Drivin- Philly Burbs to Disney

[kwyn]

So, checkin in on Fri, June 15th. Driving with wife, 2 kids (7 yrs old and 3 yrs old).

Thinkin about leavin thurs 6AM or so? (

That would put me near DC around 9AM... Not ideal or maybe it's fine.

Can anyone suggest routes? I think we can leave Wed or Thurs. Either one is fine.

Should we just suck up the AM traffic through DC on that first day?

First post here. Not familiar with any construction etc going on right now. Saw some posts from a few years back.

Thanks!

 

[double r]

If you can leave earlier I would try that, the traffic southbound starts early. The Balt area gets heavy as 5 am and juct continues all the way thru DC. Tune into 103.5 FM they do traffic on the 8's and do a great job and will give detours around problem spots.
Also take the east side around DC, which is still 95 south the west side has heavy constuction. You can also take Rt 301 from De. and stay on it past Fort AP Hill and get back on 95 at exit 104, that is 1 exit above Kings Dominion.

 

[kwyn]

If you can leave earlier I would try that, the traffic southbound starts early. The Balt area gets heavy as 5 am and juct continues all the way thru DC. Tune into 103.5 FM they do traffic on the 8's and do a great job and will give detours around problem spots.
Also take the east side around DC, which is still 95 south the west side has heavy constuction. You can also take Rt 301 from De. and stay on it past Fort AP Hill and get back on 95 at exit 104, that is 1 exit above Kings Dominion.

Thanks!

Maybe leave Wed. Night and just get past that area and start again early thurs. One extra hotel night, but no worries. I'll think about that for a bit.

 

[kwyn]

So what would be the best time, during Daylight hours to drive through DC. I don't really want to wait until after 7PM nor do I want to be there before 5AM.

So, during the day, what would be the best time drive through that Balto/DC area?

Thanks again!

 

[vicki_c]

10 AM - 2 PM and it would be better on Thursday than Friday. After lunch on Friday is basically total gridlock through the evening.

We usually get caught in southern MD traffic on Friday afternoon departure trips and it normally adds 1.5 hours to our trip - and we go nowhere near DC proper.

(just noticed the previous advice - that is how we go - down 301 past Fort AP Hill and then 295 around Richmond back to 95.)

 

[njdisneylovr]

Hi, I generally post over on the Disneycruise boards, but saw this post and wanted to give my advice. We drove on April 4 (Wed) to Port Canaveral, Florida and we are from Smithvile, South Jersey. We left our house at precisely 7:19 Am and reached the Delaware Mem. Bridge around 8:45am via RT 40. We made a quick 15 min stop at the Maryland house around 9:45 and breezed through DC via 495 western beltway around noon ish, maybe a little before. We had no one on the road with us, it was unbelivable! I suggest taking the Western loop vs. Eastern because we made a mistake coming home and took the Eastern and it was not fun on. Sunday afternoon to say the least.

 

[kwyn]

Hi, I generally post over on the Disneycruise boards, but saw this post and wanted to give my advice. We drove on April 4 (Wed) to Port Canaveral, Florida and we are from Smithvile, South Jersey. We left our house at precisely 7:19 Am and reached the Delaware Mem. Bridge around 8:45am via RT 40. We made a quick 15 min stop at the Maryland house around 9:45 and breezed through DC via 495 western beltway around noon ish, maybe a little before. We had no one on the road with us, it was unbelivable! I suggest taking the Western loop vs. Eastern because we made a mistake coming home and took the Eastern and it was not fun on. Sunday afternoon to say the least.

Great! Thanks. I'll shoot to hit there around noon.

What about the construction double r mentioned on the west loop?

 

[msmayor]

Thanks!

Maybe leave Wed. Night and just get past that area and start again early thurs. One extra hotel night, but no worries. I'll think about that for a bit.

Though we don't drive to Disney this much, we make the trip south 2-3 times a year to Savannah to take our daughter to/from college. On almost every trip, we leave home (just north of Philly) around 5-6pm with our goal getting as far south as we can before 11pm. Often we can make it almost to/through Richmond...we leave on a Wed or Thu night. Getting to/past Richmond gets a majority of the heavy traffic areas out of the way and we have smooth sailing the following day.

Even getting an hour south of DC at night makes a big difference.

 

[disneymarie]

10 AM - 2 PM and it would be better on Thursday than Friday. After lunch on Friday is basically total gridlock through the evening.

We usually get caught in southern MD traffic on Friday afternoon departure trips and it normally adds 1.5 hours to our trip - and we go nowhere near DC proper.

(just noticed the previous advice - that is how we go - down 301 past Fort AP Hill and then 295 around Richmond back to 95.)

This was our route and then stop for the night at South Carolina. I think it was Lumberton maybe N.C, we leave from 2 hrs from N of Phila, down 81. We went through DC between the 10 am and 2 PM time no issue. There is construction going on, but traffic kept moving about 55 through the area. Brief spot and no concern or delay to us. Drove 10 hrs first day, had a dinner, stopped for the night, decent breakfast on the road again about 9, 10 more hrs on the road w/potty stops.

Until somehow got on the sub street that runs along side someplace and ignored the GPS and got back on the main hwy.

Check on the 2000 miles plus thread for recent construction.

 

[dreaming4disney]

we live about 1 hour north/east of Philly. We have driven several times. We found it best to leave 3am during the weekdays. The other option was after 8pm/night before- If you want to drive straight through, then leave by 3am- we would then get to Disney by dinner. If you are going to split the day leaving at 3am is also a good bet- you can get pretty far south and then sleep the night and only have a few hours drive to get there. you will also be much less tired then driving straight through

Have a good trip

 

[kwyn]

Thanks for all the advice. The 3AM thing has some merits too!

I could go to sleep when the kiddies go to sleep (typically 7:15PM). I could be in bed at 8. Wake up at 3 and maybe the kids would get some extra sleep time rather than awake time in the car.

I would still get almost 6 hrs of sleep if I could fall asleep quickly. Then maybe switch off with wife at some point and get the extra hour or 2 I need.

That plan may minimize tiredness when we get to Disney and we'll be ready to rock.

That's a great thought too.

Lots of good ideas here. Thanks everyone!!!

 

[Mom-2-2Princesses]

We just did this drive over Easter- from Wilmington (DE) to Disney-- with our 2 kids (ages 8 and 5) and we had a great drive. We left Wilmington at 7 am on Holy Thursday, but we had to drop the dog off at her "camp", so we didn't really get on the road till about 7:30-ish. We just followed 1-95 all the way down (well, mostly-- we did take the Outer Loop around DC, and 295 around Richmond) to 1-4 and then cut over. We hit DC around 10:15 or so, and sailed right through. There really wasn't any significant traffic, and we made it all the way to Savannah in time for dinner that first night. As an FYI, the Fairfield near the Savannah airport is renovating the lobby, and the construction dust set off the fire alarm at 2 am... the rooms were nice and the price reasonable, but I'd not stay there again until the renovations are done. Good Friday was an easy 5 hours to Disney, though we did manage to get into Orlando right at the lunchtime rush, so traffic was pretty heavy. I might time that a little better next trip.

Now, the trip back was HARD. We got stuck in a 40 mile backup in Georgia/SC, and that tacked hours on to our trip. We wound up pushing straight through on the way home as a result, and it was rough on the kids. If you can, I would suggest making it a 2 day trip just because it seemed less difficult on the kids. Good luck and safe travels!

 

[ajpa]

Hi dreaming4disney, how long does it take you to drive from the Philly burbs to WDW?

The airline prices are killing me - I wnder if I can talk hubby into driving instead.

Thanks!!!

 

[dreaming4disney]

Hi dreaming4disney, how long does it take you to drive from the Philly burbs to WDW?

The airline prices are killing me - I wnder if I can talk hubby into driving instead.

Thanks!!!

we have done it in about 16 1/2 -17 hours, leaving at 3am and driving straight through.
thats no traffic, minimal stops.

 

[ajpa]

Thanks!!!

 

[dvcfamily41801]

We are in Bucks County. We have driven to Hilton Head 5 times and Disney twice. The first drive to HH we left around 9 am on a Saturday and drove alllllll day long in horrible traffic in DC and then rain in NC. We stopped for the night in Lumberton and finished up the next morning about 3 hours. The next time we left at 6 am on Saturday and drove until about 5pm and stayed in Florence, SC and finished up Sunday morning. The last 3 trips, we left between 8-10 pm on Friday night and arrived at 8 am Saturday morning and it was PERFECT. We hit a little traffic around the DC/Virginia line but the rest was no problem. The drive home we would be on the road by 11 am and we would push all the way and get home around 1am (but we would stop more and it was during the day always on Good Friday).

The drives to WDW we left once around 5pm on Friday (we were excited!!!) and were checking in to Pop at 1:00 pm. We did hit a bit of traffic and we stopped a few times. Then we left a little before 8pm and we made incredible time having lunch at Earl of Sandwich at 11:45 am. The drive home the first time we made it to North Carolina and it was a LONG drive home still the next day. The second time we left WDW by 10 and we stopped in Virginia for the night and it was an easy 5 hour drive Saturday.

We are kicking around driving in July. The problem would be that my husband and I are working July 4th and when we are doing these drives, he takes the day we leave off and sleeps during the day. That would not work this time and I don't want to wait until Thursday night to leave. So not sure how it will work so we may just fly.

For us the overnight drive works much much better. I am not a good passenger so we leave and I try to sleep and then we switch in North Carolina and when we drove to HHI I would finsih the rest. Driving to Florida we would usually switch back in or around Jacksonville.

Good luck to you and have a GREAT trip!