on my 1st day in Florida just wasn't worth it. Both of our boys are great travelers. They watch movies, play video games, eat snacks, whatever. We now get on the road in the early afternoon on our departure day and drive until 9pm or so then stop for the night. We all get a good night's rest then get back on the road around 8am. We get to my parents house by dinner time. My parents live about 1 hour from Orlando in The Villages so that is always our first stop. We always stay with them for a bunch of days then it's on to The World!

Nice to see a fellow Grateful Dead and Disney fan from Pennsylvania!

 

[CheshireCrazy]

I've always drove from the Chicago suburbs to Disney. It's about a 18 hour drive but we break it up into 2 days (stopping around the TN/GA border the first night). I stick to daytime driving since there is some travel through the mountains.

 

[runmickeyrun]

We drove from Maine non-stop three Decembers ago. I was absolutely exhausted for the first couple days at Disney. I dreaded the return trip. Our kids were older and wonderful. We had plenty of snacks and stopped to stretch our legs on occasion. It was just too long. We've flown ever since.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We drove several times from NJ when I was growing up. We usually stopped overnight in North Carolina, but my dad liked to get a really early start on each day of driving to capitalize on the low nighttime traffic. So, we'd usually hit the road between 4-4:30am. I now live Houston area and have driven to WDW from here twice. One of the times, we didn't do any overnight driving. I think we left TX mid-morning and called it a day around dinner time, which was just east of Mobile, AL. I know we left after the sun was up the following day. The 2nd time we drove from TX, we drove straight through. We left around 8:30pm, but this backfired on us. The kids didn't want to sleep and we hit a lot of areas that used the overnight hours for construction projects. So, in spots that normally would be 70mph zones, we were going 45! That drive really took it out of us and we vowed...no more driving straight through unless it's absolutely necessary.

Moral of the story, if you plan to drive at night, check to make sure there are no overnight road crews that will doing construction along your route.

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

We are about 22-23 hrs from Disney, usually leave at 3am. We are an hour north of Toronto. We usually drive 15-16hrs the first day, that gets us to Rock Hill, SC, then that gets us to Disney for around 3-4pm. This works for us and I am not tired at all when we get there.
Planning our next road trip in Oct!!

 

[michelleiada]

I have driven twice before and plan to drive this May. Driving with my Mom, and my 20 year old daughter. It's a girls bonding road trip. My other daughter and her boy friend will fly down with my husband. We live in northern Massachusetts and it takes around 24 hours total. We will stop along the way for one night so we are not exhausted when we arrive. We did this a few years ago and it was my daughter who suggested to me we drive again because it was so much fun. I don't mind driving at all.

 

[WIDisneyFan]

We drive to Florida (both for Disney and to see Grandparents) at least twice a year from Wisconsin. For us what works best is to drive during the day and stop overnight, typically in North Georgia. What we have found with our kids is they do better sleeping in a bed and having a pool to unwind in after a long day in the car helps as well.

 

[dunangst]

We are coming from upstate NY, and drive to Disney World and Disney's Vero Beach every summer. We stop on the way down for a few days (usually to see family in Raleigh), and then on the way back to investigate a new city (we've done Savannah, Charleston, and Charlottesville - this year we're trying Williamsburg, VA) - echo above posters who ant a bed and some time to wind down on a 20+ hour drive. This adds a few more days to the trip, but we find that we arrive relaxed and refreshed by the time we cross under the Walt Disney World gates.

 

[WebmasterMike]

Only from MCO or TPA

 

[mikelan6]

... and I thought I had a rough three and a half hour drive from Miami to WDW ...

 

[bluezy]

... and I thought I had a rough three and a half hour drive from Miami to WDW ...

If you're feeling left out, you could drive up to Savannah; spend the night; and then drive to Disney the next morning.