Anybody driving down from NE in April??

[kerry34]

I am driving down from MA and was wondering who else was driving at that time? If so which route do you take. We have taken 95 most of our trips down, but I keep hearing about 84. Anybody out there who has done both and can compare??

 

[Hippychickali]

*bump*

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

If you have AAA ask for a trip tik about a month before your trip. That will show all the construction sites and the best ways to avoid them. We drove down from Boston to WDW stopping only for Gas, Bathroom breaks and switching drivers last March using 84. I always go to NYC using the pike to 84 to 684, it's much easier and faster than 95.

 

[kerry34]

If you have AAA ask for a trip tik about a month before your trip. That will show all the construction sites and the best ways to avoid them. We drove down from Boston to WDW stopping only for Gas, Bathroom breaks and switching drivers last March using 84. I always go to NYC using the pike to 84 to 684, it's much easier and faster than 95.

Silly me, I didnt mean 84, I mean 81. I think it goes through PA and around the cities. We usually take MA Pike to 84, to 684 Tappan Zee Bridge.... I am not exactly sure when we get on 95, but i think it was the Jersey Tpk area. We used a trip tik last time and it took us off 95 and around the big city areas and major construction routes. I didnt mind this ride overall, but was curious if the traffic and drive times were different on the other route that someone had mentioned. We drove down last March as well, and aside from hitting snow in Hartford area in the early hours of the morning, the rest of the drive was fairly smooth.

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

Ya, 81 goes through Scranton PA. and is a longer route, about 80-90 miles out of the way but avoids a lot of traffic. A couple of people that I know take route 81 because they hate sitting in traffic. If you leave midmorning or midday and there's a chance of getting stuck in traffic 81 might be the way to go; if you're leaving early, early morning or late, late night the Jersey pike and 95 might be the better way to go. Toss a coin.
DW hates to fly, but this year we got a good time and rate on American Airlines, $504 for the 3 of us non-stop round trip from Logan to MCO. So I was able to talk DW into flying.

 

[kerry34]

Thanks alot for the info. As of now we are planning on leaving on a Thursday, around midday. So maybe that would be the better route to take.

 

[themacfive]

We're driving from Lowell, Ma for April Vacation week. 12th visit to WDW, but 1st experience driving down, any advice for us?

 

[Ms. Belle]

When I drive south, I leave at 3am and am usually in D.C. by 9am. I hit almost no traffic, although I have hit construction traffic near the NY border, but get through it pretty quickly since there aren't alot of people on the road at that time. I like leaving early and using 95 rather than the Garden State Parkway - too many tolls and it seems to take forever.

 

[Cora]

I like leaving early and using 95 rather than the Garden State Parkway - too many tolls and it seems to take forever.

If you have FastLane (the toll transponder for Massachusetts) you can go through the EZPass lanes in NY/NJ actually it works all the way down the coast except Virginia.

 

[Kristi1357]

We are driving from NH in April. We always take the standard 95 route down - but we tend to leave at night and avoid all traffic. We are through DC before morning rush hour.

Only advice I have is to get a VCP or DVD for the car!

 

[Joan S.]

Hi, We also are planning on driving down to WDW in April from RI.(unless airfares DROP!) We have done it before and have always done the 95 route.Sometimes we stop overnite and other times we drive right through! I also have been considering doing the 81 route to avoid traffic,and we are leaving at about 2pm on the 14th also! I do not mind the drive down and usually I am the one to drive through the nite. It is the drive HOME that I do not like! But then I always hate LEAVING WDW! Joan

 

[Alicnwondrln]

well we drove down in may 2003
we left a 1am and at 8pm that night we were in florida
wedrove 95 all the way i beleive
my DH did all the driving and we drove straight thru
my son was 4 at the time ands we had no problems
im not sure about other routes