Driving from Massachusetts any advice????

[SFRN97]

Now that DD has turned 2 (since she would need an airline ticket) we have decded to make the trek this April to Disney by CAR. We priced out airfare and it would place us way over budget. We plan on leaving Thu Apr 12 sometime in the AM (early if possible depending on if DH is still working overnights) and we are attempting to drive straight. I will do the first trek so DH can sleep and we will switch as we get tired. If we become very tired we will stop at a hotel hopefully mid SC or beginning of GA to sleep for a few hours and leave early AM. Any suggestions would be appreciated and good rest stops where kids could run and stretch. DS will be 6 and DD 2. We have a incar DVD system and DS will have his Nintendo DS. DD is our fear as not much keeps her attention she is high energy and sitting for long periods is tourture for her and us .

 

[rwdavis2]

Other than fly? ;-) Avoid Washington,DC between 7 and 9 and 3 and 7. That means all points around the beltway.

 

[francie57]

Depending on where you are coming from in MA and the time, avoid 95 through CT and NY if possible. We always go 84, 684, over Tappan Zee, Garden State to 95. Also as pp said, avoid DC at rush times.

 

[GranddadTom]

This sounds like fun. And I like your choice of dates. Easter is April 8th so all of the Spring vacations will be over by the time you hit the road. Score one for SFRN97. I second the comment about southern Connecticut. It can be worse than Washington. You’re going to hit that about 2 hours after you leave home (unless you are out on the cape). I honestly don’t know when that starts to build up or when it eases off. But the next problem is crossing the Hudson. Let’s say you leave home at 6:00 am and hope to get over the Tappan Zee Bridge by 10:00. That should be doable even with some slow up in Conn. From there you have a good 3 and ½ hours to the Washington Beltway. The key here is that on a Friday you must be 20 miles south of Washington by 2:30 pm or you are dead. So just hold your breath and fly from the Hudson to the Washington Beltway. No prolonged stops here. Route 95 south of 20 miles south of Washington will be slow but it will be annoying slow not stop-and-go slow. If you get there after 3 pm you will discover what stop-and-go means and you will not like it! Once you get south of Richmond (which is a piece of cake even at rush hour) you can breath again. The speed limit goes up to 70 (folks go 75) and the traffic thins out. We live just north of Washington and it’s a 13 hour drive for us.

 

[SFRN97]

Francie57 thanks for the advice regarding the Tappan Zee like this way much better than going over the George Washington. (For some reason I just hate that George Washington) I just have to get my GPS to take me that way. We will be going 95 as we live 30 minutes from Providence. Where would we pick up the Tappan Zee. Only time we took that bridge was when we went to the Poconos but I think we still went through CT we picked it up somewhere in New York is that where you would pick it up?

 

[SFRN97]

GranddadTom if we are not able to leave by 6am (DH may or may not still be on nights) do you suggest we leave after 8am and stop for an early lunch so as to avoid the Washngton traffic. At what time does the traffic in Washington taper off?

 

[mykidslovesdisney]

We leave from cental CT at 2 am for our trip to the Autotrain. We avoid i95 until just before the GWB. We use RT15/Merritt Parkway. You can pick that up off I95 in Milford. I did the Tappen Zee Bridge once w/ the GSP and will never do it again. Too many toll booths to deal with on the GSP. Once you cross into NY on the Merritt you take the Cross Country to the Spain Parkway then to I95. There is no trucks until you get on I95 which is just before the GWB. Then on the NJT there is a car only side.


then to avoid the DC loop take 295 in Maryland-- it is a parkway for the most part. you completely avoid the loop. You can pick it up from either of the tunnels.


If you need help with specfics-- let me know I'd be happy to help.

 

[cavecricket]

We have been driving from RI for 30 years...every year...sometimes twice a year.

I have found that leaving at night especially with kids is much much easier. Leave around supper time...you will make it through most of the major cities with little to no traffic...the kiddies fall asleep and you drive through the night (if you can) when the kids wake up...you have made some major progress already!

We use our iphone and callahead to the local Super Walmarts to see if they allow overnight parking if we need a break...then we get up in the morning...run into walmart (kids can stretch, get a toy lol) and its off to the open road again!

We LOVE driving and wouldnt have it any other way!

 

[GranddadTom]

GranddadTom if we are not able to leave by 6am (DH may or may not still be on nights) do you suggest we leave after 8am and stop for an early lunch so as to avoid the Washngton traffic. At what time does the traffic in Washington taper off?

The traffic south of Washington on Rt 95 (that's the area of concern, not the beltway) begins to taper off around 8:00 to 8:30 and is pretty clear by 9:00 pm (unless it's raining). It's that first 30 miles on Rt. 95 south of Washington that is so bad.

 

[Jessica527]

Get two pizza boxes!!! Fill them with crayons/paper and other activities. Should be fun for the 5 year old!!

 

[DMass]

I have found that leaving at night especially with kids is much much easier. Leave around supper time...you will make it through most of the major cities with little to no traffic

That's what we used to do also when we were driving down south.

 

[Candlz]

get two pizza boxes!!! Fill them with crayons/paper and other activities. Should be fun for the 5 year old!!

brilliant!

 

[momtwoboys]

I know you said flying was out of budget...but there are flights on Jetblue out of Hartford (BDL) that are running $228.00 for r/t nonstop flights. Not too bad. THis was for April 10-19th

 

[Jay2009]

I'll be keeping an eye on this post as I too am from SE Mass (about 20 mins from providence) and will driving next september (flying this year)

Hope you get a lot of great advice!

 

[Disneyholic]

Come on over to
For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only! (II)
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2507731

You will find a lot of great information from many experienced drivers on this thread.

 

[amypetecar]

If your husband is used to working overnights, I would highly recommend leaving at dinner time and driving through the night.

We drove down to Richmond, VA and took 84 to Scranton, PA to 81 clear to Va, then 66 to 17 to 95. Took 11 hours (not including our stop at Knoebles Grove! which is why we took that way) No traffic, even during all rush hours.

To our amazement on the way home, it took the same 11 hours to come home via DC, Baltimore, and the GW bridge

 

[Curious & Curiouser]

I'll be keeping an eye on this post as I too am from SE Mass (about 20 mins from providence) and will driving next september (flying this year)

Hope you get a lot of great advice!

Just had to say hi lol we are from southern central MA and we will be driving for the 1st time next sept as well !!!! its so cool so find someone who is drivin from the same state at the same time lol we are leaving sept 9th at 10pm....if u ever wanna talk feel free to IM me

 

[Hopefully]

We left about 10 - 11 PM and the kids slept all night. When they woke we were well south of DC and we then stopped for breakfast.
We drove to So. Georgia for the night. Had a good dinner and a good, early nights sleep. We woke in the morning refreshed and we were only a few hours from WDW. It worked great.
The ride home, on the other hand, was not so much fun. We did stop near Harrisburg for the night and finished the next day.
Good Luck!!

 

[Jay2009]

Just had to say hi lol we are from southern central MA and we will be driving for the 1st time next sept as well !!!! its so cool so find someone who is drivin from the same state at the same time lol we are leaving sept 9th at 10pm....if u ever wanna talk feel free to IM me

Wow, that's great! I'm glad someone else will be going on the same drive we are going on. I think we'll be going later in the month, so I will be very interested in hearing how your drive went (and learning from things that maybe didn't go so great). Do you know if you're planning on stopping somewhere or driving straight down in one shot?

 

[disneyobessed]

I am also from South Central Ma. and we are considering driving down next summer... curious as to how these road trips are. We are considering renting a van or small RV for the road trip..