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

[BC1836]

We made it down safely. Took about 15 hours. We hit rain fron Jacksonville through Orlando. It did clear up early in the afternoon.

Howdy, "neighbor!"

We're glad you made it safe and sound.

Toms River pre-dawn temperature: 27 degrees. Right now in Barnegat it's 45 degrees, and according to my smartphone it's 79 degrees in Lake Beuna Vista at 12:39 p.m.

All the best.

 

[your friend]

Good luck! Where are you starting from?

we are starting from the Delaware memorial bridge

 

[dvczerfs]

We made it down safely. Took about 15 hours. We hit rain fron Jacksonville through Orlando. It did clear up early in the afternoon.

glad to hear you made it. enjoy the weather.

At Sears right now getting new tires for our drive later this month! Hope to get some better gas mileage this time down.

SO EXCITED. We're now AAA members, and DBFs dad got us a TripTik? Is that what its called? Oh well I'm so excited now!

So we are ready for our first drive down to disney. We plan to leave at 7pm on Thursday. We will have four drivers so we should be good to make it in one shot. I have my stops planned and I just bought the new Graham Nash autobiography audiobook for the drive. I'm sleeping all day Thursday and the wife is working. She'll start the drive until she gets sleepy then I'll take over. Wish us luck

good luck!

Howdy, "neighbor!"

We're glad you made it safe and sound.

Toms River pre-dawn temperature: 27 degrees. Right now in Barnegat it's 45 degrees, and according to my smartphone it's 79 degrees in Lake Beuna Vista at 12:39 p.m.

All the best.

BC!!!! 43 days tomorrow!!!!

 

[Beast2Prince]

Another successful 2,000+ mile round trip completed. This was our 3rd drive down, and the first without getting stopped in either accident or construction traffic. For the trip down we took 65/74/75 to the Florida Turnpike. We stopped in Gatlinburg for the weekend during the trip home and took 4/95/26/40 but will probably pick a new route the next time as both kids got car sick coming through the Smokies. Other than that, the drive was a breeze!

 

[LisaNJ25]

Hi guys!! My family and I usually drive down to wdw but this time it's a trip outside of of Orlando with my sister to visit my grandfather for what will probably be his last thanksgiving.

So my sister and I have decided to drive down the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Not leaving till 5 pm from Northern NJ (my sister has to work that day). Plan on driving as far as we can get until we need to stop.. Than getting up very early on Wednesday and back on the road. We will be leaving Florida early Saturday morning to head back.

I have never headed down for the holiday, we usually go in the summer. Can anyone tell me how bad it will be and offer and tips.

Thank you!!

 

[LadyBeBop]

We got back yesterday.

No problems either way, and we made pretty good time. Going down, we took 75-turnpike-4. Except we stayed overnight at a Days Inn in Lake City. DD25 made the reservations, and she didn't realize she made them for the Days Inn about seven miles off of I-75 on I-10. Oh well.

Coming home, we took the 4-95-26-40-75 route. We spent the night at my in-laws who live in Grainger County, TN. We made real good time coming home...DD25 drove most of the way, and she averaged close to 80 MPH. Still thinks she drives too fast.

Probably no more Disney trip until sometime in either 2019 or 2020. Maybe we can sneak in a day somewhere between now and then. We will see.

 

[BC1836]

We got back yesterday.

Probably no more Disney trip until sometime in either 2019 or 2020. Maybe we can sneak in a day somewhere between now and then. We will see.

What? 2019 or 2020? Say it ain't so!

You must "sneak in a day" next year. That's an order!

All the best.

 

[LadyBeBop]

What? 2019 or 2020? Say it ain't so!

'Fraid so. But at least I got a new siggy. Hope you like it.

You must "sneak in a day" next year. That's an order!

Won't be 2014. Planning for my youngest DD's wedding. And we have to visit my eldest DD in Louisiana. At least once. Maybe twice. And we'll be driving. We don't pay ten zillion dollars just to go through a TSA scan.

We did take DGD5 to a day at Disney when she was about 15 months old. Maybe we can manage it with our next grandchild (date of arrival TBD).

All the best.

As always, to you too.

 

[amcnj]

Good travels to all on the roads or soon to be. At least gas prices are still moving downward. Many stations are $3.05 in my area now, so they definitely must be below $3 in other parts of the state.

 

[OKW Lover]

Saw 3.059 at the Hess station on the way into WDW today.

 

[BC1836]

Saw 3.059 at the Hess station on the way into WDW today.

Thanks for the encouraing report!

Now then... it's time to use monorails, launches and other forms of WDW transportation to get you to your next destination!

All the best.

 

[your friend]

We hit the road in 21 hours!!!!

 

[Jhuff8181]

Due to finances and current airline prices it looks like we will be making the drive from New Hampshire to WDW in January. There will be seven of us in a Suburban ages 53, 52, 25, 24, 18, 15 and 12 so there are many drivers (that is if I let anyone else drive). We plan on leaving about 6:00am on a Sunday driving straight through and hoping to arrive by 9:00am Monday. My question is more about the drive home. What time do you usually leave WDW for the trip home? Since it is never a great trip leaving WDW what do you do to lighten it up a bit?

 

[nono]

What time do you usually leave WDW for the trip home?

We only go back to VA Beach on day 1. I am a good morning driver, so we leave at 6 a.m. I don't love I-4 and find it's most loveable fairly early in the morning. YMMV.

 

[sersee05]

Hey any fellow jerseyites! WE have decided to drive from South Jersey to WDW....why thank you for the applause, so kind! Anyhow we did it a loooooong way back .

Straight down the lovely yellow brick 95 and trust me we wanted to click our heels and go home. 95 had a bad accident ...not one where people hold up traffic to look to see if there is any blood or anything but bad enough to shut down all of 95 southbound.

It added hours and hours to our trip. We ended up stopping at Walmart and getting one of those giant map books...remember those? We ended up taking back roads . Anyhow we had a plan to stop and we did in Savannah.

My husband being the adventurous driving loving soul that he is has decided to not stop and just get our butts down there.

Sooooo I am assuming it is 95 all the way What are some of the routes you all take? What have you found is the best time to leave? All I care about is getting through that horrible Dc area..sorry peeps from dc...but your 495 just isn't fun.

I don't know if we would be able to handle driving all night long..we are delicate flowers who are exhausted most of the time... Seriously..my husband and I usually can't make it past ten o clock without falling asleep..

 

[patclairesmom]

Hey any fellow jerseyites! WE have decided to drive from South Jersey to WDW....why thank you for the applause, so kind! Anyhow we did it a loooooong way back .

Straight down the lovely yellow brick 95 and trust me we wanted to click our heels and go home. 95 had a bad accident ...not one where people hold up traffic to look to see if there is any blood or anything but bad enough to shut down all of 95 southbound.

It added hours and hours to our trip. We ended up stopping at Walmart and getting one of those giant map books...remember those? We ended up taking back roads . Anyhow we had a plan to stop and we did in Savannah.

My husband being the adventurous driving loving soul that he is has decided to not stop and just get our butts down there.

Sooooo I am assuming it is 95 all the way What are some of the routes you all take? What have you found is the best time to leave? All I care about is getting through that horrible Dc area..sorry peeps from dc...but your 495 just isn't fun.

I don't know if we would be able to handle driving all night long..we are delicate flowers who are exhausted most of the time... Seriously..my husband and I usually can't make it past ten o clock without falling asleep..

Yeah, you made it over

 

[sersee05]

lololol you must think i am a total ding dong...lol

 

[sharadoc]

Hey any fellow jerseyites! WE have decided to drive from South Jersey to WDW....why thank you for the applause, so kind! Anyhow we did it a loooooong way back .

Straight down the lovely yellow brick 95 and trust me we wanted to click our heels and go home. 95 had a bad accident ...not one where people hold up traffic to look to see if there is any blood or anything but bad enough to shut down all of 95 southbound.

It added hours and hours to our trip. We ended up stopping at Walmart and getting one of those giant map books...remember those? We ended up taking back roads . Anyhow we had a plan to stop and we did in Savannah.

My husband being the adventurous driving loving soul that he is has decided to not stop and just get our butts down there.

Sooooo I am assuming it is 95 all the way What are some of the routes you all take? What have you found is the best time to leave? All I care about is getting through that horrible Dc area..sorry peeps from dc...but your 495 just isn't fun.

I don't know if we would be able to handle driving all night long..we are delicate flowers who are exhausted most of the time... Seriously..my husband and I usually can't make it past ten o clock without falling asleep..

Welcome to the thread! We drive at least once a year, sometimes more, and we have our system pretty well "down." We leave from west of Philly, so we usually jump on the Blue Route or 202 to hit 95.

If you leave on a weekday, we recommend leaving 9 am and driving 12-14 hours, then sleep over in North Georgia (Savannah area). You can get up the next morning, eat breakfast at the hotel and hit the road aroun 9-9:30. Stop at the Florida Welcome Center for free OJ, then back on the road. That will get you to WDW around 2 or 3 pm. You'll be well-rested and ready to hit the parks. It's worth the money to pay for that hotel room. Just mentally prepare yourself for the time. On a weekend, you can leave earlier. But - Fridays and Saturdays in the summer always suck, so you should leave home by 4 am to avoid the problem.

Some roads we take: either stay on 95 or do 495 East, never take 495 west around DC. It's always a problem.

295 around Richmond is nice, a little longer but less stressful. 295 around Jacksonville is also nice, although the construction is generally over, so it's a lot smoother through there. The big tip I always make is taking 417 off I-4 at Sanford. It's a toll road, but so much less busy. Driving through Orlando is always such a stressful situation, there's usually traffic or accidents with tourists and locals. To us, it's worth the tolls of $7.50 or so.

My other tip - get a good I-95 Exit Guide and use it to plan out your rest stops, etc. Also try to eat at local restaurants rather than chains. I have gotten upset stomach more than once from a Cracker Barrel, McDonald's, Zaxby's, even Steak & Shake was a little rough. Roadfood.com is another good source.

You can do it!

 

[nono]

What are some of the routes you all take? What have you found is the best time to leave?

Seriously, when you are awake. We've done overnights well when I could take naps the 2-3 days prior to departure (since I do the majority of overnight driving). We've done long day first day. We've done long day second day. All depends on how we're feeling and when we can break away from regular life.

But whatever you do, figure out how to avoid morning and evening rush hour around DC on weekdays. That's the number one rule. Have fun planning!

 

[sersee05]

Oh yes! I know about the Dc area...definitely want to skip that nonsense. Lol when your awake....That works !

My concern is the driving straight through..How long has it take people from the Jersey area?