Drive from Austin, TX to WDW

[TX2WDW]

Has anyone driven from Austin, TX to WDW? How long did it take? Did you have young child, i.e. have to stop much? Did you do it all at once or did you stop and spend the night somewhere? If you stopped, where? What time did you leave? Any other important tidbits you can share?

We are considering driving in April of 2013? It will be me, my husband, my mother, almost 5yr old son and almost 2yr daughter.

 

[Disfan454]

Drove from Dallas area in 2009 and it took about 17 hours going from I-20 to 1-10 all the way across LA, MI and LA to FL. Wasnt to bad of a trip. No traffic or anything.

 

[Gooshy]

We are driving from San Antonio to WDW. We are stopping in MS somewhere then the next day take it all the way. We dont want to be to exhausted and not enjoy our time.

 

[littlebit0863]

A friend of mine just did this last week. She stopped on the way at Pensacola for one night,and on the way back stopped in New Orleans for a night. Her trip took longer, but she got to see some interesting sites with the kids.

 

[kelis]

I will be driving from Dallas in less than 3 weeks with me, DH, DS7 and twin DS2. Should be FANTASTIC. We are stopping in P-cola on the way there and NOLA on the way back (I have friends in NOLA)

 

[Disfan454]

Man, I did it straight through from Dallas when I did it. Not sure I would do it again but it was our first time so I was in a hurry to get there.

 

[hipporina]

We live near Dallas and have driven it 4 times. We flew one year and it was so much better we have flown every year since. We always made our first day really long, stopped for the night, and had a short day the second day. The drive is long and boring. There is very little to see, especially through the Florida panhandle.

Our last time driving our kids were 10, 8, 8, 6, 6, 5, 4, and 4. Even though we made everyone use the bathroom every time we stopped, there were a lot of stops along the way. It ended up being at least 20 hours in the car each way.

If you are open to flying, you probably won't spend much more than driving once you factor in gas, wear and tear, hotels, and food on the road. We are going in September and the rates out of Dallas had been horrendous so we were considering flying out of Austin. We found lots of flights for $220 pprt on Jet Blue, Southwest, United, and more. Dallas rates dropped for a few days and we were able to book Delta out of DFW for $190 pprt.

 

[kruegeme]

We live in College Station and have done the drive several times with DD now 5 and DS now 3. Usually takes us about 16 hrs so depending on what part of Austin you live in, you probably can add about 1.5 hrs to that. I've done the drive alone and did it in just under 15 hrs. The time difference is based on the number of stops and their length. We stop every 2 hrs whether it's needed or not and try to group some of these with a gas fill-up while the kids hit the restrooms.

Depending on what time of the day we leave determines where we stop. If we leave in the afternoon, Baton Rouge or Slidell are good stopping points depending on how late it is. If we leave first thing in the morning, we go to at least Pensacola (several Marriott and Holiday Inn Express options) or try make it Madison, FL (Holiday Inn Express). I try not to drive to late into the evening as it takes the kids about an hour to settle back down and go to sleep after checking into the hotel plus it's just not worth getting that tired at the beginning of the vacation (WDW will do that for you).

Coming back, we normally leave between 1 and 2. Gives us a chance to do something in the parks and get a good lunch before strapping the kids in for the drive home. Normally both are sound asleep before we get off property. We normally then drive to the east side of Mobile Bay (6 to 7 hours). Lots of hotel options (Fairfield, Holiday Inn Express, etc.) before crossing over the bay.

Some stop options that I can remember are the Whaterburger in Orange, TX before crossing into LA. Chick-Fil-a in Slidell, La (fairly new and in a nice area), gas station in Madison, FL (newer and clean with several different options to get something to eay) and numerous McDonalds along the way.

We have a electric cooler that we put snacks (cheese sticks, drinks - water/caprisun, grapes, and summer sausage) in but still pick things up along the way for the kids to eat. The snacks cut down on the have to stops because they are 'starving'.

In addition to using our iPhones to find places along the way we picked up the book 'The Next Exit' at Cracker Barrel. It helps identify what options we have and how far until we can get there when we hear the dreaded words from the backseat.... 'I've got to go potty!'.

Enjoy the drive, it's worth it.

 

[gopfans]

We have driven from San Antonio twice. The first time it took 17 hours, the second time took 21 hours because of other spring break traffic. Our usual plan is to stop in Pensacola for the night on the way there and in Baton Rouge on the way home. It is a long drive but flights around March/April are so expensive due to spring breaks and Easter. Sometimes you can get some reasonable direct flights on SW out of SAT.

 

[TX2WDW]

Thanks for all of the responses! Sounds like many have made comparable trips so it is probably doable.

 

[doris1976]

Dallas to WDW in 2001. Stopped in Destin, FL, which took about 12 hours. Then to Orlando in about 6 1/2. Wouldn't recommend driving straight through for anything.

 

[texasgirl29]

We've done the trip before and are heading out again on Sunday -- four more days! We will leave early Sunday and drive to NOLA. We will spend the night and a whole day in the Big Easy. Our daughters are 12 and 15. Last time we did this we took a side trip to the Laura Plantation outside of NOLA and will most likely take in another one this time. We are staying in Algiers across the river from the French Quarter (the real one, not POFQ) Sunday and Monday nights, then drive to Tallahassee to spend the night. Arrive at PQFQ on Wednesday after lunch. We like to take our time, drive the state highways instead of the interstate, eat at local places, generally get the flavor of the places we drive through. Fortunately for me, my husband likes to drive and I don't, so that works out. We will be at WDW for three nights, then on the Fantasy for a week.