Best days to arr at FW

[Melwood23]

Was wondering if I could get a concensus (ooh..big word for me, and probably spelled wrong ), on the best arrival days. Weekend such as Sat, which is what I had planned or a weekday such as Wed or Thur, or even a Friday. Not sure if FW gets alot of 'weekenders' coming in on the weekend like my local campgrounds do.

 

[YellowXterra]

We always get to FW early like 9 Am and go ahead and check in. You maay not get your site right away but you will miss the long lines at the normal check in time. They will go ahead and give you all of your tickets and such and provide parking for your camper till your site is ready. This way you are free to stat your vacation as soon as you get there.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

FW does get its share of weekenders, so Friday and Saturday are pretty busy for check in. Sunday through Thursday are usually the best check in days. As the previous poster said, try to get there early and check in right away. They will give you a card with a phone number to call to check on your site later, and you can drive right to it without having to deal with the lines at the outpost.

 

[logella]

We always check in on Saturday afternoon between noon and 1pm for our week long stay. We've never had more than two or three people ahead of us in line.

 

[Melwood23]

Well since I have never driven as far as Florida before, I may be over doing this, but right now my plan is to leave early from work, around 2pm, that way I can get thru the stupidest part of the drive. See I have to take a state route to I77, around Ripley WV. Part of the SR is a nice 4 lane by pass, then it goes back to being a 2 lane, 55mph road, with a few thru towns, that make the mph go down to 35.

Anyways plan was to leave work early, drive till I get to around Ripley, which usually takes about 2/3hrs. Then stop around 6/7pm at a hotel, rest, get to sleep early, up early around 5am (my normal wake up time), and on the road by 5:30am. Drive to Columbia SC, this will be about 6hr drive, so I may go further. Then stay over night again someplace, then get up early and have maybe a 6 - 8 hr drive to FW. Again, this will depend on if:

I leave work at 2, and not noon .
If once I get to Columbia, decide, I still have some drive left (I think WDW will be a motivation ) and go as far as I can go till I get tired, but stop before 8pm. Get up early again, 5am, if not earlier (think of the commercial...I'm too excited to sleep). The further I go on the first to days, the least amount I have to go on the arrival day.

Now I have experimented once, to see how far I can drive from home down that way, and I was able to make it to Wytheville VA by 6pm, and that was with leaving home around 10am. That dang SR33 is the worst part, after that it is all interstate till I hit WDW!!!!

 

[logella]

With your descriptions of your route I figure your probably slightly more than a 1000 miles from Orlando which is exactly our distance. We personally really dislike the mid-afternoon departure. Although it ends up being the exact same time on the road it usually ends up with an extra night on the road and thus it makes it feel longer.

I usually take the afternoon off the day before we leave (just like you're doing) but I use it instead for last minute packing, etc. We then get one last good night of sleep in our own beds. We get up very early and put in a good hard day of driving (just over 600 miles). We then stop at the same KOA campground each year. We do an express camp (we don't even unhook the camper) and get up early the next morning. At that point we are barely 400 miles from Orlando and we usually pull through the Disney gates between 12:30 and 1pm. We do this with three kids. They are 3, 6, and 11 now but this year will be our fourth year to do it. They handle it just fine with the DVD player and knowing that there is a pool to swim in at the KOA campground.

Based on your descriptions if you did it our way you should be able to get to Columbia, S.C. the first day. This would put you at just over 400 miles from Orlando.

 

[Melwood23]

Yes that would be the better way except one thing...I would not be able to GET a good night sleep

I would just be thinking about the trip too much. That is why I figure it would be better for me, to leave work early, drive till I get to I77 then find a place to stay overnight. Since I usually get up for work anywhere from 4am to 5am (my work hours start at 7am, but usually get 1 - 2 hrs of OT every day). So by 7/8pm that night, after driving a few hours, and working, I will be able to get to sleep and get up early.