24hrs Drive from Toronto - WDW Straight

[abridgel]

Thanks for your comments we are acutally arriving the day before the cruise to give us some leeway.

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Thank you. I truly think we are going to try this. Since our plan has always been to cash out Airmiles points for one of our hotel stays we are still going to leave with 48hours to get there. However if we make it to the Disney area in 24hours we will still use our airmiles for a hotel outside of Disney that night, and it will give us a full day at Disney the following. Still saving one night hotel stay, giving us an early and refreshed start to our Disney days, and still leaving flexibility in case our kids get restless. Just curious do you make the return drive in 24hours as well or give yourself more time due to fatigue from vacationing?

Yes! We drive straight 24 hours the way back too. That way we squeeze as much time into Disney as possible.

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Thanks for your comments we are acutally arriving the day before the cruise to give us some leeway.

That is always a good idea. We do the same and spend the evening before the cruise at DTD And drive 1 hour from WDW to the port on cruise day.

 

[dsneygirl]

We have to do this drive from Milton, Ontario to Port Canaveral for a cruise - I don't think my wife will drive (we have a 3 year old and a 1 year old) - I am hoping we can get it done in 2 days I was thinking


Day1
Leave at around 7pm
Drive ~12 hrs straight
Kids wake up grab some breakfast for a few hours
Hit the road for another 4 hrs or so hopefully the kids can last
Check into a hotel in the afternoon 3-4pm

Day2
have breakfast and a leisurely drive to the port hopefully only 4 hrs left.


What do you guys think?

Have you done a road trip with little ones before? We just did 6 hours with our 2.5 year old and everything takes longer. Just "running" into the bathroom is not like it is for an adult, lol.

 

[DisneySJR]

Appreciate the information on driving. We have had great luck finding very cheap airfare out of Buffalo (easy drive from home in Burlington, ON), and figure the cost is not much more to fly.

Having said that, growing up, my parents would take me, my brother and sister to Florida and WDW every 1-2 years and we always drove. Not straight, usually with at least one night stop. I always remember that being a fun part of the adventure and hope to do the drive with my kids at some point!

Neat to see that you have DVC at AKL and bought it on a cruise (same as me in February 2011) and have added on at Grand Floridian (again, same).

Great site.

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Appreciate the information on driving. We have had great luck finding very cheap airfare out of Buffalo (easy drive from home in Burlington, ON), and figure the cost is not much more to fly.

Having said that, growing up, my parents would take me, my brother and sister to Florida and WDW every 1-2 years and we always drove. Not straight, usually with at least one night stop. I always remember that being a fun part of the adventure and hope to do the drive with my kids at some point!

Neat to see that you have DVC at AKL and bought it on a cruise (same as me in February 2011) and have added on at Grand Floridian (again, same).

Great site.

Sounds like we have a lot in common. We also fly once in a while. Especially for short trips. We will be flying SW from BUF-MCO for the first time Aug 1-4 (scary we would go the distant we do for a 4 days) and flying for Xmas this year too (Dec 24-28) but driving during our 2nd Aug trip (Aug23-30).

We really enjoy the drive and the memories. Our kids often speak about the adventure we have over the years. We are so glad we start doing the drives.

Yes, We purchased AKL on the cruise and added GFV on another cruise too. Maybe we will run into each other.. hahaha..

 

[DisneySJR]

Sounds like we have a lot in common. We also fly once in a while. Especially for short trips. We will be flying SW from BUF-MCO for the first time Aug 1-4 (scary we would go the distant we do for a 4 days) and flying for Xmas this year too (Dec 24-28) but driving during our 2nd Aug trip (Aug23-30).

We really enjoy the drive and the memories. Our kids often speak about the adventure we have over the years. We are so glad we start doing the drives.

Yes, We purchased AKL on the cruise and added GFV on another cruise too. Maybe we will run into each other.. hahaha..

Wow, two trips in August; love that. Who gets to do that!?!

We have to wait until November.....although trying to get a quick trip in between now and then.

We did SW from BUF for the first time this past February and it worked out really well. I was worried about no assigned seats with the kids, but we had no issues. Have fun!

 

[Evelyne]

Totaly true, driving creates all kind of memories. We have been driving to Disney ( once or twice/year) every year for the past 20 years. Wether you want it or not you are all stuck in the car for 24 hours !!! Now that our kids are older ( 18 & 21) it has come more difficult to get everybody together at the same time, with school work and everything, so we realy enjoy the drive. And the best part of it is that they can drive now

 

[laurenvittoria]

We have to do this drive from Milton, Ontario to Port Canaveral for a cruise - I don't think my wife will drive (we have a 3 year old and a 1 year old) - I am hoping we can get it done in 2 days I was thinking Day1 Leave at around 7pm Drive ~12 hrs straight Kids wake up grab some breakfast for a few hours Hit the road for another 4 hrs or so hopefully the kids can last Check into a hotel in the afternoon 3-4pm Day2 have breakfast and a leisurely drive to the port hopefully only 4 hrs left. What do you guys think?

We are planning a very similar trip in august with a 1 and 3 year old. After our first stop in savannah spending two nights so we can drive into Disney refreshed. I have talked to lots of people who say leaving at night is best with the little ones (unless of course you are not stopping when it doesn't matter as much...). Hoping to avoid a lot of awake time in the car for them...

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Wow, two trips in August; love that. Who gets to do that!?!

We have to wait until November.....although trying to get a quick trip in between now and then.

We did SW from BUF for the first time this past February and it worked out really well. I was worried about no assigned seats with the kids, but we had no issues. Have fun!

We are trying to find a deal to get to WDW in Oct/Nov too. Want to attend the Food & Wine

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Totaly true, driving creates all kind of memories. We have been driving to Disney ( once or twice/year) every year for the past 20 years. Wether you want it or not you are all stuck in the car for 24 hours !!! Now that our kids are older ( 18 & 21) it has come more difficult to get everybody together at the same time, with school work and everything, so we realy enjoy the drive. And the best part of it is that they can drive now

Cannot wait until our kids can drive. it will make the drive a lot easier

 

[lizzyb]

Great blog! We are driving down in less than 2 weeks but will be stopping for the night. The idea of driving though the night doesn't thrill me. Good luck on your next drive.

 

[4one6]

I'm doing this drive alone end of August. Leaving at 1/2am hoping to get there either late the next day or early the day after.

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

Great blog! We are driving down in less than 2 weeks but will be stopping for the night. The idea of driving though the night doesn't thrill me. Good luck on your next drive.

Thanks for the kind words.

We will be tweet during our next drive at the end of Aug. Follow on twitter if you are interested.

We will be at WDW in about 10 days for the long weekend but will be flying out of BUF

Good luck on your drive too

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

I'm doing this drive alone end of August. Leaving at 1/2am hoping to get there either late the next day or early the day after.

Wow! You are brave doing the drive alone. Be safe! I once did a drive from Toronto to Calgary and it was painful.

Good luck!

 

[4one6]

Wow! You are brave doing the drive alone. Be safe! I once did a drive from Toronto to Calgary and it was painful. Good luck!

Thanks. I love driving and the open road. It shouldn't be too bad. I have given myself an extra day if necessary. My family is down there before I get down there and none of my plans are until sep 3rd. So if I get there a day early I have a nice lounging pool day. If not I have a half pool day.

 

[tim1964]

My wife and I also do the drive straight through. We usualy leave around 3:00-4:00 p.m. We find the drive through the nite quicker with less traffic. The only
thing is hitting Atlanta at the rite time. Lots of rest areas to stretch legs and
a power nap if we need one. We also pack a cooler with water and good
snacks.

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

My wife and I also do the drive straight through. We usualy leave around 3:00-4:00 p.m. We find the drive through the nite quicker with less traffic. The only
thing is hitting Atlanta at the rite time. Lots of rest areas to stretch legs and
a power nap if we need one. We also pack a cooler with water and good
snacks.

Thanks for sharing Tim1964. Sounds very similar to our experience.

 

[bankr63]

Cannot wait until our kids can drive. it will make the drive a lot easier

This is when I hope it gets really easy too. Our first trip down several years back we ran into a good size Ontario family packed (like sardines) into a Grand Caravan. I struck up a conversation with the father, and he noted that the trip was much easier now that they had 4 licensed drivers in the car and they could go straight through. That's just 2 3-hour shifts per driver.

By this March both my kids will have a G-1; they can drive, but must follow learner laws of both Ontario and the state we are in IF I let them drive (only in an "emergency" I think). So we are still planning for the "big day, stop, little day" option this time. But by our NEXT trip after this one they should be fully licensed and I will consider the "straight shot".

 

[wdwgoofydaddy]

This is when I hope it gets really easy too. Our first trip down several years back we ran into a good size Ontario family packed (like sardines) into a Grand Caravan. I struck up a conversation with the father, and he noted that the trip was much easier now that they had 4 licensed drivers in the car and they could go straight through. That's just 2 3-hour shifts per driver.

By this March both my kids will have a G-1; they can drive, but must follow learner laws of both Ontario and the state we are in IF I let them drive (only in an "emergency" I think). So we are still planning for the "big day, stop, little day" option this time. But by our NEXT trip after this one they should be fully licensed and I will consider the "straight shot".

@bankr63 It would appear that your next trip in March 2015 syncs up with ours too. We will be starting that drive at about 1pm Friday, March 13th.

Hope to see you on the open road.