Driving Dallas to WDW?

[aubriee]

Due to high airfares and needing a vehicle for a couple of side trips we are thinking about driving to WDW in late Oct/early Nov. I have a few questions:

1. Anyone drive a crew cab pickup down there? I bought a new Nissan Titan crew cab about a month ago and while I know it probably doesn't get the best gas mileage (about 13 city and 17 Hwy I think), I'm still thinking about taking it, because it is so comfortable. Anyway anyone have a guess what gas might cost round trip?

2. What would be the fastest route (I know I said Dallas, but due to having to pick someone up, I'd really be leaving from about 30 miles west of Tyler)?

3. How long would the drive actually be? Better to drive straight through or spend the night at a hotel one night?

4. Where is a good place to spend the night if not driving straight through?

5. Name of a decent hotel to stay at, if stopping for the night?

6. We always fly and just use Disney transportation, but this trip will need to make a day trip over to Clearwater and will also be spending the last two nights of the trip over at RPR at Universal, so with the price of airfare thought driving our own vehicle made more sense. How hard is to find your way around down there, for someone with no sense of direction?

 

[SteveMouse]

It's just about 1100 miles- about 18 hours or so of DRIVING time (not including stops). @ 15 MPG that's 70ish gallons of gas- @ $3.30 a gallon (a little more than today), that's something like $250 in gas each way. I'd definitely think about overnighting once each way- maybe Mobile, Pensacola, or Tallahassee.

If you think about wear and tear on the vehicle of $.50/mile, that's about $1000 miles in wear and tear.

I'd think again about flying. I'd rather be in DTD than driving.

 

[kerplop]

Due to high airfares and needing a vehicle for a couple of side trips we are thinking about driving to WDW in late Oct/early Nov. I have a few questions:

2. What would be the fastest route (I know I said Dallas, but due to having to pick someone up, I'd really be leaving from about 30 miles west of Tyler)? I'd take 20, to 49, down to 10 and take that all the way over to...I think it's Lake City, FL? That's where it goes south on 75 to Orlando.

3. How long would the drive actually be? Better to drive straight through or spend the night at a hotel one night? We're in Houston, so I assume the drive is about the same except you're coming in from an angle. It took us 16 hours of driving and probably 2-3 hours of stopping over the course of two days. I would say if you think you can drive through go for it, but honestly after 12 hours our first day I would have killed someone for a bed. If you break it up you can get some good sleep and not have to have fast food for dinner, then get up early the next morning and head off. We stopped in Tallahassee our first night after 12 hours, then did the last 4 (more like 5 with stops) down to WDW. My advice on where to stay is to Priceline it! We got a room for $55 total on the way there at a really nice Holiday Inn.

4. Where is a good place to spend the night if not driving straight through? I think it depends on if you want to stop at the mid-point or stop further along. Like I said we stopped in Tallahassee, but Pensacola might be good too if you want to stop sooner. Mobile maybe? That's about half way, though we're impatient and would want to get further the first day. There is nothing but the boonies once you pass Pensacola, so I would recommend stopping there or pushing through to Tallahassee.

5. Name of a decent hotel to stay at, if stopping for the night? The Holiday Inn in Tallahassee off Graves road was VERY nice and inexpensive. It was in a safe/quiet area of town.

Bold are the ones I knew the answer to

 

[mek17]

I have found I-20 to Jackson MS, then US49 to US98 through Hattiesburg to Mobile, then hit I-10, is about an hour faster than taking I-49 south at Shreveport.

But I would second the flying idea. It's 18 hours of drive time, not including stops for gas or meals. SW had some $100 each way fares for this fall as of yesterday.

 

[pesto78749]

If u are a coffee drinker stock up on a few travelers or bring a thermos. There is nothing but gas station coffee the whole way.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

I have found I-20 to Jackson MS, then US49 to US98 through Hattiesburg to Mobile, then hit I-10, is about an hour faster than taking I-49 south at Shreveport.

But I would second the flying idea. It's 18 hours of drive time, not including stops for gas or meals. SW had some $100 each way fares for this fall as of yesterday.

If you chose this route where 98 meets 65 I would head north to the I165 overpass as I10 at the tunnel can get pretty backed up on weekends

 

[Melani]

If you chose this route where 98 meets 65 I would head north to the I165 overpass as I10 at the tunnel can get pretty backed up on weekends

It sure does. The Wallace tunnel is usually backed up every evening at rush hour also.
He's right, take the AfricaTown bridge if you can..

 

[JoshuaShaw]

According to AAA, http://fuelcostcalculator.aaa.com/, you're looking at roughly just under $600 round trip.

 

[aubriee]

According to AAA, http://fuelcostcalculator.aaa.com/, you're looking at roughly just under $600 round trip.

Thanks for the site! Eeeeek! $586.00? Maybe flying might be cheaper. The only thing is in additional to what it costs to fly, we'd still have to rent a car, because we must make a day trip over to Clear Water and we'll also have to have a ride over to Universal for the last three days of the trip and then from Universal to MCO to come home.

 

[anolen300]

This will be our 6th trip driving. If we get lucky and don't hit any incidents on highway it usually takes us 16 hrs. We live east of Dallas so that helps some.


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[anolen300]

I have found I-20 to Jackson MS, then US49 to US98 through Hattiesburg to Mobile, then hit I-10, is about an hour faster than taking I-49 south at Shreveport.

But I would second the flying idea. It's 18 hours of drive time, not including stops for gas or meals. SW had some $100 each way fares for this fall as of yesterday.

Are 49 & 98 the type of roads where speed limit changes as you go thru towns and also have stop signs and lights?


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[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

Are 49 & 98 the type of roads where speed limit changes as you go thru towns and also have stop signs and lights?

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Their not Interstates if that's what your asking? They will have stop sign/lights.

 

[anolen300]

Their not Interstates if that's what your asking? They will have stop sign/lights.

Yeah that's what I meant, I wrote that before I had coffee so have to forgive me. I think that is the way my GPS took me the first time we went and I felt like it to longer than 49 out of Shreveport to I-10 due to the speed changes and stops.

This year we are going to try to leave house early Thursday morning and drive to either Tallahassee or Gainesville then stop and spend night and get up early to have short drive to WDW and have most of Friday to spend at park.

Anyone ever stop in Gainesville? Have any recommendations on cheap but clean place?

 

[aubriee]

Bold are the ones I knew the answer to

I just checked online and the Holiday Inn at Graves in Tallahasee, says it offers a state employee (US) discount. I work at a state psychiatric hospital, so am an employee of the state of Texas. With the state employee discount a room is only like $85.00. Wonder if I qualify?

Yeah that's what I meant, I wrote that before I had coffee so have to forgive me. I think that is the way my GPS took me the first time we went and I felt like it to longer than 49 out of Shreveport to I-10 due to the speed changes and stops.

This year we are going to try to leave house early Thursday morning and drive to either Tallahassee or Gainesville then stop and spend night and get up early to have short drive to WDW and have most of Friday to spend at park.

Anyone ever stop in Gainesville? Have any recommendations on cheap but clean place?

I work night shift (11-7) so we'd be leaving Terrell about 7:30am on a Thursday morning too after I get off work (my husband would be off the night before though). We would then cut down I20 towards Tyler and LA. Hadn't thought about stopping in Gainsville. Once he starts driving my husband never wants to stop. I'd grab a pillow and blanket and just sleep in the back seat of the truck. He has no problem staying awake, but I nearly always sleep on road trips.

 

[Planogirl]

If you drive I would stop in Daphne Alabama. It's just past Mobile on the other side of Mobile Bay and has a nice Holiday Inn Express. I think that the easiest route is to drive to Shreveport, head south to Lafayette and then cut across on I-10. You could also drive all the way to Jackson Mississippi and then head south but the north to south part involves a lot of traffic and traffic lights. Jackson also has a nice Holiday Inn Express.

I might have missed it but how many people are in your group? We've driven but we like to rent a car locally and get something economical. This time we are flying but renting a car for three days to go to Universal. We're picking it up at the Dolphin but we're staying onsite at Disney this time so it'll be easy to take it back and just use ME.

 

[aubriee]

If you drive I would stop in Daphne Alabama. It's just past Mobile on the other side of Mobile Bay and has a nice Holiday Inn Express. I think that the easiest route is to drive to Shreveport, head south to Lafayette and then cut across on I-10. You could also drive all the way to Jackson Mississippi and then head south but the north to south part involves a lot of traffic and traffic lights. Jackson also has a nice Holiday Inn Express.

I might have missed it but how many people are in your group? We've driven but we like to rent a car locally and get something economical. This time we are flying but renting a car for three days to go to Universal. We're picking it up at the Dolphin but we're staying onsite at Disney this time so it'll be easy to take it back and just use ME.

It's just me and my husband for the Oct/Nov trip, which is the one we're thinking about driving. I'll also be down there Sept 1st-8th, but already have airfare for that trip. My husband has just decided that he wants to try a road trip for the Oct/Nov trip and wants to drive my Nissan Titan crew cab pickup, which while very comfortable is definitely not economical on gas. However, with the price of airfare that I've been seeing out of DFW for that period, the road trip is looking better and better and he thinks it'll be fun. We'll be spending five nights at WDW, then two nights over at Universal, and will be making a day trip over to Clearwater to see my grand daughter. We both have plenty of vacation time, so leaving a couple of days early and coming back a day later will not be a problem. If we fly, we'll fly out of DFW on Sat and fly home eight days later on Sun evening, but if we drive, we'll start out Thurs morning around 7:30am when I get off work and try to get back home eleven days later on Mon.

 

[mek17]

To me it is hard to justify the cost of fuel for a pickup, plus wear and tear, plus (potentially) a night's hotel each way, for only two people. I haven't looked at airfare but I know I've got Southwest flights for $106 each way for my September dates. (Yes, you have to make one stop, but still much quicker than driving.) You could also look at flying in/out of Tampa, especially if you are going to spend some time in Clearwater. Just my opinion.

 

[aubriee]

To me it is hard to justify the cost of fuel for a pickup, plus wear and tear, plus (potentially) a night's hotel each way, for only two people. I haven't looked at airfare but I know I've got Southwest flights for $106 each way for my September dates. (Yes, you have to make one stop, but still much quicker than driving.) You could also look at flying in/out of Tampa, especially if you are going to spend some time in Clearwater. Just my opinion.

Right now airfare for our dates leaving fairly early in the day and coming home late (which is what we always do--my husband would not want to take a later flight out and then an early flight home), is just a little over $1000.00 ($503.40 per person) on Southwest, plus we'd have to pay for airport parking and then still have to rent a car and buy gas for it once we got down there.

Flights with decent times on American are $630.00 ($315.60 per person), plus luggage fees of course. Again though we'd have to pay airport parking fees and still rent a car once we got down there, so would need to add that expense in. If we were just staying at WDW and using WDW transportation the whole time, flying would be a no brainer, but we'll have to have a car down there this trip so have to add the expense for one into our figures.

 

[mek17]

Right now airfare for our dates leaving fairly early in the day and coming home late (which is what we always do--my husband would not want to take a later flight out and then an early flight home), is just a little over $1000.00 ($503.40 per person) on Southwest, plus we'd have to pay for airport parking and then still have to rent a car and buy gas for it once we got down there.

Flights with decent times on American are $630.00 ($315.60 per person), plus luggage fees of course. Again though we'd have to pay parking fees and still rent a car once we got down there, so would need to add that expense in. If we were just staying at WDW and using WDW transportation the whole time flying would be a no brainer, but we'll have to have a car down there this trip so have to add the expense for one into our figures.

Ouch. That is outrageous. I'd keep an eye on SW -- I would think that would come down. They usually post new fares on Tuesdays and Fridays in my experience. And like I said, you could check Tampa too. We've flown in there over Orlando several times when fares are better.