driving Brooklyn to Boardwalk

[Dano1182]

Due to the crazy airfare prices we may drive this year. any advice accord g to AAA is it 17 hours from our house. I understand it will be longer than that . Due to food gas and bathroom stops.not to mention traffic
Trying to decide if we leave at about 3 pm drive until madnght and get a room.
or drive straight through.
any advice?
Places off 95 to stay places to avoid ?
Places to stay on way down . Planning web sites or any advice you have is welcome.
One jetblue flight is 744 one way from jefk t o Mco
Cheapest is about 2200 to Tampa.

 

[nono]

You will find lots of driving encouragement here:

http://disboards.com/threads/for-2-000-mile-round-trip-drivers-only-part-v.3351891/

 

[BillPA]

Here is a link to I95 info, hope it helps.
http://www.i95exitguide.com/lodging/index.php

Have a good trip.

 

[Dawn68PA]

We've done driving straight through and with a hotel stop. We prefer to drive straight, swapping drivers, to save money. Takes us 15 hours driving straight from Harrisburg, PA. If you choose to stop, we stayed at a lovely hotel in Lumberton, NC named Atkinsons. Very lovely, well kept, inexpensive room. Right off the highway. There's also a Ruby Tuesday's right

 

[disney junky]

If we stop on the way, we often stop in Santee, SC. It's a little farther south, nice accommodations, but I like to push the first leg of the trip more than the second.

 

[stormer]

We have driven from Long Island a few times. We like to drive straight through on the way down because everyone is excited to get there. We like to leave after dinner. We usually hit the road about 7:00 so that all of the traffic by the bridges is gone. The kids sleep through the night and we have a peaceful ride. We usually arrive around 3-4 in the afternoon, with stoping for bathroom breaks, quick breakfast and lunch. We just relax at the resort the afternoon we arrive, get a nice dinner, and go to bed early. The next day we are good as new and don't even realize we missed a night's sleep. Coming home we usually stop in Virginia for the night. We are more tired so it is harder to go straight through, but we go as far as we can before stopping.

 

[ganban]

We've driven from Lancaster, PA, lots of times. Have also flown several times. When our kids were little, we'd stop somewhere in SC on the way down. Now that it's just the two of us, we drive straight through, about 15 hours driving. We usually leave about 3 am, stop a couple times for gas, and once for a quick lunch, and arrive about 6:30. We have done the all night thing, but find it pretty tough.
I like the flexibility that having our car gives. If the weather looks scary, we can leave a few days early or stay down a few extra days. (We usually like to get out of town for a couple weeks in January.) Don't have to worry about cancelled or delayed flights.

 

[DizDaD7]

Dano 1182.....We've done 2 driving trips, & both w/ no stops on the way down...On one of those trips returning we made it all the way back in 1 shot But I wouldn't recommend it.

1st off, be careful leaving at 3 p.m. I've left literally an hour later which will make all the difference in the world.

The key is not getting anywhere around the Wash. D.C. near an around drive home rush hour ( which will be till around 7 , 730 ) I time it so I'll be there just after that. ( from North NJ ) that is. Also If you're going to non stop it, be mindful that the 1:00-4:00 a.m. is the witching hour...You be zoning out for sure and not even realize how you just did the last 30 miles..LoL Very true.... My sister has done the non stop 1 time & has done 2 day trips 3 times...She also vows by the Santee S.C. stop as another p/p stated... I may actually try this this year, because of the extra vacation week that I have & the elongated amount of time for this trip..Either way you go enjoy & have a SAFE trip.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Wilson NC is almost exactly half-way. Welcome home!

 

[hydrotony]

Generally speaking, the traffic is very aggravating north of Fredricksburg, Virginia and smoother south of there. Fredricksburg is a good gas and food stop. I drove many times from north New Jersey, both non-stop and one-stop somewhere in SC. It cannot be stressed enough that you have to avoid rush hour in the D.C. area. The area from D.C. south to just above Fredericksburg is under construction for express lanes and back-ups can be terrible.

I drove north to NJ/PA/NY and back to FL in October 2014.

 

[kirstenb1]

We only drive from Virginia, so we stop in Savannah. We prefer to drive the bulk the first day, and get to WDW fresh the 2nd. If you can make it to Florence, SC (just inside the NC/SC border), there are lots of cheap but decent motels. The next day should only be about 7 hrs, and they're easy hours/light traffic.

 

[heynowirv]

We've driven down a couple of times in the summer.I like leaving at 2-3AM and getting there around 6-7 PM .We live right outside Phila. Pa.and miss both Baltimore,and DC traffic that way.It's just my wife and I so we switch off driving every 2-3 hrs, stretch our legs and stay fresh.Enjoy the journey.

 

[Theaberdeenkid]

Any thoughts on taking the auto train? It only travels between Lorton, Va (about 5 hours from NYC) and Sanford, Fl (45 or minutes for WDW (traffic depending)). It's an overnight trip so you can get a cabin, which also includes meals. Food, believe it or not, is not bad. Plus you still have your car.
We used to live in central NJ, now we live in central Va. We have taken the auto train a few times, I much prefer it to driving.

 

[Original Amber]

With only one driver, I drove from Central Illinois to Chattanooga, spent the night and to WDW the next day. The second day was 90 minutes longer than it should have been due to leaving money, etc at a restaurant.

Coming home we spent a few days in Huntsville, AL. This time we're going to Huntsville first. We'll pick up another driver on the way down and we have reservations in Chattanooga so, I'll find out what we do in four too-long months!

 

[Original Amber]

I forgot to add that I drove straight thru to D.C. last summer, leaving here on a Saturday night and arriving Sunday morning. Obviously, I had no rush-hours to deal with. Just hope if you hit a rush-hour it's a St. Louis rush (bumper-to-number @65) and not a Chicago rush (bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go).

 

[Judique]

Due to the crazy airfare prices we may drive this year. any advice accord g to AAA is it 17 hours from our house. I understand it will be longer than that . Due to food gas and bathroom stops.not to mention traffic
Trying to decide if we leave at about 3 pm drive until madnght and get a room.
or drive straight through.
any advice?
Places off 95 to stay places to avoid ?
Places to stay on way down . Planning web sites or any advice you have is welcome.
One jetblue flight is 744 one way from jefk t o Mco
Cheapest is about 2200 to Tampa.

I think your idea to leave 3pm(or 4pm) and drive until about midnite idea is correct. If you are leaving on a Friday after working all day, this should get you to the North Carolina border. (There will be traffic no matter when you leave somewhere.) You should make a reservation for a Friday night as the rooms go more often on weekend nights. I like Country Inns and Suites, they always have some kind of snack and coffee out and are not so pricey as Hampton and Holiday Inn. (I avoid Best Western but that's another story.) You can always call for a room while on the road so take some 1-800 numbers with you. Beats driving up to sold out hotels at midnight....

I've driven from Maryland about 75 times. Watch your speed - it's almost always the NJ-NY cars that are speeding (80 plus mph) weaving in and out of traffic and getting the tickets - spend that $150 ticket money on a room instead and enjoy your trip and keep your family alive.

With those flight prices no doubt you will save a lot of cash!

 

[Pattiwig]

We have done both, straight thru, and stopping. I prefer straight through. We come from Long Island also. We have stopped the last 4 trips at the state rest stops in South Carolina or Georgia and slept for a few hours. I was amazed at how many other people do the same thing. It was not scary because there were so many other people there. Around 5 am everyone starts heading out again.

 

[Dano1182]

Any areas exits or otherwise to avoid ?

 

[Newsies]

My family drives down to Florida every time we go. Mom won't fly. Our game plan goes as follows:
- Start drive between 1:00-3:00 in the morning
- Drive until we get to Georgia at 6:00. We stay in Kingston. A lot of people don't like Kingston (it is a really rough area), but we found a lovely motel that's clean and pretty with a good continental breakfast. It's the Kingston Fairfield Inn and Suites, and it's 5 minutes away from the Florida welcome center.
- Start driving again before 8 in the morning and arrive at WDW at around 11:30 most of the time.

 

[Newsies]

Also, don't stop at South of the Border. You're going to be tempted to stop at South of the Border. Just... don't do it. It's where dreams go to die.