Booking a room for the drive

[abbyndrewmom]

HI,

I wanted to get some opinions on whether we should book a hotel room for the drive down. We never have before but we are planning on driving till very late. WE hope to get from Guelph to Cinnicinati (actually just pass into Florence, Kentucky) we probably won't get there till 12:00 or 1:00 am. We are driving the Thursday before March Break.

What do you all think.

 

[Cruisin]

We don't book any rooms in advance when we are travelling.

You could run into problems though stopping that late at night.

You are leaving before the actual start of March Break so that might be helpful.

I guess it all comes down to your own comfort level with the situation. If it were me, I would not book a room ahead but not everyone would be comfortable doing that.

 

[SunnyD]

Hi abbyndrewmom,

We will be leaving for Florida and Disney the same day you are, but from Kitchener, Ont. We will be leaving about 4:00 am on the 12th and hope to arrive in Chattanooga, TN about 7-8 pm. It's a long day with only 2 drivers but the drive is mostly by daylight.

The next day we should arrive at Kissimmee about 7 pm., 2 full days on the road but only 1 night. By leaving late in the day, you will likely be on the road over 2 nights.

During past trips, we did not bother to make reservations, just watched the parking lots to see if they were filling up, then chose a place to stay with good places to eat nearby. Dave Hunter's book, "Along the I75" is a great help.

Whatever you plan, have a safe trip. Maybe we'll see you on the road!! Give us the "Dis-wave" !



Diane

 

[wrabs]

Hi folks. Cruisin'Kroezes, why don't you normally book a room? Do you try to find local deals instead?, or do you just like to go with the flow, and not be committed to a set locale?

Thanks,
wrabs

 

[Cruisin]

wrabs:
We don't usually book a room for the reasons you mentioned ... we go until we want to stop and then we find a room wherever that happens to be. We don't really look so much for local deals but stick to a few chains that we are happy with (Days Inns, Quality Inns, Baymonts etc).

We have driven down at Christmas, March Break and other times of the year and have not had a problem getting a room. There are so many rooms available along the I-75, it does not seem to be a problem. We do however try to get off the road at a decent time, somewhere around 6 - 8 or 9 pm. The longer you wait the more chance of having a problem finding a room.

Here are some tips for anybody interested:

Tim Hortons at exit 197 Toledo Ohio and exit 29 Monroe/Lebanon, Ohio

Exit 92 at Sidney Ohio has a new Applebees, not in the I-75 book. We stopped there and had wonderful service, great food from start to finish. If you are in the area at the right time stop there.

Exit 87 at Richmond, Kentucky has a very nice Jameson Inn, we have stayed there on 3 different occasions. Right next door to a Ryans Buffet Restaurant.

Hope everyone has a great trip.

 

[Susan--Ontario]

Abbyndrewmom,

The drive from Guelph to Cincinnatti takes about 7 hours with no stops. If you will be stopping that late I would definetely book a room somewhere. I'm not sure how March break will affect the traffic flow on I-75 but I will share my story with you.

One year we left the same time as Indiana and Illinois were having their spring breaks. It was the Wednesday before Easter. We left London around 3:30 in the afternoon. We attempted to find a room about 10 o'clock (in Northern Kentucky) and there wasn't a single one to be found until south of Knoxville. We kept on driving until Sweetwater, TN. At that point my then, 9 month old DS woke up. I said to my DH that I wasn't paying for a hotel room to sit up with a wide awake baby.
We ended up driving straight through. (driving through is still my preference).

If you stop that late, will your family be able to go back to sleep if they have been sleeping in the car.

We usually leave right after work and drive for 3 or 4 hours, stop for supper and then drive for another 2 or 3 hours. We often stop just north of Cincinnatti. If we don't have any problems we can get to Dry Ridge, KY. We then get up real early (read 5:30/6:00) the next morning and get on our way. This will put us within a short drive of Disney the next day.

Since you are going on a weekday. You'll want to consider the morning rush hour in Cincinnatti as well.

It's a personal decision on whether you want to wing it or not, but now that I have two children I need to plan a place if it's going to be that late at night or be prepared to keep on driving. We always stay at a Hampton Inn because the breakfast bars are very consistent from hotel to hotel within this chain (can't say that about Best Western). We grab our breakfast before we leave the hotel and then can drive 3 or four hours before we have to stop again. The kids usually fall back asleep which really helps make the time go by quicker for them.

That said, I wanted to tell you I'm soooo jealous of everyone who is going for March break. I get to stay here, take vacation days to work around my house.

PLEASE bring back Spring with you when you return!!!!

 

[dsneygirl]

If you are arriving that late I would consider booking a room. We drove to Cinncinati in October and arrived about 10 pm. But after midnight might be pushing it.

 

[abbyndrewmom]

Thanks for everyone's input!!!

I think we will probably book a room because we will be ariving very late. We ran into trouble in Pennsylvania in June 2002 when we were taking the other route. We left after work on a friday night and wanted to drive till about 10:00 pm. Well we ended up going till after midnight because we could not find any rooms and finally got a hotel that was about 20 minutes off the interstate.

Our kids will fall asleep in the car and will probably not even realize we are in a hotel till first thing in the morning when they wake up. WE want to avoid Cinncinatti rush hour so we will push through the city and stop in Northern Kentucky. I guess having a hotel reserved will really push us to make our goal. We will probably hit Atlanta in Rush hour which isn't too bad for us as we lived there for a year.

We hope to make it to Tallahasse Flordia Friday night. Dh's step sister lives there and we are spending the weekend with them before going to WDW. It should take 12 hrs from Northern Kentucky so we will have to put in a full day of driving but I think we can do it.

It is getting very close I can't wait. i think I am going to start packing this weekend!!! I can't wait to get out the shorts and t-shirts.

 

[pkitty]

I'am leaving tonight (yippee!!!) and had a heck of a time getting a room around Macon Ga ( our usually stopping point). I need my plans nailed down as well ...it's a comfort thing when travelling with DD. Anyway because it was a Friday night it was a pain in the butt...every room that I could access was booked...finally managed to get a room at the HOJO exit 1 I-475. The thing about the big chains is that your cancellation policy usually states that you can cancel the same day...I've done it before via cell. We had a major weather delay last year and stopped at the Best western in Byron Ga...we had a reservation and it was a good thing..they were sold out... I called ahead just to let them know that we wouldn't be arriving until after midnight and the front desk clerk was awesome!!!!She told me that they we're getting worried about us and they'd be waiting....and they were...really fun check in at 1 am...along with some peace of mind!!! Hope you have e a wonderful time I know I will be!!!!

 

[DSNY FN]

We usually Leave London about 6:30 or 7 Pm and drive through the night to the Georgia Welcome centre arriving there about 8 AM. We stop at the Timmies in Dayton for a hot chocolate and bagel or donut depending on what they have left at the time we arrive. We then will stop for gas in Kentucky and on to the GA welcome Centre. We get the kids out of the car and let them run around for a bit and then eat breakfast and get them dressed for the day. We stop in ringold for gas and a snack for in the car and then we hit the Macon bypass and stop at the rest area for lunch and to let the kids run around again. We leave from there and stop for gas then drive to Valdosta we stop at exit 18 and usually stay at the Fairfield Inn with a web coupon from www.roomsavers.com for about 40-45 dollars for the night with deluxe continental breakfast. The have lots of restaurants around the hotel for dinner as we usually arrive around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. We also find stopping there gives everyone a nice relaxing night of no riding in the car and a good nights sleep. We leave from the hotel around 9 AM the next morning and stop shortly there after for the customary free cup of FLA OJ at the Florida welcome centre and the pics of the kids in front of the Welcome to Florida sign. From there we are off and usually stop on the turnpike at the Citgo or whatever service centre it is for a washroom break and to get a drink thehn we are off till we hit Disney usually around 12 or 1 in the afternoon.