Driving from Philly

[jel0511]

Hi -

We are thinking of driving down next year, but I have a few questions. How long does it take to get to Florence, SC from Philly? Also, how long from Florence to WDW? Trying to decide if we can do it in two days, or make it three. We'll be traveling with small children (4,1) so want to do what's best for them. WE have always flown down before, but thought it would be fun to try the drive. What are your thoughts??

 

[LtlTee]

Well, actually we drive from South Jersey - in fact, we will be leaving in ten days! We have 3 kids - a 10 year old, almost 5 yo, and 1 yo. We leave at 3:30 AM (this puts us past D.C. and the Beltway so we miss the AM rush hour). We drive all day (with some stops, of course!) and stop overnight at Brunswick, GA. We usually get there by 4:00 PM. We unwind a bit, eat dinner, maybe swim at the hotel pool, and try to get to bed early. We are on the road the next day by 8:00, and arrive at DW by 1:00 at the latest.
I am not sure where Florence, SC is - we prefer to drive more the first day so the second leg is not too long. We find it very easy to do in two days- we just make sure to take lots for the kids to do in the car - CD, Game Boys, small toys, coloring stuff, etc. Some think I am crazy, but I actually enjoy the drive. Besides, it's much cheaper for us to drive than to fly!
Hope this helps!

 

[OKW91]

Hi we drive every year from Marlton NJ to Tampa, we usually leave about 5 AM and drive to St Marys GA, this is 2 miles from the Florida border. This is about a 13 to 14 hour drive, I would estimate Florence to be about 10 to 11 hours from Philly, depending on how fast you drive!I am sure that this is enough time in a car for the kids!!! It is a good 4 to 5 hours from St Mary's GA to WDW, depending on the traffic in Jacksonville and Orlando, I hope this gives you some idea of the time you will need. Have a good trip, bring lots of toys to entertain the kids!!!!

 

[ducklite]

A lot depends on your kids. IF they normally are really good in the car, and at entertaining themselves, then maybe. If they normally can barely tolerate being cooped up long enough to get to the grocery store, then not a good way to start your vacation.

Personally, I'd choose flying. But that's me, and I hate to drive. If you do choose to fly, Delta has some pretty good airfares right now, and will give you a half price seat for the kids. Not sure any other carriers offer the half price kids seats.

Anne

 

[frost5000]

I live outside of Philly, and have relatives in Ala. so we make long car trips often. My children are older now (9&11) but we learned a lot from traveling with them when they were young. Here are my suggestions
1. Drive the longest leg on the first day. Everyone will be sick of the car by the second day, and the younger children won't have a concept of "only 8 more hours".
2. Leave during sleeping hours (3:30 am like in the above post is great), not only do you miss a lot of rush hour traffic, but you get extra driving time while the kids sleep.
3. Stop for 5 min. every 1-2 hours (unless the kids are sleeping). We always have a snack (fruit or animal crackers - nothing that will get the kids too jumpy), rest stop, and I make the kids run around the rest stop or have a mini relay race. My husband used to resist this until I forced the issue one trip - he now insists on stopping.
4. Keep the toys in a bag in the front seat. When a child is done with one toy, have them pass it back up, and they get a new toy. This keeps the backseat clean, keeps the toys from being lost (and keeps them from falling out at the rest stops), and helps the children from getting bored from all of the toys at once. When we drove 18 hours in April, we didn't do this because my kids thought they were old enough to control their own toys - WRONG. We had a messy car and bored, fussy kids in less than 2 hours on the road!

 

[Chuck-PA]

We drove last year in August. We left a 7 am on a Friday morning. We got
passed through Washington DC after the rush hours approx 10am.
We drove 8 hrs to Fayetteville NC and then 8 hrs to Disney the next day.
I don't think you really need to stretch it to 3 days, 2 days is a sufficient
drive. We do the two 8 hrs because our son has to do medical treatments twice
a day via a nebulizer at certain times of the day and it gave us a chance to do a bit of
looking around in the town we stopped at too.
We agree about stopping often. We usually got our gas when we were at 1/2 tanks
and we took our time at each stop. We did stretches (due to back troubles) so if you see
two grown ups at a gas pump doing exercises with an embarrased teenage son
nearby that's us. LOL!!
Also, our son would take long naps in the car when he was younger and still to this day.

 

[padisney]

Hi All,

We have been driving from the Allentown area with 3 kids
for many years. We have found leaving around 3 pm.
If you have two drivers who can split it up this is great.
The kids will sleep through the night and it is not so
hot. We would normally hit Disney around noonish.
Good luck,
Happycamperinpa

 

[lifer]

have you ever flown out of atlantic city via spirit air? they also fly out of newark; the tix are non-refundable, but the convenience from this tiny easy airport can't be beat; and parking is free at a.c int'l until they finish the paved lots and garage; check out spiritair.com

 

[Cindy B]

We drive from the Exit 5 off the Blue Route area... we leave at 430 pm and drive straight through.

We drive to Richmond get there around 9ish, stop continue on, go to about 1 am to South of Border. Get to the State line of Florida about 6 am. It takes about 2 hours from there.

We have two kids, 4 and 7. They do fine in the car.