10-12 hours - split it up or do it all at once?

[Fintastic]

We're planning on driving for our trip next year. It's about 10-12 hours. I'm not sure which would be better - doing it all at once or splitting it up.

Doing it all in one day makes for a LONG day, plus we'll be getting in after 8 PM or so.

Splitting it up means we'd have to pay for a hotel along the way, plus having to unload the car that night and load it back up the next morning.

I'm leading toward doing it all in one day. I'm the type of person who, once we get started on a road trip, doesn't like to stop for anything - I like to eat in the car while we're on the road, and even gas/bathroom stops have me looking at my watch. It seems kind of anticlimactic to get started and have to stop at a hotel for the night. I like the idea of getting up early, packing up the car, and being at Disney by the end of the day. And also, to be honest, I'm really not fond of long drives, so I'd like to get it all out of the way at once without splitting it into two parts.

It also makes for a long day having to work all day and then going home, packing up and driving another few hours before stopping for the night. But at the same time I feel like I'm "wasting" our time at Disney if we don't get a jump on our vacation and get there as soon as we can.

We took a huge road trip this summer (Louisiana to Utah) so we already have the portable DVD player and we know the tricks to keeping a young child entertained in the car. Actually, 12 hours in a car is NOTHING now that we've done 1800 miles each way.

Thoughts?

 

[jakenjess]

12 hours is a piece of cake! We drove straight from Maine (26 hours) without stopping overnight (we had three drivers plus two kids). The drivers took turns sleeping in the back seat of the van. It was LONG and I can't see us ever doing it again, but I'd definitely do 12 hours at once and get it over with. Have fun!

 

[Donald is #1]

For a 10-12 hour trip, I would definitely do it in one day. Anything longer than that, I would probably split into multiple days but for 12 hours, I would definitely drive straight through.

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

We're planning on driving for our trip next year. It's about 10-12 hours. I'm not sure which would be better - doing it all at once or splitting it up.

Doing it all in one day makes for a LONG day, plus we'll be getting in after 8 PM or so.

Splitting it up means we'd have to pay for a hotel along the way, plus having to unload the car that night and load it back up the next morning.

I'm leading toward doing it all in one day. I'm the type of person who, once we get started on a road trip, doesn't like to stop for anything - I like to eat in the car while we're on the road, and even gas/bathroom stops have me looking at my watch. It seems kind of anticlimactic to get started and have to stop at a hotel for the night. I like the idea of getting up early, packing up the car, and being at Disney by the end of the day. And also, to be honest, I'm really not fond of long drives, so I'd like to get it all out of the way at once without splitting it into two parts.

It also makes for a long day having to work all day and then going home, packing up and driving another few hours before stopping for the night. But at the same time I feel like I'm "wasting" our time at Disney if we don't get a jump on our vacation and get there as soon as we can.

We took a huge road trip this summer (Louisiana to Utah) so we already have the portable DVD player and we know the tricks to keeping a young child entertained in the car. Actually, 12 hours in a car is NOTHING now that we've done 1800 miles each way.

Thoughts?

I'd definitely do it in one day.. from your sig it appears that your daughter will be 4 by the time you go... that's 3 new movies and three of her favorites on the DVD. If you left by 6:30, you'd be there in time for a late dinner or a late evening snack and some time for her to burn off a little energy before bedtime.

 

[cybrkitn]

I'd say do it in one day and split the driving between you and your DH. Is it possible for you to leave work a little earlier or the day off before you leave? If so, try to do either one. It will definately help with the packing and loading the car. Are you able to leave earlier than you had originally planned?

My DH and I try to leave our house at 4:30 am when we are driving from Long Island, NY to Staunton, VA so that we can get there between 1 and 3 pm. We have a 4 year old and do stop for meals and "pit" stops so we usually take about 9-10 hours to get there. Although, when my DH and I were still dating, we followed his parents down and it took us 12-14 hours to get there (my FIL back then was in his 60's and now is in his late 70's so he drives very very slow).

 

[Fintastic]

I'd say do it in one day and split the driving between you and your DH. Is it possible for you to leave work a little earlier or the day off before you leave? If so, try to do either one. It will definately help with the packing and loading the car. Are you able to leave earlier than you had originally planned?

I'm trying to decide whether I want to work half a day or a full day on the Friday. Saturday morning we'd probably leave between 6:30 and 7:00 AM. There's something so exciting about getting up early to go on a trip! Only one year and one week to go.

 

[cybrkitn]

I'm trying to decide whether I want to work half a day or a full day on the Friday. Saturday morning we'd probably leave between 6:30 and 7:00 AM. There's something so exciting about getting up early to go on a trip! Only one year and one week to go.

Definately . The only problem we have is that we try to leave at 4:30 am and wind up leaving at the latest 7 am (as was last trip). So many last minute items to pack of things that were used that morning, plus getting our son up and dressed to go. I get so frazzled trying to make sure we have everything we need.

What ever you end up doing, enjoy your trip (even if it's a year away).

 

[Fintastic]

Definately . The only problem we have is that we try to leave at 4:30 am and wind up leaving at the latest 7 am (as was last trip). So many last minute items to pack of things that were used that morning, plus getting our son up and dressed to go. I get so frazzled trying to make sure we have everything we need.

What ever you end up doing, enjoy your trip (even if it's a year away).

I'll probably be so excited that I'll be up at 5:00 AM getting things ready anyway.

 

[Got Quattro?]

It's 1,000 miles dead on for us to drive from St. Louis. We have done this to many times to list over the years. Both with and without kids. It takes us about 15 hours.

The key for us is to leave Friday when we get home from work and have dinner. That puts us on the road by 6:00pm. My wife drives and my daughter watches a dvd (4 yo last time). We stop and get gas between nashville and chatanooga, and I drive on thorugh the night while every one else sleeps.

We stop for breakfast in Ocala around 8:00am, eat a big cracker barrle breakfast, then the wife drives to disney while I sleep.

We arrive at around 11:00am not tried from the drive, and don't waste precious day time hours driving.

Plus, I-75 through atlanta at 1:00am is a cake walk.

 

[Fintastic]

Thank goodness we don't go through Atlanta! It's I-10 to I-75 and that's it!

I can't sleep in the car at all! Otherwise, night travel sounds pretty good.

 

[Yzerbear19]

12 hours is fine for one day, but I agee with the other poster and any longer than that you should probably split it up. I never want to drive more than 12 hours ever again! Any further than that and I want to fly!

When we drove from Michigan in 2005 we split it up because I was the only driver on the rental car since it would have been too expensive to add my sister. Not to mention that my sister doesn't like highway driving so we were forced to split it up. We ended up getting a hotel in Orangeburg, SC that was quite nice and it was only 5 hours from Orlando. We ended up getting to Orlando at like 2:00 pm and were well rested and refreshed from the 15 hour drive the day before. We had planned ahead to split it up so we had each packed a small bag with overnight items, personal care items, and clothes for the next day so that when we did stop we only got out those small bags and left the rest of the stuff, like our main suitcases, in the car. This seems to work well.

We're flying in January since I don't want to even try to drive that far in winter.

 

[juligrl]

All at once, but leave early.
We always do this to my grandmas house in St. Louis which is just about 11 hours for us straight through (used to be 12 until the spped limit increased from 55-65). We usually leave pre-dawnish 4:00am and stop only for bathroom breaks. Nice because as kids, we slept until 8ish and had 4 hours of the drive behind us. We'd get there by 4:00pm and still have a whole afternoon and evening to enjoy.

 

[clkelley]

It depends for us. We have an 10 - 11 hour drive. We also have to go through Atlanta, so we do split it up. We are totally packed and ready to go when we leave for work on Friday. We are home from work and on the road by 5:15 on Friday. That runs us through Atlanta about 10:30 pm. Very easy. We then stop for the night just South of Atlanta, then out the door again at 6:30 on Saturday morning. That gets us to WDW about 1:30 - 2pm on Saturday.

Even if you don't split up the drive on the way down, I would recommend splitting it up on the way home.

For example, if you were planning on checking out Sunday morning and driving, end your reservation on Saturday instead. Sleep in/load the car till check-out time. Then spend Saturday afternoon and evening in the parks till the kids are done. Then hop in the loaded car and drive to Ocala. Stop at a hotel there, then finish the drive the next morning. You won't lose any park time that way, and it will get you on the road. Every time we have spent the last night at WDW when driving, we have "done one last thing" the last morning, and it was way too late when we left and way too late when we got home.

 

[Erie Islands]

See, I think it all depends on what day you are checking in. If you are able to leave two days before you check in, then on the second day of travel, you could possibly get there before noon and have the whole afternoon to enjoy either your hotel pool, DTD or whatever. It would be like getting an extra day. We're checking into SSR in March on a Tuesday. It takes us 15 hours, so we'll leave on Monday morning and travel pretty far so that on Tuesday we can be at Disney in time for lunch and walking around. I know what you mean, though, I hate stopping for anything when I travel. When I was a kid, we stopped when the gas tank was empty and that was it!

 

[kydisneyfans]

Just got home from 13 hours on the road-left Disney at 7:15 this morning and saw the front door around 8:15. I drove 11 hours, my wife drove 2. Anything under 16 hours in one day is a straight through drive for us.

 

[cranbiz]

IMHO 12 hours is a straight thru shot. I would not consider stopping.

Of course, this is from someone who does the 20-22 hour drive to FL from MA straight thru. I have done my trip with DN 2 and 4 and they were fine both ways. just have little things to keep kids occupied and you will be fine.

I just got back last week driving both ways by my self and I'm going back this afternoon again by myself. (We are moving to FL and I had 2 interviews that week and now one this coming Monday afternoon)

 

[OKW Lover]

I wouldn't mind stopping when I'm almost there on the way down. Do 8 hours or so and stop at a cheap(er) hotel that night rather than spending more money on a Disney hotel. Then the next day you'll be there early and refreshed.

As far as packing/unpacking the car goes, just put one nights stuff in a separate bag that is easy to get to. Bring that into the hotel that night - don't bring everything.

 

[Magic2000]

I'd also suggest driving straight through. What part of La are you from? We're from Bush, which is right outside of Covington (St. Tammany Parish). It takes us about 10 hrs - which isn't really too bad. We do normally try to leave around 4:00 am though - while the kids are sleeping and the traffic is still really light.

In June, I drove with my 3 DDs (DH flew up later during the week to meet us) - we actually got on the road around 9:30 am - we were planning to drive to Tallahassee and stop for the night. It was still early when we got to Tallahassee so we drove a little further, and then a little further - and boom - we were there!!!! We were eating dinner at the Cracker Barrell on Hwy 192, minutes from Disney, well before 8:00 pm!!

We got a good night's sleep and were ready to go in the morning!

Have a great trip!!!! Its not that bad driving from La - although traffic does still bottleneck when going across the bridge in Florida (the bridge that was messed up from the hurricane). Other than that - its a smooth drive!!!

 

[CamColt]

We do 24 hours straight through so I would definitley do 12 all at once.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We're in NW LA, so it takes us about 14 hours. We usually leave after school/work on Friday, drive to Mobile (about half way) and then do the rest the next day. But we get there about 2P. Plus you lose 1 hour going. (But you gain it back on the way home).