Driving from NY to WDW starting on Black Friday- advice please :)

[Alexis772]

My MIL and I are planning on taking dd9 and twin ds5 and are planning on driving. We are still working out times, but I'm thinking of leaving between 5 & 6am and trying to get to mid-SC, if not Savannah on Black Friday and then finishing up the drive on Sunday. MIL hates windy roads and insists on doing most of the driving (if not all), so we are planning on taking I95 down. We are leaving from the Albany area. I haven't been in a car to Florida since I was in 4th grade, and it has probably been 20 years since my MIL has done this drive. Which cities should we take a different highway around? Any advice for traffic on Black Friday? I'm hoping to be in a hotel for the night by 8 or 9 pm (we will eat mostly on the go). Any general suggestions for the trip down are welcome too. Thank you!
(PS- I've priced air fare and it will save us a lot to drive, plus MIL doesn't like to fly)

 

[monorailsilver]

We drove last April and did the auto train this April (just came back Monday). We live in CT so about the same distance as you.

We left at 6, left from my moms which is 30 min from the NY/westchester border and hit no traffic over into NJ. I don't think you will have a problem either.

We just do 95 as it takes less time. Be prepared for trees and more trees once you get south of Richmond.

Last year we relied on the google maps to show traffic and iexit app to show us what was off each exit, gas/food/lodging. We did make it to santee, SC but it was a long day! I want to say it is about 6 hrs from there to Disney but we went a bit farther south,

This year, we also used the google map but my dh drove with the waze app open. It detours you different ways when there is traffic. I would be looking at my phone on google and then the waze app would switch the route automatically to the best way. Bonus, is that people will chime in when they spot a cop.

We did take the NJT to the del mem bridge and a tunnel thru/under Baltimore. Normally we take the east loop around DC but we pretty much went straight thru on the east side taking 295??? Which ever route leads into/from the Balt/DC parkway.

Richmond and Jacksonville we went either around or thru depending on traffic.

Good luck!

Oh and make sure you have an ezpass. Makes life so much easier.

 

[cheap traveler]

You are leaving from a little farther north than me (I'm about 45 min south of Albany).

Once you get on I95 (87-287-95 in Jersey), you really won't need to get off very often at all. I always stick to the beltways when they are available (I695 around DC, Might be I395? around Baltimore). Going through those cities is a nightmare and a half, maybe a little less since it's almost a holiday. There will still be traffic, it's the middle of a work day.

Jacksonville is another one to go around (enjoy the bridge - its tall enough in the middle for cruise ships - my kids loved it).

I don't know of any areas that you should avoid specifically because it's Black Friday, you will be pretty far from the traffic snarls in upstate NY, and those dissipate by noon usually.

I agree with the PP, make sure you have EZpass.

If it wasn't black friday, I would recommend you start your drive earlier (I aim for 3am). Those 3 dark hours in the morning are easy - by the time you start to feel a little tired, the sun comes up and all is well.

Safe trip!!

 

[double r]

If you use a beltway around major cities remember if the route number starts with a odd number it will NOT return to the main interstate only even numbers will. So say near DC 395 will dump you in the city not return to 95, use 295 or 495.

 

[BigTigger]

You should be OK on Black Friday as at least half the work force will be off for the holiday weekend. Your just over 1300 mile trip should be OK for road construction as only the NJTP widening from where the car only lanes end near exit 8 down to exit 4 seems to mess up the travel 365 days a year. Jump over to I-295 at exit 7 if the traffic is really bad. The suggestions above to use Waze and Google traffic will certainly help re-route you if the typical semi crashes snarl traffic. The eastern route around DC (stay left at the beltway on 95/295) has been pretty good the last few trips. Quantico seems to be the new slow point on I-95 with all of the government installations there now. Take I-295 around Richmond to avoid the city merges of I-64 with I-95. It takes about 3 hours of driving to cross each of NC and SC. You will hit the halfway point in miles (but not time as the northern half is slower to drive through thanks to lower speed limits, tolls, and traffic) near Fayetteville, NC. I usually like to go longer on day one, but if you want to stop halfway, this is a good place to look for lodging. If you can make it to the SC/GA border as someone noted above, you'll have a real short day two as it's about six hours to Disney from there. Lots of hotels in that stretch too. On your second day, I'd also give you the same advice to take I-295 around Jacksonville and avoid the I-10/I-95 crossing in downtown Jacksonville. The only other bottleneck is I-4 through Orlando at rush hour. You can check local traffic reports and take the 417 toll road around from Sanford to Disney if its really bad. Have a great trip!!

 

[disneymom06]

Do you remember how much the toll road is from Sanford to Disney? We are taking the auto train and I think that we will avoid I4 and take the toll road. I don't know if all of the toll booths are manned so I want to make sure that we have enought quarters. Thanks

 

[monorailsilver]

We took I-4 from the auto train so I can't help you with tolls. We also didn't stop in Disney and went to Ft. Myers...ok we did stop for lunch but didn't pay a toll.