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

[disneymarie]

La Dolce Casa (Dimaggio's)? Excellent food!

That's it! Wow, we'll worth the hop down. Really, really good food and portions or left overs bout $9.
Hello neighbor
Are you a Knobels fan too?
Di

 

[dvczerfs]

coming from tannersville, i would jump on rt33 to i78. here are my times. i live in nazareth so i leave around 2:30am, take rt191 to rt22 to rt78. to be safe, i would add 20 min. or so to the first numbers:
home to i81 ------- 1hr/1min
i81 to MA -----------1hr/19min
MA to WV ----------10min
WV TO VA -----------22min
VA ti i77 -------------3hr/23min
i77 to NC ------------26 min.
NC to Char nc-------- 1hr/44min
Char to SC ----------11 min
SC to i26 ------------1hr/13min
i26 to i95 ------------ 49min
i95 to GA ------------- 1HR/7MIN.
GA TO FL ------------1hr/44min
FL TO I4 ------------1HR/42MIN
I4 TO EXIT68 ---------54MIN

these times are with rest breaks etc.... so it may vary a bit pending on traffic and how often you stop. the trip i did this was a smooth sailing trip. i pretty well hit this every time.

this is a 16 hour / 6 min. trip using a town and county minivan. i can do it in 15 1/2 hours if we take the glk350. (for some reason it goes faster )

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

coming from tannersville, i would jump on rt33 to i78. here are my times. i live in nazareth so i leave around 2:30am, take rt191 to rt22 to rt78. to be safe, i would add 20 min. or so to the first numbers:
home to i81 ------- 1hr/1min
i81 to MA -----------1hr/19min
MA to WV ----------10min
WV TO VA -----------22min
VA ti i77 -------------3hr/23min
i77 to NC ------------26 min.
NC to Char nc-------- 1hr/44min
Char to SC ----------11 min
SC to i26 ------------1hr/13min
i26 to i95 ------------ 49min
i95 to GA ------------- 1HR/7MIN.
GA TO FL ------------1hr/44min
FL TO I4 ------------1HR/42MIN
I4 TO EXIT68 ---------54MIN

these times are with rest breaks etc.... so it may vary a bit pending on traffic and how often you stop. the trip i did this was a smooth sailing trip. i pretty well hit this every time.

this is a 16 hour / 6 min. trip using a town and county minivan. i can do it in 15 1/2 hours if we take the glk350. (for some reason it goes faster )

Thanks a bunch! I am definitely going to map this route out for our fall trip this year! No doubt it will be faster than our 18 hour tour last year! We are planning to leave after getting the kids from school. I know that is not the recommended departure time, but we figure that will work best for us. DH works nights so he is comfortable then. Plus, gets us there early and we can allow time to stop and rest half way if we decide it's necessary

 

[dvczerfs]

Thanks a bunch! I am definitely going to map this route out for our fall trip this year! No doubt it will be faster than our 18 hour tour last year! We are planning to leave after getting the kids from school. I know that is not the recommended departure time, but we figure that will work best for us. DH works nights so he is comfortable then. Plus, gets us there early and we can allow time to stop and rest half way if we decide it's necessary

if you leave around 3pm, your biggest problems will be from i78 through harrrisburg. you should be okay once you hit west virginia.
when in the fall are you going?

 

[dvczerfs]

That's it! Wow, we'll worth the hop down. Really, really good food and portions or left overs bout $9.
Hello neighbor
Are you a Knobels fan too?
Di

hi diane!!

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

if you leave around 3pm, your biggest problems will be from i78 through harrrisburg. you should be okay once you hit west virginia.
when in the fall are you going?

We are going to be leaving October 30. I figure it won't travel as fast as if it were in the middle of the night, but 78 should not be totally slow right? Last year DC added about 45 minutes!

And when you say your times include stops...can you elaborate? LOL We have 3 kids so our stops and yours are probably different I'm guessing. Last time we stopped 3 times. Two were to get gas and go to the bathroom...so 10 minutes. The third was to eat...but McDonald's so like 20 minutes tops. Oh...then we needed to stop one last time about an hour out of WDW because we didn't fill up with the McD's stop.So, 4 stops...45 or so minutes. I'm guessing we will do about the same this time too. But, not make an extra stop. Rather, we would eat when we stop for the first fill up.

Also, we will need to get to a store and get water and some other items. What is a good place to go for that? Doesn't need to be on the way. We will probably get that after settling in.

 

[Colleen27]

Darn! This is apparently only along the I-95 route into Florida, not I-75.

Or is there one, and I've just missed it EVERY time I've gone?

Hmmm, when do you pass through? The welcome center Facebook page says they're open 8 to 5, so you might very well have missed it every time you've gone.

 

[Calle&Jakesmom]

Ugghh... looks like rain for most of our drive on Saturday (DC, Viginia, NC, SC, GA) and then maybe clearing up by the Florida border. I guess it could be worse (and the forcast still might change), but we always look forward to our rest stop breaks for a chance to walk around and feel the weather getting warmer as we head south.

 

[dvczerfs]

We are going to be leaving October 30. I figure it won't travel as fast as if it were in the middle of the night, but 78 should not be totally slow right? Last year DC added about 45 minutes!

And when you say your times include stops...can you elaborate? LOL We have 3 kids so our stops and yours are probably different I'm guessing. Last time we stopped 3 times. Two were to get gas and go to the bathroom...so 10 minutes. The third was to eat...but McDonald's so like 20 minutes tops. Oh...then we needed to stop one last time about an hour out of WDW because we didn't fill up with the McD's stop.So, 4 stops...45 or so minutes. I'm guessing we will do about the same this time too. But, not make an extra stop. Rather, we would eat when we stop for the first fill up.

Also, we will need to get to a store and get water and some other items. What is a good place to go for that? Doesn't need to be on the way. We will probably get that after settling in.

you stop less then i do. starting out we will drive about 4 hours. after that, about every two hours or so. we hit the reststops and we dont linger, we are in and out. we also dont stop for sit down meals. mcds etc... and eat it on the road.
i78 is a toss up. sometimes its a crawl and other times its 70-75mph. leaving at that time of the day, your chances would be better heading 78/81 then heading down to the philly area to hit i95 through philly, baltimore and washington dc.

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

you stop less then i do. starting out we will drive about 4 hours. after that, about every two hours or so. we hit the reststops and we dont linger, we are in and out. we also dont stop for sit down meals. mcds etc... and eat it on the road.
i78 is a toss up. sometimes its a crawl and other times its 70-75mph. leaving at that time of the day, your chances would be better heading 78/81 then heading down to the philly area to hit i95 through philly, baltimore and washington dc.

Ha! So don't tell my kids! They actually were good and didn't drink too excessively on the last trip so we didn't need to stop more than the gas stops and eating. So, we should be (even with a mcdonald's sit down) around the same time as you since we will stop less frequently. I would love (and so would DH) to shave 2 hours or close to it! I'll bring snacks so we will only need dinner and I will be sure to do that when we need to refuel the first time. So, kill two birds with one stone Then, figure one more gas stop before they go to sleep for the night so they can go to the bathroom then. Then last stop will be while they sleep...then Disney!! (Hopefully) Thinking far ahead but already excited!

 

[stasijane]

I am excited but a bit unprepaired. It looks like the big snow storm comming toward the Midwest has us leaving a day early. I would rather leave a day early then try to drive in snow and ice.

 

[BC1836]

I am excited but a bit unprepaired. It looks like the big snow storm comming toward the Midwest has us leaving a day early. I would rather leave a day early then try to drive in snow and ice.

You have just identified a major advantage that driving to WDW has over flying: flexibility, especially regarding weather concerns.

Imagine if you had air tix and wanted to leave a day early!

All the best.

 

[cruisingkat]

Darn! This is apparently only along the I-95 route into Florida, not I-75.

Or is there one, and I've just missed it EVERY time I've gone?

There are several - one on I95, one on I75 and even one on I10.

Here is a link to the Florida Welcome Centers:
http://www.visitflorida.com/articles/florida-welcome-centers

 

[OklahomaTourist]

There are several - one on I95, one on I75 and even one on I10.

Here is a link to the Florida Welcome Centers:
http://www.visitflorida.com/articles/florida-welcome-centers

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[MIChessGuy]

There are several - one on I95, one on I75 and even one on I10.

I make it a point always to stop at the I-75 welcome center. They have many shelves of free tourist literature, along with free orange juice and grapefruit juice. I believe their vending area has a change machine, helpful in case plans include a lot of driving on Florida toll roads.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I am excited but a bit unprepaired. It looks like the big snow storm comming toward the Midwest has us leaving a day early. I would rather leave a day early then try to drive in snow and ice.

Have fun! Looks like the storm is a bit later than predicted, so hopefully you got a nice head start!!

 

[BC1836]

Who will be making the first 2,000+ mile round trip drive of March?

All the best.

 

[Colleen27]

Who will be making the first 2,000+ mile round trip drive of March?

All the best.

I might have that honor - we're leaving around 2:30pm on the 1st with a slight detour to pick up the friend that is joining us on this trip. I should be on I75 and be Florida bound by 4.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Just returned from our first ever "drive" to Disney. It was a combination trip. We left WNY and made it to Charlotte, NC the first day. From there we went to Jacksonville to visit a friend and final destination was Tampa to visit UT for my DS. We then made it to Disney for 2 days. Sad - all that driving and just 2 days at Disney.

We left and did some shopping at the outlets and stopped for oranges and pecans and made it to Mt. Airy, NC the first day. Visited the area and made it back to WNY the next day.

All together 2758. Not bad for our first time. I would do it again, maybe leave the 17 yo boy at home, but DH and I enjoyed it.

 

[Tanooki]

Who will be making the first 2,000+ mile round trip drive of March?

All the best.

We should leave around 5am on March 1st so it might be us

This will be our 6th drive but it's also a family reunion since my sister, her family and our parents will travel as well in my sister's minivan and it'll be a first for them
We plan on leaving together but not on absolutely following each other as planning potty breaks for 12 people would be too hard (it's difficult enough with 6 people in the car...)

Getting close...