Driving from NJ (and surrounding states)

[Jeff1805]

In the past we have gone to WDW annually on late August and flown from Atlantic City to MCO. Although a family of 5 can be expensive, we have generally done well with airfare by catching last minute specials. This year we purchased DVC (OKW) and are intending to drive from NJ to WDW (airfare is simply out of control).

What tips can anyone offer for driving from NJ (or surrounding state) to WDW? We were leaning towards leaving at a very early hour and driving into northern FL by the evening and staying over in an inexpensive hotel for the night, then completing the trip in the morning. This way we start with (some) sleep and have the whole day in WDW.

Who has done what? Any variations to this? Areas to lodge at?

 

[AnnaS]

We have done it many times and most recently we drove in Jan., May and July - long story. We used to leave at 3 am but in July we decided to leave at 5pm. We stopped at midnight and stayed overnight in NC. This was great and would definitely do it again (maybe leave at 4pm next time). We have also driven straight through many, many times and every time I say - no more, no need for it. Let's see how that goes.

There is another thread here for drivers who drive more than 2,000 miles or something. Interesting reading also.

 

[pepe of ohio]

In the past we have gone to WDW annually on late August and flown from Atlantic City to MCO. Although a family of 5 can be expensive, we have generally done well with airfare by catching last minute specials. This year we purchased DVC (OKW) and are intending to drive from NJ to WDW (airfare is simply out of control).

What tips can anyone offer for driving from NJ (or surrounding state) to WDW? We were leaning towards leaving at a very early hour and driving into northern FL by the evening and staying over in an inexpensive hotel for the night, then completing the trip in the morning. This way we start with (some) sleep and have the whole day in WDW.

Who has done what? Any variations to this? Areas to lodge at?

We've done similar.... Same boat from northeast Ohio.... We were going to stop in Kingsland Ga. That's close to the Florida border and would give us 3-4 hour drive the next day...

We hit Kingsland around 10pm and decided to drive on to the Florida Welcome Center, about 10 miles further..rest for a little while and just drive on to WDW and get there around 5-6 am....worked out great ( it's just the wife and I)...that little rest, some food, coffee and away we went...

We looked back and said, by the time we checked in a motel, unwound, ate and went to bed... Then getting up real early to beat the Orlando traffic and get to WDW early to have a whole day of fun... Spending 100.00 for the Hampton for a few hours was nuts...good call, the break at the Welcome Center ( 24 hour security) was perfect, we arrived at WDW at 5:30 am, checked in ( room not ready) ate in the food court at 6am.... Ran to the grocery store and was back and in EPCOT by rope drop...with a whole day ahead of us...our plan for this October trip as well....

Going home is different... Going to WDW, we're too excited to get there... Going home, we rather stop at a motel and have a nice rest then continue onto home...

 

[Muhlenberg]

My DH prefers to drive to the Jacksonville, FL area, get a hotel room, and finish the drive the next day. (We're not the "have to have a full day in the park as soon as we get there" types.) We're in SE PA, and take the 81-77-26-95 route, so N. FL is about a 15 hour drive. We find that doing it this way keeps us on the "right" schedule, and no one has been on "3rd shift" and then switches to "1st shift." Warning...the 2nd day of driving, there's less desire to "get in the car and drive for hours."

That said, we've also driven through the night straight through. That was mostly to get there ahead of a tropical storm (Who wants to drive through heavy rain for hours?!)

You'll get a lot of different answers, but our preference is to drive MOST of the way, get a hotel (we like Hampton Inn), and then finish the drive.

 

[mrsap]

We started driving from North Jersey in '04. Before kids, we'd be out the door by 6am and drive straight through (only stopping for gas and food). Once the kids arrived, we had to stop. Our goal is usually to leave at 8am, but we ALWAYS have rental car company problems, which ruins that. We then stop in the Savannah area for the night (somewhere right off 95) Orlando is typically about 4 hours from there +/-) For the ride home, we drive straight through (only stop for gas and food) Usually an easier, faster ride!

Just a tip, Don't leave too late the morning you are leaving to drive down , you don't want to sit in Washington traffic!

 

[bookwormde]

I have considered stopping but in the end we have always driven straight through. An OKW studio is not that much more than a hotel on the road on points. From Wilmington we are only 14-16 hours depending on stops, so you will be an hour or 2 more depending on where you are in southern NJ

We leave by 4 am to be sure not to get caught up in DC traffic

For next year check on Frontier out of Wilmington for some air fare bargains if you days are flexible.

 

[s.r.disney nut]

We just drove home from HHI last Friday to central NJ. Took us 12.5 hours. We did drive through a very heavy rain in SC which slowed us down and also hit pockets of traffic. We left HHI at 10:30 a.m.

We drove down to WDW to begin our trip. Left NJ at 3:00 a.m. and drove straight through and made it there in 15hrs 15 min. I would leave early morning, you miss alot of traffic. From HHI to WDW is about 5hrs.

From central NJ we usually get to Baltimore in 2.5 hrs, DC in about 3.5 hrs. For us, leaving at 3:00a.m., we missed all the traffic in those areas.

 

[SafariTigger]

We are still on the fence drive?/fly? but reading this makes driving sound not too bad. We are coming from NJ. The only problem is that we are taking my in-laws and would like to travel in one car and ours isn't big enough. Do you know, if you rent a car in NJ with unlimited mileage are you allowed to drive it to FL and then return it to NJ when you get back? Never did that before but I'm assuming it's possible.

 

[Jeff1805]

Sounds like the early start and layover somewhat close to Orlando is the popular choice. Driving the overnight is not for us. We did that a number of years ago to Myrtle Beach and I was wasted for almost 2 days.

Any recommendations as to where the layover point should be? Clean, yet inexpensive hotels?

 

[DCbride]

We do this every August. We live by exit 4/5 off the turnpike. Usually, we leave around 5 am on a weekend day to avoid commuter traffic. And spend the night in Jacksonville. we used to stop in Fayetteville or Florence or Lumberton basically driving a bit more on day 1. Now, we prefer to drive the majority on day 1 and about 2 hours on day 2. so, Jacksonville is our stop. we stick to Marriott brands with breakfast. this past trip was a Residence Inn. This trip we did stopped in Fayetteville, NC at a country park with a free splash area for an hour because DD6 needed to move for a bit.

 

[chellewashere]

We have always rented a car to drive from PA to Florida and not had a problem with driving it to another state from our rental agency. Next year we will be driving our own since I finally have one I can trust to get us there and back

We live right outside of Philly and we leave around 10PM that way our daughter will sleep most of the trip (shes 7) and when she wakes up we stop for breakfast and to freshen up. We always stop in Kingsland and we get there around 11AM or so. Our hotel is usually not ready but we go to lunch or change in the rest room and go swimming till the room is done. You can rooms there for around 50 bucks a night right off 195. Then we leave first thing in the AM and drive to our resort takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Get there early check-in..drop our bags off at the baggage spot and head to our park of the day.

It is a nice relaxing trip and we love to do it. We pack movies for my daughter to watch...lots of snacks and water. My husband does all the driving -he has control issues-and we just have some fun family time

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

 

[MinnieMouseMom01]

We live in Ct and drive to Fl once a year. We usually leave at 11pm and drive straight through. We usually arrive early afternoon. If we don't drive straight through, we leave early morning like 3am and drive to the Fl border.
Just an FYI, we never fly due to FIL being an airplane mechanic and hubby didn't want to drive so were looking into amtrak. For a family of 4 it was going to be $800. Last week (on Tuesday) I checked Jetblue and found tickets for $630 for the 4 of us. It was an offer even my hubby found too good to pass up!
Oh, and we've used rental cars but for the cost it wasn't worth it. It was unlimited mileage though!
Good luck!!

 

[Sheilby]

We are still on the fence drive?/fly? but reading this makes driving sound not too bad. We are coming from NJ. The only problem is that we are taking my in-laws and would like to travel in one car and ours isn't big enough. Do you know, if you rent a car in NJ with unlimited mileage are you allowed to drive it to FL and then return it to NJ when you get back? Never did that before but I'm assuming it's possible.

We thought about driving too to save money, but when I added up the cost of gas and tolls and then figured in possibly staying at a cheap motel there and back it was still going to cost a lot, that doesn't even take in to consideration the wear in tear on your car or the cost of renting a car if you go that way. Since we would also lose at least 2 days to driving we opted for the plane. We were able to get round trip tickets for 248 each on Jet Blue out of Newark - that #includes all taxes and fees and 1 checked bag for each traveler, we could have actually gotten it cheaper, but I wanted to fly out in the am going down.

I'm not trying to talk you out of driving, I kind of want to drive just for the experience of it, but the tickets might be less than you think especially if you can travel mid-week. You just really have to watch the prices and be prepared to jump on them when they are to your liking.

 

[Sheilby]

We live in Ct and drive to Fl once a year. We usually leave at 11pm and drive straight through. We usually arrive early afternoon. If we don't drive straight through, we leave early morning like 3am and drive to the Fl border.
Just an FYI, we never fly due to FIL being an airplane mechanic and hubby didn't want to drive so were looking into amtrak. For a family of 4 it was going to be $800. Last week (on Tuesday) I checked Jetblue and found tickets for $630 for the 4 of us. It was an offer even my hubby found too good to pass up!
Oh, and we've used rental cars but for the cost it wasn't worth it. It was unlimited mileage though!
Good luck!!

Wow! 630 for 4 of you? Awesome! I didn't even know they still had offers that good. We looked into the train too. It was going to be a little over 800 for our family of 5 if we took the club seats and a ridiculous amount of money if we got sleeper cars. I really wanted sleeper cars, but the finances didn't make sense. Plus the train ride was over 22 hours. Yikes.

 

[Swissdog2010]

We drove down from NW NJ twice before, our first two trips in 04 and 05. Then we flew the other times but this time wife wanted to drive again. We'll be swinging west this time, picking up 78 then 81, 77 and 26, picking up 95 outside of Charlotte. With three adults in the vehicle we'll drive straight through, maybe stopping for a few hours in GA or N. Fl at a reststop. Should prove 'interesting'.

 

[atwmommy]

Don't forget about the autotrain. If you plan in advance, you can get reasonable seats. I just did a family of 5 for $1028 round trip. We were staying off site so needed a car.

 

[TinkPirateMom]

We drove from South Jersey to WDW last November. I was skeptical at first to say the least but it worked out perfectly. We left our home after dinner at about 6:50pm on a Fri. night. DH did the large majority of the driving. We arrived at the Florida Welcome Center at 6:30am. No traffic and smooth sailing through the night We continued on and stopped at a Cracker Barrel in St. Augustine for breakfast. I then drove us into Orlando. We arrived at WL at around 11am on Saturday. Everyone was well rested except for DH. He napped while we checked out the resort. Then we all went to MBYBBQ that night, got a good night's sleep, and hit the parks the next morning.

 

[lovin'fl]

We have driven from the Balt-Wash area many times (about 15 hours, give or take). We will head out around 9:00am if kids are out of school and DH doesn't have to work...if they have school and/or DH works, we will aim for heading out by 2:30pm to beat the DC rush hour. We usually grab the kids early from school. If it's a Sat or Sun, then we can head out anytime, but we never do late night starts (we just can't drive through the night). We will do one of two things...either drive as far as we can and get a hotel for a quick sleep and try to be within 3-4 hours of WDW....OR we break the drive up over 2 nights and the second night will be very close to WDW...stopping anywhere from Santee, SC to Daytona Beach, FL. Mostly, we do the one night and stop in Savannah area to Jacksonville or St Augustine. When we come home, DH prefers to drive all the way (straight) home...sigh. That's a killer of a ride home but I usually am anxious to get back home anyway.

We took the Autotrain home once (in 2007) and it was a painful trip...cramped in a family cabin (all 5 of us), loud and bumpy, no sleep, no TV...etc. And it cost more than we would have paid to fly...was crazy expensive.

 

[BC1836]

For more detailed info, go to the "FOR 2,000+ MILES ROUND-TRIP DRIVERS ONLY!" thread.

All the best.