Driving from north of T.O.

[5Dreamers DH]

Hello all (1st post but avid reader)

I am planning a trip from just North of Toronto, Ontario. This will be the first time that I will be driving as a father. My wife and I have three kids (DD 11, DS 8, DD 5). That is the back ground. We want to drive to WDW with one overnight stop. I am interested in what hotels people stay at in what towns. I have looked at the hotels in the Wytheville, VA area and have come up with the Country Inn and Suites as the best for that town. Any suggestions for families of 5?

5Deramers DH

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

We drive from just south of Buffalo. We often drive straight through to Orlando. If we do stop, we tend to drive more on the first day and end up in North Carolina, South Carolina, or Savannah, Georgia. I prefer Savannah because it's only 5 or so hours from Orlando. Lots of places to stay from VA to GA.

 

[5Dreamers DH]

Thanks for the reply.

What time of day do you usually leave when you stay in Savannah.

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

We usually leave around 9pm. I drive through the night and then my wife takes over for a few hours in the morning. We usually make it to Savannah around noon - 1pm.

 

[bukosluvswdw]

Hello all (1st post but avid reader)

I am planning a trip from just North of Toronto, Ontario. This will be the first time that I will be driving as a father. My wife and I have three kids (DD 11, DS 8, DD 5). That is the back ground. We want to drive to WDW with one overnight stop. I am interested in what hotels people stay at in what towns. I have looked at the hotels in the Wytheville, VA area and have come up with the Country Inn and Suites as the best for that town. Any suggestions for families of 5?

5Deramers DH

We find Wytheville, VA has gas that is inexpensive so if you are close for gas I would stop there. We live in West Virginia and if we do stop for the night we try and back it to Ga at least the first day. We like driving in the night less traffic.

 

[KodakFigment]

Hello all (1st post but avid reader)

I am planning a trip from just North of Toronto, Ontario. I am interested in what hotels people stay at in what towns. I have looked at the hotels in the Wytheville, VA area and have come up with the Country Inn and Suites as the best for that town. Any suggestions for families of 5?

5Deramers DH

Welcome to the DIS!

We make the roundtrip from Orlando to Rochester, NY at least 2X year so we have stopped at a lot of different places. The Country Suites in Wytheville are clean and convenient.

We would recommend you plan on getting a little farther on your first day, though. If you stop in Wytheville you are just about halfway which make the second days drive still pretty long. If you can, you might plan on making it to SC at least. There aren't a lot of good stopping places between the VA border and Charlotte, NC. Once you get to Charlotte, the exits are closer together and there are more choices for food and lodging.

Rock Hill, SC is just over the border and has a lot of reasonably priced hotels which don't have to be booked ahead. Time to Orlando from there is about 8.5 hours. If you are still going strong, then Rt 77 north of Columbia SC has a lot of choices too.

We plan on making Rock Hill the first day, but almost always go beyond that. If you can make it all the way to 95 in SC, then Walterboro offers a large number of choices and has a bonus of being less than 6 hours from the World. But that is a long drive especially with kids.

 

[KarmaLady]

This is so timely since DH & I were looking at maps tonight, planning our route and stops. We're driving from around Hamilton, Ontario area and going through buffalo. We'd though Rock Hill might make a good night's stop because they apparently have a kids museum. Does anyone have any tips on playgrounds or good rest stops for DS6 & DD4 along anywhere along the drive to Orlando?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[5Dreamers DH]

This is what makes the DIS boards such a good place to make plans. I would never have know that there are not as many places to stop in VA and NC. The drive to Charlotte is 13 hours from our house so that may be a little far but maybe like some of the posters I will plan on stopping in Wytheville and then see how everyone is doing and keep going if possible.

My wife wants to make sure that we have a hotel that is able to fit all of us in one room so I will have to make sure that there are choices for us. Thank you all for your input.

 

[5Dreamers DH]

This is so timely since DH & I were looking at maps tonight, planning our route and stops. We're driving from around Hamilton, Ontario area and going through buffalo. We'd though Rock Hill might make a good night's stop because they apparently have a kids museum. Does anyone have any tips on playgrounds or good rest stops for DS6 & DD4 along anywhere along the drive to Orlando?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

We typically take homework for the kids and everytime that we have the kids have to journal about the trip. I was thinking of stopping at the tourism rest areas in each state and getting the kids to grab literature and other information (state bird and flag colour representation) from those that work there. That being said my kids are keen on doing these things when we travel. I also saw that there are parks at some of the rest areas for the kids to play. Knowing my wife and kids there won't be too much playing they will want to get going as fast as they can.

 

[KarmaLady]

We typically take homework for the kids and everytime that we have the kids have to journal about the trip. I was thinking of stopping at the tourism rest areas in each state and getting the kids to grab literature and other information (state bird and flag colour representation) from those that work there. That being said my kids are keen on doing these things when we travel. I also saw that there are parks at some of the rest areas for the kids to play. Knowing my wife and kids there won't be too much playing they will want to get going as fast as they can.

Any idea how I find out what rest stops have parks? My kids are going to be antsy! I figure 20 minutes of playing then back in the car for meals while driving will make a huge difference. Great idea about stopping at the tourism rest areas. Thanks!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[KarmaLady]

This is what makes the DIS boards such a good place to make plans. I would never have know that there are not as many places to stop in VA and NC. The drive to Charlotte is 13 hours from our house so that may be a little far but maybe like some of the posters I will plan on stopping in Wytheville and then see how everyone is doing and keep going if possible.

My wife wants to make sure that we have a hotel that is able to fit all of us in one room so I will have to make sure that there are choices for us. Thank you all for your input.

It's exactly 13 hours for us too and we're going to try the same. The country inn at rock hill looks nice... Any advice on if we should stay there or somewhere else? Thanks!!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

This is so timely since DH & I were looking at maps tonight, planning our route and stops. We're driving from around Hamilton, Ontario area and going through buffalo. We'd though Rock Hill might make a good night's stop because they apparently have a kids museum. Does anyone have any tips on playgrounds or good rest stops for DS6 & DD4 along anywhere along the drive to Orlando?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Most of the rest areas on 77 have grassy areas to get out and move around.

 

[5Dreamers DH]

It's exactly 13 hours for us too and we're going to try the same. The country inn at rock hill looks nice... Any advice on if we should stay there or somewhere else? Thanks!!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

We have stayed at several different Country Inns before. I have found all of them to be very well appointed for their price. I have also stayed at the Holiday inn's and Sleep inn's in my travels and have to say that Holiday inns are sometimes HIT and Miss. If you find one of the newer ones then you will be fine but some of the older ones are run down and are in desparate need of refreshing.
As for Sleep Inn, I will never stay in one again as to a bad experience at one in the buffalo area.

5Dreamers DH

 

[5Dreamers DH]

Any idea how I find out what rest stops have parks? My kids are going to be antsy! I figure 20 minutes of playing then back in the car for meals while driving will make a huge difference. Great idea about stopping at the tourism rest areas. Thanks!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

When I looked on google maps at the street view I saw some of the different Tourisim rest stops had play areas. As for any other way I am not so sure.

5Dreamers DH

 

[bdoyledimou]

I live in Markham, Ont - - just north of Toronto and have driven to Disney world 9 times!!!!! The last time was with my son (13) daughter (11) and nephew 8.

We leave our house at around 11 AM after a good nights rest. Stop at the duty free shop for a quick breather before the border, then do Cracker Barrel in Erie PA. for late lunch.

Head south from there and have Dinner at Crackerbarrel in VA.

keep driving to the GA border where there is a rest stop (usually around 4 am) and take a quick 1.5 hour power nap. Have breakfast at IHOP at the FL/GA border and at the world by noon.

Check in and take a nap till 5 pm and then i am ready to roll at the park!