Anyone drive REALLY far to get to WDW?

[MyWorld]

Just wondering if there is anyone else who despises airports and airplanes, and who drives to WDW from afar.

DW, DS12, DD7, and I will be at POP for a September trip and are driving from New Hampshire. This is the 2nd time we have made this 22 hour (or so) commute to the happiest place on Earth.

Anybody else choose the long drive over flying?

 

[byoung]

No way I am flying.

 

[tribus121]

You are a little more than 8 hrs closer than me I have made the drive to flordia 4 times and have flow'n 4 times we are flying this year because my car is to old to make the trip .( 14 years 120,000 miles ) I drive for a living because that is what i love to do . Allthough I dont love flying I dont hate it ether .

 

[noahynav]

We are flying for the first time this September. I am dreading it because I have never flown before and I am terrified of planes.

We have been to WDW 6 times in the past 8 years. We have driven every one of those times from Wisconsin. A very long drive!!!!! About 20 hours if you really go at it, only stopping for gas and food. 22-24 is more realistic, but last time we drove we got stuck in a 5 hour traffic jam just outside of Atlanta!!!! UGHHH!!!! We moved a total of.....are you ready for this???........5 miles in 5 hours !!!!!!!!! Apparantly they had to completely shut down the interstate at one point because of a bad accident. Well, we had no idea how to get around it so we were stuck, in a non moving vehicle for 5 hours!!! That experience was so awful we decided to fly this time.
The only other bad thing about driving from Wisconsin is the state of Illinois......sooooo long!! It seems to go and on forever.

BTW, on all of our road trips we play license plate bingo. On one trip we saw license plates from several Canadian provinces, Alaska, and even Hawaii.....talk about far away!!!! Who brings their car with them from Hawaii?????

 

[MyWorld]

We are flying for the first time this September. I am dreading it because I have never flown before and I am terrified of planes.

We have been to WDW 6 times in the past 8 years. We have driven every one of those times from Wisconsin. A very long drive!!!!! About 20 hours if you really go at it, only stopping for gas and food. 22-24 is more realistic, but last time we drove we got stuck in a 5 hour traffic jam just outside of Atlanta!!!! UGHHH!!!! We moved a total of.....are you ready for this???........5 miles in 5 hours !!!!!!!!! Apparantly they had to completely shut down the interstate at one point because of a bad accident. Well, we had no idea how to get around it so we were stuck, in a non moving vehicle for 5 hours!!! That experience was so awful we decided to fly this time.
The only other bad thing about driving from Wisconsin is the state of Illinois......sooooo long!! It seems to go and on forever.

BTW, on all of our road trips we play license plate bingo. On one trip we saw license plates from several Canadian provinces, Alaska, and even Hawaii.....talk about far away!!!! Who brings their car with them from Hawaii?????

Well, that 5 hour traffic jam sure is good practice for waiting for some of the rides

We hit a nasty traffic jam near Baltimore last time, but nothing like what you experienced. That would have killed my preference for driving too.

 

[bord1niowa]

We leave tomorrow and have a 23 hour drive pulling a camper from Iowa. It doesn't matter...we're going to Walt Disney World!

 

[razamataz]

Well, my little 12 hour drive seems so paltry in comparison to everyone else who has responded.

However, I actually prefer driving to flying. I am ok once I am in the air, but the take off and landing absolutely terrify me.

But on the flip side, I have flown to CA twice and think that the 4 hour flight has to be a sight better than having to drive 24 hours.

I have driven to Orlando 3 times and I do love the ability to stop and smell the roses along the way, if I so choose.

Enjoy the trip.

 

[shondad]

driving from houston, 16-18hrs with two young kids, heaven help us. may not be far for others, but definitely farrrr for me and dh. may fly if able to get a good fare.

 

[BriansPyxie042]

We have to drive, my DH will not fly. It usually takes us 14-16 hours to get there from Indiana. I like to drive at night because there's less traffic, and our DD age 5 can sleep all the way there. We usually rent a car to drive down so we don't put the miles on our car. What I'm not looking forward to is driving to CA next year. But, we've never been to DL, and I really want to go!

 

[fancythemouse]

We had originally thought of driving, stopping along the way in each state, all the way from California but gas prices made us choose flying (also I didnt want to drive thru texas, no offense to any texans out there)

 

[yaksack]

We are going to drive down from NJ for the third time in November. It will take about 17hrs.
We usually leave about 7pm the night before and arrive about noon the next day. By leaving at night we hope to avoid all traffic, which has worked the last two times.

 

[MyWorld]

We also leave at night - 9:00 PM. We hit the Fla border about 5:00 PM the next day and the kids have slept half the trip! We then get a motel for the night, sleep in, and finish the last 2 hours of the trip the next morning, arriving at WDW arround noon.

I get thru NYC, NJ, and D.C. overnight. No traffic!

 

[maslex]

I have been down there 3 times and the first two times we drove.

1- Oct '93---for our Honeymoon (I've been terrified of flying all my life)
2- May '01---first time bringing the boys (they were 4 & 5 at the time)

We're coming from NE Connecticut so we drove to N. Carolina and stayed overnight. Then got up and drove the rest of the way. I think my husband calculated the actual driving time (no stopping, no hotel, etc) and it was 20 hours to get there.

3rd time we went (June '05) was my first time flying. Never thought I would EVER fly since I'm absolutely TERRIFIED, but the in laws paid for the trip so I really had no choice since the other 8 people were flying. I didn't do too bad though. While the other poster said she does better once she's in the air 'cause she doesn't like take off/landing, I'd rather deal with the take off/landing than be in the air (that's the part that terrifies me)

But we're heading back down next fall and I believe I'm gonna fly again. ONLY because now that the boys are older (they'll be 10 & 12), I think being in the car with them for that long (along with DH), I might have to choke someone. They can't get along in the car just going to Walmart that's 15 minutes away, I can't imagine what they'd be like for 20hrs.

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

We drove for the first time this MAY from texas...took us 4 hrs just to drive through Houston..never did find out what was holding up traffic... Very long 9 hr drive just to get out of TEXAS. The rest was a breeze compared to driving an inch at a time in houston. We left home at 9am and arrived the next morning at 11am. We stopped to eat to give the twins a break from the car and let them strech their legs. Their first time ever to have waffles at 3 o'clock in the morning.. I have to give my boys a big never not once complained the whole trip up there and back...(still in shock over that one)...

 

[Nurse_Mommy4]

We are flying for the first time this September. I am dreading it because I have never flown before and I am terrified of planes.

We have been to WDW 6 times in the past 8 years. We have driven every one of those times from Wisconsin. A very long drive!!!!! About 20 hours if you really go at it, only stopping for gas and food. 22-24 is more realistic, but last time we drove we got stuck in a 5 hour traffic jam just outside of Atlanta!!!! UGHHH!!!! We moved a total of.....are you ready for this???........5 miles in 5 hours !!!!!!!!! Apparantly they had to completely shut down the interstate at one point because of a bad accident. Well, we had no idea how to get around it so we were stuck, in a non moving vehicle for 5 hours!!! That experience was so awful we decided to fly this time.
The only other bad thing about driving from Wisconsin is the state of Illinois......sooooo long!! It seems to go and on forever.

BTW, on all of our road trips we play license plate bingo. On one trip we saw license plates from several Canadian provinces, Alaska, and even Hawaii.....talk about far away!!!! Who brings their car with them from Hawaii?????

We live in WI too! We are planning on flying next year for our 1st trip to WDW! The deciding factor was the our trip to Alabama last year, where we actually drove from the top of IL to the bottom. It took so long to get out of IL, I said to myself never again. Anyway a 3 hour flight just sounds better than a 20 hour drive with 4 kids.

 

[Kick Save]

Our paltry little 16-17 hour drive doesn't seem like much, now.

Atlanta has only burned us once, on the way home. 75 was closed on the southbound lane because of a bad accident, our side had to slow down and look. We were still 10 miles south of Atlanta for that one. Last time on the way home we hit downtown just as a Thrashers game was letting out...a little busy. On the last trip down I made the brilliant move of getting to Cincinnati at 8:30 and then Atlanta at 5:30...that was fun.

BTW, for anybody doing the drive south on I-75, there's a great book, "Along Interstate 75" by Dave Hunter that is just filled with information and fun stuff about I-75. It makes the drive fly by as you're looking ahead to all kinds of stuff. The exit info is great, too...tells you what's at each exit and on which side. Highly recommend this book if you're making the drive.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBarb]

We leave in 22 days for our 5th driving trip to WDW. Me, DW does not like to fly! It is a very long drive from Northern Illinois. I do have to agree with another poster that Illinois seems like the longest part of the trip, we are about 25 miles from the Wis. border so we basically have the entire state to go down. Straight and boring! But don't get me wrong I love Illinois! We usually take 2 days so we do not arrive to tired. Should be an easier drive this year as all 4 of us can now help with the driving. Atlanta always makes a little nervous, seems we always hit it at hush hour. Can't hardly wait it be in WDW again! Love it Love it Love it.

 

[Tanya90210]

Like many other Drivers to DW my DH hates to fly so we drive down... this will be our 2nd trip... nonstop driving is 28 hours... I always try and allot 48 so we have time to stop and such if we want... and nap... but he usually gets us there in that amount of hours... he likes the nonstop till ya get there thing

 

[summfam4]

We leave in the morning for our 8 hour drive, and before reading this I thought it was going to be a long trip. Now I am very grateful for our short drive! I do not fly and now when DH suggests we do I can tell him of all of you who drive 20+ hours.

 

[Mouse-n-Mini]

we always drive down from central illinois- about 1,100 miles. We allow about 3 days to drive, starting out at about 9 a.m. and pulling over for lunch, dinner, and select shopping malls. We stop driving and spend the night at around 4 pm. Typically we stop in Tennessee, southern georgia, and Ocala FL.