Thanks, Pam, that's a great help! I usually go around the same speed you do, and won't spend a lot of time on stops since I'll be alone, so your driving time is probably very similar to what mine will be. I was concerned that my plans might be unrealistic if the drive was a lot longer than I expected, but it sounds like it should all work out fine.
When I drive somewhere I usually leave at some ridiculously early hour like 4 or 5am, so I figure I'll arrive at my destination at a decent hour. Maybe around 10pm. Surely before midnight.
My plans are to get a relatively cheap hotel in the Orlando area that night, so I'm not wasting my money on a more expensive Disney resort when I won't have even been there that day. Then the next day I'll check in at the Disney resort as early as they'll let me, get all my souvenir shopping for friends and family out of the way, get oriented, and relax at the pool. Then I should be all set to go into park commando mode bright and early the next day.
disneyisheaven, While they don't give much advice on whether the hotels are any good, the "Important" note at the top of this Transportation board has a link to a very helpful page which lists all the exits off of I-95. It also gives good advice on which states are more expensive for fuel (NC and FL) so you can try to plan around cheaper fuel stops. I'd love to find something similar for I-77! The only sites I found when I did a Google were sites listing whether or not the exits had food, lodging, gas, etc, but not specifics as to what they were.
Brook
