any Jerseyans drive to disney?

[ozzz17]

Hi:

We live in northern new jersey and were wondering if anyone from here drove to disney world during the winter months. Our trip is scheduled from late Nove to early Dec and I though we already have our flight tickets, we're thinking of driving. Any thoughts?

Thanks for all your help.

MLB

 

[lisadam]

from Central NJ to Tampa - which is a bit further than Orlando.

Each of the three times Dh and I split the drive over 2 days it was anywhere from 18 - 22 hours on the road (counting breaks)- now that we have a 2 year old we really prefer to fly - but we're going on October 20 and if anything happens to screw up our flight plans - we are ready to make the drive again.... if we have to we'll drive straight through while our son is sleeping.

I don't know if you'll have any children - its not too awful if its just the two of you.
Lisa

 

[scanne]

We're from South Jersey and we will most likely be driving to WDW in December. There are four adults so we could all do shifts driving and go straight through, but our plan is to drive from 4pm on 12/21 until about 11pm or midnight, then finish the drive the next day. I still have to call and make hotel ressies for 12/22 - 12/25. We're already booked at the GF from 12/25 to 1/1. We will probably have to check out on 12/31 in order to make it home in time for work on 1/2. We're planning on anywhere from 15 - 20 hours of driving each way.

If you're a AAA member you can get a trip-tik and have the route mapped out for you.

 

[kimmar067]

We drove with our 3 Ds's during winter break in Feb. and let me tell you
it was not easy. After working all day we left Bergen County around 7PM
Fri. evening and drove straight thru. We did stop around 6:30-6:45 AM
at "South of the Border" (sun was JUST coming up). We arrived at DxL
around 2:45 PM, checked in, unpacked, had an early dinner (5PM) and
were ZONKED OUT by 9:30pm. However, we were "fresh as daisies"
and were the 4th family in line at the turnstiles for Epcot (7:45AM).
On the return trip, I said, "No way." We stopped overnight just south
of Richmon, Va. at a clean hotel just off I-95. The next morning, we
had a delicious breakfast, filled with wonderful southern hospitality,
and we were on our merry way. Looking back, I think the thing that
kept us going on our drive TO WDW just the anticipation of arriving at such a GREAT destination!!

Good Luck in your decision....!

"Kimmer"

 

[PeterPam]

We were planning on flying down this Thursday, but we changed our minds and decided to drive down instead. We usually drive down every year. Here is our plan... we go to bed really early on Wednesday night...wake up around 1:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, leave at 2:00 a.m. drive straight through (stopping for breakfast) and arrive at Disney around 6:00 p.m.
check-in, eat dinner and go to sleep.

 

[ozzz17]

Thanks for all your input!!

Second question - do you drive your own cars or do you rent? I talked about this yesterday with my husband - who by the way thinks I'm insane for even thinking this - and he thinks we should look into renting a car/van to drive down. Have any of you done this?

We have a 4 year old who is good in the car and I thought if we left at 1 in the morning and drove straight - except for bathroom breaks - it wouldn't be that bad since she would be asleep for a good portion of the ride.

We do have AAA so I have to call them and get the trip-kit. We're scheduled to be in disney 11/29 through 12/11; first at All Star music and then to Animal Kingdom. We got great rates and I already bought 2 nights of tickets for the Christmas party. I really don't want to see the money go to waste and I figured I could pay the charge and use the airline tickets later in the year.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

 

[lifer]

avis has such a great deal now, it's not worth putting miles on your own vehicle; we don't have a car large enough for 5 adults to drive straight through with luggage, so we're renting a minivan at ac airport for 8 days about $260 incl tax w/ unlimited mileage...it's over 1,000 miles each way from south jersey, so you might want to check into renting

 

[ncbyrne]

I live in Union Co. and have made that drive twice. (I'd NEVER consider driving thru...we always made it to NC on the first day and then drove to Orlando the second day). I'm afraid of flying (even before 9/11) but our last trip was only for 5 days, so driving would have eaten up 4 of those days. My DD convinced me to get Xanax from the doctor and get on a plane. With much apprehension, I took her advice and we flew out of Newark Airport at 7 a.m. We were in Orlando at 9:50 a.m! Wow, what a difference. I'd never make that long, boring drive down Rt 95 again! Not when I can be there to visit the Mouse, fresh as a daisy, in less than 3 hours. Here's my suggestion: FLY!!! Especially since you already have tickets!

 

[cindala]

We have driven 5 times, once straight thru, but never in the winter months, always July. To us, the biggest thing was to get past DC before the morning, lunch or evening rush hours which can be horrible around 495 and Woodbridge (VA).

When we stopped, we would make it as far south at 5 miles outside of Georgia, in SC. That way the next morning, we'd get up early, and be in Disney by 12 noon. We drove straight thru the year with all the bad fires when I95 was closed for 200 miles and we had to detour thru Tampa to get to WDW. We were really punchy by the time we got there that trip. Good luck!

PS: We rented a van in 1998, the year we drove straight thru. It cost almost $750.!!!