18 hours drive from Jersey to the World

[WeLoveLilo05]

We've never driven to the world and I am a little nervous.
It's me, fiance, and DD (5), we are staying @ CBR Aug 20th-27th.
My aunt, uncle and their 3 boys are also driving but they will be in a seperate car.
My parents and sis and flying in.

We'd like to be @ WDW between noon and 2 on the 20th. What time should we leave Jersey? I don't think we would be able to drive straight through And where/when should we stop for the evening?
So confused!

 

[NJRRK]

Not sure where in NJ you're coming from, so I'll assume Northern since that's where we are.

Leave EARLY 5 would be my suggestion. Head south, you'll be going around DC after rush hour. To get to WDW between noon and 2, you'll want to get to SC, past Charleston, then you'll have an easy drive the next day.

As long as your DD5 doesn't mind the ride, it really isn't too bad.

 

[sanibelover]

Just drove 23 hours door to door - CT to Fort Myers - straight through. The best advice I can give you is to be on the road by 5 am. Driving that far is a mindset, and we would do it again in a heartbeat. Go as far as you can the first day - 13 hours is very doable - if you leave at 5 am, stop at about 6 pm for the night, get dinner, go for a swim and be on the the road again early the next day. Have fun!!

 

[sticker231]

We live by LBI and it takes us about 16 1/2 hours straight through. We leave around 7pm. You avoid loads of traffic and the kids get sleep for part of the trip.

 

[artesian]

I just did the drive 3 weeks ago. Left 4pm both days. 17.5 down 16.5 back. DC posed no problems either way

 

[GranddadTom]

It looks like you want to arrive in Orlando early on Friday afternoon in the late summer and you plan on leaving home early Thursday morning. Right? To begin with, you need to time your departure to avoid rush hour in Baltimore and Washington. What would be your best guess as to how long it will take you to get to the Baltimore Beltway – maybe 3 hours? I personally would try to be going through the tunnel in Baltimore around 9:00 am. That gets you to the Washington Beltway at 9:30 so you’ll just catch the tail end of their rush hour. In the morning, you want to go around the Washington Beltway in the clockwise direction (outer loop heading East when you get on the Beltway). As long as you get onto Rt. 95 south of Washington before 2:00 pm you should have no Washington traffic problems. Brunswick, Georgia (milepost 36) is a little over three hours from WDW. There’s also a nice area right after you enter Georgia (milepost 104?) that would be 4 hours away. It sound like you’d like to do things with your relatives as soon as you arrive so I’d advice against driving straight because if you do you will be really tired when you arrive.

 

[Missytara]

It looks like you want to arrive in Orlando early on Friday afternoon in the late summer and you plan on leaving home early Thursday morning. Right? To begin with, you need to time your departure to avoid rush hour in Baltimore and Washington. What would be your best guess as to how long it will take you to get to the Baltimore Beltway – maybe 3 hours? I personally would try to be going through the tunnel in Baltimore around 9:00 am. That gets you to the Washington Beltway at 9:30 so you’ll just catch the tail end of their rush hour. In the morning, you want to go around the Washington Beltway in the clockwise direction (outer loop heading East when you get on the Beltway). As long as you get onto Rt. 95 south of Washington before 2:00 pm you should have no Washington traffic problems. Brunswick, Georgia (milepost 36) is a little over three hours from WDW. There’s also a nice area right after you enter Georgia (milepost 104?) that would be 4 hours away. It sound like you’d like to do things with your relatives as soon as you arrive so I’d advice against driving straight because if you do you will be really tired when you arrive.

I live in DE, near the beaches. We have noticed that many people are choosing to flex on Fridays in the summertime, to get an extra day in their places, so they are leaving on Thursday mornings. Many out-of-staters that own beach property in DE are from the MD/DC area.

I would definately listen to the traffic reports on the way down; being around the Bay Bridge is going to be the worst.

If you feel like you cannot leave at a good time to avoid the earlier weekend beach traffic, you can always opt to go through DE and take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel as an alternative. More traffic lights, but it may give you some relief, since you will be against the beach traffic, not with it.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

Thank you everyone! I will let fiance read all of this when he gets home since he will be doing the driving, I know he wanted to avoid DC around rush hour though.
Would leaving at 7AM be a good idea? We live near Belmar, NJ (exit 98 on GSP).

I am so torn between leaving early early in the morning or just leaving between 10 and midnight on the 18th (well 19th if we left @ midnight). I just don't know how DD would sleep in the car, if she would get a stiff neck and fiance says he could drive straight through the night, but I am also nervous about driving the next day, I have no sense of direction at all and get nervous when driving in area that I don't know.
Then we would be arriving in Disney probably in the evening on the 19th and would have to find a place to stay.

 

[Dan J]

I am also nervous about driving the next day, I have no sense of direction at all and get nervous when driving in area that I don't know.

I highly recommend buying a Tom Tom or a Garmin GPS unit. They are fantastic! We drive from Buffalo, NY to WDW, 9 hours of driving a day, and with the GPS there is no fear of getting off the beaten path as the unit will direct you back to the road you are supposed to be on.

Also, with the kiddies, if you dont already have one, I would get an in car DVD thing to entertain them. Was a life saver for our three girls.

 

[tripplanner2]

I highly recommend buying a Tom Tom or a Garmin GPS unit. They are fantastic! We drive from Buffalo, NY to WDW, 9 hours of driving a day, and with the GPS there is no fear of getting off the beaten path as the unit will direct you back to the road you are supposed to be on.

Also, with the kiddies, if you dont already have one, I would get an in car DVD thing to entertain them. Was a life saver for our three girls.

We are considering doing the drive from Long Island and would stop about every 8 or 9 hours and spend a day or two. Where do you stop? We were thinking of hitting a beach or two and also Washington DC. Wondering what else is out there to break up the drive.

 

[Dan J]

We are considering doing the drive from Long Island and would stop about every 8 or 9 hours and spend a day or two. Where do you stop? We were thinking of hitting a beach or two and also Washington DC. Wondering what else is out there to break up the drive.

Well, we don't hit 95 until we get to Georgia. We come down through Erie, through PA, WV, VA and stop in Statesville, NC. It is literally the midway point between us and Orlando.

Not the most exciting town, but the Hampton Inn there was fantastic!

 

[starlionblue]

You think that's tough? Try driving from OK to CA (I was going to Disneyland of course!) through Death Valley in the days before affordable GPS! Yep, the old paper maps routine and a compass!