For those folks driving!

[DJFan88]

I was hoping there would be a page like this, I'm driving from Northern Virginia roughly 30 minutes from D.C.; mapquest said it should take 13.5 hrs to get there. Is that roughly accurate, what are some tips you could lend my way as this will be the first time I've driven this long with a 5yo.

There will be 3 adults but only 2 driving (myself and my sister in law)I told my wife I would like to leave around 8-9 pm the night before arrival to have the 5 yo sleep most of the trip(but how likely will that be as she will be hopped up on Disney goofballs). I'm working a nine hour shift, coming home showering and leaving. My sister in law is driving the first 5 hour leg so I can rest, then I'm driving straight through. At the very least it should be interesting...

Edit:
Also if anyone who is seasoned at this knows of better rest stops along route 95s for restroom breaks and quick meals I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks!

You should be fine. I would love our trips to sound so smooth. We are on the MA/CT border with more like a 20 hr. trip and the only reason we had leave at 5-6 pm (after working also) is to clear the heavy traffic areas like NY/NJ/DC. Both of us stay up to make sure the other is still awake but the kids always slept fine.
You have 2 drivers and are mostly through the big traffic areas. It seems like you will clear Jacksonville before it gets too bad, and Orlando will definetly be picking up though.
5 year old --- does he or she have a Nintendo ds or something? How about the dvd player for the car that goes on the back of the front seat for the back seat passengers to watch.
One year, I waited till we got to NC (which was quite aways already, but felt like it was time) and surprised the kids with a new ds game I knew they wanted and then they kept busy for the rest of the time.

 

[jwoods703]

You should be fine. I would love our trips to sound so smooth. We are on the MA/CT border with more like a 20 hr. trip and the only reason we had leave at 5-6 pm (after working also) is to clear the heavy traffic areas like NY/NJ/DC. Both of us stay up to make sure the other is still awake but the kids always slept fine.
You have 2 drivers and are mostly through the big traffic areas. It seems like you will clear Jacksonville before it gets too bad, and Orlando will definetly be picking up though.
5 year old --- does he or she have a Nintendo ds or something? How about the dvd player for the car that goes on the back of the front seat for the back seat passengers to watch.
One year, I waited till we got to NC (which was quite aways already, but felt like it was time) and surprised the kids with a new ds game I knew they wanted and then they kept busy for the rest of the time.

Yeah we have a portable dvd player with a bunch of dvds. I definitely like the idea of surprising her with a treat mid way through the ride, but I'm hoping if I leave early enough I'll only have about 5 hours of "awake" time. Thank you!

 

[msquoted]

Hi everyone!
We are roadtrippin' this summer as well. Driving from Central, Illinois to WDW. We are leaving on a Friday morning, staying the night in Chattanooga, TN that night, and finishing our trip the next day.

This will be, by far, the longest roadtrip our kids have ever been on (the longest before this being about 9hrs.) Hopefully the planning we're putting into ahead of time will make it go as smoothly as possible

 

[msquoted]

Avoid any times anywhere near rush hour by Atlanta!!! It can add hours!!!

We will be driving through Atlanta on a Saturday, so I was wondering if there was still anytime we should avoid it or is the weekend pretty safe?

 

[JayCab]

Hi, folks.

Currently planning a trip that will involve us doing the last leg down I-95/I-4 from Savannah, GA into WDW. I have two main concerns that I've seen touched on in the forum but I wanted to check to see if anything has changed. The current plan is to try and arrive at WDW (PO-Riv) around noon or so (with a departure time of 6-7 AM). If it matters, it'll be a Tuesday.

• Jacksonville Traffic: It looks like JAX traffic runs around 7-9 AM. Savannah's 2 hours north of Jacksonville, so we'll be catching the tail end of that. Would we be better off taking the eastern I-295 beltway to avoid going through downtown traffic, or can we expect it to largely clear up by then?
  
• Orlando Traffic: We'll be hitting Orlando around 11 AM. During midday, is traffic on I-4 sufficient that we will want to instead take TOLL-417 around the city?

Looking at Google, taking those two detours is expected to only add ~20 minutes to the trip even under ideal conditions. Would it be worth the extra cushion to simply plan on taking the two around-the-problem routes, and then be pleasantly surprised if we check traffic on approaching the cities and find it clear?

Thanks, everyone.

 

[MarineVet]

Hi, folks.

Currently planning a trip that will involve us doing the last leg down I-95/I-4 from Savannah, GA into WDW. I have two main concerns that I've seen touched on in the forum but I wanted to check to see if anything has changed. The current plan is to try and arrive at WDW (PO-Riv) around noon or so (with a departure time of 6-7 AM). If it matters, it'll be a Tuesday.

• Jacksonville Traffic: It looks like JAX traffic runs around 7-9 AM. Savannah's 2 hours north of Jacksonville, so we'll be catching the tail end of that. Would we be better off taking the eastern I-295 beltway to avoid going through downtown traffic, or can we expect it to largely clear up by then?
  
• Orlando Traffic: We'll be hitting Orlando around 11 AM. During midday, is traffic on I-4 sufficient that we will want to instead take TOLL-417 around the city?

Looking at Google, taking those two detours is expected to only add ~20 minutes to the trip even under ideal conditions. Would it be worth the extra cushion to simply plan on taking the two around-the-problem routes, and then be pleasantly surprised if we check traffic on approaching the cities and find it clear?

Thanks, everyone.

We drive down from Charleston SC its about 7 hours or so. My advice is based on the seven times we have driven it since 2010 in the months of November, February, May, October and December. We have never come down in the really crowded times. The first four times we hit heavy traffic on I-4 and had it come to a complete stop in several places, and only once were we traveling during rush hour. Then we found the toll road 417 and I would not travel any other way now. Even though we have to pull off and throw money into the toll booth several times, we have never encountered such congestion that I have regretted taking this road.

The time you hit Jacksonville can be a factor in the traffic, but parts of I-95 are sometimes down to two lanes at times due to construction, and I've encountered miles of crawling traffic due to accidents. I-295 west of the city can also get crowded, and I much prefer the eastern route around the city.

I've thought about the little additional time I "might" be spending if the main routes were clear and moving at speed limits at the time I chose to go around them, but I would rather know I am spending 20 more minutes and keep moving than chance the frustration of spending an hour or more trapped in stopped traffic, especially after an all day drive, I just don't have a lot of patience left by then.

 

[Poohbear77]

Thanks for your help

 

[andreajb]

We will be driving through Atlanta on a Saturday, so I was wondering if there was still anytime we should avoid it or is the weekend pretty safe?

I live about an hour from Atlanta. The weekends are much better for traffic as long as they aren't doing any road construction on the interstate that you are traveling on.

 

[DISNEY180]

(subscribe)

Planning to drive Ottawa-Orlando around 20 Dec 2013 or so, back maybe around 2 Jan 2014. Family of 5 (me, DW, DS, DD, DD) in a 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan. Staying offsite at The Fountains on i-drive. Driven around Orlando plenty, but have always flown and rented a car. Planning to take the I-81 I-77 I-95 route. All plans subject to change, just getting started at this.

We live 2 hours north of Ottawa I wanted to ask you how was the drive and how long did it take? We drove at Xmas and it took us almost 24 hours of driving. Did it take you that long? Did you go thought DC or around?

We are trying to decide whether to fly or drive, as flying out of Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto is so expensive. Thought of flying out of either Rochester or Albany New york but both of those places are 6 hours aways from us.

Any thought would be great

Cheers

 

[braddillman]

We left in a terrible snowstorm, and took an 3 hours to get to I-81 from Ottawa (normally 2), but things got much better very quickly. One of the hazards of winter driving.

We drove approx. 4am-9pm the first day (17 hrs) to get to North Carolina. Then 7am to 5pm the 2nd day (10 hrs). We hit a lot of holiday traffic around Washington. Our GPS kept telling us to get off I-95 but we didn't listen (didn't want to risk getting lost). Also hit some morning traffic in NC and SC that I wasn't expecting. I think without the storm and traffic we'd have done around 21 hours and had two shorter days (like we'd hoped).

The driving was generally pretty good. I think the big problem was the holidays. Every highway, mall, restaurant and gas station was busy. The traffic around Washington was the last Saturday afternoon before Christmas, duh, of course there was insane traffic (the radio agreed). I'd drive again, definitely. But I don't think I'll ever go in peak season again, driving or flying.

If I drove again, I'd probably take the I-81 much further south before getting over to I-95, say, in SC (is it I-77? can't recall). Stay away from Washington. Though that route is pretty simple, I think you'll always hit traffic there.

For the drive&fly scenario, we always price Syracuse (3 hrs drive from Ottawa). I think that makes more sense in the off season when prices are lower (esp for rental cars). During peak season, the price for a minivan for 2 weeks was around $1,200 - less than the total round trip cost of driving. But in off season it could be less than $500. We have a family of 5, so small differences in cost add up more for us than smaller families.

We live 2 hours north of Ottawa I wanted to ask you how was the drive and how long did it take? We drove at Xmas and it took us almost 24 hours of driving. Did it take you that long? Did you go thought DC or around?

We are trying to decide whether to fly or drive, as flying out of Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto is so expensive. Thought of flying out of either Rochester or Albany New york but both of those places are 6 hours aways from us.

Any thought would be great

Cheers

 

[DISNEY180]

Thanks for the reply We drove the first day til Richmond VA and wetn the long way around Washington on the 81 then cut in on the 66 to the 95.. Two very long days for sure.

I looked into Syracuse but the cheapest I could find was $882 from US Airways for 2 for this August, go 2 hours west to Rochester and got a price for $666 from Southwest I think worth the drive as parking and hotel will be the same.

 

[babesboo99]

Hi everyone, we are driving from Albany, NY we leave Oct 24th - and return Nov 4th. My question is is there anyway i can rent a car to drive down there drop the car off then get another rental for the way home. our first 5 days will be at universal then onto Disney. I looked up renting one for that amount of time but it would cost about the same as a plane ticket and we love to drive and we also have someone that will not fly.

 

[ljc3162]

Driving from kansas city to ga, stop for a night, then on to Daytona. Any tips on rest stops or stops along the way?

 

[dtats]

Hi everyone, we are driving from Albany, NY we leave Oct 24th - and return Nov 4th. My question is is there anyway i can rent a car to drive down there drop the car off then get another rental for the way home. our first 5 days will be at universal then onto Disney. I looked up renting one for that amount of time but it would cost about the same as a plane ticket and we love to drive and we also have someone that will not fly.

Hi BB99,
In a word, I would say, yes, you can do a one-way car rental from ALB to ORL, and then rent another one-way vehicle back to the Capital District (I live about 50 miles north of Albany), but I have to ask; why would you want to do that?
I'm guessing that two one-way rentals will be much more expensive than one round-trip car rental. Of course, the only way you'll know for sure is to call a few rental agencies for pricing. But, IMO, you can't beat the luxury of having a vehicle at your own disposal while visiting the parks!

We always drive down to WDW from upstate NY, and we're always thankful to have a car ready to take us to our destinations. Our past experiences relying on Disney buses have not been pleasant, and if you're spending time at multiple parks in the Orlando area, you appreciate the convenience of coming and going as you please. You'll have to pay for parking (unless you're staying "on-site"), but I think it's a worthwhile trade-off.

We'll be driving down in August for a combination Disney cruise & WDW stay, and I can't wait!

 

[alexensmom]

Is there anyone who has driven from the Roanoke, VA area that has gone 220 through to Greensboro and on to Florence, SC? Wondered if it was any faster than driving to Winston-Salem and through Charlotte before connecting to I77. Thanks!!

 

[asmit4]

I'm driving alone from Cleveland, OH to Orlando. (no kids with me-I'm going for a girls weekend and then my mom and son are flying down after that to meet me).....

While I know I can do the drive- I'm a little nervous about it being so long. Wondering if any of you have done the drive alone, or with just you and the kids? How many hours did you manage safely in 1 day?

I can leave Cleveland at 9pm at night and drive 3 hours or so, get a hotel, then spit the rest into 2 days of driving.....OR I can leave Cleveland around 6am in the morning and drive to Savannah- about 12 hours and then do the rest of the driving the next day- around 5 hours.

It's the 12 hours of driving that's daunting...wondering if I can do it...hmmmm....

 

[auntfrannie]

I'm driving alone from Cleveland, OH to Orlando. (no kids with me-I'm going for a girls weekend and then my mom and son are flying down after that to meet me).....

While I know I can do the drive- I'm a little nervous about it being so long. Wondering if any of you have done the drive alone, or with just you and the kids? How many hours did you manage safely in 1 day?

I can leave Cleveland at 9pm at night and drive 3 hours or so, get a hotel, then spit the rest into 2 days of driving.....OR I can leave Cleveland around 6am in the morning and drive to Savannah- about 12 hours and then do the rest of the driving the next day- around 5 hours.

It's the 12 hours of driving that's daunting...wondering if I can do it...hmmmm....

Sure you can do it! I'm in the Pittsburgh area and have gone solo many times. It takes me 16 hours. I used to stop in GA right before I hit FL. But now I drive to Orlando and stay off-site for the first night.

I stop every 2-3 hours just to stretch, get coffee, fill up the gas, etc. I find that doing that recharges me. Have a great trip!

 

[loveysbydesign]

we'll be hitting the road on 5/23 on a last minute trip from PA! woo-hoo!

 

[asmit4]

Sure you can do it! I'm in the Pittsburgh area and have gone solo many times. It takes me 16 hours. I used to stop in GA right before I hit FL. But now I drive to Orlando and stay off-site for the first night.

I stop every 2-3 hours just to stretch, get coffee, fill up the gas, etc. I find that doing that recharges me. Have a great trip!

thank you for the vote of confidence It really helps to hear that others have done it

 

[mickeymyfavorite]

Hi Everyone! for those who drive from New York (Long Island) or up north area.

Do you do the drive in one day, or do you stop and do an overnight somewhere. If you do stop along the way where do you stop? Which state?

I'm trying to figure out the driving plan, I don't know what time I should leave since it would be the first time driving to FL I'm a little.