Anyone ever driven from the northeast to WDW then HHI?

[TimeforMe]

We currently have a ressie at HHI for April, but now DH has decided that since we won't be able to take 2 vacations (1 in spring, 1 in summer) that we should just take a longer summer vacation and drive from CT to WDW stopping at HHI on the way home. HH is our home resort, and not sure if we'll get our dates, but..........has anyone ever done this? If so, what kind of itinerary would you recommend. We only want to stay at DW 3 or 4 days plus do Universal and possible SeaWorld. Any suggestions?

 

[KNWVIKING]

..but the bulk of our trip was WDW with two nites at HHI. If your planning on only 3 - 4 days at WDW AND planning on doing US my only advise is to get plenty of sleep beforehand. As for HH.... little to slow for my pace,especially since I'm not a golfer. I don't think I would ever spend more then a couple days at a time there. I love being on the ocean,but prefer VB to the HH setup with a beach house seperate from the resort.

 

[justcruisin]

Thinking of doing the same thing this summer, but I now think driving all the way to wdw for only 4 or 5 nights will be too short of a stay.

We're planning on driving straight though on the way down, but taking 2 nights on the way home (we usually fly, but just bought a car with a dvd built in... may still fly if southwest does a 2 for 1).

Spending the points for a brief stay a HH doesn't seem worth it. Would like to spend a week there ... maybe next summer 2005!

I believe it to be about 8 hours from wdw to HH? Can anyone confirm this?

 

[KNWVIKING]

Actually,that's a little on the long side. It's about 300 miles,most of which is hi-way,70+ mph. We did it door-to-door in just under six hours.

 

[TimeforMe]

OK--I guess I should've been little more specific. I think what we will probably do is drive straight thru to WDW stay onsite for 3 or 4 nights, then do USF for 2 or 3 nights before driving to HHI for 5 nights. We did a 14 day WDW trip 2 years ago and did the cruise last year so don't need a real WDW "fix" this time We've been to HHI and LOVE the slow, relaxing place so I don't think 5 nights will be a problem for us at all. Plus DH and DS are golfers.

So....WDW to HHI is about 6 hrs? and then how long from HHI to CT/NY? Anyone ever visit Charleston? Is that worth stopping over for?

 

[justcruisin]

A few posters have confimed in the past 16 hours from HH to Albany.

 

[poohgirl100]

I live in PA and we drove to WDW then to VB and back home again. We spent two great weeks in FL. But even with that being said the drive back to PA was tooooo long for me. Approximately 22 hours in the car. I told my DH the longest ride for me in one day is to HH (12 hours). DH would love to do it again. He thought the drive was great!

No matter what, have a great time!

 

[colleen costello]

We drove a lot last summer, doing the Disney road-tip thing and it turned out fine. We have similar plans for sumemr 2003.

We live in Bloomington Indiana and last went to WDW in July. We got the bulk of the trip over with the first day, driving about 10 hours to Macon GA. Next morning we headed to Orlando and got there about 2 or 3 in time for check- in. We spent a week with Mickey then headed to South Carolina. Last year we didn't actually do Hilton Head -- we have friends in Charleston and we stayed with them. The trip from Orlando to SC was so easy that THIS summer we have a 2-bedroom at HH and they are staying with us!

From SC we headed to Grandma's in Easton PA. It was a long day -- about 10 hours -- but we took a family vote and did it straight through. Next summer we may take it in 2 days.

We have a tv/vcr thingy in our van for the kids. We pack lots of snacks and lots of tapes and everyone is happy. We stop for meals but only at fast places like Wendy's. Overall our trip went very well. I remember the trips down from NJ when I was a kid. No tv, no seatbelts, no air conditioning. YIKES! Travel today is luxurious compared to "the dark ages" of the 1970's!

 

[dznymom1]

We drive down from NH, and usually stop in CT at the Blue Colony Diner for our first break It takes us 23 hours to WDW from here, and about 17 and a half to or from HH if we plan the traffic around the cities right.

We have tried so many different scenarios that it's hard to say what works best, but we do NOT like driving straight through as we are too exhausted to enjoy anything for the first day or two. Also we have had a couple of scares with drunk drivers in the 1-2am time frame, so we try to avoid that now. We generally leave around 4pm on a Friday. Going to HH we stop between NJ & Baltimore, and then get an early start and arrive at HH in early afternoon. Going to WDW we sometimes stop prior to DC, and then again south of Jacksonville to set us up for a Sunday noonish arrival at WDW.

We love Hilton Head and it's relaxing pace!

 

[DeeDeeDis]

Hi
We live in western Ma and have driven down to florida 4 times. Last August we stopped at HH on our way down, only going to stay one nite but it was so beautiful there we stayed another. Quite and peaceful can be real nice after a WDW trip. If I recall only about 6 hours from HH to WDW. Last summer we left Springfield ma at 10pm on Tuesday - drove (with many pit stops) to just outside of Washington, took a two hour power nap in a rest stop then drove to HH, at the hotel by 5:00pm Wednesday. Usually we just drive til we get tired and stop at a hotel, last year great trip, no traffic.

Two summers ago when we drove down we stopped at Charleston, great place we went to the harbor- battleship, submarine, took the ferry out to fort Sumner- that was very interesting (we have 3 boys-had to find something they would enjoy) also have stopped at Washington DC three times, to sleep and visit for the day, did monuments, one museum each trip. cleanest subway i've ever been on.

Your'll love the dvd - also if you buy an adaptor you can hook up a playstation or xbox.

Well have fun - sounds like a great trip

Happy trails

 

[Pete and Tina]

We are driving from CT to Florida next week and not taking I-95. We are going west through Penn and then we are going to catch I-95 in South Carolina, has anyone ever tried this?

 

[JudithM]

Pete & Tina, driving south from New England using roads other than I95 all the way has been discussed on the Transportation bb here on the DIS. Stop over & visit .

 

[jcodespoti]

DON"T GO I-95!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Joe in CT

 

[Luv2Dream]

We drove from Central MA to HH last May, spent one week, then proceeded down to WDW for a second week and then drove home. If I had to do it again, I'd reverse it but circumstances prevented us from doing that with this trip. Anyhow, we absolutely loved the peacefulness of HH. We loved the pool slide, the dolphin tours, the kids activites each day, the campfire, B'Lou Crabbe and the parade, all of it. I can't wait to go back to HH again. We discovered this past October trip due to the sniper situation that taking I-80 I believe was a great ride. Much less stressful and I don't think I'll ever do 95 again. Well, not until SC that is. If you need any more specifics, just PM me. I'd love to help.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

We are thinking of doing the same trip next year from CT, leave Saturday Morning drive to Virginia, then get up and head to Florida, check in on Sunday at Vistana World Golf Village in St. Augustine, leave the following Sunday, head to Hilton Head, check out on Friday and head home to CT, again stopping in Virigina, or maybe continue straight home (depends on if we want to see family again!!!) As a kid we did the florida trip in a week and it was way too short and everyone was overtired, by the time my parents recouped from the trip, it was time to drive back. Or the other game plan is to Fly to JAX, rent car, drive to Hilton Head, drop off car and fly home, if cheap fares, then that sounds much more appealing!!!!

 

[TimeforMe]

Originally posted by jcodespoti
DON"T GO I-95!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Joe in CT

What other way is there? I confess I haven't looked at the map yet, and DH is the navigator, but I didn't realize we could go any other way.

Luv2dream: yes we are driving to WDW first for a week and then to HHI. My waitlist came thru and we were able to get our 2br for our 1st choice of dates PM on the way re alternate routes. Thanks for the offer!

Thanks for all the replies guys. DH wants to drive straight thru, but I'd rather stop on the way and arrive at WDW refreshed.

 

[Paula H]

Drove from central CT to HHI this past September - we left at 9:30 on a Sat. night (with a borrowed VCR in the back for the wee ones). We stopped once on the Jersey Tpke for a pit stop and then didn't stop again until south of D.C. for breakfast. We pulled into HHI at 3:30. This worked well for us since DH does all the driving and works at night, so being awake wasn't at all a problem for him. Coming home, we drove during the day and found the trip back north to take alot longer. We left HHI at 10 a.m. and at 6 p.m. we were only in Richmond. We stayed overnight in Quanitco, VA and then made the rest of the trip the next a.m.

We're planning on driving to VWL in May and plan to leave on a Sat. morning, go as far as we can, and then arrive at VWL on Sunday. I'll be interested to hear the suggested alternate route to 1-95. We, too, encountered some drunk drivers - right in CT!! And, the Jersey Tpke makes me pretty nervous.

 

[SimplyMagical]

We had reserved a week at HH the last week of August 2002. We had planned to drive but Southwest came out with some excellent rates - $135 roundtrip from Albany to Jacksonville. We decided to fly to Jacksonville -- changed our reservations a little - decided to spend three nights at WDW and surprise the kids. We drove from Jacksonville airport - approximately 2.5 hours - spent three nights at WDW -- and then drove to HH - approximately 5 hours. We spent four nights at HH and then drove back to Jacksonville to fly home. Good thing we planned WDW for three nights - we had rain at HH from the time we arrived until the time we left -- the kids really didn't like HH - they said they were bored. I have to agree - once you go on a vacation to WDW, everywhere else does seem boring. Anyway.....if you are planning your trip in August, you may want to watch for the great rates Southwest usually offers towards the end of the month. Most of the south is back in school then. We were also able to get a fantastic rate on a rental van - $200 for the week. When you can get some great rates it is not worth that long drive and wear and tear not only on your vehicle, but your family. We plan to purchase annual passes on our trip in April and hope that Southwest offers those deals again to take advantage of. We like to try and get three trips from our annual passes.

 

[DownNeckBoy]

Our plan for this summer will be to travel down to WDW for stays at BCV & BWV then drive up to HH for the fireworks on the 4th of July. This will be our first stay in a studio, but since it will only be for a night it should be OK.

The trip from WDW to HH is in the 5-6 hour range. We just returned from HH (last night) and it took 12.5 hours with a few stops and some iffy weather along the way.

I understand the problem that some may have with I95, but it is "brutally efficient" for those who want to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. My suggestion is to travel at night as much as possible to enjoy the silence of your family!

 

[jcodespoti]

The reason why I say don't go I-95 is that the traffic can be brutal. Once you get past Virginia its ok but from CT to there your are taking a chance. I realize that if you go another route it may more mile wise but it may be quicker time wise.
If you do take I-95 try to time it that you go thru the major metro areas off-peak, it may help.

Joe in CT