16/17hr drive Options

[cassandrap83]

We have driven to FL once before. Never with our kids. At the time of travel they will be 3 1/2 & almost 5.

We'll be driving from Pittsburgh.

Would you recommend leaving here at 4am on Saturday and driving straight through the day, checking into a cheapy I-Drive hotel Saturday in the evening, & then checking into our Disney resort Sunday morning?

OR

Would you recommend leaving here at 4pm Friday and driving straight through the night, arriving Saturday morning, checking into a cheapy I-Drive hotel & then checking into our Disney resort Sunday morning?

Is the trade-off of kids sleeping most of the way worth the tired-ness that my husband & I will be experiencing?

Thanks for the advice!!

 

[GinaGrumpyDwarf]

We have done this exact route at least 6 times and we always leave about 4pm. We always drive straight through and have never had a problem. When we come back from disney we have done it straights through and stopping overnight. We enjoy stopping on the way back at a hotel with a pool andit always seems to be easier that way. pm me for any questions as we are from pittsburgh also.

 

[2DisPrincesses]

We are driving from MI in June and will be leaving at 4pm and driving straight through. We haven't driven with the girls, but we're hoping they will sleep well in the car!!

 

[disneymayz]

Central PA here - We leave around 7PM. We usually get pizza for dinner that way we can just throw the pizza box in the trash can and go. By dinner time I have already had a few hour nap since I will be driving from 7-5 or 6 when my wife takes over for about 1-2 hours. We then stop at McDonalds for a quick bite and on to Disney we go. It usually takes us 15 hrs total. Which puts us at Disney 10AM. We check in and if the room is not ready then we hang by the pool, tour the resort, swim (they have changing rooms), etc.

If you are going to drive through the night I would say check into your Disney resort since you will be getting there early and you then don't have to unload stuff from the car twice.

Main reson we leave at 7PM is that at that time we don't have to stop and eat dinner and also we just put the kids in their jams.

 

[SurfinTX]

We will be making about the same drive from Dallas. We will be leaving at 7 pm and arrive at a cheap hotel outside Disney around 3 pm the next day. We figure we could go to Downtown Disney that evening and then check in early the next day.

We will have a small bag with what we will need at the hotel so we don't have to load/unload twice.

 

[sticker231]

we drive from New Jersey and leave at night. Like some others have said, we eat dinner and are on our way. I feel it helps because the kids sleep for part of the trip and it gives you some quiet time on the road. You can always hang at the pool wherever you are staying if your room isn't ready. Good luck with your trip.

 

[mrodgers]

I'm not driving 17-18 hours to sit and lounge by a pool all day, I can do that right in my backyard. As soon as we arrive, we will be jumping straight to Magic Kingdom. This is our first trip, I can't see how we could keep the kids, who slept all night in the car and are rip roaring ready to go, satisfied at a pool with the Magic Kingdom 20 minutes away while Mom and Dad are half dead from driving.

We will be at Magic Kingdom as soon as we check in and can leave the resort. Thus, we are leaving early on Saturday and staying 4-5 hours away overnight. That way, the next day is no different than driving to Cedar Point for a day, just a mere 4 hour trip. We will be rip roaring ready to see Disneyworld for the first time for all of us, including Mom and Dad.

Everyone at work recommends that we leave the day before and drive all night. I think that's insane because we will be dead and the kids will be ready to do anything and everything. Seems to be a waste of an entire day to me.

Like I said in another thread, I'm taking Friday off to help Wifey finish packing and to load up the car. Leaving on Saturday at 5 am'ish, which is no different than a morning on a work day, and taking 2 days to go down. The Disney stay is 6 nights no matter how we travel, thus I want the first day to be enjoying seeing Disney for the first time and the first time with my kids, not stumble half asleep around the resort on Sunday.

For the ride home, leaving Saturday and we will take our time maybe stopping a few places on the ride. We're not worried about having a short drive the next day, so we can stop halfway if we want. Get home Sunday and we also took Monday off because I think we will need some rest after this vacation with all the reading I'm doing on how much you walk, hehe.

 

[sharadoc]

I'm not driving 17-18 hours to sit and lounge by a pool all day, I can do that right in my backyard. As soon as we arrive, we will be jumping straight to Magic Kingdom. This is our first trip, I can't see how we could keep the kids, who slept all night in the car and are rip roaring ready to go, satisfied at a pool with the Magic Kingdom 20 minutes away while Mom and Dad are half dead from driving.

We will be at Magic Kingdom as soon as we check in and can leave the resort. Thus, we are leaving early on Saturday and staying 4-5 hours away overnight. That way, the next day is no different than driving to Cedar Point for a day, just a mere 4 hour trip. We will be rip roaring ready to see Disneyworld for the first time for all of us, including Mom and Dad.

Everyone at work recommends that we leave the day before and drive all night. I think that's insane because we will be dead and the kids will be ready to do anything and everything. Seems to be a waste of an entire day to me.

Like I said in another thread, I'm taking Friday off to help Wifey finish packing and to load up the car. Leaving on Saturday at 5 am'ish, which is no different than a morning on a work day, and taking 2 days to go down. The Disney stay is 6 nights no matter how we travel, thus I want the first day to be enjoying seeing Disney for the first time and the first time with my kids, not stumble half asleep around the resort on Sunday.

For the ride home, leaving Saturday and we will take our time maybe stopping a few places on the ride. We're not worried about having a short drive the next day, so we can stop halfway if we want. Get home Sunday and we also took Monday off because I think we will need some rest after this vacation with all the reading I'm doing on how much you walk, hehe.

Great plan and great philosophy

I think you are the perfect candidate to join our little cult of driving EVERY trip! You've got it figured out before you even do it, so that's just great!

 

[kydisneyfans]

We have a 13-14 hour trip and leave around 1-2:00 AM with arrival at checkin time. We use the evening to relax and settle in, then it's off to the parks the next morning.

 

[lorac4disney]

We've done it both ways.

We've left at 9:00pm, driving overnight while the kids slept. It was brutal on me since I had to drive the entire way down there and back. DH can't drive unless he knows exactly where he is going (long story). When we arrived the following evening, I was exhausted and everyone was crabby because you simply don't sleep as well sitting up as you do lying down. Everyone had stiff necks, legs, and butts.

I swore we'd not do it that way again even if it meant that we had to shorten our time at WDW. It started the vacation off on a bad note.

Last year, we left at 4:00am. We had everything packed and loaded up the night before. All we had to do was wake up, climb in the car, and go. The kids went back to sleep for a few more hours. We stopped at Panama City Beach and spent a few days unwinding and getting into vacation mode before continuing on to WDW. We got there late in the evening, checking into a cheap hotel in Kissimmee. We got up early the next morning, checked in at WDW (much to our surprise, they had our room ready), and spent the day in the parks.

This year, we were going to drive, but changed it at the last minute to fly. Our arrival plans did not change though. Our original plan was to leave around 4:00am, drive until we got tired, get a room for the night, and continue our drive the next day. We planned on getting to WDW around noon or so and spending the rest of the day getting into vacation mode. The next day, we will start our day in the parks.

For me, it is not worth the exhaustion to drive through the night. All you want to do afterwards is sleep while all your family wants to do is go.

 

[dblr]

I do it both ways if staying @ DVC resort we take the car so it would be a drive thru the night less traffic and also cooler, this year we are camping so we will be pulling our camper , we will leave earyl am and stop one night on the way down, we will also be camping for 4 nights outside DW before we go into FW.