Driving from Indianapolis in December....

[Iott Family]

and im wondering about anyone else's experiences who've made the same haul. We have ressies at CBR from the 19-26. Kids get out of school on the 17th. Thinking to leave early the 18th...like in the wee a.m. hours. We have three rugrats. Aged 9,7 and 10mos. when we go. Packing as light as possible in the Burby. Plenty of DVD's and games to keep us occupied and by leaving in early a.m. hoping kids can sleep a good portion.

Whats a good place(s) to stop for breaks along the way? Best place to catch some shut eye along the way? Good stopping point? I have alreafy done a search of the forum and didnt come up with much. Any and all with this eperience please offer up advice!!!

Thank you!

 

[danny1649]

We have made trip from Bloomington several times.We leave around 8AM and drive to my DW'S sisters at Jackson,GA. which is about 40 miles north of Macon,GA.We arrive there around 7:00pm.DW loves Cracker Barrel so we stop at least once for meal and again for coffee and a walk.We leave around 5:30 AM from SIL'S house and arrive WDW around noon.Our route is 65S to Nashville,then 24E to Chatanooga,then 75S to Florida Turnpike located near Ocala,Florida Turnpike to 27S,27S to 192 E to WDW.Total trip 985 miles.

 

[SB in KY]

We drive at least once a year from Louisville.... we always leave home by 4AM or so (we are more AM people anyways) and the kids always go back to sleep and we can get 4 or 5 hours down the road before they are up for the day...it really helps.

If you get going early you might want to think about Macon, Ga for an overnight. It would be about 10 hours from Indy, but if you got a really early start you could get through Atlanta before rush hour and be all the way to Macon by 3 or 3:30PM including rest and meal stops.

We always pack a picnic and stop at a rest area to eat lunch (faster and much easier for the kids to run off some of the wiggles.

Macon has some nice and reasonable motels (I always use Priceline and usually wind up at a very nice LaQuinta). By getting in early the kids can swim (most have indoor pools) and you can have a nice dinner and turn in early.

It is an easy 6 hours from Macon to WDW and you are already past the Atlanta traffic so it goes quick.


Do not use the bypass around Atlanta, farther and traffic is much worse.

If Macon is too far I would suggest Dalton, GA (just past Chattanooga) or if you want to go farther Valdosta is the next best bet (roughly 2 hours south of Macon). Valdosta is about 4 hours from WDW...in between Macon and Valdosta most of the lodging choices are questionable at best (we have stayed in some pretty yucky places)

Fire up the portable DVD player (the greatest invention for car trips ever IMHO!!)...it isn't too bad of a trip...in fact I always enjoy the ride down...it is the ride home I could live without!!

 

[jl3614]

We have driven it twice at spring break (2002 and 2003), but never during the winter.

We usually stop at one of the little towns between Atlanta and Macon. SB in KY must drive much faster than we do - it takes us about 10 hrs to get to the north side of Atlanta - and about 12 hours to get to our stopping point. Both times we left Indy (Carmel actually) about 6:00 AM on a Friday morning and always seemed to arrive in Atlanta right at afternoon rush hour. I think most people (and AAA also) will tell you to go straight through Atlanta if you are traveling at off-hours, and to take the bypass if you are traveling during peak times (i.e. rush hour).

The second day is about 6 hours. Our trip is about 1050 miles, which is about the same as the 985 miles danny1649 reports traveling from Bloomington.

Leave yourself plenty of time in case of bad weather - you have 500 miles between Indy and Atlanta (each direction) that you could possibly encounter icy and/or snow covered roads which will obviously slow you down. Remember a couple years ago our 8 inches of snow Christmas morning. Good luck to you, have a great trip.

 

[Iott Family]

The tip about Atlanta will come in very handy!

Hello to all my hoosier neighbors! Glad to see others from the cornfields catching the Disney magic!