Driving from central Pa -straight through or stop??

[keltonsmom]

We will be leaving in 2 weeks for our first trip to Disney. There will be myself, DH, our four kids (9,6,2,15months), a family friend, my parents and another family with 2 boys(5 &15 months). We are taking three vehicles. At first we were going to go more than half way and then stop for the night. Arriving in WDW lat Sat. afternoon. The more I think about it the more I like the idea of leaving Fri. eve and driving straight through. I figure the kids would be up for a while but the majority of our drive time they would be sleeping. What do others do that face such a long drive? If you drive straight through how do you handle the kids being so excited to be there and the adults being soooo tired? We are renting a house and had no plans for Sat. eve so I guess we would just veg. by the pool.

 

[escapetodisney]

We (DH, me, DD6, DS4) drove from PA last summer for the first time. We left at 1:00 AM and planned to stop in GA and got there around 4:30 PM or so. Coming home we drove straight through leaving WL at 3:45 AM.

All in all, the kids were much better about the long driving than I expected. The daylight hours were the hardest of course. Also when we woke them up to start the trip in the middle of the night they had a hard time going back to sleep. DS was up for about three hours at the start of the trip going down, something we didn't plan on but it worked out okay. Next time we're going to drive straight through going down. The excitement of getting there and the fact that you can stay at one of the all-stars for cheaper or at least the same price as a hotel on the road (and get Disney quality) sort of pushes us towards driving straight through. Yes, we adults were tired but it is managable. Being in Disney the first night would have made it even more managable I think. I would leave earlier than we did though so that the kids will sleep in the van more. I read that some people start around 4-6 PM, stopping for dinner, then the kids sleep through the night.

Flexibility, patience and a sense of humor made the drive quite enjoyable.

 

[CarolA]

You have three cars and you are assuming that THREE drivers can stay alert for this.

You asked our thoughts.... I am donning my flameproof suit here.... I find this crazy. The chances that all of you can stay ALERT and be good resonsible drivers scare me! Get a hotel room. Better to arrive a little later in one piece then to have one of your cars crash due to a drowsy driver.

There are studies that show that drowsy driving is every bit as dangerours as drunk driving (I used to post the link but got tired of being told I was an alarmist, I am not an alarmist.... I just dread the day I come to this board and read about the death of someone I have seen post.... I was once in a car where the driver fell asleep from GATLINGBURG to KNOXVILLE! Look at your map, that is about an hour, but at 2 am......)

I realize that my thoughts are not popular and I could be wrong... you could arrive safely and then you can laugh at me, but what if I am right? Is it really worth the few extra hours? I have a friend who used to be a police officer and the stories he told.... lots of deadly accidents were not due to drunk driving, but drivers falling asleep.

 

[Eeyore's Queen]

We have driven down 3 times in the past 5 years. We always drive straight through. We leave around 6pm and stop every few hours for a potty break. We usually eat before we go. I usually drive the first 8 hours or so while my DH sleeps and then he takes over while I sleep. The kids usually fall asleep around 10ish and stay asleep until around 6 or 7 am. We usually arrive at Disney around 11-12. I wouldn't do it any other way. We are a little tired when we get there but we take it easy and relax by the pool. We go to bed early and are re-energized for the next day. We've never had an issue where either one of us was too tired to drive. We are so excited to get there. If we ever felt too tired we would simply get a hotel. If it was just one driver then maybe that would be a problem. I couldn't imagine driving the whole way just myself. Now on the way back... that is another story. I would recommend getting a hotel room. First of all, you are leaving in daylight and are exhausted from your vacation. We drove straight through once on the way home and it was horrible. Never again. But I have to say, this next trip we are flying. Can't wait. So, I say drive straight through if you have more than one drive in each car. Good luck.

 

[keltonsmom]

CarolA

I think you misunderstood. We have 7 adults and 3 cars. not just 3 drivers. 4 drivers would always be able to have a break. I would never dream of having someone try to do it the entire way on their own. We would be able to have more breaks than the families that are just 2 parents and kids who drive the entire way. And we are responsible enough to just stop if we are too tired. We would never risk our families life for a few hours. It is just that is seems that travelling through the night seems easier with 6 kids. And alot less stressful driving then having them awake in the car for so long. Which I think also causes accidents - people trying to drive and deal with events in the car at the same time.

 

[palmtreegirl]

We use to always drive straight through but this last trip we didn't make it. On earlier trips we'd leave at 6-7pm and go straight throught the night crossing the Florida border in the early am. We did this 4 times.

This past October we left at 6pm but only made it to the middle of South Carolina, around 5:00am I just couldn't take it anymore! I couldn't sleep, my DD was having trouble sleeping and we were all so miserable, we pulled over and found a room. We ended up crashing for around 4-5 hours and then having a nice breakfast at a Cracker Barrel, we arrived in Florida in the late afternoon.

On our way home we were going to leave in the afternoon and then stop about half way home but instead we decided to stay an extra night. We left at 5am and cruised straight home, we walked in our door at 9pm, that was great and I didn't mind it a bit.

I don't think we'll ever do a straight through the night drive again, it's just not worth it anymore, guess I'm getting old or someting.

 

[JudithM]

CarolA, I agree with you. I would rather stop overnight than to drive straight through during the night (regardless of the number of drivers). We have some favorite hotels where we stop along I95.

 

[dthogue]

You're going to get many different answers on this. We have driven through the night many times. We leave Central PA around 3pm, drive several hours then stop for dinner. We then drive several hours and stop for dessert (fast food, drive through, love those McD's McFlurries). Usually at this stop, my DD's put their pj's on and settle in.

DH and I take turn driving through the night, switching every 2-3 hours. This works well for us.

My girls are great car travelers though (many hours in the car traveling to soccer), so it would depend on your kids. It is a blessing having them sleep while you drive. Not to mention traffic is lighter then it is doing the day.

I take a book on tape to listen to while I'm driving (I love Junie B Jones children's books, she makes me laugh).

There is no way I could stop and stay at a hotel at 6pm at just sit there, knowing that I could be that much closer to Disney



Now - the way home is a different story. We usually leave WDW around 1-2pm, drive 8-9 hours, spend the night and finish the drive home the next day. No one is ever excited to get home.

Good luck with your decision, take 2 way radios with you to communicate with the other cars, will help all the drivers to stay alert and amybe entertained.

Tammy

 

[soccercruiser87]

Im from New Hampshire and my family and I drive straight through. We go down with 2 conversion vans. Its about 23 hours but we are used to it because we do every year and most of the time twice a year.

 

[disneysnowflake]

Just saying Hi. I'm from Central PA, too.

 

[keltonsmom]

Where in central PA? We live in Warriors Mark - half way between Altoona and State College. My DH is a research engineer at Penn State(finally, a win!!!) and I teach in the Tyrone district.

Thanks for everyone's input. I actually think we are sticking to our original plan and stopping in GA for the night. It looks like from there we will only have about 6 hours the next day before we see the mouse!

 

[disneysnowflake]

I'm right near Philipsburg. We are in the PO school district (we just got our behinds kicked by Tyrone in the playoffs, but we sure tried. lol)
I know where Warriors Mark is. I pass the sign every time I go to my scrapbooking event in Huntingdon.
We're flying out of University Park Airport.
Nice to meet you!
Have fun on your trip!!

 

[punkin]

I would take an overnight.