Driving from Philly

nutsforgolf

Nuts for Disney
Joined
May 28, 2003
Messages
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Where have most of you stayed while driving down from the Philadelphia area. I was planning on leaving at about 6am and wanted to stop around 8-9pm. We have two kids (6 and 3) so we will be making short stops every 2-3 hours plus lunch and dinner stops. I was think I could make it to around Savannah? Looking for a clean hotel to stay at. (Fairfield, courtyard, etc)
 
If you are going on a weekday, you need to leave Philly earlier than 6 am. It will take you 2-3 hours to be clear of DC. You need to be south of DC by 7 am to avoid a traffic nightmare. If it was me I would leave by 4 am.
 
We drive from Delaware when we drive. We stop in Savannah for the night. I forget the exit number but there are about 10 hotels/motels to pick from. Just stay away from the Econo Lodge, trust me. There are a couple of gas stations, a Cracker Barrel, McDonalds and a few other places.
Then when you get up in the morning you're only about 5 hours from WDW.
 
Savannah is a really nice town. We stayed at the Hilton DeSoto, but I can't really recommend it, although the price was not too bad. The problem was service. :rolleyes: However, Savannah is a great place to explore on foot and we really enjoyed our short stay there. There are a number of Fairfield Inns, a few Courtyards, a LaQuinta and at least one Howard Johnson along with a Weston and a Hyatt (both pretty pricey and both on the Savannah River, I think). Check out this website for some ideas and some opinions.......

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g60814-Savannah_Georgia-Hotels.html
 

We are planning on leaving on a Saturday with the goal of arriving in Orlando by lunch on Sunday.
 
Saturday will be a bit better in getting around DC( and Baltimore, which is no picnic either)--but just be aware there will be a ton of traffic, especially if you leave Philly at 6:00.
Just as an example, we leave good old Glen Rock (on Friday) at 3:30 AM--just to be well through DC BY 6:00!!
Anyway--we always stop in Brunswick Ga. on the way down--staying at the Hampton Inn. That leaves just under 4 hours to WDW next day.
Savannah is also a good place to stop..
 
mickeyfan2 said:
If you are going on a weekday, you need to leave Philly earlier than 6 am. It will take you 2-3 hours to be clear of DC. You need to be south of DC by 7 am to avoid a traffic nightmare. If it was me I would leave by 4 am.

Sage advice!

Anne
 
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nutsforgolf said:
We are planning on leaving on a Saturday with the goal of arriving in Orlando by lunch on Sunday.

My husband drives monthly from the Orlando area to Somerset County, NJ. He's made it straight in around 16 hours. He usually leaves around 4:00am, and tries to drive on Saturdays. On Saturday at 7:00am there is no traffic in Baltimore and DC, unless there is a special event. He avoids the mixing bowl, choosing to take 495 west around DC--he's found it saves him betwee 20 and 70 minutes.

He drives straight through, but if you want to stop, there's a decent Hampton Inn in Richmond Hill, just south of Savanah and about 6 hours from WDW.

Anne
 
We're in Savannah right now. Driving to disney from NJ we stopped at the Savannah Gateway, exit 94. There's many hotels in the area. All are very nice and clean and safe. There's Fairfield Inn, Comfort Inn, Wingate Inn, Howard Johnsons, Best Western and some more. There all right next door to each other and prices start at 40.00 per night for all the hotels. We've stayed here several times before driving down and are pleased with the place. There's lots of places to eat around here as well.
 














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