Driving from Kingston, ON

[MomDad&2boys]

We just planned a last minute trip and we are leaving on Monday! This will be our first time driving. Any suggestions on best routes? Areas to avoid? Tips for the very long drive?

 

[minnie mum]

I assume you'll be crossing the border at Hill Island. That's the way we always go down. We usually follow the 81/77/26/95/4 route. It minimizes the number of mega cities you have to go thru on the northern sections of the 95.

The rest stops, especially at the welcome centers as you enter each state, are good for a bathroom break, a picnic, and stretching your legs.

We use gas buddy.com to figure out cheap gas stops along the way, and CAA to look at hotels in the cities where we expect to spend the night enroute.

If you are going thru Jacksonville around rush hour, take the bypass. Try to avoid arriving in Orlando at rush hour, due to construction road delays.

There is a thread on the Transportation board for long distance drivers, where I've gotten good advice .

http://www.disboards.com/threads/fo...ers-only-part-v.3351891/page-44#post-54183693

 

[bankr63]

+1 for all of Minnie Mum's suggestions. If you do hit Orlando around traffic time (and pretty much any time is traffic time on the I-4) use the 417 toll road to skirt east and south of the city. It is a few $$ for a whole lot less traffic, better yet grab a SunPass at the Florida Welcome Centre (can also order in advance, but you won't have time if you are last minute). The Southern terminus of the 417 is just off Disney property at World Drive.

Areas to avoid? Stay away from Washington DC. Most GPS and MapQuest will route you this way. Expect long delays as you ring the city. Drive down we can usually make NC before stopping for a night. Homebound we make central VA before a stop.

 

[Marbel]

We did the 81/77/26/95 route as well, but did the 407/528/4 detour to avoid Orlando. We were towing a travel trailer though. The entire route was surprisingly easy. Jacksonville in Fla and Syracuse in NY were the biggest cities encountered. 528 in Fla is a toll road. We didn't have a Sun Pass but it wasn't a big deal to stop. There was no traffic to speak of. Had to stop 4 times though. That was a surprise. What else can I tell you? Lots of gas stations. Good idea about stopping to stretch legs at the welcome centers. Oh ... fun fact ... NY exit numbers don't correspond to miles. That is annoying as hell. Thinking such-and-such is only 11 miles away because it's at exit 11 is a mistake in NY.

Have fun! We would drive that route again.

 

[starvenger]

We did the 81/77/26/95 route as well, but did the 407/528/4 detour to avoid Orlando. We were towing a travel trailer though. The entire route was surprisingly easy. Jacksonville in Fla and Syracuse in NY were the biggest cities encountered. 528 in Fla is a toll road. We didn't have a Sun Pass but it wasn't a big deal to stop. There was no traffic to speak of. Had to stop 4 times though. That was a surprise. What else can I tell you? Lots of gas stations. Good idea about stopping to stretch legs at the welcome centers. Oh ... fun fact ... NY exit numbers don't correspond to miles. That is annoying as hell. Thinking such-and-such is only 11 miles away because it's at exit 11 is a mistake in NY.

Have fun! We would drive that route again.

Yeah, NY's exit marker policy annoys me every time. There are other states that do this as well, can't remember which offhand though. It makes the drive feel longer though.

 

[migel]

Coming from the Niagara area, I always take the 77 26 95 4, route. Depending on the time of day, you may hit a slow down on the 26, the first 20 km is still under construction. Also, pretty much anytime other than late evenings, expect a bit of a slow down near Charlotte. The I4 is still being worked on, and I also recommend taking the 417 toll at Sanford, there are a few tolls, but worth staying off the I4 if you can. Watch your speeds, although even at 75 mph (in a 70) you'll have people flying by you. Good luck!

 

[Sev]

We live in Ottawa and commute to Disney area every winter. The suggestion of taking 81/77/2someting is a good one. Over the years we have learned not to take the by-passes but rather drive trough Syracuse and Jacksonville. If you are arriving near rush hour in Orlando, stay on 95 all the way to Cocoa Beach and then take 528 , a tool road, to 417 which will take you right to 535 that takes you into Disney. As for en route stops, we generally drive only 6 or 7 hours per day. Our first stop is usually the Farfield either in Hazleton or Carlisle ,PA. Another good spot is the Hampton Inn in Pine Grove, PA. A great spot is in Elkin, NC, a Fairfield Inn just off the highway. This place is fantastic, beautifully decorated and includes a full buffet breakfast on Ghana plates and mat all cutlery. From here it is about 10 hours to Disney, so we normally stop in Kingsland, GA, just 3 miles from the Fla border. If you leave the hotel around 9:30 you miss rush hour in Jacksonville and bomb straight through. You arrive at Disney around 1:00. We have done this drive every year for the last ten with one extra drive, and it works well. Have a save drive!

 

[bankr63]

The suggestion of taking 81/77/2someting is a good one. Over the years we have learned not to take the by-passes but rather drive trough Syracuse and Jacksonville.

Agree that the Syracuse bypass is a waste of time, but the heavy road construction we hit on the I-95 at downtown Jacksonville was a major slowdown this past March. And it looked like the kind of construction that will last a long time. On the way home we took the Jax Beaches bypass and felt it saved a ton of time.

 

[Evelyne]

It fells like construction in Jacksonville area has been going on for a couple of years now, bypassing it works very well in rush hour