Driving from CT to WDW

[Luv Donald Duck]

We are a family of 4 booked at WDW in November w/ FD! Airfare is insane out of Hartford, CT though. I refuse to pay $1,500 for airfare. I am anxiously awaiting Southwest releasing our dates next week so see if its cheaper but if its not we are thinking we will drive and save some money.

Has anyone done this drive and what is the best route to take?

Thank you!

 

[Shannon G]

I haven't driven all the way to WDW, but we did drive from CT to South Carolina over April vacation, and I highly recommend taking the inland route rather than I-95. While it's longer, there is MUCH less traffic, so it took us about the same time to drive to Charleston as it did for a friend to drive to Myrtle Beach, about an hour north of Charleston. And it is a much more scenic drive.

On the way down we took 84 West all the way to Scranton, Pa, where we picked up 81 South, to 77. From there we split off onto 26 east to head back to the coast, so I'm not sure of the rest of the route to WDW. We did hit some construction on the western end of 84 and northern end of 81, so on the drive home, we split off of 81 sooner, taking 78 to 287 to 87 back to 84.

All in all, it may not save a lot of time, but it's a much more relaxing drive than 95, and it avoids all of the major cities that you'll hit along 95.

 

[Bob P]

We are a family of 4 booked at WDW in November w/ FD! Airfare is insane out of Hartford, CT though. I refuse to pay $1,500 for airfare.

Hi,

I apologize because this isn't exactly answering your question, but have you checked airfare out of Westchester Airport? It might be worth driving there from the Hartford area if the flights are substantially less.

 

[minushka72]

We are a family of 4 booked at WDW in November w/ FD! Airfare is insane out of Hartford, CT though. I refuse to pay $1,500 for airfare. I am anxiously awaiting Southwest releasing our dates next week so see if its cheaper but if its not we are thinking we will drive and save some money.

Has anyone done this drive and what is the best route to take?

Thank you!

We've done this drive several times but from the Boston, MA area. Our kids are currently 4 and 7 and have driven to WDW 3 times with both since they were babies. We have also taken the Autotrain from Lorton,VA and that was great (expensive though). We usually make our overnight stop in the northern part of South Carolina. We leave our home around 2 am and drive I95 most of the way. My DH and I take turns driving and we make plenty of stops. It is a straight route so not much to worry about. If you can time it right to avoid Rush hour around DC and again for the Richmond, VA area, you should be fine. I like to avoid the GW bridge so I tend to take the Tappan Zee bridge to the Garden State Parkway before connecting back onto 95 halfway down the NJ Turnpike.

My kids are fine with the drive as they have been doing this since they were babies. We love stopping at the welcome centers for each state so they have plenty of leg stretching and even some time to just run around in the grassy picnic areas. We bring lots of things they can do in the car, DVDs and coloring and their assorted electronics.

This year we are traveling Amtrak straight from Boston to Orlando and my RT cost for all 4 of us is around $800.00. It is not the Autotrain so I will be renting a car in FL but we like taking the train and use it as an adventure!

 

[pooch]

and have never paid more than $200 per person R, non-stop. Flown in May, Sept, Oct, Nov., and Dec. Keep a close eye on SWA flights. You should be able to get 4 fares for no more than $1000 and perhaps less.

 

[monorailsilver]

Look at Tampa too.

We are going away next April and I booked one way so far since the return isn't available yet.

I checked BDL to ft. Myers, Tampa, Orlando, Miami, ft. Lauderdale and west palm (we are going to ft. Myers area). And I checked providence, white plains and LGA and BDL to Tampa was the cheapest. I have flown out if white plains for cheaper then BDL in the past and you can park at SUNY for $10/dAy I think.

Anyways, the drive. It all depends on where you are coming from as to where you are leaving from.

We drove to Ft. Myers April 2013. I live shoreline CT/route 9/cT river valley but luckily/thankfully my mom is 30 min from the ny border so we leave from her house.

We are all shoreline so for us we do the Merritt to the GW. We left at 6am and last year we were in NJ by 7. No traffic because we leave at that time. Exit 48 on the Merritt is where we get on in CT.

We did 95 the whole way minus the loops around some city's. The only traffic we hit last April was south of DC/north of Richmond.

This last April we did the autotrain so we left at 6 and were at the train station by 11:20. Again no traffic.

I know some suggested the inland route but for us the time to get there is a major factor.

Also if you don't have an ezpass get one. It will save oodles of time.

On our return in April we got to tht GW at 5pm...no delay, no traffic. Of course as soon as we hit CT the Merritt was locked up but we knew that so we got off and took back roads.

The worst parts of the drive to me is the Carolina's and Georgia and Virginia since they are long states. My kids kept asking how many more exits til we were out if that state. Trees, trees, trees!

We also have iexit on our phone and last year we relied on the google traffic map but this year we used that-I looked ahead and mainly used the waze app. That would reroute you if there was traffic.

They all had a device to play movies, activity books, homework packets, electronics and extension cords/ling cords.

I went to 5 below and got them each a container and they put all their crap in that.

I also found a great scavenger hunt, not the average one and I did the bingo one year as well as a US map with the states to color in as we saw one.

 

[Goofygirl17]

We've driven from southern CT 5 times. It's not bad. The first time I went 95 all the way and it took 21 1/2 hours. The next 3 times we left at @ 4 a.m. And took the inland route. It took abt 19 hours and was a much nicer ride.

This past Christmas we drove straight through on 95 leaving around 4 on Friday afternoon. It took 28 hours!! It was the ride from @&$). I wouldn't do that again.

We've also flown SW out of Bradley, providence and islip on Long Island. Islip was the cheapest and is a nice little airport.

Forgot to say- I drive as far as I can the first day and we usually end up in southern North Carolina or northern South Carolina

 

[DLB]

We have driven before from CT (northwest corner) and made it in about 19-20 total driving time (not including stops). We stayed over in NC on the way down and SC on the way back.
We took 95 the way down and left at 10pm. ON the way home we went through PA.

We are also driving again in Aug because flights are outrageous. We are staying offsite also so we would need to rent a van if we flew. We are saving so much money by driving but I am quite nervous as for the trip we will have a 13 month old.

 

[Luv Donald Duck]

Thank you for all the responses. I have looked into the other airports and will keep an eye on them to see if the prices go down. We were thinking of taking the alternate route and avoid I95 as much as we can and leave on a Thursday morning about 5am and drive until 8PM w/ the occasional stop to eat and stretch.

 

[Robert P]

On the way down we took 84 West all the way to Scranton, Pa, where we picked up 81 South, to 77. From there we split off onto 26 east to head back to the coast, so I'm not sure of the rest of the route to WDW.

I'll just finish the driving details part of this one:
Once you hit 26 at Columbia, SC it's @ 54 miles to get to 95 South. Then it's 95 South to around Daytona, FL where you get on I-4 West to Orlando.

Thank you for all the responses. I have looked into the other airports and will keep an eye on them to see if the prices go down. We were thinking of taking the alternate route and avoid I95 as much as we can and leave on a Thursday morning about 5am and drive until 8PM w/ the occasional stop to eat and stretch.

Your main traffic issue on the inland route is in the Charlotte, NC area on 77. Anytime around weekday rush hours, but especially so from 4-6:00 p.m. Mornings are bad as well, but looking at your estimated departure time, I think you would be stopping past Charlotte on you trip, taking the a.m. rush out of play.

 

[Shannon G]

One more positive aspect to the inland route - when we drove from CT to Charleston, SC, we didn't have a single toll!

 

[monorailsilver]

One more positive aspect to the inland route - when we drove from CT to Charleston, SC, we didn't have a single toll!

I would venture to guess its a break even sort of thing. No tolls but isn't it longer which means more miles=more gas?

I want to say it was around $55-$60 RT with tolls.

 

[kidd_freeper]

We have driven from the Hartford area to WDW twice. We will be driving to WDW again this June. I like to drive.

In 2010 we took I-95 all the way. Left at midnight and got to Jacksonville at 7pm. Encountered heavy beach traffic throughout NC, but few stops. Left for WDW later.

In 2011, we took the inland route. Left at midnight and got to Jacksonville around 8:30 pm. Encountered big traffic snarl in Columbia which offset the otherwise peaceful trip. Not any better than the I-95 route. Left for WDW later.

This time, we plan to leave at 10pm and will take I-95 to Jacksonville

Tips:
1. Get a GPS
2. Get an EZPass
3. Avoid DC traffic between 7am and 8pm

 

[joedplumber]

We leave on Fridays from Fairfield County at 4am and usually make it to the middle of GA by 9pm. We always take I95 and never have an issue. If you time it right you are typically past Richmond VA before lunch time.