Driving from Boston area to Disney - stops, tips, advice etc...please!

[beattyfamily]

Hey there!

This will be our first time driving down.

We are allowing 2 days before and 2 days after to be able to take our time and make stops. Any suggestions on better stops than Myrtle and Savannah?

This is the very tentative plan right now:

Leave around 8p Wednesday night.
Stop in Myrtle Beach (approx 15 hours?) and sleep there.
Friday AM, head to Savannah, GA (approx 4 hours?) and stop for a bit.
Head to Orlando (approx 5 hours?) to stay in a motel there.
Saturday start our Disney trip early AM.

Going home:
It's still up in the air and changable (time we leave and the stop in Virginia) but right now we're thinking...
Leave either Sunday night or early Monday AM and head to Virginia Beach (approx 12 hours?)
Stop in Virginia Beach on Monday and sleep there.
Tuesday, get up early and head to NJ (approx 6 hours?) and stop there for a bit.
Continue on to home (approx 5 hours?).

Any packing tips? Any traffic jam advice?

What snacks do you guys pack? Soda, water, crackers, chips, fruit??

My girls are 13 and 16. Will bring their summer reading books, Gameboy, phones, ipods, computer and maybe our DVD player too.

It's 3 weeks away and I'm getting nervous!!

 

[GranddadTom]

I made the first third of your trip last night. Because of the prediction of bad weather today, my wife and I decided to leave Hampton Beach last night at 8:30 pm and travel home to Maryland by driving at night. I did all of the driving and we only stopped once (in NJ). We went 495 to Mass Pike to 84 to 15 to 287 to 97, across the GW Bridge and 95 the rest of the way. We got home (20 miles north of Washington, DC at 10 minutes before 4:00 am. No kids, no distraction, no food. Here are a couple of observations: road construction and road construction! Virtually every major road had road construction of one sort or another going on. Nothing big, just three lanes closed down to one – that kind of thing. It started on the Mass Pike, then again just north of Hartford, on the Merit Parkway, the NJ Turnpike and in Delaware. Although I was going 65 – 70 mph most of the time, because of the construction slow downs, we averaged just a little over 60 mph (a little more once we got out of Delaware). My advise – don’t get upset by the slow downs, anticipate them – they only last a few minutes each but it feel like “death by a thousand cuts” when you are trying to get somewhere and you have a long drive ahead of you.

We made the drive to WDW three weeks ago and the roads south of Northern Virginia are in great shape with no major construction going on. I’m not sure what the trip to Myrtle Beach is all about. I’d definitely skip that. It’s quite a jaunt from I-95 to Myrtle Beach. I would switch that time to more time in Savannah (or even skip Savannah for that matter). I’m assuming you want to visit the historic area but in. my opinion, you’d be better served by planning a trip just to Charleston, Savannah, and St. Augustine spending a couple of days in each. These are great cities and you need at least one full day at each to even begin to appreciate them and the people in them. You have a long trip to WDW. You should probably concentrate on that.

When we drive down, we stop at the Comfort Suites at Exit 38 in Georgia overnight and that leaves us with a 3 hour drive to WDW the next day.

P.S. If you want to stop in Maryland and pick me up, I can serve as your guide for the trip!

 

[beattyfamily]

I made the first third of your trip last night. Because of the prediction of bad weather today, my wife and I decided to leave Hampton Beach last night at 8:30 pm and travel home to Maryland by driving at night. I did all of the driving and we only stopped once (in NJ). We went 495 to Mass Pike to 84 to 15 to 287 to 97, across the GW Bridge and 95 the rest of the way. We got home (20 miles north of Washington, DC at 10 minutes before 4:00 am. No kids, no distraction, no food. Here are a couple of observations: road construction and road construction! Virtually every major road had road construction of one sort or another going on. Nothing big, just three lanes closed down to one – that kind of thing. It started on the Mass Pike, then again just north of Hartford, on the Merit Parkway, the NJ Turnpike and in Delaware. Although I was going 65 – 70 mph most of the time, because of the construction slow downs, we averaged just a little over 60 mph (a little more once we got out of Delaware). My advise – don’t get upset by the slow downs, anticipate them – they only last a few minutes each but it feel like “death by a thousand cuts” when you are trying to get somewhere and you have a long drive ahead of you.

We made the drive to WDW three weeks ago and the roads south of Northern Virginia are in great shape with no major construction going on. I’m not sure what the trip to Myrtle Beach is all about. I’d definitely skip that. It’s quite a jaunt from I-95 to Myrtle Beach. I would switch that time to more time in Savannah (or even skip Savannah for that matter). I’m assuming you want to visit the historic area but in. my opinion, you’d be better served by planning a trip just to Charleston, Savannah, and St. Augustine spending a couple of days in each. These are great cities and you need at least one full day at each to even begin to appreciate them and the people in them. You have a long trip to WDW. You should probably concentrate on that.

When we drive down, we stop at the Comfort Suites at Exit 38 in Georgia overnight and that leaves us with a 3 hour drive to WDW the next day.

P.S. If you want to stop in Maryland and pick me up, I can serve as your guide for the trip!

Thank you very much for the reply and the info on construction.

We just wanted to make it an adventure and make the stops to eat and stretch more interesting. So we picked Myrtle and Savannah.

So you're saying Myrtle is too far from Route 95? We do have a lot of extra time though.

And you prefer other parts of GA than Savannah?

I guess I should have posted a thread on great stops along the way!!

A tour guide, huh? Maybe!

 

[GranddadTom]

Myrtle Beach is a great place to go - a lot of fun and way bigger than Hampton Beach. But it is a long ways off Rt. 95. The girls would like that stop. Savannah is .... unique and the historic district brings to light the things that it contributed to how great our country is (just like the Liberty Trail in Boston does). Take the private carriage tour of the historic district - $125 or so for 4 - and you'll never forget what you see!

 

[francie57]

Being from CT and knowing how bad 95 and 15 can get, you may be better to just go Mass Pike to 84 and stay on 84 into NY then pick up 684 to 287 over the Tappan Zee. We do this when we travel south and then take the Garden State to the NJ Turnpike. We avoid 95/15/GW Bridge at all costs. We just have always hit traffic no matter what time it is.

 

[beattyfamily]

Being from CT and knowing how bad 95 and 15 can get, you may be better to just go Mass Pike to 84 and stay on 84 into NY then pick up 684 to 287 over the Tappan Zee. We do this when we travel south and then take the Garden State to the NJ Turnpike. We avoid 95/15/GW Bridge at all costs. We just have always hit traffic no matter what time it is.

Thank you for the reminder! We've done this in the past to, going to visit family in PA!

 

[NHDisneyFan]

The last time we did this I went to sleep at 8pm, woke up at midnight and started our drive. After a stop for breakfast my wife drove for a few hours while I caught up on my sleep. We had made reservations at 3 motels separated by xx amount of miles along the SCar/GA stretch that could be cancelled until 4pm. So at 3:30 we decided how much further we could make it and cancelled the other 2. Checked in at 10 pm, somewhere in GA-forgetting where, slept and finished our ride to Disney the next morning, arriving for check in.

An adventure sounds great until you have been in the car for 16 hours and say do we really want to detour off 95 to spend 12 hours visiting some city?

 

[happymommy]

I agree with the PP - I absolutely would not detour. You are talking a LOT of hours already in the car. I'd go straight, and also split it up a bit more (15 hours to cover in one day, driving through the night, that is a LOT).

We've driven from Maryland, once, and left after lunch (my kids were in morning preschool so picked them up, picked up DH from work, then got on the road). We drove straight and got into Orlando at about 1:30am. Next day, I had low blood sugar and was a mess! No big deal; we were there for 2 weeks.

I would do 12 hours straight but that's about it. So if I were you, I'd just cut a couple hours from the first day drive. Also, how are the adults going to get any sleep the next day? I don't know, but maybe do a lot less the first day then have a short sleep then the next day a long drive taking turns napping?

 

[beattyfamily]

I appreciate all the responses so far. Really.

But we have 2 days to drive down so we are stopping. The kids actually want to make stops and sightsee along the way.

It's just a matter of where.

We are leaving at some point Wednesday night.
We start our Disney vacation on Saturday.

Maybe Myrtle Beach is too far for the first leg. Maybe it's not the best first stop.

Then where should we stop to sight see and sleep Thursday night?
Where should we stop Friday on the way to Orlando?

Thanks again!

 

[Zdog]

While I can see the point of others who say, "it's a long trip, avoid Myrtle", I say, if you have the time, go for it! Yes, it is a bit of a drive off I95, but you'll find a ton of places to stay along the beach, get the chance to jump in the warm ocean waters to "rinse off" the road, and be on your way the next day heading south to more fun.

 

[nono]

I do your route home because we live on the NJ side of the Cape May - Lewes Ferry. It is a pretty easy drive - and the drive from VA Beach up to the ferry is easy as can be.

Your entire plan sounds fun!

Our road food usually involves hard boiled eggs, cold bacon, olives, cheese, roasted peppers.... you get the idea.

 

[GranddadTom]

I’m trying to get my arms around what you’re trying to do. You’ll leave the Bean Town area at 8 pm on Wednesday. You’re going to drive straight through the night so that by 7:00 am on Thursday (after 11 hours of driving) you should be at the Va/NC border (10 hours away from Disney). You’re going to stop and get breakfast at McDonalds. So now, what do you do for the next 48 hours? First question – what’s the deal with sleep? Are we planning on getting some? You can probably get through the first day on adrenaline but after that you have to get reasonable. So we need to plan on a good night’s sleep on both Thursday and Friday nights. How about we say that we must be at our hotel by 7:00 pm on those days? If your heart is really set on seeing Myrtle Beach (you’d head on over there around Fayetteville) and if you spend 45 minutes for breakfast along the way, you’d probably get to Myrtle Beach (figure it’s an extra 1 hour and 45 minutes of driving) before 10:00 am on Thursday. At this point you still have a 9 hour drive to WDW. So now what’s the plan? Here’s some information - Charleston, SC is a nice 2 hour drive down Rt 17 from Myrtle Beach. You would go right through Charleston on the way to WDW. Spend the day on the beach at Myrtle Beach then spend the night in Charleston?Savannah is also on the way, As is St. Augustine and I’m sure the girls would like the original Ron Jon’s in Cocoa Beach – and there’s Cape Canaveral right there. There’s plenty to see. The next step is up to you – we can’t tell you what you want to do.

 

[beattyfamily]

I’m trying to get my arms around what you’re trying to do. You’ll leave the Bean Town area at 8 pm on Wednesday. You’re going to drive straight through the night so that by 7:00 am on Thursday (after 11 hours of driving) you should be at the Va/NC border (10 hours away from Disney). You’re going to stop and get breakfast at McDonalds. So now, what do you do for the next 48 hours? First question – what’s the deal with sleep? Are we planning on getting some? You can probably get through the first day on adrenaline but after that you have to get reasonable. So we need to plan on a good night’s sleep on both Thursday and Friday nights. How about we say that we must be at our hotel by 7:00 pm on those days? If your heart is really set on seeing Myrtle Beach (you’d head on over there around Fayetteville) and if you spend 45 minutes for breakfast along the way, you’d probably get to Myrtle Beach (figure it’s an extra 1 hour and 45 minutes of driving) before 10:00 am on Thursday. At this point you still have a 9 hour drive to WDW. So now what’s the plan? Here’s some information - Charleston, SC is a nice 2 hour drive down Rt 17 from Myrtle Beach. You would go right through Charleston on the way to WDW. Spend the day on the beach at Myrtle Beach then spend the night in Charleston?Savannah is also on the way, As is St. Augustine and I’m sure the girls would like the original Ron Jon’s in Cocoa Beach – and there’s Cape Canaveral right there. There’s plenty to see. The next step is up to you – we can’t tell you what you want to do.

I think you missed something and I do understand I might have made it confusing.

We have 2 days to get to Disney and we did this on purpose to make stops and sightsee.

We will drive through on Wednesday night (husband's idea and he drives first)
I drive in the AM after breakfast.
Arrive at Myrtle Beach Thursday and see what we can see.
Sleep at a motel in Myrtle Beach.
Friday, wake up and drive to Savannah and stay for a bit.
Friday evening head to Orlando and sleep in a motel.

Maybe its not doable but hubby really wants to do it.

Even my girls want to make stops.

I'm the only one who wants to drive straight through to Disney!

 

[GranddadTom]

It's doable but tough. You might want to consider spending the day at Myrtle beach then driving to Charleston and staying the night there. That would leave 7 hours of driving on Friday. You could tour Charleston until noon and then take off. The sites in Charleston are more recognizable and less subtle than in Savannah.

 

[beattyfamily]

Thanks for all your advice.

Here's another plan I've been working on:

Stop in Washington DC in the AM of Thursday, having left around 8p the night before but that can be adjusted if need be.

Eat breakfast in the area, sight see and hubby rests.

Then maybe around noon or a bit later we head to Florence, SC to sleep.

Then in the AM of Friday we head to Charleston, SC or Savannah, GA to sightsee. Then we head to an Orlando motel (7 hours??)

Then Saturday our Disney trip officially begins!!

How does that sound?

 

[NHDisneyFan]

Exhausting! Lol. Remember you are hitting DC on a weekday morning in this plan. Add in traffic.

Not sure where/how he rests for 4 hours in DC while you are playing tourist.

I understand the desire for a fun road trip but don't arrive exhausted. Have a great time.

 

[beattyfamily]

Unfortunately, we can't be talked out of stopping on Thurs and again on Fri.

We can't be talked out of leaving Wednesday night.

We can be talked out of when we leave Wednesday night though.

We can be talked out of where to stop.

We were going to stop in Myrtle Beach but now are leaning toward DC.

I realize there will be rush hour traffic. Either we'll get there really early or after 9a.

I understand we'll be tired on Thursday. I get it. But we ARE stopping for a few hours somewhere.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[GranddadTom]

The problem with this new plan is that you get to Washington, DC around 4:00 am. The city is beautiful at that hour and the traffic is light and if you just want to drive by the monuments, it's perfect. But the museums don't usually open until 10:00 am. When we go down to Washington, we usually pick one thing to do. We did the International Spy Museum last weekend (it's great) but for a first-timer I'd recommend a tour of the Capitol building. The have a new exhibit area that does a nice job of explaining the history of Congress. If you can find a place to park, you can be in and out in three hours.

 

[The Mayor]

I did it twice.

First time left at 7:30PM and drove to Pheasant Hill, GA south of Savannah. It took us 20 hours to get to GA because of torrential down pours all through NC and SC. We were down to 20-30 MPH a lot of the day. I would not leave in the evening again. On the way home we stopped to visit family in Greenville, SC so no help to you there.

Second time, left at 4:00AM and drove to Brunswick, GA...took 17 hours. This ride was a lot better and the two drivers were able to sleep better. Coming home we stopped in Virginia Beach. It was 12 hours from WDW and then 12 hours to MA. We loved it so much that we vacationed there a couple years later.

I also vote to go 84 to Tapanzee to Jersey Turnpike.

 

[ktpc2005]

With Myrtle Beach, there is no direct major interstate to there from I-95. You are looking to about 2.5-3 hrs to get to MB from I-95.

When I lived in Charlotte, we had to take state roads and back roads to get to the beach. I do not know if these towns still do it, but a lot of them were speed traps where if you went 1 mph over the speed limit they nailed you. Some of them had a big sign at the town boarder that said that this town is a speed trap and you will get caught.