Anyone ever drive from Virginian to Florida?

[3boysluvndisney]

In two weeks we are leaving and heading to WDW. We are trying to decide whether to leave on Saturday evening and drive half way and stop at a hotel or just do it all in one day on Sunday. My question is.....do any of you know of good cheap hotels on the way that are about half way? I think it would be better to split the trip but we don't want to spend a fortune on a hotel to just sleep. So if anyone can help it would be great. TIA!!

TWO WEEKS UNTIL WE SEE MICKEY!!!!

 

[momxx5]

We are in NC. On the way down we usually stop for the night. This way we do not arrive exhausted. We consider this part of the vacation - kids like to stay in hotels. Check out AAA or expedia to get an inexpensive hotel. Brunswick Georgia is a good stopping place, although lately we have been stopping in Jacksonville FL.

On the way back we drive 12+ hours straight home.

Either way, have a safe drive and have a great stay at WDW.

 

[jjsmom]

I live in MD, so maybe I can't exactly answer your question. But, we have friends who live in the Richmond area and they always drive straight through, even when they had 2 toddlers. If I remember correctly, they would leave around 4 am and arrive around 4-6 pm depending on traffic, weather, etc. If you feel you can't make it one day you may want to think about stopping in Savannah or Brunswick, GA.

From where we live, the best time we've ever made is 16 1/2 hours- 5:15 am from a hometown conv. store (straight through) to the front desk at All Stars at 9:45 pm. The last 2 trips we have left around 3-4 pm and have made it to Florence, SC. I prefer leaving early and driving straight.

Good luck with your plans

 

[Amare06]

Hi, We just recently went to Disney World from Richmond VA and decided to try to go straight through. We left home at 5am, and stopped at least four times at rest stops as well as stopping for about 30 mins for lunch, we made it to DTD by 4:45 in the afternoon. It was quicker than I anticpated and my DD who is 3 was fine.
Last year, we started out at 1:30 and stopped in Darien GA at about 9:30 and stayed at the Comfort Inn. I wanted to stay at the Hampton Inn ( it had been recommended to me) but they were full.

Since we left so early in the morning, we made really good time and there was no traffic on I-95 for a long time. We left on a Thursday so I don't know what it would be like if you left on a weekend.

Hope this helps

Amare

 

[3boysluvndisney]

We'll be leaving on a Sunday if we do the one day so not sure on traffic. Our boys are 8, 5, and 14 months. I'm not too worried about the older two but am about the 14 month old. I'm afraid he will get fussy from riding and being in a car seat that long. Map Quest is saying it should take us about 11 hours. So not sure what to do. What are the rates of some of these hotels that you have stayed at?

 

[mc97]

I don't have any advice on the 14 month old...don't have any of those in the car yet on trips but we (when we lived in Northern VA) always drove straight through and just broke it up with frequent rest stops. Like Amare06, we always left in the morning (no later than 8am) so even if the trip did take 13-14 hours instead of 11-12 hours (like it should)...we're still there before midnight.

I think your original question was about recommended hotels, so I guess I didn't help at all Have a safe trip no matter how you get there!

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

We live in Richmond, VA. We've driven straight through and that gets tiring. So, now we leave around 4pm and drive to Brunswick, GA (about 8 hrs) and spend the night. Then get up early the next morning to go to Disney. It's 3 hours from Brunswick!!

 

[3boysluvndisney]

pooh girl 71, Where in Brunswick do you stay and what were the rates? We live about an hour south of Roanoke so how many hours do you think it would take us to get to Brunswick?

Thanks!!!

TWO WEEKS UNTIL WE SEE MICKEY!!!

 

[Mercy]

I was going to post earlier, but got knocked off. Anyway, I see someone mentioned Brunswick, GA. We have stayed there before and they have several nice hotels right off I95. I got my hotel thru Priceline. Got a great rate, I think I got the Holiday Inn for around $30. Check out www.biddingfortravel.com go to Georgia (other cities) and then to page 2, you will see some winning bids for around $20-30 for hotels in Brunswick.

**Edited to add - a quick check on Mapquest - from Roanoke to Brunswick is about 8 hrs.**

 

[PNO4TE]

You won't be going on 95 will you? Are you going 81 out of Roanoke and ending up through Atlanta? That will make a big difference in where you want to stop!

BTW - we are in Fredericksburg and make the drive every Christmas. We stop at a Fairfield Inn outside of Savannah and pay about $70 a night. It has an indoor pool and is a great stopping point for us coming and going.

Elin

 

[momxx5]

Brunswick GA is right on I-95. I think you guys will probably take 77 down through Atlanta. I think if you stop south of Atlanta that would be about 8 hours from where you are now. Then the next morning you would have 4-5 hrs more. I'm not sure how MapQuest would show 11 hrs total driving time.

 

[momxx5]

Oh, and I would check out HolidayInn.com to find the rates and locations that you could stop at.

 

[soccerchick]

We live near Dulles Airport and we stopped in Savannah when we went to Orlando. Driving straight through, w/potty and a 30 to 45 min. long meal break, we get to Jacksonville in 12 hours

 

[DisneyDianne]

We live in Luray, Va. and have drove down 5 times so far and have drove straight through all of the times. My DS is 6 now and he does great but even when he took his first trip at the age of 16 months he did fine. He slept lots on the way down. My suggestion is to have snacks, colcoring books, books, we also have a portable tv/vcr combo that is worth every penny I paid. They are very inexpensive now. We usually leave around 4-5 a.m. and get there around 6 p.m. We stop allot so it can be done faster if necessary. Good luck and have a safe and magical trip.

Disney Dianne

12 trips since opening day!!
Looking forward to October trip 2004

 

[3boysluvndisney]

Okay Mapquest is saying for us to take I-81 then merge onto I-77 then I-26 then I-95 then I-4 towards Orlando. Total driving time is 11 hours 26 minutes. For those of you who said that I wouldn't be on I-95 and should be going through Atlanta where did you get those directions. Are they quicker?

Thanks!!


TWO WEEKS UNTIL WE SEE MICKEY!!!

 

[SAWYERMAW1]

We drive from Virginia Beach and usually stop near Savannah. If you stop at one of the rest stops and pick up one of the Travellers Magazines you can find some great deals on hotels. I believe they have a different one for each state.

 

[momxx5]

3Boys-

I checked with MapQuest too and you are correct taking that route is the quickest. I would look around Savanah but that will probably be expensive, maybe south of there for hotels. Considering most school will be out, if you plan on stopping I would have a reservation. Too many times we had tried to stop without reservations only to find no vacancies for miles.

Where are you staying when you are at WDW?

Last summer we made the trip straight home - to Greensboro NC - with 5 kids, ages 18months to 9 yrs old. We left the Ft. Wilderness cabins at 9:00 in the morning and arrived at home by 11:00 that night.

So when MapQuest says it will be 11+ hours is that including potty breaks and meals?

 

[momxx5]

Check out Expedia.com and put in the city you want to stop at. I checked with Brunswick GA and there are a few choices for around $50-60. Jacksonville would be another great choice. I would be a shorter drive the 2nd day.

 

[Tina]

We live in Northern VA and have made the trip twice. Last year we drove straight through, leaving at 6am on a Thursday morning. We hit a snag in the late morning in North Carolina when they closed 95 due to a really bad accident. They routed traffic around it on side roads (in the country) but it added about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to our drive. Most of the drive was good, but by the time we got to Georgia, we were READY to get out of that car. The 2 of us were switching off every 2 hours, but the drive was just too long. We were getting SO tired. At one point, I pulled into a gas station to fill up and, for the life of me, I could not get my car on the correct side of the pump. My brain was just no longer functioning at this point and I kept circling the pump and getting angry because I was on the wrong side!! I can laugh about it now, but at the time, it was not funny. It was dangerous for us to be driving in that kind of state. We finally arrived at WDW around 9pm and we were completely exhausted.

This year we left on a Friday night after work around 5pm. We had booked a room in advance at the Hampton Inn in Santee, SC (using the recommendation of a friend). We got there around 1am and were VERY happy we had booked the room in advance. The hotel (and surround hotels) were all booked solid. It was a perfect stopping point for us and the hotel was clean and tidy. I think we paid about $85 for the night. The room also had a fridge, microwave, kitchen sink area, etc. The next morning we got up and ate at the free breakfast bar downstairs in the hotel. We then drove the remaining 5 hours to WDW. We also stayed in the same hotel for the return trip.

Stopping over night was definitely the way to go for us -- and the only way we'll do it from this point forward.

 

[swilshire]

We go down I-75 so I can't offer you specific recommendations, but we've had good luck through the years stopping at the welcome center and picking up those hotel discount books. We usually found something in the $35 - $50 range. We've stayed in some nice hotels, some OK ones, and one that was just awful (a Days Inn). Only once did we have to bypass the selected exit and go a few miles farther down because of some special event in Gainesville that had everything full.

We tried Priceline a couple of times and got good prices, but we found it very difficult to predict when we would want to stop. We found that we either stopped earlier than we wanted and were bored for the evening, or we selected something too far down when the weather or road conditions worked against us.

I prefer driving straight through, so we've done that the last couple of times. It makes for a long day, particularly if you have traffic/road construction delays, but it's too much trouble to me to drag everybody into a hotel. We usually don't rest very well since we wind up in a full-size bed instead of the king we're used to at home and the kids don't have their own space.

Sheila