Doing Disney From an Hour Away

[smokeyblue]

Sorry I wasn't really sure where to post this. I'm just wondering if anyone has stayed an hour or more away? My parents have a place about an hour east in Titusville. How much of a pain would it be to drive back and forth? It's just me, no kids so I don't have to worry about bed times or naps.

I would much rather stay on-site, but I just did a 9 night stay about a month ago and spent a decent chunk of money. The only reason I would be going back so soon is that I have the time to do so right now and my parents offered their place to stay and their vehicle. I do have an annual pass so there would be no ticket or parking cost. Also, I've never seen the Christmas decorations so I thought that would be interesting to see that.

My worry is that I will get tired and will need a break. When on-site, I usually go back in the afternoon for 2-3 hours so nap or go to the pool. I did look to see if I could get value or moderate room for 2-3 nights and everything is booked up pretty solid. I've also considered if I could get two separate one-day reservations and space them over the week or so I would plan to be down, or possibly do an off-site hotel near Disney Springs for a few nights.

Suggestions, comments?

 

[Upatnoon]

How many days do you want to visit? I might drive for a day or two, but any longer and I'd just book something offsite because driving two hours a day isn't a vacation to me. You can try hotwire and priceline for a deal.

 

[smokeyblue]

How many days do you want to visit? I might drive for a day or two, but any longer and I'd just book something offsite because driving two hours a day isn't a vacation to me. You can try hotwire and priceline for a deal.

I would like to visit the parks 4 days and with a stay in the area of 7-10 days.

 

[Woodview]

It is an easy drive to Disney approx. 1 hour +

No need to arrive really early as you are on your own.

At Park sit down when tired & people watch for awhile

Have a stay at home on 2nd Day OR Do Airboat Ride at Midway Airboats at Christmas ( Fort )

 

[Upatnoon]

I would like to visit the parks 4 days and with a stay in the area of 7-10 days.

I'd start off by not booking a hotel, just driving down for the day from your parents house and seeing how it goes.

If you don't like the commute, I'd book a hotel for the end of the trip and leave your parents early. If you don't mind the commute, you save money.

Since you have season passes, there's no need to spend so much time at the parks that you are exhausted.

 

[TamaraQT]

You were just there a month ago and nothing else really changed except the Christmas decorations. So for me, I would say "Yes" do the hour drive maybe 2 or 3 times while you are there. You have free parking and passes so no need to really go to do anything else except sightseeing pretty much. I wouldn't make it stressful and do fastpasses for rides. I probably wouldnt even do any dinner reservations or anything. Then you are obligated to be there on certain days and times. I am sure you will find time to do a ride or two here and there. But I wouldn't try to go all out DISNEY when you have an hour commute each way. Don't stress over it. Go when you feel like it and have fun!!

 

[bearzabout]

I often need a nap as well. It is easy to find great resting spots at the resorts. The pool areas are for resort guests, but the beach areas around the lakes are usually empty during the day. Either snag a lounge chair or take a thin towel and use a coat for a pillow and nap in these empty, quiet areas on the beach at GF, the Poly, BC or YC. The lobbies have comfy chairs and I often see people asleep in them. I love The rocking chairs in front of the fireplace at Wilderness Lodge.

 

[AllthingsDisMom]

We live in the Sarasota/Bradenton area (gulf coast) and think nothing of the nearly two hour drive when we visit the parks. We rarely stay overnight and while the drive back home is tiring, it's nothing that a Joffrey on the way out won't fix!

 

[tobikaye]

I would like to visit the parks 4 days and with a stay in the area of 7-10 days.

I have done 1 day visits to WDW from the east coast and west coast of FL, but never multiple days in a row. If you are going to be there for 7-10 days, it should not be too bad to do the drive into Orlando, especially if you spread it out over the days you are in Florida. I probably would get tired or bored if I tried to do the drive 4 days in a row, but would have no problem doing it 4 times over 7 days.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

You will be fine. Heck my work commute can be over an hour. Just don’t do 4 days in a row as that may be tiring. We have driven over for the day from treasure island and it was fine.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

I used to commute an hour each way (more if there was a bad accident on my route) to work for the last 9 months I lived in Altamonte (a few miles north of Orlando). I hated it. I live about 75 minutes from Disney now and will make day trips, but prefer to stay at a hotel if I can afford it. Commuting is certainly doable, but I probably wouldn't plan to rope drop anything.

 

[Woodview]

I used to commute an hour each way (more if there was a bad accident on my route) to work for the last 9 months I lived in Altamonte (a few miles north of Orlando). I hated it. I live about 75 minutes from Disney now and will make day trips, but prefer to stay at a hotel if I can afford it. Commuting is certainly doable, but I probably wouldn't plan to rope drop anything.

You forgot to mention that there is a HUGE amount of Road works on I-4 & on
All the surrounding roads ( About 10 miles + )

 

[Princess_Lisa]

You forgot to mention that there is a HUGE amount of Road works on I-4 & on
All the surrounding roads ( About 10 miles + )

I-4 is horrible. The construction (I-4 Ultimate) also made it a lot worse. Coming to Disney from Titusville, I would think they could take the 528 (Toll) to 417 (Toll) and avoid the worst of it. I'm in the other direction now, so I come down the Turnpike to the 429 (Toll), which is not bad at all. It costs me $8-10 in tolls (round trip), but is so much better than when I was driving I-4.

 

[smokeyblue]

OP here. Plans are off for now. I was offered a temporary work contract and it was just what I was looking for. I was truly not expecting an opportunity like this; it is a very good thing. I have a window of opportunity to go the week before Thanksgiving, but I think I would be better off planning a trip when my contract is up in 3-4 months. I'm sure I'll be scouring the internet for the next few days looking for deals on flights and hotels so there is a sliver of a chance I'll go. Thanks for all the advice and info.

 

[trouttigger]

Well, chiming in anyway, even though your current plan is off. With AP, you don't need to do commando style from rope drop to closing. If you get the opportunity again, I say free is the best price ever. I'd take a day off in the middle to sleep in and goof around. While an hour away is not ideal, anything close runs your cost up significantly.

 

[LovesTimone]

I like the idea of staying over night the Holiday Inn at Disney Springs or the Hilton you might be able to score a last minute decent rate, and they offer buses to and from the parks, also you can check out Disney springs for dinner. Keep checking for WDW resorts, rooms open up all the time, but pull the trigger when you see it. For instance, We were meeting some friends at F&W and we decided to see if there was a room on site, and I did not have any luck at all, then I decided to check one night right before bed, and guess what pops up a king bed, at POFQ and I grabbed it, so then I checked to see if there were more rooms still showing, which there was... so I quickly call my friend, she was like great, so when I talked to her later in the week, she said that she could not find a room, I was like wow they went that fast, she was like oh no I did not try till yesterday... So be ready...

 

[fla4fun]

I used to commute an hour each way (more if there was a bad accident on my route) to work for the last 9 months I lived in Altamonte (a few miles north of Orlando). I hated it. I live about 75 minutes from Disney now and will make day trips, but prefer to stay at a hotel if I can afford it. Commuting is certainly doable, but I probably wouldn't plan to rope drop anything.

I am about 20 minutes from WDW (closer to WDW than my work) and I still prefer to stay on site than do day trips. But I do them if there's something I really want to see. My work commute is over an hour as well, depending on traffic. We used to do day trips sometimes when we lived in Pinellas county, and that was about an hour and a half each way, if traffic was light, and two hours if it wasn't.

I agree that you can find some nice resting spots at the resorts. You could always plan on having lunch at a resort, then a rest, then head back to the park.