Driving from hershey...nuts?

[jupers]

So I am nervous and excited...we are going to Hershey pa for July 4. Somehow I convinced DH we are almost halfway lets go to WDW. I didn't have many points but enough for a studio at okw. So trip looks like this. We'd July 3 drive from Boston to Hershey. Go to 1d (for dd) on fri the 5th. Leave am on the 6thfor Georgia. Spend night in Georgia with friends. Arrive at wdw on Sunday the7th. Stay till sat. Then drive home. Any thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[heynowirv]

Jupers,

When you said you'd be in hershey i assumed you lived in south jersey or se pa. With that being said IMHO that's a lot of running around in a short period of time. But there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,6 nights at OKW!!1 Go for ir girl

 

[nono]

If you are looking for people to tell you it isn't crazy, I recommend this thread for you:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2815923

 

[DeeCee735]

We used to drive from NY to VA, spend a night with friends, go to Disney for 5 nights, on the way back stay in HH for a night or two and then drive home! Doesn't sound crazy to me at all! Sounds perfectly sane and like a wonderful trip! Road trips are awesome! Enjoy all of it

 

[dvcterry]

Hey there,

I'm driving from Connecticut on June 29th and stopping at HHI again. We'll drive back home on July 7th (maybe). Race you NOT!!! Have fun!!! We love driving down. We flew down this Christmas and NYE but missed our drive down so we can't wait. Have FUN

 

[heynowirv]

We're driving down from the philly area for the 3rd time in 4 years. We love it.

 

[amypetecar]

I would drive from western mass if my wife let us!


While hershey isnt half way to florida, i love you using it as an excuse to drive to florida! Totally something i would do!

The nice thing though is that you can take I-81 south from hershey all the way to knoxville, TN which is WAAAAAAYYYYYY. easier than I-95 through nyc, philly, baltimore, and dc.

Have fun!

 

[jupers]

Mapquest says 270 to 95... I didn't see anything about 81??

 

[Li Li]

My father in law just drove from Hershey to Savannah, GA in one day. Left around 6 or 7 am, and he got to Savannah around 4:45 pm. But I suspect he had a bit of a lead foot. He generally takes rt. 95. He then went on the next day to Sarasota, FL. FWIW

 

[supersuperwendy]

That sounds like a great plan OP! We LOVE Hershey!!! Don't forget your bathing suits because the Boardwalk area is the perfect place to cool off!!!

 

[DizDaD7]

Definetely go for it...We've driven twice and I think it's a lil over 1,1oo miles one way...

I would suggest you stop somewhere on the way back for a day to recoup refresh & energize yourselves so you have a safe trip the whole way back...

I would shorten our WDW trip by a day and stop in Williamsburg Va. Stay at the Great Wolf Lodge which should be a decent price, And you ridw homw the next day won't be too bad....Maybe like 9 hours or so....If time isn't an issue than keep the same Disney days and just add the extra stop off day..

 

[luckyman_apd]

Mapquest says 270 to 95... I didn't see anything about 81??

Avoid 95 like the plague. Avoid mapquest too. Try google maps. I'm in NJ and used to travel frequently to cape cod and 95 is awful from NY to northern conn. to Boston and now Ayer (my grandfather is there now) we got 84. I believe from Boston area you want 495 to mass pike to 84. 84 all the way to PA. Not quite sure to Hershey from there. We take that route to got to the poconos.(family there as well and we go from mass to PA during Xmas). From Hershey definitely go 81 south. Avoid 95 around DC if you can.

Never done the drive from NJ yet but may do it in 2014. My kids are great in the car but my wife hates it, so flights have been cheap enough from Baltimore for us to keep us from driving. Between gas and airfare we have a set amount that we have for airfare. If it goes above that amount we will drive.

The only catch with google maps is it gives real time info based on traffic so the results you get at 10 pm could be very different than what comes up at 8 am

 

[spruce]

From Hershey area I take 15 to 270 to 95. I don't use 83 to 95, avoiding Baltimore and I don't use 81 because it takes forever to get out of Virginia, that's a long road. The way I go, once south of DC 95 is easy. I've made the drive many times stopping in Lumberton, Dillon or drive straight through.

 

[twinklebug]

Hershey is 1/2 way to Orlando from Boston? OK, I was thinking you were driving from Newfoundland. Your husband bought this?

I keep toying with the idea of driving to Disney from the Boston area too. Although I've never driven that far, I'm positive I could as I logged days and days of driving with my parents in their RV and know what it's like. Going down could be fun. It's that long drive home leaving Disney would be torture. Thankfully it's been less expensive to fly for my kids and I than it would be to drive and stay overnight just past DC. (I use the AAA fuel cost calculator to give me a ball park on fuel costs.)

I will drive ... some day.

 

[dvcterry]

Avoid 95 around DC if you can.

This is the best advice I can give. We usually do our driving through the night or take alternate route.

That DC traffic is terrible.

 

[lawrenceFletcher]

Commercial airline flying is nuts today( maybe it is a little better from a major hub).

 

[Mndisneygirl]

We drive straight through from MN. I'll never tell you you're crazy!

But I do agree - avoid DC. When we drive to southern VA, we avoid it or we lose a couple hours in traffic that just doesn't move!

 

[dvcterry]

Commercial airline flying is nuts today( maybe it is a little better from a major hub).

Oh gosh-we love to drive but this Christmas there no deals on airfare for us. We paid dearly for 6 tickets. But the stressor was the flight cancellations. Flying out there were many flights cancelled (ours was delayed several hours) but the weather was fine. It just was stressful worrying if we would depart or not.

Op, good luck to you and drive safely!

 

[spruce]

I agree with driving through the night. With 2 drivers you can take turns with naps, the kids sleep much of the trip and you can be in Orlando by 11am if you leave between 5&7 the night before. It's 1000 miles, 13-15 hours.

 

[luckyman_apd]

Oh gosh-we love to drive but this Christmas there no deals on airfare for us. We paid dearly for 6 tickets. But the stressor was the flight cancellations. Flying out there were many flights cancelled (ours was delayed several hours) but the weather was fine. It just was stressful worrying if we would depart or not.

Op, good luck to you and drive safely!

I actually enjoy the convenience of flying. Driving is tiring. My kids are very good travelers be it a plane/car....so if driving took 12 hours, and flying took 12 hours (with travel time/securtity/check in/magic transportation, etc.) I would always choose flying as I can relax and not be exhausted upon arrival. There a price point though that makes it worth it to drive, but with BWI a little more than an hour away, BWI is a main hub for Southwest, so rarely will driving save us a ton of money.