Anyone Ever Drive From Ohio The Buckeye State

[WantToGoNow]

I'm just north of Dayton and it takes about 16 hours. We have driven it 3x. We always leave early evening so the kids sleep most of the trip. I don't mind the trip but would rather fly.

 

[Kaler131]

So, do you guys drive straight through or stop in between? We usually stop around Savannah so we can break up the drive some. But, now that my kiddos are a little older, we are thinking about driving straight through on the way down, but stopping half way through and spending the night on the way home. Any imput from you all would be great! Thanks

 

[jenseib]

When I drove down with friends we always drove straight through. One year with kids, we drove all the way to about Ocala (taking 75 down) and then stopped for the night. We started around 8pm and it was the next afternoon/evening when we stopped. The next morning we got up early and headed over to our hotel and then the parks. The way home we drove straight through, only becuase i had the flu and we were just trying to get home.

 

[kesha]

I just wanted to say Hi to those of you that mentioned being south and west of Toledo. My daughter went to school at BG and we live about an hour west of Toledo in the Defiance area. I guess I am just surprised that there are people living so close to me that found this site. Friends I have sometimes think I am nuts when it comes to Disney.

Back to the subject, I've never drove to Disney, we've always flew. The reason being that I wanted to use the vacation time I had for Disney and not being on the road. Now that I no longer work full time, I would love to take my time and drive once. I just don't want to drive it straight through.

 

[jenseib]

Kesha, I grew up North of Delta, and now live North of Swanton.
I am a SAHM now , but when I worked I drove to Defiance twice a day on a delivery route!

 

[bjmach]

We are flying out of Dayton in May. Round trip for 4 of us was $744 with Air Tran.

 

[Chellymouse]

You should expect about 16-20 hours depending on how many times you have to stop. My family is from Canton (2 hours north of you) and they can make it in about 16.5 hours, but they don't stop much. (I tend to fly...can't stand the drive) My neighbors (Cuyahoga Falls which is about 45 min. north of Canton) made it in 18 hours this summer and that was travelling with 4 teenagers.

 

[funnybunny921]

my family drove a number of times growing up from cleveland. we prefered the west virginia route, though in december we've had some aweful weather in the mountians. we always stopped over night, so i can't tell you how long it took. Books on tape was a favorite, on the last trip down (when i was in college) we rented the first 4 harry potters on cd (the 4th had come out that summer) we finished all of the first 3 and about half of the 4th. but that trip we drove all the way to the keys and then back up to disney.

 

[mom2munchkins]

Chellymouse..1st time I've seen someone on any board from Cuyahoga Falls..we just moved from there .we're now 2 cities over.. OT sorry just had to shout out..LOL

 

[Livi'sMom]

We drive from Medina County. We've driven to Orlando 4 times in 7 years and flown one additional time. It takes us about 17 hours. I'm the lead foot. I drive in the states where I can get away with it.... hubby drives the others! We like leaving about 4 am.... drive until we're all numb in the tush and then drive the rest of the way early the next morning. We're usually in the parks by 10 am or so.

I suggest a box of snacks for your child(ren) to help themselves to, a DVD player and a bathroom break every 2 or 3 hours....

 

[snowman1035]

We are in Pennsylvania and it takes about 17 hours. When we drive, we leave around 1 in the morning. This way the kids sleep most of the way and the traffic isn't as bad. We have been driving the last several years and this works out great! DH is also a truckdriver so he is used to the driving. We also pack a small cooler with drinks and snacks so we don't have to stop as often for food. This year might be tricky since we are traveling with our 2 yr old grandson.

 

[jeanigor]

Our last trip down, we drove. We are from Michigan so we drove through Ohio. It took us about 22 hours. There were five of us taking shifts driving a full sized van. We stopped about every two-three hours for gas/food/potty breaks. It worked out to be beneficial and cost effective. (Gas was still affordable then.) Nowadays, it might be cheaper for us to fly.
Having a car can be a BIG help!! You never know what may come up!

 

[DisneyWalkerGirl]

Please ask you DH for those 2 routes. Thanks for all you help!

We did the 71 to 75 and straight down - this was in January so we wanted to avoid the mountains in case of possible snow/ice

The other route is the 77 to 95 to 4, but besides the mountain weather issues we heard that it was "more" tiring to drive that one with all of the round and round and up and down

Good luck to you!

 

[mykidsintow]

We just spent 2.5 weeks in FL. We spent 5 days at Disney then drove over to Bradenton. My husband flew home from there, I stayed with our 2 kids (6 and 4) and our daughters service dog.

I drove home yesterday from Bradenton. Its 13.5 hrs and we did it in 14 hrs, stopping 3 times to gas up, potty, walk dog and get food.

Wasn't bad at all. I had books on tape that were family friendly and suprisingly the kids enjoyed them.

 

[lindakmonty]

Hi neighbor! LOL! We take 77 to 95 to 4. We like it so much better than the one that goes through Kentucky & Tenn (75 think???)

I prefer this route better than 75 too

from Mansfield here... we've driven several times, gone both ways and have drove straight through, and have stayed 1/2 way....personally I prefer 77 to 26 to 95 route. It has taken anywhere from 14-16 hrs. but we just try to make quick stops for gas/potty and drive through fast food and keep on goin! Plus we leave at like 4am to avoid some traffic In Dec. I found cheap flights out of Cleveland on Southwest for $49 ea way...so for the three of us.. is was only $322 and for 13 days a rental car for like $140!!! so I decided to try flying again. DS hadn't flown since he was 2..and he just turned 7 so he really wanted to fly. It WAS nice being there faster, but I don't mind driving either. My sister is going down in June from Galion...flying SKYBUS to Ft. Lauderdale and for 5 of them its over $700!!! no way would I pay $700 for just plane tix! in her situation, I'd hop in the car and drive, but that's just me. I see what is cheaper for me. I like having my own car, even if ME is free control thing I guess I like having keys and I can go where/when I want!

The first time I drove we got all the way to Daytona before he asked "are we there yet?"!!! he does great in the car w/games, dvd player etc. A few years ago we drove out to Yellowstone
I'd drive down anytime!

 

[LivinInTheCastle]

Hello, we drove from Cleveland last October and with three stops we drove straight through in 15 and a half hours. Your stops will probably be longer though as we have no children. Have fun.

 

[jenseib]

$700 for 5 people is actaully a pretty good price. It's like 14 a person. Lat year I think it was about 700 for 3 of us. And pricing this year we were looking at alot of flights at 250 or 360 a person. We decided to go earlier and we got it for 400 for the 3 of us.

 

[5pennies]

We drove from Western NY last year. 2 adults, 3 children (6) (12) (11). We loved it. Going down we stopped after driving 3/4 of the way. Coming home we drove pretty much straight through. No problems. We took a cooler with drinks (preferrably with straws to avoid spills) and light food (snackables, sandwich, etc.). Had plenty of activities to keep kids busy also. Make a game out of it if you can and it will be fine. We're driving down again in April but this time we're taking our time driving down and back.

 

[Kriii]

Just wanna say "hi" to all of my fellow Buckeyes! I'm getting homesick reading these posts (someday I hope to move HOME)! We never drove to WDW from Ohio but always could find cheap tickets out of CAK to Orlando. You might want to check it out!

 

[jenseib]

Just wanna say "hi" to all of my fellow Buckeyes! I'm getting homesick reading these posts (someday I hope to move HOME)! We never drove to WDW from Ohio but always could find cheap tickets out of CAK to Orlando. You might want to check it out!

Don't worry! You certainly aren't missing much here!