any tips for driving to WDW from NYC

[Disneytwinz]

Coming home is another story though, we have switched to stopping over night on the way back. I think on the way down you are so excited you don't notice the fatigue.

I couldn't agree more. I would allow extra time for a stop on the way home. I thought for sure North carolina merged into Virginia on the way home.

 

[yaksack]

We have drove down three times. We left drove down the first time from Secaucus, NJ (next to Jersey City) and the other two times Northwestern, NJ.

We always leave about 7pm the night before our reservation and drive straight thru. Our best time was 17 hrs and the worst was 19 hrs, due to our kids and bathroom breaks. The kids are generally asleep by 9pm and don't wake up until about 7am. When they wake we put on the portable DVD player and they are good.

We took I95 straight down to Rt 4 in Florida. Rt 4 goes thru WDW. The ride isn't that bad and there are plenty of gas stations that are open 24hr on I95. The ride did get boring in the Carolinas, but it still wasn't bad since I had CDs to listen to.

My biggest regret was leaving at 9am to come home. I wish we left at 7pm.

I think we spent $300 on gas.

Good luck


Here is a good website for weather: http://www.weather.com/activities/driving/interstate/?from=LAPoutlet

 

[MS_mom_1965]

Directions from Rand McNally's website usually work better for me than Mapquest.

http://www.randmcnally.com/

 

[TwitterMouse]

I couldn't agree more. I would allow extra time for a stop on the way home. I thought for sure North carolina merged into Virginia on the way home.

NC does merge into VA on the way home. Didn't anyone tell you?

 

[ferrytale]

We've done both driving thru & stopping, I recommend stopping. The driving thru only left us exhausted by the time we got there.
We did it in 18 hours from Philadelphia, take 95 South, make a right when you get to I4 in Orlando, and take it right into WDW.
When I was younger & we drove, my parents hooked up a nintendo to the tv in the van which kept us kids occupied, along with movies & books. Also try the license plate game!
Have fun, it really is a great bonding experiece with good memories for all!

 

[Disneytwinz]

NC does merge into VA on the way home. Didn't anyone tell you?

See? I still haven't recouperated!

 

[TwitterMouse]

See? I still haven't recouperated!

It's okay. Naps help! Maybe it should be nap time? I think it should be. Naps make everything better.

 

[penguinkimberly]

Although I have never driven from your area, I have driven from Michigan (22 hours) ,have done both straight through and stops and we all prefer straight through. Hint for travel with kids, instead of using ice in your cooler freeze jiuce bags like capri sun, put some that are not frozen in your cooler along with frozen ones because if they are frozen solid they take 12-16 hours to unthaw in the cooler, but after about 8 hours you can squish them to make a slushie. For entertainment , I do educational quizzes on the states we pass through and budgeting andmath quizzes and have prizes for each quiz. My prizes are either little things from dollar store or disney dollars. Then for the way home I get grab bags from the $10 and less store at DTD and they get to openevery few hours

 

[MousekaMaddi]

call jetblue !!

 

[eeyore_is#1]

We are driving in the middle of the night too, but we're not stopping. How crazy is that?

We have a 17-hour drive (according to Mapquest), so my husband wants to leave at 10:00 at night and drive straight through to avoid traffic. We only have 1 child, so he can sleep in the back, and the passenger seat reclines all the way back.

Ugh. We've done the all night thing, never again. Were tired the whole way, felt like the drive was 82 hours long. And no way were we as alert as we'd normally be, constantly felt like we were nodding off. Passenger couldn't go to sleep, because then the driver was in danger of doing the same.

Get a good nights sleep, leave just before dawn.

The big key is optimising stops. Only go to the bathroom when you're gassing up. Do a driver switch at the same time. Bring a lunch in the vehicle, eat while you're driving. Lots of snacks, so you can grab an energy bar when you need it, etc. *Never* stop for dinner for an hour. Just totally kills the whole thing, you'd have to drive twice as fast to make up that time.

Did a 16 hour drive, we found having a mystery/adventure audiobook on cd going in the car was way preferable to just playing music. Really made the hours fly by.

 

[AlwaysEeyore]

We have decided to add a night to our trip in the beginning. We think we are leaving Eastern Long Island at around 3-4 PM Friday afternoon and stop at around 11 pm for the night then continue at aout 6:30 am Saturday. I'm hoping we will get in no later than 9 pm Saturday night.

 

[Mrs.viv07]

call jetblue !!

no thanks i'll pass i think this would be a great way to spend some extra quality family time AND i have no restrictions as to what i can or can't bring with me on the ride down.

 

[susieq76]

We actually always loved driving from NY- now we're in NC so it's a shorter trip

I have 3 boys 5,5,4 and they are great car travelers. We usually leave about 4am (kids sleep till about 8am). We then stop in Baltimore (DH's sister lives there) for breakfast and so the boys can run around. We get back in the car around 11am and drive straight through till Dinner time. DVDs and games help. At dinner we stop at a McDonalds or something off 95 w/ a play area. They boys play & eat. I get them in PJs and back in the car by about 7pm. Then we drive to WDW. We usually arrive about midnight/1am and stay in the car sleeping until check in.

 

[marvel]

We plan to do this drive next April but take 5 or 6 days to do it. Any must see places people can recommend an Aussie should stop at. I love everything about the USA so any recommendations would be appreciated. Sorry to cut in on the thread.

 

[3jsmommy]

We drove down from Long Island two years ago w/ our sons 3 & 4 at the time.
Left @ 4pm stopped for dinner at 7 & changed boys into PJ's & then hit the road again. The boys fell asleep after a movie at about 9pm, they slept all night woke up @ 7am. We stopped for a quick breakfast & got to orlando @ 12 noon.
The kids were great!! All of that sleeping really made the trip short for them. My DH & I were exhausted though, we hardly slept at all while the other drove, all the caffeine & excitement didn't help either.
This year we are doing it w/ a 1 year old too!
I am probably leaving around the same time & going straight through again. We wouldn't drive on a weekend night though, because of all the xtra drunks, I know there are probably weeknight idiots too, but we figure a lot less.
To the PP from Australia, my top 3 spots to stop would be Wash. D.C., Charleston S.C. & Savannah G.A....Have fun !!!

 

[Tinker_Belle]

Ugh. We've done the all night thing, never again. Were tired the whole way, felt like the drive was 82 hours long. And no way were we as alert as we'd normally be, constantly felt like we were nodding off. Passenger couldn't go to sleep, because then the driver was in danger of doing the same.

Get a good nights sleep, leave just before dawn.

The big key is optimising stops. Only go to the bathroom when you're gassing up. Do a driver switch at the same time. Bring a lunch in the vehicle, eat while you're driving. Lots of snacks, so you can grab an energy bar when you need it, etc. *Never* stop for dinner for an hour. Just totally kills the whole thing, you'd have to drive twice as fast to make up that time.

Did a 16 hour drive, we found having a mystery/adventure audiobook on cd going in the car was way preferable to just playing music. Really made the hours fly by.

Thank you so much for your advice! Fortunately, my husband was able to get another day off so we decided to leave a day earlier and stay over in SC. I loved your idea about the audiobooks though! We picked up a few from the library. Thank you!

We're leaving tomorrow!!!!!

 

[eeyore_is#1]

Enjoy!

We'll join you there next week.

 

[scottny]

Thank you so much for your advice! Fortunately, my husband was able to get another day off so we decided to leave a day earlier and stay over in SC. I loved your idea about the audiobooks though! We picked up a few from the library. Thank you!

We're leaving tomorrow!!!!!

I am now driving in March/April with a stop in West Virginia to pick up my cousins. I look forward to it. Bringing my ipod to play all the way down.

Leaving tomorrow I am so jealous. Have a great time.

Have a lttle for your trip.