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

[pamkev]

Where did you drive from? Glad that it all went well. We are making the drive in August from Pennsylvania. (near Pittsburgh)

From the Harrisburg area

 

[pamkev]

We're sitting in a Texas airport due to a three-hour delay (as of now) waiting for a flight back to stormy NJ.

[This is why we drive to WDW.]

All the best.

Hope you make it home soon

 

[dvczerfs]

gas is dropping!! its down almost 10 cents so far today to $2.98!!! keep goin baby!!!!

dropped 14 cents total today!!! closed at 2.93!!!!!

 

[MamaJessie]

Yes you will see signs saying something like camera (photo) enforced speed limit that is when we obeyed the speed limit look for them right before Ridgeland SC and do the speed limit the Rv was under the underpass with the camera's out taking pictures along with it there is a sign on the rv saying this right before we saw that we saw a blue car pulled along side the road with all the windows blacked out don't know if that was the car with the radar gun to informed the rv to take the pictures of your face along with licenses

Whoa thanks for the info!

dropped 14 cents total today!!! closed at 2.93!!!!!

I thought it was still going down which is why I was surprised Gasbuddy was predicting it was going up

 

[DisneyQueen1320]

So I'm thinking of driving from Pittsburgh to Orlando in Sept to save money But I'm a little worried about our kids staying calm for all those hours. I have two boys ages 4 and 8 how can I keep them quiet and busy? I would love some tips

 

[dvczerfs]

Whoa thanks for the info!


I thought it was still going down which is why I was surprised Gasbuddy was predicting it was going up

if you watch cnbc, on the very top of the screen, they show the stock markets,the libor and the fuels and medal markets. i happen to notice its down again to $2.91! the bad news is the dow is dropping also. you cant win.

 

[dhenrynj]

So I'm thinking of driving from Pittsburgh to Orlando in Sept to save money But I'm a little worried about our kids staying calm for all those hours. I have two boys ages 4 and 8 how can I keep them quiet and busy? I would love some tips

I was worried about the same thing. If you don't mind driving at night you can leave in the evening(5-7PM). There is always some initial trip excitement so I wanted to give the kids some time to burn that off. My kids stayed awake until around 11PM then slept until 7AM. We are able to complete a large portion of the driving while they are asleep. Other than that we just have plenty of games, DVD's, art supplies, etc to keep them busy.

 

[ekraxa]

DisneyQueen said:

So I'm thinking of driving from Pittsburgh to Orlando in Sept to save money But I'm a little worried about our kids staying calm for all those hours. I have two boys ages 4 and 8 how can I keep them quiet and busy? I would love some tips

We're driving from Pittsburgh to Orlando in two weeks. It's our first time making the drive but our kids are a tad bit older (8, 12, and 13). We've also driven across the country a few times with the kids so they're used to long car rides.

A trick we've used in the past is to have a large box full of treats - individually wrapped crackers, cookies, juice boxes, etc. We tell the kids that every hour they can pick a treat from the box. They love the idea that they control what they pick and that they know how long they have to wait until they can pick something else.

We've also gotten into the habit of listening to books on tape. The kids pick a book they'd like to read and we check out the audio recording from the library. We've listened to many of the Harry Potter books on our drives across the country.

With the ages of your two boys I might recommend Louis Sachar's Wayside School series. Each book is a series of vignettes about the kids in Wayside School. Chapters are short and if you fall asleep and miss a few chapters you aren't missing critical parts of the story line (a problem I still have with the Harry Potter series! I fell asleep and missed too much!). My boys love Wayside School books because they're so silly. I think they'll be perfect for both the 4 year old and the 8 year old.

 

[dvczerfs]

gas is down to $2.87 this morming and still falling!!!

 

[Laurabearz]

gas is down to $2.87 this morming and still falling!!!

$4.45 and holding

 

[Asellus]

DisneyQueen said:


We're driving from Pittsburgh to Orlando in two weeks. It's our first time making the drive but our kids are a tad bit older (8, 12, and 13). We've also driven across the country a few times with the kids so they're used to long car rides.

A trick we've used in the past is to have a large box full of treats - individually wrapped crackers, cookies, juice boxes, etc. We tell the kids that every hour they can pick a treat from the box. They love the idea that they control what they pick and that they know how long they have to wait until they can pick something else.

We've also gotten into the habit of listening to books on tape. The kids pick a book they'd like to read and we check out the audio recording from the library. We've listened to many of the Harry Potter books on our drives across the country.

With the ages of your two boys I might recommend Louis Sachar's Wayside School series. Each book is a series of vignettes about the kids in Wayside School. Chapters are short and if you fall asleep and miss a few chapters you aren't missing critical parts of the story line (a problem I still have with the Harry Potter series! I fell asleep and missed too much!). My boys love Wayside School books because they're so silly. I think they'll be perfect for both the 4 year old and the 8 year old.

I've been following this thread (and haven't posted because we're not going in ages) but how about Full Cast Audio books? They are pricey but each character is played by a different actor and they are really pleasurable to listen to even as an adult.
We drove down to Disney in 2008 with a 3 and 4 yr old, but found the ride to not be bad with both(with ipods, books, colouring books and scenery ) . When we go next year (we haven't settled on a month, sometime between September and December) each kid will have their own DSi.

 

[justakrazymom]

$4.45 and holding

we are down to $3.95...where the heck is it under $3??

 

[BC1836]

We're sitting in a Texas airport due to a three-hour delay (as of now) waiting for a flight back to stormy NJ.

[This is why we drive to WDW.]

All the best.

More flight notes: When we boarded, someone was sitting in one of our seats by mistake. It happened to be an off-duty flight attendant who was flying to another city; her seat was actually one row back. She never carefully looked at her ticket!
We were hoping that the pilot was going to be a bit more attentive.

After finally taking off, we cruised across the sky and started the decent into Newark. About 20 minutes to go, we encountered turbulence. An attendant announced that "turbulence will probably continue until we land. If you need to throw up, a bag is located in the back compartment of the seat in front of you."

We never heard such an announcement in many years of flying. Fortunately, the turbulence eased and we landed without incident. And it appeared that the air traffic controllers were awake!

However, because the flight's arrival time had changed no one was at the mobile jetway to allow everyone to deplane! There was no followup by the airport as to the new landing time. The pilot had to make a phone call to get someone! It took about 10-12 additional minutes for the cabin doors to open.

Now then...we can hardly wait to drive to WDW next month!

So, for all those who wish to fly to WDW, "have a nice day!"

All the best.

 

[marius97]

we are down to $3.95...where the heck is it under $3??

That is the wholesale price of gas. You need to add on the fed and state taxes and store profits to get what you pay.

 

[angwill]

$4.45 and holding

$4.45 here too we must live near one another.

We leave for Disney next Tuesday and our house goes on the market this week so hopefully we can get the heck out of IL for good.

 

[pilferk]

$4.45 here too we must live near one another.

We're seeing prices around 4.17 in our neck of the woods. I'm hoping that starts to fall, as other states are seeing a drop...and we're not. We're at pretty much the same prices we were at before oil prices started their drop a couple weeks back (from 113 a barrel, to, now, about $96 a barrel).

 

[dvczerfs]

We're seeing prices around 4.17 in our neck of the woods. I'm hoping that starts to fall, as other states are seeing a drop...and we're not. We're at pretty much the same prices we were at before oil priced dropped a couple weeks back.

when i got gas on friday. it was $3.87. today i got gas and its was $3.84.whooooopeeeeee!

 

[jasko5990]

I am considering driving for our upcoming trip in June. Leaving from the Allentown, PA area. AAA.com sends me thru Philly and Delaware, which is a little over 1000 miles one way. Mapquest.com sends me towards Harrisburg, at around 1200 miles one way.
Is there anyway to find out the tolls for each of the routes. Trying to determine the budget of flying versus driving.

We're from Doylestown and drive every year or two, and are doing it agin in a couple of months. Tolls round trip for you should be about $23.50 if you're taking a passenger vehicle & not towing anything. Here's the breakdown:

PA - NE Extension, $3.25 each way between Allentown & Mid-County
DE - I-95 Newark Tolls, $4.00 each way
MD - I-95 Ft McHenry Tunnel, $2.00 each way
MD - I-95 JFK Memorial Highway Tolls, $5.00 northbound only (nothing southbound)

There are no other tolls along I-95 all the way to I-4 in Florida, and no tolls on I-4.

If this is your first time driving, I suggest leaving early enough so you get through Washington DC before 5:00 am, sicne their rush hour starts around 6:00 am. We usually leave our house at about midnight and get through DC around 3:00 am. We drive straight through stopping for breakfast (Cracker Barrell), two gas stops, and any needed bathroom breaks. We usually arrive in WDW around 3:30-4:00 pm and don't hit any traffic due to vehicular volume, but have been caught in construction traffic from time to time. We've tried other departure times but they haven't worked out as well with avoiding traffic or getting us there as quickly.

Watch your speed in Virginia. Try not to go more than 4mph over the limit.

 

[isabelcampana]

I will be driving from Austin, TX to Disney with an infant (1 yrs), 10 year and 13 yrs old....OH MY I am asking myself if I am really going to be able to do it? If you guys can give me some suggestions that would be great...I leave next Thrusday around 1:00 pm and planning on driving until about 11:00 pm or so...

 

[DisneyQueen1320]

Thanks for the tips I really want to save the money, I think we will drive. I love the idea of audio books. I will have to price some out.