driving from Ontario: help!

[cbrett]

We will be driving from southern Ontario (about an hr from the Buffalo boarder) to Orlando. We are leaving around the after school time frame on a Thursday, and would like to get to Florida by Friday night or by Saturday. We drive to PEI every year so the kids are pretty good in the car, and we have dvds, DS's, family car games etc. But I am really not sure where we should stop for the night(s) en route.

 

[RCMommy]

We will be driving from southern Ontario (about an hr from the Buffalo boarder) to Orlando. We are leaving around the after school time frame on a Thursday, and would like to get to Florida by Friday night or by Saturday. We drive to PEI every year so the kids are pretty good in the car, and we have dvds, DS's, family car games etc. But I am really not sure where we should stop for the night(s) en route.

We drove from SW Omtario years ago when our kids were almost two. We didn't book any hotels before because we planned on driving for as long as we could. We figured if everyone got cranky we would just hit the exit. We ended up staying in Kentucky on the way down. Chapters has a great book called something along the lines of Route 1-75 and it lists hotels, restaraunts, gas stations all along your route. I started to look possible place up when I knew we would be pulling off soon.

 

[MESMommy83]

We will be driving from southern Ontario (about an hr from the Buffalo boarder) to Orlando. We are leaving around the after school time frame on a Thursday, and would like to get to Florida by Friday night or by Saturday. We drive to PEI every year so the kids are pretty good in the car, and we have dvds, DS's, family car games etc. But I am really not sure where we should stop for the night(s) en route.

I live in the LExington, KY area ...which I-75 runs RIGHT thru..its still about another 12 hours to Orlando though from here .... but its a GREAT area to stay.. There's Man 'o war Blvd which has a few hotels and MANY places to chose from to eat, including a Wal-MArt and Target if you need to pick up an item or 2 ...also Winchester Rd, which connects to and parallels the Man'o war exit ..so many places to stay... something a little more remot and quieter would be the Athens/Boonesboro exit ..which, I think is exit 104 ??? I cant quite remember..there's like 4 hotels to chose from there, too..and just a couple miles past (South) of the Man'O War Blvd exit. Hope this helps!!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

We drive down every August down I-75 and for the 1st time this December we are driving down instead of flying during that month, however no matter what we always make our hotel reservations in advance so we can stay somewhere nice for that evening. On our 1st day we are staying in a Courtyard Marriott in Lexington, Kentucky on Man 'o war Blvd which happens to be exit 108 off I-75. The next day we are staying at a Hampton Inn located in Cleveland, Tennessee and then we are staying at antoher Hampton Inn located in Valdosta, Georgia. Driving home we are staying at Hampton Inn's located in Dalton, Georgia and Lima, Ohio. Finally we also purchase the Along Interstate 75 book and it's great having it so we know exactly what exits to get off when we want to eat or stop somewhere for gas.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

It might be in your best interest to book a hotel. What happens if you decide you want to find a hotel only to find that there are no hotel rooms available do to a convention or event in that particular city.
THis happened to us when we flew home from Orlando and however the ticket prices where much cheaper if we flew out of Columbus Ohio which is 2 hours from our house. When we landed there was an ice storm which closed the highways. We had a tough time finding a hotel due to a motorcycle convention in town.
Not to mention you can get a better hotel rate by booking in advance rather than a walk up rate.

 

[OntFamily]

I have driven many times, and I believe the best route is the fastest. Now, dependent on where you live, the fastest route may differ.


If you live in the GTA, the fastest route is cross @ Buffalo, and drive I-90 to Pennsylvania. Then south on I-79, and 77. East on I-26, South on I-95, and West on I-4.

Go to http://maps.google.ca, to plot the fastest route. From the GTA, this route is 21.5 hours of driving. Alternatively, you could cross @ Detroit at take I-75 South (taking 23.5 driving hours, two hours longer).

Once you decide upon the route, lots of people can give you god advice on hotels, stops, etc.

 

[vicki_c]

I have driven many times, and I believe the best route is the fastest. Now, dependent on where you live, the fastest route may differ.


If you live in the GTA, the fastest route is cross @ Buffalo, and drive I-90 to Pennsylvania. Then south on I-79, and 77. East on I-26, South on I-95, and West on I-4.

Go to http://maps.google.ca, to plot the fastest route. From the GTA, this route is 21.5 hours of driving. Alternatively, you could cross @ Detroit at take I-75 South (taking 23.5 driving hours, two hours longer).

Once you decide upon the route, lots of people can give you god advice on hotels, stops, etc.

That is the route we always took from Buffalo to Florida. I've never taken 75. Also take the bypass road around Beckley WV (sorry I'm too lazy to look up the road # right now).

I agree that it might be a good idea to just decide in advance on your stopping place and book something. Once we were "winging it" from FL to MD and stopped somewhere and there were no rooms available anywhere - there was some kind of a convention or sporting event. We ended up sleeping our family of 4 in a king bed room that we found at midnight.

 

[MESMommy83]

We drive down every August down I-75 and for the 1st time this December we are driving down instead of flying during that month, however no matter what we always make our hotel reservations in advance so we can stay somewhere nice for that evening. On our 1st day we are staying in a Courtyard Marriott in Lexington, Kentucky on Man 'o war Blvd which happens to be exit 108 off I-75. The next day we are staying at a Hampton Inn located in Cleveland, Tennessee and then we are staying at antoher Hampton Inn located in Valdosta, Georgia. Driving home we are staying at Hampton Inn's located in Dalton, Georgia and Lima, Ohio. Finally we also purchase the Along Interstate 75 book and it's great having it so we know exactly what exits to get off when we want to eat or stop somewhere for gas.

Sorry... Im just being nosey... haha.. but when you leave Lexington.. you are only driving to Tennessee and then stopping again??? Why wouldnt you drive straight on through to the Georgia stop? Im just curious... I drive I-75 quite a bit ( I live in Lexington) ... and the drive to/through Tennessee isnt a bad or long drive. .. but I can understand with it being your first time.. I was just curious...haha

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Sorry... Im just being nosey... haha.. but when you leave Lexington.. you are only driving to Tennessee and then stopping again??? Why wouldnt you drive straight on through to the Georgia stop? Im just curious... I drive I-75 quite a bit ( I live in Lexington) ... and the drive to/through Tennessee isnt a bad or long drive. .. but I can understand with it being your first time.. I was just curious...haha

The past few years we have driven from Toronto to Clevlenad, Tennessee in one day and it was almost a 14 - 15 hour drive. However this past summer we decided to leave one day earlier and my Dad had enough Hilton Honors points, so we decided to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn located in Lexington, Kentucky because the room was free and it meant stopping a lot earlier. We decided to keep our Hampton Inn reservation in Cleveland, Tennesse because we didn't want to drive from Lexington to Valdosta in one day. So that's why we are planning to do that same route again for this December. The only difference is we had enough points at the Courtyard Marriott in Lexington, so we will be getting a free night over there.

 

[MESMommy83]

The past few years we have driven from Toronto to Clevlenad, Tennessee in one day and it was almost a 14 - 15 hour drive. However this past summer we decided to leave one day earlier and my Dad had enough Hilton Honors points, so we decided to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn located in Lexington, Kentucky because the room was free and it meant stopping a lot earlier. We decided to keep our Hampton Inn reservation in Cleveland, Tennesse because we didn't want to drive from Lexington to Valdosta in one day. So that's why we are planning to do that same route again for this December. The only difference is we had enough points at the Courtyard Marriott in Lexington, so we will be getting a free night over there.

ohh ok..haha I wasnt trying to be nosey.. just didnt get it... the drive to Georgia isnt the bad from Lexington.. but then again, my trips START from lexington..haha.. you already have a hike behind ya and ahead of ya at that point..lol ENJOY YOUR TRIP

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

ohh ok..haha I wasnt trying to be nosey.. just didnt get it... the drive to Georgia isnt the bad from Lexington.. but then again, my trips START from lexington..haha.. you already have a hike behind ya and ahead of ya at that point..lol ENJOY YOUR TRIP

Thank you and we are looking forward to it.

 

[canadiankim]

We drove down from the GTA to Orlando and didn't book a hotel for the night. We drove all day and then when we stopped for dinner we picked up a travellers book at the local restaurant which covered the next couple of hundred miles and when the kids got too tired to keep going, we picked the nearest place and checked out availability and best offers. This way there were lots of hotels to choose from and lots of other services around such as breakfast, gas etc. I agree that this can be a bit tricky, just depends on the time of year you are travelling, how many of you there are, and of course, how fussy you are about hotel rooms!

Whichever way you choose, have fun!

2 weeks today and we arrive for our US/IOA and WDW holiday

DH, Me, DS(10), DD(8)

 

[LdnCpl]

The I75 book by Dave hunter is an excellent source of info. I second that suggestion to get it. We never book hotels ahead of time. When we know what state we'll be staying in ( usually 1st night Ky, 2nd night Ga) we stop at the first rest stop in that state and pick up the hotel discount book. then we decide where to stay. There are three times as many hotels on the I75 as there are Tim Hortons in your city so unless all of Canada decides to head to WDW at the same time, you will get a room no problem. Once you get out of Ohio it is actually a scenic drive. Doesn't hurt that the temp display on your car goes up as you head south. Drive as far as you can safely then rest. Don't stress about having to be here or there at such and such a time. WDW will still be there when you arrive. Have a good drive and a good time

 

[vicki_c]

Doesn't hurt that the temp display on your car goes up as you head south.

When we used to live in Buffalo, this was one of our favorite things about driving to Disney in the winter!