Considering driving from Houston, Tx. to Orlando

[Catira]

We have driven twice before to Disney World. Our reservations are for 12/20-12/27 and the flights are at $350+ per person. Considering driving but do not want to drive straight from Houston to Orlando. Just wondering if there are others from Houston area here and usually where do you call your first stop?

 

[nanceliz]

We are from San Antonio but usually leave out from Houston after visiting my brother there.
Our first stop is along the Mississippi gulf coast almost to Alabama. There are several hotels right along the highway there. Then we are able to drive the next day to somewhere just north of Orlando (Ocala or around there)
We like to do this because it puts us at Disney early in the morning the 3rd day.

 

[Catira]

We are from San Antonio but usually leave out from Houston after visiting my brother there.
Our first stop is along the Mississippi gulf coast almost to Alabama. There are several hotels right along the highway there. Then we are able to drive the next day to somewhere just north of Orlando (Ocala or around there)
We like to do this because it puts us at Disney early in the morning the 3rd day.

Looking at Mapquest.. think we might stay in Pensacola and then drive into Orlando next day. Hoping flights come down a bit.. though I would rather drive and have the convenience of my own car as well as being on our own schedule.

 

[mareed]

We've driven from SE Houston (Clear Lake area) twice with the most recent being July 2009. We split the drive into 2/3 & 1/3. If we're leaving in the morning, then 2/3 of the way from Houston to Orlando is Marianna, FL and there are several hotels to choose from there. On the return trip, 2/3 of the way back home puts us in Slidell or Covington, LA (only about 20 miles apart).

Alternately, in July we left mid-afternoon and drove 1/3 way on the first day to Slidell and the 2nd day was pretty easy too! We were very fortunate and didn't hit traffic even though it was July 4th weekend!

Our drive back home was so smooth with no traffic slow-downs that we said we'd actually consider driving straight through instead of stopping, but we don't have young kids (DS's are 10 & 13).

I kept a log of drive times so let me know if you want info about specific times and I can look it up.

 

[DenLo]

We live in Missouri City, TX and usually drive to WDW. We do it in 2 days, staying the first night off I-10 near Milton (10 hours, 560 miles) or Chipley, FL (11 hours, 645 miles). The hours and miles are actually from our home in Sienna Plantation. We liked the Chipley one best as it was a bit closer to WDW. It means the first day is a much longer drive but that we get to WDW for lunch and often eat at DTD.