Driving from CT

[NYCgrrl]

Sometimes husbands are stubborn!

On our first trip to Disney, well my DHs first trip, he was in the “library” at 8am as I was pacing in the room. Did I not tell him we needed be at the MK by 8? Or at least leave by 8 for a 9 am opening to avoid some lines! Let’s just say he learned on that day and has since made his visit to the library much earlier in the morning!

7am is to late. Tell him to start watching traffic at that time or to check google maps for traffic every day at the time you plan to leave and be in all major city areas.

I've given up on that particular "battle" (he drives; I don't) and book a plane or train reservation. All are now happier.

I agree 7:00 AM is way too late and unfortunately predict hours of unhappy people in a car until past D.C.

 

[Wild4Walt]

We're not as far ( Illinois ) but we are leaving at 330a to avoid Chicago traffic. Our final destination for the day is East Ridge, TN ( just outside Chattanooga ) which is about 9 hours driving but we figure with bathroom/food breaks potential traffic in TN and potential rain it would take around 11.5 to 12 hours. This way we'll get a good nights rest/down time before we have to start again the next day, which will be about another 8 hours.

 

[tmaxwell]

So have you come up with a goal as to a motel/hotel spot once you get further down the road or are you planning to punch it through and drive straight through to Orlando?

We want to make it to the boarder of SC and GA.

Sometimes husbands are stubborn!

On our first trip to Disney, well my DHs first trip, he was in the “library” at 8am as I was pacing in the room. Did I not tell him we needed be at the MK by 8? Or at least leave by 8 for a 9 am opening to avoid some lines! Let’s just say he learned on that day and has since made his visit to the library much earlier in the morning!

7am is to late. Tell him to start watching traffic at that time or to check google maps for traffic every day at the time you plan to leave and be in all major city areas.

That would mean he would have to be up at 7am. He’s a teacher - no need to be up at 7am. I leave the house at 6:30 and he’s snoring away. Ugh it’s going to be a long trip.

 

[NYCgrrl]

We want to make it to the boarder of SC and GA.



That would mean he would have to be up at 7am. He’s a teacher - no need to be up at 7am. I leave the house at 6:30 and he’s snoring away. Ugh it’s going to be a long trip.

The man and I were talking of driving in general and your upcoming road trip came up. He feels you can readily make it to the SC/GA border but the ride will go smoother if you switch drivers along the way.
Good luck and have your best patient mom face ready.

 

[tmaxwell]

The man and I were talking of driving in general and your upcoming road trip came up. He feels you can readily make it to the SC/GA border but the ride will go smoother if you switch drivers along the way.
Good luck and have your best patient mom face ready.

We will be switching drivers - once out of Alexandria, I will take over for a bit.

After getting up for work this morning and texting him traffic reports showing the later we wait to leave, the worse it will be. Traffic at 5:45am, getting to Alexandria, it would be about 5 hours and 15mins. Leaving at 9am, it would take 6 and a half hours. I won my battle.

 

[Tawney]

We drove from PA, near the MD line, and left around 7 or 7:30-ish PM on a Monday. Drove straight through the night and we were at the Character Warehouse in Orlando by 1 PM Tuesday. We made a few stops along the way, but I think we made decent time. The roads were NICE with minimal traffic outside of Baltimore, DC, and Richmond. Definitely plan on doing the same thing for our next trip!

 

[buzzrelly]

We just got back from a road trip to Hilton Head, SC. We left from just South of Hartford, CT at 3:30 am, went through PA to avoid tolls and traffic and got to Orangeburg, SC by about 7pm. We stopped there for the night before finishing up the trip the next day, which was only about 2 hours from there.

I think leaving at 9 would be a nightmare and you'll likely hit all sorts of traffic.

 

[YesterDark]

7am is probably the worst time to be leaving.

 

[siestakeys04]

We just left the Orlando area for a cruise out of Port Canaveral we left at 3:30 from NC. I personally think 9 is to late what day of the week are you leaving? There is a lot of construction going on through the 85/77 to 95 south area.

 

[monorailsilver]

We will be switching drivers - once out of Alexandria, I will take over for a bit.

After getting up for work this morning and texting him traffic reports showing the later we wait to leave, the worse it will be. Traffic at 5:45am, getting to Alexandria, it would be about 5 hours and 15mins. Leaving at 9am, it would take 6 and a half hours. I won my battle.

Yay! He will grumble but it will be a better drive!

Tomorrow we have to leave by about 4:30 am! No traffic for us though going to bradley which is about a 50 min drive (we are shoreline). My dh said today we will have to get up around 3:30. I said no...I can shower quickly. I send him in the shower first and while he is prettying himself up at the sink, I shower and I am dressed before he is!

 

[YesterDark]

Personally I would leave at 6-8pm and drive through. Or barring that, get on the road at 3am.

 

[rg35]

We have driven from Queens the last 3 years. I also regularly drive to New Fairfield, CT because we summer by Candlewood Lake, so i'm pretty familiar with western CT although I don't know exactly where you are or how far you have to go to hit the interstates.

When you hit the DC area your husband will regret waiting until 7am to leave.

We have always left around 4am so we can be through the DC area before traffic mounts. This has always worked out well for us.

The first two years we stopped over at Santee, SC. Last year we went all the way to Savannah to stop over, and we will probably do this again next year.

With two drivers the drive isn't bad - but given your late departure time just be prepared to hit traffic, and at least use Waze or another app to try to keep you ahead of any potential road incidents.

 

[tmaxwell]

We have driven from Queens the last 3 years. I also regularly drive to New Fairfield, CT because we summer by Candlewood Lake, so i'm pretty familiar with western CT although I don't know exactly where you are or how far you have to go to hit the interstates.

When you hit the DC area your husband will regret waiting until 7am to leave.

We have always left around 4am so we can be through the DC area before traffic mounts. This has always worked out well for us.

The first two years we stopped over at Santee, SC. Last year we went all the way to Savannah to stop over, and we will probably do this again next year.

With two drivers the drive isn't bad - but given your late departure time just be prepared to hit traffic, and at least use Waze or another app to try to keep you ahead of any potential road incidents.

We are about a half hour away from New Fairfield. We are going to try and attempt to leave by 5am. I've shown him plenty of traffic maps showing him the longer we wait, the more we will suffer! We are hoping to make it to about the Savannah area - going to push through as much as possible the first day so we have an easy drive into Disney the following day.

 

[rg35]

We are about a half hour away from New Fairfield. We are going to try and attempt to leave by 5am. I've shown him plenty of traffic maps showing him the longer we wait, the more we will suffer! We are hoping to make it to about the Savannah area - going to push through as much as possible the first day so we have an easy drive into Disney the following day.

5 AM is a good starting point, especially if the car is all packed and ready to go. I pack up the car the night before or wake about about 30 minutes before everyone else so the only thing we need to do is fill our cooler bag with ice packs and water bottles / snacks and we're off. We have three 9 year olds, so we have them sleep in their clothes the night before so there's no struggle with getting them dressed while they're groggy. We get them in the car and they usually fall right back asleep pretty quickly.

I'm looking at my notes from last year's trip (yeah, I keep journals of our vacations, because it's amazing how much one forgets...)

Remarkably, we didn't have to stop for our first bathroom break until the North Carolina welcome center right across the border of VA which was 6.5 hours in for us. For lunch, Exit 173 at Roanoke Rapids has tons of fast food options. There's a great app called iExit which can geolocate you, list upcoming exits and has listings of all the gas stations, restaurants, hotels, etc. at that exit. You can then select a place and launch your maps/direction app to navigate. It's really helpful. Chick-fil-a had a line out the door at lunch time, so we went to Arby's. So unless you're eating a late lunch or really want to wait forever for "fast" food, avoid Chick-fil-a lol

My wife took over driving after lunch and drove the next 5 hours until northern Georgia. I could tell she needed a break at that point, so I drove the rest of the way to Savannah. Part of the reason we drove to Savannah on day 1 was because we started last year's trip with 2 days at LegoLand, which is farther south compared to WDW and we wanted to get there around noon. But I think on future trips we'll continue to stay over in Savannah so we can get to WDW earlier. Our first day is always a pool day and relax until our room is ready day, and getting to WDW earlier on Day 1 will make everyone happy (and might help avoid some of the inevitable traffic on I-4).

In any case, safe travels and enjoy the trip!

 

[tmaxwell]

5 AM is a good starting point, especially if the car is all packed and ready to go. I pack up the car the night before or wake about about 30 minutes before everyone else so the only thing we need to do is fill our cooler bag with ice packs and water bottles / snacks and we're off. We have three 9 year olds, so we have them sleep in their clothes the night before so there's no struggle with getting them dressed while they're groggy. We get them in the car and they usually fall right back asleep pretty quickly.

I'm looking at my notes from last year's trip (yeah, I keep journals of our vacations, because it's amazing how much one forgets...)

Remarkably, we didn't have to stop for our first bathroom break until the North Carolina welcome center right across the border of VA which was 6.5 hours in for us. For lunch, Exit 173 at Roanoke Rapids has tons of fast food options. There's a great app called iExit which can geolocate you, list upcoming exits and has listings of all the gas stations, restaurants, hotels, etc. at that exit. You can then select a place and launch your maps/direction app to navigate. It's really helpful. Chick-fil-a had a line out the door at lunch time, so we went to Arby's. So unless you're eating a late lunch or really want to wait forever for "fast" food, avoid Chick-fil-a lol

My wife took over driving after lunch and drove the next 5 hours until northern Georgia. I could tell she needed a break at that point, so I drove the rest of the way to Savannah. Part of the reason we drove to Savannah on day 1 was because we started last year's trip with 2 days at LegoLand, which is farther south compared to WDW and we wanted to get there around noon. But I think on future trips we'll continue to stay over in Savannah so we can get to WDW earlier. Our first day is always a pool day and relax until our room is ready day, and getting to WDW earlier on Day 1 will make everyone happy (and might help avoid some of the inevitable traffic on I-4).

In any case, safe travels and enjoy the trip!

That's awesome that you keep journals!

We plan on packing the car the day before as we always do. My plan is to be up at 4 to start getting myself ready and packing the cooler etc. Getting hubby up at 4:30 so he can get in the shower and get ready. Getting the kids up shortly after that so they can pee and then just get in the car so we can go. They shouldn't be too much of a problem since they are just as excited as I am. Thanks for the tip on the app too! I also usually take over driving once we get into NC - at this huge truck stop.

Our first day we are actually staying at a Disney Springs hotel and we plan on exploring Disney Springs more than we have in years past (that's the Saturday plan). Sunday is check in day at POR and we are planning on leaving our bags and heading to Typhoon Lagoon since my 8 & 6 year old are finally ok swimmers and I feel comfortable taking them there for the day.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[jeepnjudy]

The Baltimore/DC area is one of the worst and down near Fredericksburg on I-95 was voted the worst 10 miles of freeway in the WHOLE country so the earlier you can get through there the better! Have a FUN trip!

 

[rg35]

That's awesome that you keep journals!

I also usually take over driving once we get into NC - at this huge truck stop.


Thanks for the tips!

Kenly 95, by any chance (the one with the giant fake lighthouse)?

And you're welcome!

 

[tmaxwell]

Kenly 95, by any chance (the one with the giant fake lighthouse)?

And you're welcome!

Not sure of the name but it does have the huge lighthouse!!!