16+ hr drivers

[hsembrick]

For those of you that drive 16+ hrs, do you split the trip up or drive straight through? For our up coming December trip we are planning to drive 8-10 hrs and then stay the night but now we may drive straight through.

Any suggestions for a drive this long? Just trying to make the best decision!!

 

[sseem76]

When we went down this year we split it up over two days. We did 12 hours the first day then 5 hours the next...

 

[Mlissa88]

We break it down into 2 days as well. A coworker of mine does it in one straight shot with only stops for coffee and bathroom but I get too tired driving to risk that feat.

different strokes for different folks

 

[grahamfam3]

It is roughly 24 hours of driving from where we live to Orlando, and we have done it both straight through and stopping.

We concluded that if we drive stright through, we get there faster, but are so tired and crabby from driving straight through that we spend a day just getting back to normal anyway, so we might as well just stop, spend the night somewhere and get some good sleep in a bed, and finish the drive the second day.

Also, we found that if we drove straight through we would arrive before rooms are ready to check in and had to deal with that.

First day we will drive from around 8 am to 10 pm or so, so we get around 14 or more of the hours done up front, and then have an easier drive the second day like 7 am to 5 pm and are able to have dinner in Orlando.

 

[Reddy]

another vote to stop & rest (19hours here)
I forgot to check to see if you had kids - how use to you & family are used to driving/riding in the car for long time
do you ever drive right thur for other things??

 

[thumbalyna]

My last two trips i have drove straight through. When my daughter was younger we would drive about 12 hours stop and then finish the trip the next day, the drive really isnt that bad. we stop for gas and food.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We drive 15-16 hours, and we drive it straight through. We leave home at 3:30 or so, when the boys get out of school. I pick up part of the driving, but DH does most of it. He is used to being up at night with his job, and it doesn't bother him. We do have an understanding that if he starts getting tired and I'm too tired to drive, we will stop and get a hotel room wherever we are.

 

[sharadoc]

We tried it last trip and loved it. We are just about 16 hours. We leave around 4 am, and get there between 8 and 9 pm if no major traffic jams. Make sure you stop and switch drivers at least every 3 hours, don't let one person do a really long shift or they could lose concentration.

Don't eat anything heavy or could cause you stomach issues. DH and I prefer not to eat meals, but we bring good snacks. Our faves are hard boiled eggs, pretzels, walnuts or some tasty Stuckey's on the road flavored nuts, M&Ms or other finger candy, cheese sticks, tastykakes. We won't touch McDonald's or any other burger drive-thru.

Drink enough water to keep hydrated by not so much that you can't make it to the next rest area

Get a good exit guide and track your trip on there, so you know where the next gas station, rest area, restaurant, etc. are.

 

[3pletprincesses]

We do 27 hours none stop. Both dh and I drive and split the drive. He does usually from 6pm to about 2 am, I do 2am to about 9am,then he does to about 4 and then I finish the trip. We are just too excited to stop and sleep on our way plus to us it's a waste of money as what we save by driving we would pretty much waste on hotel KWIM. We bring lots snacks and drinks for the girls to have in the car and only stop for 2 meals being breakfast and early dinner. We do a few pee/stretching legs breaks and voila.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I have done both (18 hours). We will never do it in one shot again.

 

[hushupu]

I work nights so I generally drive from 4pm through the night while the family sleeps. This gets us through all the big Northeast cities, then the wife drives until later in the afternoon we stop for the night with an hour or 2 to go so we arrive at Disney rested and ready for a full day of fun.

 

[dzorn]

For those of you that drive 16+ hrs, do you split the trip up or drive straight through? For our up coming December trip we are planning to drive 8-10 hrs and then stay the night but now we may drive straight through.

Any suggestions for a drive this long? Just trying to make the best decision!!

We have done it both ways. I perfer to stop. DH perfers to to keep going.

We all perfer to FLY.

Denise in MI

 

[Wadekind]

another vote for stopping. used to drive straight 18hrs and always felt we lost a day trying to get rested up.

 

[Buzz's Buddy]

We've driven twice before, both times we did it without stopping. Both times we traveled overnight to avoid traffic. It took 16 hours the first time and about 18 the second time (we pulled over for a quick nap).

I did the majority of the driving because I can't sleep in the car. The problem was the first time we did it, I ended up with a migraine and was stuck in the room that entire first day.

We are driving again next month; however, we are leaving around noon and we are stopping at a hotel in Savannah so we will hopefully all arrive fairly well rested.

 

[hsembrick]

Wow! Thanks for all the great responses! We have only driven to Disney once before and that was when my kids where younger but we did stop for the evening.

There will be me and both my parents going this trip so we have plenty of drivers, and my mom and I just can't decide if we should leave around noon and drive 8 hrs or so and stop for the night or head out around 3 am and just drive straight through! The kids are really good riders as long as they have all their stuff to keep them busy.

Thanks everyone for all the responses you have given us a lot to think about!

 

[Chelley00]

We've done it (and a 17 hour drive to Texas) a couple of different ways.

We've driven straight through there and straight through back. Never again Driving straight through there was fine because everyone was excited to get there and no one was tired. Coming home was MISERABLE because we were tired and hateful and I cried the last 100 miles :lol:

We've left here right after school/work on Friday, driven 6-7 hours, stopped and stayed and then driven the rest of the way the next day. On the way home we stopped halfway. That was okay.

This trip we are planning driving straight through there (with 3 rotating drivers) and then stopping halfway on the way home. We usually leave around 4am, stop around 8 for breakfast. The kids usually sleep the first few hours so that makes the trip shorter for them.

 

[hsembrick]

This is what we are leaning towards. Where in Texas are you driving from? We are from Texas too!

 

[Chelley00]

We're in Indiana. We just drove 17 hours to Texas, the same as our 17 hour drives to Florida.

 

[BC1836]

And don't forget to check out the "For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" thread. We all specialize in 16+ hour drives.

All the best.