driving from ct need opinions

[buzz2400]

I'm trying to figure out my itinery for september. It will be myself and my son who will be 19. Driving from Ct. We want to drive straight through. Looks like it will take about 21 hours with bathroom breaks. If we leave around 9 a.m. on a saturday, we will arrive on at disney around 7 a.m. I am thinking we check in and get our park tickets and then go to one of the parks until around 3 p.m. until we can actually get into our room.

Is this a little too much. I am usually the one who does all the driving and planning, etc but now that my son could drive, I think we can sleep in the car while other is driving so we wouldn't be too tired. Any thoughts on this.

 

[momof1princess]

my DH and i drive 10 hours from NE alabama to wdw, and it works out well. DH drives the first 3+ hours, then i drive the remaining 6-7 while he sleeps, so that he can drive us around the next day until our room is ready. we usually leave home around 8 pm and arrive in wdw between 6 and 7 am the following morning, check in, have breakfast at the food court, then we go to the outlets in orlando, or DTD until we get the message our room is ready.
obviously, your drive will be longer, but it IS doable. have a great time

 

[csarenz]

We did the drive from CT (New Haven area) to WDW in January. On the way down we stopped in the Santee, SC area. It was a little too much driving in our opinion (but we have two little ones, so our situation is very different).

On the way back, we ended up driving the whole way, as there was a huge snowstorm on the way and we didn't want to get stuck in NC for 3 days. It did take us about 21 hours, and I have to say, even with switching off, DW and I were both completely drained by the end. So it is definitely do-able, but keep in mind, you may want to budget the rest of that day to just hang out and relax.

Best of luck.

 

[momblanch]

We are not frequent drivers to Orlando, but often drive 10-12 hrs w/2 drivers from NJ to NC to visit relatives. We usually travel at night after being up all day, so its still a 24hr thing. IME, the drive is the easy part, but we are useless on arrival day. (zombies...but maybe you sleep better in the car than us.) Perhaps check in, stow bags, relax and catch a few ZZZZ by the pool for a few hours, lunch, then off to the room. Hit the parks in the afternoon or first thing next day rested and ready to go.

If you really want to go to the parks on arrival day, perhaps consider leaving earlier on Sat morn (5-6am). Drive 18hrs, rest at a hotel (if budget allows), you have a short drive to Orlando in the morn and you can really enjoy the parks.

 

[dblr]

The last time we drove down my 18 year old son did some of the driving, it was a great help, my only concern was that the wife had to stay awake while I got a nap to make sure he didn't fall asleep, I drive tractor trailers all night long and know what it is like and with him beiing a fairly new driver I wantef to make sure. He did the driving all the way thru SC & Ga till we got to the Fl welcome center, by then he even said he had enough.

 

[Robert P]

I'm trying to figure out my itinery for september. It will be myself and my son who will be 19. Driving from Ct. We want to drive straight through. Looks like it will take about 21 hours with bathroom breaks. If we leave around 9 a.m. on a saturday, we will arrive on at disney around 7 a.m. I am thinking we check in and get our park tickets and then go to one of the parks until around 3 p.m. until we can actually get into our room.

Is this a little too much. I am usually the one who does all the driving and planning, etc but now that my son could drive, I think we can sleep in the car while other is driving so we wouldn't be too tired. Any thoughts on this.

IMHO, you'll be so wiped out when you get there that you won't enjoy the parks very much that Sunday. And, there is never a guarantee as to when your room will be ready at WDW (it seems to vary alot). Finally, you are stacking the drive up so that the hardest part (the overnight) is at the end of the drive. While I believe it is do-able, especially for those with overnight driving experience, this would be a tough trip. The rush of heading to WDW wears off after the first few hours, and that is one long haul.

With the details you have laid out, I would be more tempted to get a good night's sleep Friday, get up and hit the road early Saturday morning (on the road by 6:00 a.m.), and plan to stop anywhere near Savannah. From there, the next a.m., you have 300 miles left to WDW, which takes us about 4:15 on average. If you left there at 7:00 a.m., you are still at your hotel by Noon.

Those are my thoughts. Others may have a different take.

 

[GranddadTom]

To be honest with you, your plan concerns me. I've driven from Maryland to WDW in one shot many times. If I do it during the day - leave at 9:30 am and arrive at 10:00 pm - it isn't too bad. When I do it through the night - go home from work at noon, sleep for 6 hours, leave at 8:00 pm and arrive at 8:30 am - then I am totally wiped out on the arrival day. I can't imagine adding the 6 hours from CT onto that drive. What concerns me is your safety and the safety of others on the road with you. That stretch from 3:00 am to sunrise can be tough staying awake and driving at close to 80 mph while drowsy isn't the most healthy thing in the world. I don't think you'd lose much by, as Robert P says, getting a room for the night and breaking the trip up into two days.

 

[dgaston]

We have driven from NE CT to WDW several times. In terms of the tiredness on arrival factor, I felt the best when we left in the evening and drove through the night, arriving late afternoon compared to leaving about 3 - 4 am. I like the night driving myself. We had 2 or 3 drivers in a van, so one person got to stretch out after their stint driving.

I also strongly prefer the longer 84-81-77-26-95 route over 95 through DC. If you like you can drop back to 95 via 64 in VA which puts you on 95 south of Richmond. While 81 is longer, it's lovely and avoids the Eastern traffic messes and many tolls. I have been stuck in DC traffic at 3 am

HTH

 

[minnierealtor]

My DH and I just drove to DVC Hilton Head, SC from Northern NH straight through. We left at 10:30pm Friday night and arrived at HHI Saturday around 8pm. We had a couple of longer stops one for breakfast and one where I just had to get out of the car and walk around. I was driving so I picked an outlet mall. We were going through NYC and the larger cities on I-95 at night. We drove through DC at 8am and traffic had already started to pick up. When we arrived at HHI we were so tired we could barely give our names at check in. The next day we were also zombie like but we just were going to lay by the pool anyway. I would not be in any condition to be park commando within 24 hours. My 16 year old DD offered to drive but we felt her driving skills were not up the task of I-95 speedway. We also drove straight through on the way home and we have vowed not to do this again. Also, we don't recommend I-95 in any circumstances other than driving in the middle of the night. The route described in the other post that goes through Virginia on I-81 is the less stressful one and less chance of getting stuck in traffic.