Anyone drive from Dallas to WDW?

[trampslady]

We are--for the first time in March. Any suggested routes? How long can we realistically expect it to take? It will be four adults leaving at around 11am on a Friday hoping to arrive by midday on Saturday.......

 

[DVC Jen]

each and every year!

Leaving that late and wanting to arrive my midday on the next day is going to be pushing it. Are you planning on stopping at all?

We live in Rowlett and take 80 to 20. Then once we get to Shreveport we take 49 (I think it is 49) south all the way to I-10. We take I-10 to Baton Rouge and then get on I-12 (we do not go through New Orleans.. if you stay on 10 that is where you will go. 12 skirts around it). We stay on I-12 until just outside of Slidell and then it is back to I-10. Take I-10 past Tallahassee until you get to 75 south. Then we take the Florida turnpike into Orlando and then I-4 to WDW.

For us I think it is about a 22 hour drive. We do break it up however and spend at least one night in a hotel on the way. With 4 drivers and a very comfy car I am sure you CAN do it driving straight.

Watch out for construction around Penesacola Florida.. I heard the long bridge there was wiped out by the hurricanes and I don't know if it is totally rebuilt already ( i kinda doubt it).

Good luck and have a safe trip.

 

[Dcat2u]

We drive from Killeen and like DVC Jen says make sure you catch I-12 to bypass New Orleans. We normally stop in Pensacola and stay (mom lives there) it takes anywheres from 10-12hours to get there and then leave early in the morning for Orlando and that takes 7-9hrs w/a stop in Ocala.

 

[Amethyst55]

We have driven the last two years in a row from Grapevine...

Both times we have taken the exact same route that JVCJen descibed.

Two years ago we drove straight through... seems like it was right at 20 hours.
We got in late in the afternoon. Really a wasted afternoon and motel night (stayed at All Star Movies). Really, really tired and grumpy when we arrived... didn't do anything the first night.

Last year, we drove to Tallahassee and stayed. We left very early in the morning and got into Talahassee late in the evening (if I remember correctly, it took about 14-15 hours). Then we got up after sleeping in, and drove into Orlando (only about 4 to 5 hours). When we got to the room (Pop Century) we weren't nearly as tired. We still didn't go to a park the first day, but enjoyed our time relaxing by the pool, planning our next morning, etc. We started out the next day first thing with a character breakfast at Chef Mickey's and it was great.

We are going again this year in late March... spring break. When are you going? We are going to arrive Friday, March 18 and coming back March 24 (leaving here on Thursday the 17). We are going to try the Port Orleans French Quarter this time.

Hope all of this helps.

Have a great time!

 

[trampslady]

We are leaving on March 18 and plan to depart WDW on March 25. I've planned to check in at BCV on March 19. I've read that some have made the trek in 17.5 hours, but I'm not certain we can swing that. We really want to make it to Tallahassee the first night (early morning) so we can drive very little the next day!

 

[magicalmcwho]

We drove this Dec. from Houston. We stopped in Penesacola Florida. The bridge is still under construction. It was about 10 hours each day but we had a 3 year old.

Jim.

 

[Meliechick]

We drove from Frisco and basically take the same route as DVC Jen. We had 2 adult drivers (no kids). We drove to Tallahasse(sp?) spent the night and got up and finished the drive it was not bad at all. We were not tired when we hit WDW.

 

[Swan]

I have driven straight through several times(switching off with hubby) from Killeen. We take the same way as everyone else once we get to I-10 If we leave at 5pm we get to WDW around 3pm (the next day). It is kind of hard on you if you can not sleep well in the car and this last trip we stopped in Penesacola. We arrived there at 10 pm and drove in to WDW the next day, arriving around 5 pm. I like doing it both ways and we do have older kids so they travel very well as long as we have a dvd in.

 

[dbond]

Another driving family here from Plano. We take the exact same route as described previously. We stay overnight in Gulfport, MS, both ways. DH doesn't like to drive much after dark, we leave early in the AM and drive about 10 hours each day. Need to know where all of the Cracker Barrel's are along the way? We've been to them all!

 

[trampslady]

Thanks for all the replies. I've read where some have driven it in 17-18 hours by taking a slightly different route. I think it was I-20 through Mobile, Alabama and then 98 or something like that...anyone familiar with this route?

 

[dbond]

trampslady.....Our first driving trip we took that route, it seemed to be shorter according to mapquest. However, the drive down through Mississippi to get to Mobile & I-10 is not an Interstate Hwy, it was stop and go through every little town in the south. It took forever, we'll stick to the Interstate from now on.

I will say though, if you've never been to Vicksburg and are interested in Civil War History, the drive through historical site was very interesting. We spent more time there than we planned. It's the only reason to go that way, IMHO.

 

[trampslady]

Thanks dbond. I guess we need to get the ol' Road Atlas out this weekend and make some decisions!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We live in Shreveport. We head south on I-49, over to I-10/12/10, then south on I-75 to FL turnpike and I-4. Takes us about 14 hours total. We leave after work/school and make it about halfway by about midnight. Get up early the next day and arrive at WDW about 2PM.

In October, we took I-20 over to another road that took us to Montgomery AL, Then we left from Montgomery over to I-75 in GA. It was same distance, but took us longer because of all the narrow, two lane roads. We'll stick with I-49 route this week.

 

[SuBeat]

Thanks for all the replies. I've read where some have driven it in 17-18 hours by taking a slightly different route. I think it was I-20 through Mobile, Alabama and then 98 or something like that...anyone familiar with this route?

That is the route we have taken on all 3 of our trips. We take I-20 to Jackson, MS then 59 (I think) south until we pick up I-10. It typically takes us 17-18 hours, split over 2 days. We stop overnight in Marianna, FL and usually pull into WDW by 12:30-1:00.

 

[dizagain]

That is the route we have taken on all 3 of our trips. We take I-20 to Jackson, MS then 59 (I think) south until we pick up I-10. It typically takes us 17-18 hours, split over 2 days. We stop overnight in Marianna, FL and usually pull into WDW by 12:30-1:00.

Hey! I REALLY prefer this way over the other and we did both last time. We take I20 to Jackson and then HW49 (note the 49, not 59...close!) south. We do hop on HW98 (now I'm confused about that number) as a bypass to I65 and then onto I10. We don't think there's too much stop and go at all and to us it beats the "middle of absolute nowhere" feeling we got in Louisiana! We were actually a bit nervous! As I said, we tried both routes last tripand it took us around 19 hours each. We stopped in Tallahassee on the way and didn't stop at all on the way home. We were switching off like every 30 minutes there at the end, but we were glad to get home! Have fun!

 

[Familyofsix]

It can be done. How many kids if any? That can be the big decision factor. We leave from Shreveport at 7pm,drive non-stop changing drivers and arrive around noon the next day. We follow the I-49 route south then east on 10

 

[trampslady]

No kiddos here, just 4 adults--three of us can alternately drive.

 

[Familyofsix]

With four adults I see no reason why it can't be done. The only boring part of the drive is I-49 (not much to see on that route). We make this trip at least every other year with four kids and sometimes a mother-in-law in tow.

 

[SuBeat]

Hey! I REALLY prefer this way over the other and we did both last time. We take I20 to Jackson and then HW49 (note the 49, not 59...close!) south. We do hop on HW98 (now I'm confused about that number) as a bypass to I65 and then onto I10

I knew it was either 49 or 59...too lazy to look it up. We hop onto 98 too.