Any women drive to WDW?

[donmil723]

I missed the good airfares to Florida on SWA for March when they first opened up our dates. Kept waiting for them to have a special as they were always $350+ or higher but no such luck. Usually I can find fares on SWA to Florida in March for less than $250. Not this year. Anyway, unless we can get a DING, we will be driving. It will be me, my DD, age 22, and my DS's girlfriend, age 24--all women. Last time we drove to WDW was in 1995 with DH, DD, and DS. We will be driving from mid-Missouri. Any tips, suggestions, past experiences from an all woman group driving to Florida or taking an 18+ hour road trip? Thanks!

Donna

 

[TinkerbEllnor]

I did this back in 1994. From way, way upstate NY with 4 girls for Spring Break. We drove straight through 24+hours Certainly, we were a different demographic than a Mom, DD and DIL, but we had a blast. And I have far more memories of the drive than the time in WDW. I'd go into the experience viewing your vacation starting at the beginning of the drive and not at arrival at WDW. Try to keep the mood light, because a long drive can be stressful. In the end, only you know your relationship with DD and DIL to know if it can survive that much "togetherness", but I suspect if the 3 of you are planning a vacation together, then you already are close and will do fine.

Good luck finding a cheaper flight anyway (more time in the parks!) and have a great time!

 

[clkelley]

I make the drive by myself all the time, and have also had another female friend with me on the drive.

My drive is not as long as yours, but most of the time I still split it up. (Mainly to avoid rush hour traffic patterns).

I leave North Alabama right after work, 5:15pm or so. That gets me through Birmingham around 7:15 and through Atlanta around 9:30 - 10:00 (clear sailing). I then stop at Macon, GA for the night. Leave Macon the next morning around 6:30 and get to WDW about 1pm.

For the trip home, I check out of the resort and spend the entire day in the parks leaving WDW property about 10 - 10:30 pm, then do a short 80 minute drive up to Ocala and spend the night there.

The next morning I get on the road about 9am and that gets me home at a reasonable 6:30 - 7pm. We started doing this when we discovered that if we spent the last night at WDW, it would invariably be after noon before we got off property and then almost midnite before we got home.

It is much easier to leave a dumpy hotel in Ocala early in the morning than it is to leave Disney property.

 

[MidgeD79]

I am a single mom and always drive to WDW with my kids. No men allowed! The drive is about 1100 miles and we usually split it up over 2-3 days. It's I-75 all the way.

 

[Tissa]

I always drive with my mom and my kids. We always stop when it gets dark then get up early and go the next day. I prefer not to drive to late at night in case of a breakdown.

 

[Magic4UsZ's]

It is encouraging to see fellow ladies make such a drive. I have often thought that I would someday want to go w/o dh and that I might need to drive vs flying.Sometimes I think it is hard to believe that their are women out there who would be too intimadated (sp?) to make such a trip. I agree about making your vacation start at the beginning of the trip and not just when you get to WDW. Also like the idea of stopping near dark just incase of a breakdown, anyway you can't see much of the countryside when it is dark.
Make the most of your trip and enjoy.

 

[BCV23]

I did it once all by myself from a Chicago suburb. I had a blast!

My family flew down and met me.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Now that I'm within easy driving distance I do it whenever I know I'd have 4 or 5 days. I live in Atlanta metro so that's really unimpressive.

However when I lived in North Jersey I would regularly drive to the Charleston area by myself...that's 11 to 14 hours depending on traffic. With planning it was never a big deal...had a couple of slightly scarey problems but you can easily have those on a shorter trip or even your drive to work. Just have a plan for how to deal with it.

 

[MickeyMonstersMom]

I'm a single mom who drove my kids from CNY to Florida to visit their dad, then drove back up alone in one shot. Honestly, I felt safer driving than I did stopping at a hotel. It was a tiring 18-hour trip, but exhilarating at the same time to think I did it!

 

[bobcat]

I started driving as a solo female the first time I took my kids and have done the trip every year until last year. It is about 1000 miles from my front door to Mickey's and it really is an easy drive. I have done the drive straight through, which I don't recommend, but usually we do a long day of driving and stop for the night and finish with a short 3-4 hour drive the next day.

Rent a book on tape and bring along some car trip music!

 

[donmil723]

Thanks everyone for all of the encouragement! All of us gals are pretty independent and we get along great. I'm lucky that DD has opted to spend all of her college spring breaks with me and future DDIL (hopefully) has lived with us for two years now.
You're right in thinking the vacation starts when we pull out of our driveway!!! Instead of a 5-night vacation, we'll now have a 7 night vacation!!We're planning on leaving about 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. I'm thinking we will be thru the mountains before dark and hopefully, thru Atlanta. I haven't actually sat down and figured out our route and timing yet. We plan on making it a two day trip as I don't feel comfortable being out on the road too late at night.

Thanks!

Donna

 

[clkelley]

It is encouraging to see fellow ladies make such a drive. I have often thought that I would someday want to go w/o dh and that I might need to drive vs flying.Sometimes I think it is hard to believe that their are women out there who would be too intimadated (sp?) to make such a trip.

Unfortunately, there are still women like that. There was this guy I worked with who had to make some convoluted travel plans to get home in time so he could take his family to Atlanta for some weekend. I suggested that he just fly straight to Atlanta and his wife and daughter drive over and meet him there. (Only about 3 1/2 hours). He absolutely wouldn't hear of it. Said his wife wouldn't even drive into town by herself. (He had about a 50 mile drive into work). Can you say dark ages!!

 

[MichelleVW]

Unfortunately, there are still women like that. There was this guy I worked with who had to make some convoluted travel plans to get home in time so he could take his family to Atlanta for some weekend. I suggested that he just fly straight to Atlanta and his wife and daughter drive over and meet him there. (Only about 3 1/2 hours). He absolutely wouldn't hear of it. Said his wife wouldn't even drive into town by herself. (He had about a 50 mile drive into work). Can you say dark ages!!

I know people like that....wouldn't drive an hour into Raleigh. I have driven by myself all over. Trips to Ohio with my kids and trips to Disney, the Outer Banks, the Mountains...all without a man!!!

 

[hematite153]

Every time I've done the drive (except when I was 13) it's been an all female crew. We've found that our preference is to drive 12-16 hours the first day (depending on energy levels) and the remaining 8-12 on the second day (total of 24 hours).

On one occasion we ended up having car trouble and were forced to leave our car behind part way home. When I went back to get it I did the 18.5 hour drive in a straight-shot but I don't really recommend that.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

Another single parent here , that has driven to Florida. Many times.

 

[Sandy22]

Yet another single parent here. Just drove the 1400 miles each way this past Christmas. My tips: Make your hotel reservations in advance and make sure the hotel isn't in a seedy location. Bring your cell phone and join AAA. Have your tires checked. Stop at McDonalds to use the restroom at night - I found the state rest areas to be deserted and a little creepy. And note that even though it says state police at rest area, I never saw any!

 

[MichelleVW]

Yet another single parent here. Just drove the 1400 miles each way this past Christmas. My tips: Make your hotel reservations in advance and make sure the hotel isn't in a seedy location. Bring your cell phone and join AAA. Have your tires checked. Stop at McDonalds to use the restroom at night - I found the state rest areas to be deserted and a little creepy. And note that even though it says state police at rest area, I never saw any!

I agree...some of the out of the way rest stops are a little creepy in the day time...I've been tempted to take my big dog in there with me even though it says no dogs allowed...

 

[sammielynn]

As a long time single parent if I had never dirven somewhere myself we would have never gone anywhere! I have driven to Disney many times when my DS's were small. Now that they are teens they can help with the driving. I decided long ago that just because I chose the wrong man to marry that I would not let the lack of a man in the car keep me from going somewhere.
I always have the car checked out before we leave on any trip and have AAA and road assist on my cell phone.