Driving From NE To HH

[disneydaddvc]

Has anyone driven from New England to HH. We are going to HH July 2006 and are thinking of driving the 18 hrs. The kids will be 10 and 13 yrs old. Planing to make one stop over on the way down.

Thanks for any imput.

DVC 2001

 

[DVCLiz]

From my house in central NC (about in the middle of the state!) it's about a sixish hour drive, depending on stops. I've done it in 5 hours and 45 minutes before, but it's also taken almost 7. If you want to do the majority of the drive on your first day, you could drive about 12 hours and stop in NC, then have a pleasant "shorter" drive the next day.

With 10 and 13 year olds, I'd stock up on IPods and DVDs for the car, if you have a DVD player. A laptop with a DVD drive is also a good idea. My daughters will read in the car as well, don't know if yours are readers or not.

HH is a wonderful resort - you'll have a great time!!!!

(If driving seems overwhelming, flights into Savannah or Hilton Head are an option, too. Others on this board will have information about the airports, etc.)

 

[FeeleyFans]

We live in Brookfield, CT and just returned from our first trip to HHI. We have a 6 week old baby, and a 4 and 10 year old. We split the drive into two days and stayed in Rocky Mount in the Marriot Residence Inn on the way down. On the way back we stayed in Williamsburg, VA at the Great Wolfs Lodge. It has a really cool indoor water park and was a nice treat. The kids did great and there were hardly any complaints. My biggest warning is not to return home on a Saturday or Sunday. The NY Turnpike traffic will make your trip miserable. We finally learned having spent many summers in Myrtle Beach. If you'd like more info let me know. We are seasoned drivers to the South.

 

[CherCrazy]

We drove from NJ to HHI this summer. 95 was a horrible mess. Bumper to bumper a lot of the time from Philly to past Richmond. We couldn't believe the traffic......

then we remembered that we usually start our drive Friday night after work so that we miss traffic. This strategy has served us well on many trips south thru the years. This last time we left on Saturday morning. Big mistake.

So....if you can, leave Friday night, drive till you're tired, hopefully you'll get into at least Washington, stay overnight, then keep on going the next morning!

 

[teo403]

We drove from MA this July. We left on a Friday morning (around 3:30am) and drove to Florence, SC the first day (we checked into our hotel around 8 pm). We would have kept going the rest of the way, but our a/c wasn't working right and just couldn't go any further. The next day we only had to keep the kids in the car about 2.5-3 hours. On the way home, we left HHI the following Fri. at 5 am, drove all the way home and arrived at midnight. Our kids are 9,7, and 3.

We did hit a lot of traffic in the DC area both ways but other than that, it was an easy drive. We plan on doing it again next summer.

 

[disneydaddvc]

Thank you everyone

I booked our vaction for HH for july 2006. I will be driving down. Looking forward to going there. HH is our home base and we have never beed there before.
DW,DD.DS LOVE WDW but will be skipping a year. DVC has worked out very good for us.

Be one with the magic

 

[Paula H]

We're half way between Hartford and New Haven. We left here on at Sat. night around 9 and drove all night. We checked in at 2:00 Sun. afternoon. This worked well for us - at the time the kids were 8 mos. and 3, and they slept most of the night. Although, DD at the time was intrigued with the rest areas and begged to stop at every one on the NJ Turnpike! Travelling at night works well for us since DH does most of the driving and he works nights in his "real life." You'll have a great time - we're planning a trip down to HHI for the end of next summer.

 

[Par8hed]

My hat is off to all of you who can drive for 16 or 17 hours and refer to it as "an easy drive". I will make a drive of that length once and only once in my lifetime and that will be a one-way trek to Florida when I retire. And rest assured that will be broken up into a minimum of three days. Fifteen minutes to the airport and 2 hours in the plane is much more my speed.

 

[Pa@okw95]

Whatever you do make sure you are through NY (the city) by 6 am!! We drive south all the time and leave our house in CT by 4 am.

 

[Paula H]

Any drive is an easy drive if you regularly have to be on 95 in the NYC area! DH was offered a job in Orlando 18 mos. ago and he and I went down to house hunt, etc. We kept hearing on the radio how bad the traffic is on I-4 during rush hour as we were on I-4 during rush hour. We kept saying, "What traffic??? This is nothing!"

Our worst traffic is always from Bridgeport to the George Washington Bridge, and we'll go at any hour to cut down on how much they're will be! But a thought to keep in mind for New Englanders headed south: to avoid NYC, you can always take I-84 from Danbury CT over the Newburgh Bridge over to the NY Thruway and then go south down into Jersey. It's a scenic ride and there's a lot less traffic than on the parkways or 95. Of course, we rarely take our own advice and almost always go straight down 95, unless we know we're going to hit a peak time.

 

[Blue&Gold]

I know many people from the East Coast might not realize it, but NE is the abbreviation for Nebraska... It's a pretty long drive from here, as well.

 

[MrsNick]

Any drive is an easy drive if you regularly have to be on 95 in the NYC area! DH was offered a job in Orlando 18 mos. ago and he and I went down to house hunt, etc. We kept hearing on the radio how bad the traffic is on I-4 during rush hour as we were on I-4 during rush hour. We kept saying, "What traffic??? This is nothing!"

Our worst traffic is always from Bridgeport to the George Washington Bridge, and we'll go at any hour to cut down on how much they're will be! But a thought to keep in mind for New Englanders headed south: to avoid NYC, you can always take I-84 from Danbury CT over the Newburgh Bridge over to the NY Thruway and then go south down into Jersey. It's a scenic ride and there's a lot less traffic than on the parkways or 95. Of course, we rarely take our own advice and almost always go straight down 95, unless we know we're going to hit a peak time.

I thought the same thing two years ago on a trip to WDW. We're from NY, too, and I remember being worried about driving in rush hour traffic (I'd heard stories), especially not being familiar with the area. I don't remember there being any traffic! And, I remember driving to be so easy and relaxed in Orlando!

 

[Tigger7570]

Hi: We drove a few years ago from MA and actually drove straight through to HH and stayed for the night before continuing onto Disney World. We got the trip mapped out by AAA and left between 10-11 p.m. at night. We didn't have any major traffic problems. We actually made several stops along the way for bathrooms, coffee, etc.

 

[DeeDeeDis]

A few years ago we Left the Springfield, Ma area at 10pm at nite after my sons baseball game. and soon found ourt It was a great time to leave. We didn't hit any traffic traveled 95, over GW in NYC, NJ Pike then at some point we picked up Rte 301. traveled on that until just past Washington DC, then back to 95 south.

We've driven a few times to florida and usually play it by ear on how far we drive, if we get tired we stop. but this was a really easy drive so after a two hour power nap in a rest stop we were ready to go.

HH is beautiful - Have a great time.