Anyone dirve straight through from Niagara?

[wtpfan]

Hi:
We've always flown but flights for our march break are expensive this year and we thought we might want to try driving. We would want to go straight through without sleeping though. Has anyone done this? What time of day do you leave and what route do you take from Niagara?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Alderbrook]

we've done it a few times, but not for quite a while. Last time we did it was about 6 or 7 years ago, when we were younger & had no kids. It's not bad if you have a few drivers, but if it's just 2 people driving, it's pretty brutal. We usually leave around 3 or 4 am from Hamilton, ON. If you get tired, stop. My DH actually fell asleep driving in Georgia 13 years ago (thank GOD I was awake & noticed) & we had to pull over at a rest stop to snooze because sleeping in the car is not like sleeping in a bed. We worked nights at the time so we were used to being awake all night, but we couldn't handle it & we were 21 at the time too. We pulled over & slept for 4 hours in the car & then started driving again. For the $$$ to spend on a hotel for the night, we've found it's worth it. & if you do drive thru without sleeping, by the time you get to your destination, you're exhausted. I would never drive straight thru with young children. I couldn't imagine being in the car with kids who haven't slept properly & cranky & crying. Teenagers I can see being able to handle it, but not young kids. We always drove down when I was a kid, but we always stopped for the night & the last time we drove down we stopped in one of the Carolinas for the night but on the way back we drove straight thru with 4 drivers in an Intrepid & it wasn't the greatest ride but we managed, again we didn't have kids at the time.

We always get the trip ticks from CAA & go their route thru Niagara Falls, thru Pennsylvania, the Virginias, Carolinas, Georgia right into Florida.

Don't forget you will have to take weather into consideration as well. March is iffy. We drove home in an ice storm thru the mountains & it wasn't pretty one year.

 

[rodeo65]

We've never done the drive straight through, but two sets of neighbors have done it with two driving days. We always take three to four days driving but stop and check things out along the way.

Both sets of neighbors have three kids and started the drive at around midnight. They drove through taking turns until the kids woke up in the morning at which point they stopped for breakfast. They continued on until about 4pm or so and stopped for the night, let the kids swim in the hotel pool for a while, had an early dinner and got to sleep early so they could finish up the 8 or 9 hours left the next day getting on the road about 7 or so and getting in with some afternoon time left before dinner ADRs. They both did it virtually the same way and both said it worked great because the kids slept for the first 7 hours or so.

Neither DH nor I would make it driving through the night - we're both early risers but also falling asleep on the couch by 9pm.

 

[nokidz]

We drive straight down every time we head south. Our motto is "get there"...LOL
We usually leave about 8am and cross at Fort Erie. We head to Erie, PA, then turn south and meander our way to I-95. Since we live in Wasaga Beach, and we leave at 8am, we usually arrive in St. Augustine, outlet malls, about 10 or 11 am the next day.
We have two drivers and we will stop every once in a while at a 24hr Walmart to stretch our legs. Occasionally if we are both tired, we will pull over at a truck stop for a cat nap. No more than an hour. But we have only done that on one or two trips.
We are heading down there at the end of Feb this year........Love the drive!

 

[dancin Disney style]

We used to do it straight through but I won't allow it anymore. DH is totally game and he does most of the driving, BTW I have no idea how he can drive through an entire tank of gas before needing to stop and he never even yawns. Anyway, I don't think that it's safe nor worth the risk to drive straight. Two years ago we ended up driving straight through coming home because 1.we left FL much earlier in the morning than planned and got all the way to Grove City, PA before we felt like stopping for the night (from there we are only about 4 hours from home and 2. all the hotels were full in Grove City...we went on to Erie and they were all full as well.

We usually leave home at about 2:30am and drive until about 9pm. We are usually around Savannah, GA. From there to WDW is only about 3 more hours so we can sleep late and still be in our resort for lunch. This works for us since DH can go to bed and fall asleep by 9pm the night we are leaving. He gets a good 5 hours sleep and then we throw some clothes on an take off. We will drive to Fort Erie to cross into the US and get Timmies at the border. He will have his coffee and I will have a nap after we cross and I get him on the right road towards Erie, PA.