Anyone else enjoy the drive to WDW?

[rmcildw2m]

OH MAN ,YES I love driving on the highway anyway but when you throw in a trip to disney it doubles the fun . We live about 630 miles from disney's front gate and it normally takes about 9.5 hrs to drive depending on stops .

 

[Figment2]

I would enjoy it more if I didn't have to cross any bridges! I hate bridges! I've made the drive many times taking either Rte 57 or Rte 65 from Chicago and love driving except when I get to a stupid bridge. It's great when I drive down with someone so they can drive across the bridge. It's the times I drive by myself that are nerve wracking. I need one of those people who will drive your car across the bridge for $50 (money well spent in my opinion).

Cyn

 

[DVCJones]

We drive every year from the Boston area. We love the ride. We have a minivan so we are all comfortable. The kids have a dvd player, DS games, etc. We start out around 3:30 on a Friday, get off the road around midnight and drive straight through to our DVC the next day. We arrive at about 11pm.

My kids get so excited for the ride and staying at hotels along the way.

71 days till our next trip!!!!

 

[hakepb]

I grew up taking long driving vacations, so I always develop an itch for a long road trip!

looks like we're doing the drive for the first time (I did it a couple of times years ago before wife and kids). We'll be driving from Mass. and haven't decided if we want to drive straight through or stop for one night.

I'm thinking of driving most of the way and maybe staying at a hotel a couple of hours north of Orlando for the night and then arrive at WDW the following morning ready to go.

Curious - for folks who drive, what time do you arrive at WDW - and do you hit the parks or hit the sack ?

My drive takes 2 days, and I love arriving "home", even if it is late, and waking up in WDW to hit the parks with check-in already completed..
Although, I guess I can see how some prefer saving points and stay nearby before the first park day.

 

[kristie03]

I'm a horrible passenger in the car, but if I can do a majority of the driving I've found that I don't mind driving down at all.

Of course flying is much quicker, but when we drive we try to break it up with an overnight or two at the inlaws in SC.

 

[Kymm1111]

The drive is part of the trip to me. I love crossing the state lines- Oh to Ky, Ky to Tn, Tn to Ga, Ga to FLa. I-75 all the way baby!
My dh and I do what he calls force march. We get in the car after he gets off work- between 8-11pm some nights and start driving. No one is on the roads and it is awesome! (truthfully even if we left early in the morning- we would be too excited to sleep). Sometimes we pull over in a rest area for 2 hours and snooze- depending on what our work schedules have been the last couple of days before we leave. We have an old trip tik with all of our favorite stops- chick-fila to all the starbucks (and the hours) and clean restrooms. We always stop in Tn at the truck stop that is next to a fireworks store that has an old ferris wheel on the side of the highway. It is like a beacon- stop here for gas- bathrooms and bad coffee!
Georgia drags on forever. I hit the Fla border and couldn't be happier. We go in the back entrance by the turnpike and have the same argument- should we get a tank of gas now or wait til we leave? We might use the car once or twice for dinners out but don't want to touch it until we leave.
In March- I'm headed down with Mom and Grandma. We will be stopping overnight. My mom won't drive in the dark, rain or Atlanta so I will be logging a lot of time behind the wheel. I can't wait!

 

[lilosurf11]

I actually really enjoy it. It's nice to drive through the mountains in Tennessee and I LOVE it when we drive through Atlanta, especially at night. It's so pretty!!
Then the next day, when we hit the state line and the Florida Turnpike, I get even more excited!!!

 

[DVCJones]

The ride back is never as exciting as the ride down

 

[Carl'n'Ellie'sDad]

I'm also from NEPA and will be driving down in April. About how much money do you put aside for tolls and gas?

Hey Iheartdis,

Depending on your mileage, I'd guess 4 tankfuls would cover the 1100 miles. Depending on your car, that could mean $120 or $240. I'm not sure where you'd be concerned about tolls, unless you're planning to take I95 through Baltimore. If you live anywhere near I81, I'd highly recommend taking it all the way to Christiansburg (VA Tech area), then I77 through Charlotte, I26 in SC back to I95 in SC. This might add 50-100 miles to your trip, but Navigating Charlotte is so much easier than dealing with the lunatic drivers in MD and Northern VA. (No offense to anyone from there. No one who drives like that could possibly appreciate Disney. )

Katmittens, hope you avoid that flu, but that Fresh FL OJ should take care of it even if you get it. There's supposed to be a little storm coming on Saturday-- hope you escape before it comes.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

We love to drive down!! I love to get the car all packed up, and have pillows and blankets and get all snugly for the trip. I keep my video camera close by to capture funny little clips of things that happen on the way, as well as crossing state lines & turning onto the turnpike, the toll booths and all of that. It's fun to watch them back because we get all excited again. The drive home though, it's awful! Everyone is tired, ill & just wants to get it over with!

 

[dbprimeaux]

I am loving this thread!

We love our DVD/TV player in our van! We watch movies almost the whole trip.

 

[DVCJones]

Hey Iheartdis,

Depending on your mileage, I'd guess 4 tankfuls would cover the 1100 miles. Depending on your car, that could mean $120 or $240. I'm not sure where you'd be concerned about tolls, unless you're planning to take I95 through Baltimore. If you live anywhere near I81, I'd highly recommend taking it all the way to Christiansburg (VA Tech area), then I77 through Charlotte, I26 in SC back to I95 in SC. This might add 50-100 miles to your trip, but Navigating Charlotte is so much easier than dealing with the lunatic drivers in MD and Northern VA. (No offense to anyone from there. No one who drives like that could possibly appreciate Disney. )

This how we go too. No one could pay me enough money to go I95 all the way from Boston to Florida....

 

[sleepydog25]

looks like we're doing the drive for the first time (I did it a couple of times years ago before wife and kids). We'll be driving from Mass. and haven't decided if we want to drive straight through or stop for one night.

I'm thinking of driving most of the way and maybe staying at a hotel a couple of hours north of Orlando for the night and then arrive at WDW the following morning ready to go.

Curious - for folks who drive, what time do you arrive at WDW - and do you hit the parks or hit the sack ?

We plan to hit WDW by noon, check-in, then hit one of the parks for a quick meal before spending a few a couple of hours hitting a ride or two or three in whatever park we are. Then, it's off to dinner, usually at a resort, and if there's some sort of fireworks or late EMH hours, we'll hit those.

If you live anywhere near I81, I'd highly recommend taking it all the way to Christiansburg (VA Tech area), then I77 through Charlotte, I26 in SC back to I95 in SC. This might add 50-100 miles to your trip, but Navigating Charlotte is so much easier than dealing with the lunatic drivers in MD and Northern VA.

That's the exact route I take, and the only truly heinous part is once you hit I-95. It drags on endlessly, and there aren't any real sights to see along that stretch of interstate. Having lived and driven in both MD/NoVA and Charlotte, I absolutely agree with you.

 

[dcamdad]

We drive nearly every trip, it is almost exactly 12 hrs from my driveway to OKW. Many years ago when the kids were young we started leaving between 12A-1A so the kids would sleep most of the trip (also cut out stopping every 50-100 miles for restroom breaks). We still travel at these times not sure if its habit or the fact that ther is little to no traffic in the middle of the night. My wife would and still does have everything packed by the time I got home from work so I could get a little sleep before our departure. I could drive for hours on end until about Georgia then would have to wake my wife for some relief, still happens, just can't stay awake thru GA for some reason. Remarkably as soon as we enter Fla I am wide awake, excitement I guess, and ready to finish the trip as it is normally daybreak when we reach Fla. We generally go staight to OKW and check in, if the villa is ready great if not we have lunch at Olivia's and hang around OKW or catch the ferry to DDT.
I'm ready to go again just typing this but alas we used all our points between our 10 days in December and my DD and her friends this week as a matter of fact.

 

[photobob]

I am loving this thread!

We love our DVD/TV player in our van! We watch movies almost the whole trip.

Yay! I started a good thread. When the kids were young we'd play the Disney alphabet game, "A" Animal Kingdom!

 

[Cajun28]

Yay! I started a good thread. When the kids were young we'd play the Disney alphabet game, "A" Animal Kingdom!

Yes, you did

B = Boardwalk Villas (My Home)

 

[mckryan]

We are in Atlanta, and love our drive down. We go so much, that we have a certain Chick-fil-a that we stop at for breakfast every trip. We always stop for gas at the same gas station, and love hitting the turnpike - we know we are almost there! We are 7.5 hours from Disney if we stop only twice!

We always stop in Tifton. CFA, Starbucks and gas! Love the drive down, hate the drive home.

 

[JenSop]

Sorry - I HATE the drive.

Back in 2009, I decided that we should drive for our trip to save money. It's just DH and I driving straight for 17 hours from eastern PA.

At least on the way down, you have the Disney excitement to get you through it. The drive home was like a new form of unusual torture.

But it was super cheap. We both drive Honda Fits and they get over 40mph on the highway. I think we spent a TOTAL of $250 gas money round trip.

So to save money, we're going to do it again this summer. I just can't find flights that are less than $300 each. I'm dreading it already, but it will save us tons.

 

[Iheartdis]

Hey Iheartdis,

Depending on your mileage, I'd guess 4 tankfuls would cover the 1100 miles. Depending on your car, that could mean $120 or $240. I'm not sure where you'd be concerned about tolls, unless you're planning to take I95 through Baltimore. If you live anywhere near I81, I'd highly recommend taking it all the way to Christiansburg (VA Tech area), then I77 through Charlotte, I26 in SC back to I95 in SC. This might add 50-100 miles to your trip, but Navigating Charlotte is so much easier than dealing with the lunatic drivers in MD and Northern VA. (No offense to anyone from there. No one who drives like that could possibly appreciate Disney. )

Katmittens, hope you avoid that flu, but that Fresh FL OJ should take care of it even if you get it. There's supposed to be a little storm coming on Saturday-- hope you escape before it comes.

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure exactly what route I'll be taking. That would totally be up to my trusty friend TOM TOM!

 

[mac_tlc]

No one could pay me enough money to go I95 all the way from Boston to Florida....

Have done the drive 10 times from central CT -- pick up I-95 in Bridgeport and make one right hand turn at Daytona Beach! About 1200 miles to WDW. We just did the drive in December, and at $3/gal, we used 122 gallons round trip, +$45 for tolls (gotta have an EZ-Pass), one overnight stay down, one back ($135 total). Total was about $530. Can't fly three people for that much + you have your car with you.

mac_tlc