1st time driving Appleton/Green Bay to Disney

[Momof2J's]

We are driving from Appleton (just south of Green Bay area) to Disney for the first time next week. I've been doing some research on different routes. Some say to go 41/94/65/24/75 & others to do 41/94/57/24/75. I guess basically difference of either 65 or 57. Thoughts on each route? We plan on stopping 1 night somewhere & not going straight through.

Thanks!

 

[DonaldDuckFamily]

Hello fellow Wisconsinite. We've driven down from the Madison area. My thoughts on the benefit of taking 57 over 65 is you'd avoid driving around/through the big cities of Indianapolis and Louisville. Either way you'd end up going through Nashville. This is where we got really held up driving our first time because we hit Nashville at rush hour and it was slow going.

We would also drive and stop for a night. Depending on when we left, we've made it to Chattanooga and just past Atlanta (we left by 6am). I'll have thoughts of pixie dust for your drive so that no bad weather hits. I've think we've had our share for this winter season.

 

[bratgirl]

We drive from just west of Green Bay twice a year. We avoid Chicago land area. When you get to Milwaukee, pick up 43 south and go towards Rockford. At Rockford take 39 South to Bloomington take 74 east to Indianapolis at Indianapolis you can pick up 65 south and go from there. 39 is a little longer but much faster. Less traffic. Will never do Chicago route again unless going into Chicago Have fun and safe driving

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We actually had a huge traffic tieup in Chattanooga of all places. Lost an hour. Hit it right at 5:00 (that is right where the time changes) and on the East side of the city is a HUGE steep hill that was really boogerig up all the semis. And the slowdown accordianed back several miles West of Chattanooga. We sailed right through Nashville (early enough) and Atlanta (late enough).

 

[kldownunder]

I live in Louisville and also have a house on Lake Minocqua in north central WI. Given the choice we always avoid I-94. As someone else said we take I-39 down through Rockford to Bloomington and then I-74 into Indy then I-65 into Louisville. If you take this route be careful to go the speed limit coming into Louisville. From mile marker 9 through zero the speed limit is 55. It is clearly marked. Nine times out if ten there will be state patrol in that area writing tickets for speeding.

 

[DonaldDuckFamily]

I totally agree with avoiding driving around the Chicago area. We take the long, boring and flat I39 to I74, but we don't keep going to Indianapolis. We take I57 to I24 going through Paducah instead.

 

[AaronInWI]

We've only driven it once from the Sheboygan area, so take this advice with that in mind. (There are many here with much more driving experience than me.) We took 65 down, but just to change things up a bit we took 57 home. My experience was that 65 was the more fun of the two routes, because there are more cities to see; I also felt like on 57, you are in Illinois for such a long time that it seems like you aren't making any progress at all. But, 57 is a little more relaxed, you'll avoid Indy and Louisville, and you won't hit nearly as much truck traffic on 57 either. As others have said, you'll have to deal with Nashville (and Atlanta) either way.

I've seen a few suggestions of avoiding Chicago. Personally I had no problems with Chicago on the way down, but we left home at 3:30 am on a Saturday morning, and hit Chicago around 6:30ish am. So I'm sure that helped a ton. On the way home, we ran into some Chicago traffic, but it flowed nicely and didn't slow us down at all.

Not sure where you are planning on stopping for the night, but we ended up staying at the Drury Inn in Morrow, GA, which is just south of Atlanta. We got there around 6:00 pm, left around 8:30 am, and really took our time getting to Orlando since it is only about a six hour drive from there.

We're making the drive again at the end of August, and based on a few suggestions I saw here we're leaning heavily towards heading towards Columbia, SC, staying the night in that area, and then heading to Orlando along the east coast. It'll add an hour to our drive, but we'll avoid Nashville and Atlanta (where we lost the most amount of time due to traffic and construction) and it'll give us a chance to see more of the country. I can't wait!

 

[LadyBeBop]

We're making the drive again at the end of August, and based on a few suggestions I saw here we're leaning heavily towards heading towards Columbia, SC, staying the night in that area, and then heading to Orlando along the east coast. It'll add an hour to our drive, but we'll avoid Nashville and Atlanta (where we lost the most amount of time due to traffic and construction) and it'll give us a chance to see more of the country. I can't wait!

Would you be going through my neck of the woods? (Cincinnati area)? I'm thinking you'd almost have to.

 

[WIDisneyFan]

We make the drive from just north of Milwaukee to Florida twice a year (once to visit the in-laws and once to visit the mouse). Over the past few years I think we have tried every possible route and have settled on two. The first, and the one I would do this time of year, is down I-65. For us the trouble spots have always been Nashville and Chattanooga and you will hit those using 57 or 65. going through Chicago and using I-57 adds about 30 miles and for us is no easier, just longer. Our experience is I-65 is the quicker of the two.

The thought of avoiding Chicago and going west through Rockford will add about 50 miles to the trip. For some this would be a good option because even though I drive quite a bit Chicago can be a royal pain in the ... but again to me the added 50 miles would not be worth it.

In general the best thing to do, no matter the route, is to plan your departure times to avoid rush hour in the bigger cities. The times we have had slowdowns have always been when we hit one between 7:00 and 9:00 in the morning or 4:00 and 6:00 in the afternoon.

As for stops on the way down we try to get just south of Chattanooga, typically around the Dalton GA area. From Milwaukee that is about 12 hours (including stops).

As for the second route to Florida I mentioned earlier, it is the one we use to to my in-laws in the Jacksonville area. For that drive we head down 65 but break off and go through Cincinnati then down to Knoxville Southeast through the Carolina's and pick up I-95 into Florida. If you need to go to far NE Florida this is by far the prettiest route, but not sure I would do it in the winter as I would think the roads in the mountains could get ugly!

 

[Momof2J's]

Thank you so much for all who have given their input! We are going to look at all the info from here tonight & plan our route. Thanks again!

 

[beno44]

Isn't going thru Rockford adding a lot of miles?

 

[princessbeargal]

We’re from Madison and have traveled on these roads several times. Except when we fly; we're flying to Disney this time.

If you’re coming from Appleton/Green Bay and want to avoid Chicago, you might want to consider taking 41 to 26 in Oshkosh, and take 26 all the way to Janesville. 26 has now been expanded to 4 lanes on much of this route. My parents take 26 from Watertown to Janesville when they travel so they can avoid Chicago.

Once in Janesville, you take 39-90 until Rockford, when the roads split and you then follow 39. Then when you get to Bloomington you can pick up 74 toward Indianapolis. From there you can take 65 to Louisville, 64 to about Lexington, and then 75 south from there. This is how we went to the Smoky Mountains last year.

 

[bjschil]

We just arrived home last Friday, the 17th. We live in Darlington, SW Wisconsin. 2nd driving trip in three months. Drove through The Rockford route, Paducah, Nashville, Chatanooga, Atlanta, etc. the route is fine. Through Nashville at 8:30 am on Dec 30, and traffic was good. Was set to take the Briley Parkway, but we were good. Atlanta about 1:30, and again traffic okay. We had a caravan of two trucks pulling 2 5th wheels, and it went well. Because of young grandchildren in other truck, we stopped in Paducah, then Valdosta, for two nights. Typically, we only spend one night on the road. Hope your weather is great on your way down, and it is closer to Spring when you come back. ENJOY.

 

[JanaDee]

We are driving from Appleton (just south of Green Bay area) to Disney for the first time next week. I've been doing some research on different routes. Some say to go 41/94/65/24/75 & others to do 41/94/57/24/75. I guess basically difference of either 65 or 57. Thoughts on each route? We plan on stopping 1 night somewhere & not going straight through.

Thanks!

I would take 41 to 151 to Madison, then south on 90 through Rockford, and south on I39 through IL to 74.

That is the way we go when we go to Champaign, IL. That way, we completely avoid Milwaukee and Chicago.

 

[JanaDee]

We drive from just west of Green Bay twice a year. We avoid Chicago land area. When you get to Milwaukee, pick up 43 south and go towards Rockford. At Rockford take 39 South to Bloomington take 74 east to Indianapolis at Indianapolis you can pick up 65 south and go from there. 39 is a little longer but much faster. Less traffic. Will never do Chicago route again unless going into Chicago Have fun and safe driving

If you're going to go to Milaukee, you may as well keep going south. Rockford is almost directly west of Milwaukee and way out of the way.