Driving from Northeast Wisconsin

[SusanSeng]

We are planning a trip in early June and have decided to try driving this time.
We have 3 kids who are used to car travel as we take 6 hour trips to Peoria Illinois all the time. 2 days in car though are much different!! Could I please have all of your suggestions regarding what you do in a car, which route do you like the best with children etc. We would be driving through Chicago. We could either go down through Indiana or head down through Illinois. If you take this route, where do you stop. I tried reading the driving thread but it seems most that post there are from the east.

Thanks for your help!

 

[FINFAN]

I would take the IL route 57 way over In route 65. While technically longer in mileage, we have always moved quicker time-wise and stress wise this way. I do have to say...IL is ONE long state! It seems like forever, and then bam! YOu are thru KY and TN in no time! As far as stops go, we leave from just west of Chicago, and stop overnight generally in the Marietta Ga area...sometimes we make it to Valdosta, but not usually. We do basic stops along the way as needed...if daylight when we hit Chattanooga we do like to stop and stretch and take in the sights of the hills. Our kids are older, but we had a portable DVD and game system set up for them last trip, and DD loves to draw so that keeps her busy. DS was 9 1/2 at the time and we did fill a small contailer with legos...he made pretty decent use of those. We have a minivan so also having the kids split into their own row of seats part of the time helped. The trip down was not bad, but we went in December...and coming back home, watching the green and floweres disapear from the south and see the brown and grey of the North...blechhhh, it was so depressing. Luckily you won't have that issue in June. We just came back from the WI Dells and the kids thought it was nothing, about 3 1/2 hours from here. Depending on the ages of your kids there is a variety of things to keep them busy. Cards, sticker books, cling stickers for the car windows, coloring books, "barbie goes to WDW", gameboy, reading, books on tape, once, DD brought fabric pens and decorated a t-shirt along the way....I would ask the kids what things have they been needing a long time frame to do and write down the suggestions, then stock-pile what you will need. The good thing about driving is you have room to pack stuff and it is accessible...the bad thing about driving is you can pack TOO much stuff and are overloaded! I would absolutely have one small suitcase that has all of your overnight stuff in it for when you stop for the night. Not sure if you take all your stuff into the hotel or not, but it is so much easier to have thekids stuff available and they can get ready for bed while you and your DH unload the other stuff or rest! We allwed enough time on the return trip for the kids to swim a bit at the hotel (indoor) it helped to take the sadness out of the return.
Have a great trip, June is just around the corner!


Pam

 

[DisOrBust]

Hello fellow Wisconsinite!!

We have driven twice leaving milwaukee at 6pm "saying" we will stop in Kentucky and end up driving thru. We go thru Chicago and Atlanta using the car pooling lanes and never had problems. Its much easier to do so on the way down then home. HOWEVER, we have a conversion van that the girls can recline the seats and sleep ok.

Have you considered flying out of MKE. Mitchell is about 2 hrs from you and there are some great fares on AirTran and even Midwest has 15% off right now.

Depending how long you are going you could do a one way car rental or even drive down the day ahead of time to pick up a car if cheaper and avoid the parking fee. Parking is (I think) 10$ inside and 6$ long term. You can also use ME at WDW.

All considered with gas prices and wear and tear on you vehicle it may be pretty close in price.

 

[JDietz40]

This tip needed to be shouted. Construction starts on the Dan Ryan experessway in 2 weeks it will be a mess. The advise that is being given to commuters that take this route is to act as if it does not exist for the next 2 years. Depending on where your traveling from 294 (the tri-state tollway may be an option. Be aware that ther is also alot of construction on 80/94 both sides of the Illinois Indiana border. I don't know if it goes al the way to I-65 or not. I am not trying to change your thoughts on driving. We have driven several times from the South suburbs of Chicago. We have taken I-57 south to I-24 East and I-24 East to I-75 in Chattanooga, TN this is a little farther distance wise but seems to be quick traveling with light traffic. If you do travel through the constructions zones in Illinois be aware of your speed. A new policy is being put into effect by our Governor and vans will stationed in various areas with cameras and radar. They will take pictures of the vehical and liscence plates and mail a ticket. Under this policy the firt ticket is I believe $ 350.00 and the 2nd would be something like $ 1500.00 and automatic suspended liscence.

Good luck on your travels.




John

 

[nucpharm29]

John-thanks for the tip about driving through Chicago--won't be driving to Florida-but will be driving to Ohio through Chicago in a few weeks! I didn't know how bad the construction was supposed to be.

SusanSeng--greetings from Wisconsin also--we drove to Hilton Head last summer and I think that's as far as we'll push it right now with the kids--I would 2nd thinking about flying out of Milwaukee--that's what we're planning on doing in September--figure with gas and hotels and meals, it really wouldn't save us any money to drive! Have a great trip!

 

[WOODY13]

Here's a vote for taking the I-65 route. We always take that way and it can be bad around the city but you just need to go through at an off time like any big city. we also always drive something with some size like a minivan, it gives us a little room to spread out. Also we take a small TV/VCR along with to watch movies. Our kids sleep alot while we are driving. As far as where to stop I would try to get through Atlanta the first night then stop. From Milwaukee that is about 900 miles. I like to get the bulk of the driving out of the way the first day. On our way home we usually stop in Chattanooga.

 

[JDietz40]

Also we take a small TV/VCR along with to watch movies. Our kids sleep alot while we are driving. As far as where to stop I would try to get through Atlanta the first night then stop. From Milwaukee that is about 900 miles. I like to get the bulk of the driving out of the way the first day. On our way home we usually stop in Chattanooga.

We have a portable DVD player and when DS was younger we had a small TV/VCR that we traveled with it sure helps with the are we there yet's.
The first time that we got DS to use headphones was on a trip to WDW when he was 3 and we could not take listening to any more Barney. Now that he is a teenager we can't get him to take off the headphones.


John

 

[SusanSeng]

We go to Disney about every 12-18 months and have always flown. We have gone out of Green Bay, Milwaukee and Chicago. We are watching rates and will quickly change our plans if airfare comes within our budget. We went in January 2005 and our whole family flew for $550! This was out of Chicago Midway.

Thanks for the tip on construction through Chicago. I used to live there so know the highways well.

I appreciate all the suggestions. We are so excited. We just planned this trip a few weeks ago. We were watching home videos and came to our Disney tapes. That's all it took! We called my dh's two brothers and parents and invited them. Now we have a group of 18 meeting in WDW!!

I just can't wait!!!

Thanks again for all of your suggestions! Keep them coming!

 

[grob75]

Here's a vote for taking the I-65 route. We always take that way and it can be bad around the city but you just need to go through at an off time like any big city. we also always drive something with some size like a minivan, it gives us a little room to spread out. Also we take a small TV/VCR along with to watch movies. Our kids sleep alot while we are driving. As far as where to stop I would try to get through Atlanta the first night then stop. From Milwaukee that is about 900 miles. I like to get the bulk of the driving out of the way the first day. On our way home we usually stop in Chattanooga.

Can you tell me if you book your chattanooga stay in advance, or do you just go with the flow. Last year we drove entire trip from WI to FL both ways. This year we would like to rest half way on the trip home. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[WOODY13]

grob75, I usually book the room for the trip home sometime during the trip. I always stay at Hampton Inns( I've had very good luck with them, very clean, very consistant and not to expensive. I learned a long time ago that for me it is worth spending a little more on a clean nice room rather than just a flop house. I stayed in to many very cheap priced dirty and sometimes bug infested hotels,just not worth it when you have been driving all day.)The policy with Hampton is if you want to cancel just call by 6pm the day of the stay and they charge you nothing. When we stay in Chattanooga we stay at the Hampton that is just after you get through Chattanooga(just after you get on interstate 24 it's much nicer than in the city) it has Queen beds and you don't have to worry about hitting traffic in Chattanooga the next morning. That said if we do stay at Chattanoogan we don't leave Disney till about 1pm. I don't like to hit Atlanta during the busy times,I always stay on 75 I don't take the bypass. I might suggest that if you leave in the morning you could make it farther than Chattanooga maybe get through Nashville then stop. That will leave a shorter trip for the next day. Franklin Kentucky is about 735 miles from Disney. Just a thought. Any other questions feel free to ask, I will help if I can. One point about making a reservation you can always cancel it. When we drove down during spring break one year I thought I would wait to get a room until I got tired, well I won't do that again we started looking in Adel Ga.(by the way we were going to Boca Raton that trip) and everything was booked till we got to Orlando. I couldn't believe it you should have seen all the cars getting off at every exit and going to the hotels and coming back out with no room. One of the hotel employees told me that everything was booked all the way to Atlanta.