driving from pittsburgh,pa to orlando,florida

[dreampitts]

ok, i am hoping theres somebody here that can help, i am planning on driving from pittsburgh,pa to orlando,florida. is there somebody here that can offer tips and just for the record, its just me,no body else.planning on coming down may of 2013,and i really could use the advice and help, it will be the longest drive i have ever taken.

 

[Daddee]

best I can offer is to take breaks and dont attempt to do it in 1 day.
also have really good roadside assistance. (AAAplus) and a backup plan if you should have a problem.
With out knowing more about you thats all I got.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Moving to our Transportation board.

 

[vicki_c]

I drove alone from Buffalo to central Florida and stopped for 2 nights, which was really unnecessary for me - 1 night would have been good enough. But if you're not a road warrior type driver (I had no problem driving 10 hours/day and could have done more), you may want to plan 2 overnights (although Pgh is 4 hours less than coming from Buffalo - should be 16-18 hours I would guess).

Stop often for breaks, have some good music or audiobooks to pass the time.

 

[chartle]

Last trip we left the Burgh around 5:30- 6 oclock on friday. Its over 5 hours to get through WV and we stayed just over the boarder in VA. (nothing against WV even though my sons go to Pitt, just where the hotels were)

The next day we left way too late and got into the area at around 10 PM.

Not much else to say the drive though WV is long and I never realized its almost a third of the 17 hour trip.

One other idea if you have the money is drive to Lorton, VA and take the Autotrain. Its like 5 hours and then you sleep on the train overnight.

 

[cindydare]

We live in WV, just west of Pittsburgh Int. Airport and have driven to Orlando the past two years. My mom lives in NC, so we've always stopped there to spend the night and pick her up (this year she's not going, so we're flying!).
(she lives ~ 30 minutes West of I-77 exit 73, and it usually takes us about 9-10 hours from her house to get to Orlando)

In VA, the Wytheville, VA area has the most hotels....it's roughly 5 to 6 hours from the Pittsburgh area. If you continue on into NC, Mt. Airy, Elkin, and Statesville will be in the 6-7.5 hour window, and are IMHO better places to stop before you get into Charlotte.

If you want to continue on into SC, the Rock Hill area is just south of Charlotte, and is roughly half way between Pittsburgh and Orlando. (somewhere between Rock Hill and Columbia is probably closer to halfway, but there's not a lot there).

Our preferred route is Highway 22 from WV to Highway 18 to Washington, PA; short jaunt on I-70 East to I-79 South; I-79 South to US Highway 19 near Sutton, WV; Highway 19 to I-77 South at Beckley, WV (follow the speed limit on Highway 19....several small towns in WV are notorious speed traps, especially Summersville (but it's a great place to stop for gas and grab a bite to eat)); I-77 South into VA (Wytheville area has cheapest gas usually) then into NC then into SC to I-26 East at Columbia (we usually stop for gas at Blythewood Rd, just before you get to Columbia); I-26 East to I-95 South into GA then into FL; then I-4 to Orlando!

AAA is a great idea.....get one of their TripTiks....they can also help with hotels.

I would also recommend checking out gasbuddy.com and getting their app if you have a smart phone.....we used it to check gas prices along the way.

Hope you have a great trip and have fun planning!

 

[chartle]

In VA, the Wytheville, VA area has the most hotels....it's roughly 5 to 6 hours from the Pittsburgh area. If you continue on into NC, Mt. Airy, Elkin, and Statesville will be in the 6-7.5 hour window, and are IMHO better places to stop before you get into Charlotte.

Now that you post this I remember we stopped at Wytheville, VA down and Statesville on the way back.

The way I figure it out is I create the route in Google Maps and add a stop that is how far I want to drive in hours away. I then search for hotels and look for groups of them near the highway. If you look for groups there is more competition so cheaper and there are usually places to eat (almost always a Cracker Barrel) the next morning.

I would have liked to stop earlier but there is just nothing in WV near the border. I would have to look at a map but I'm assuming that's were the mountains stop so there are more people aka more businesses.

 

[cindydare]

Now that you post this I remember we stopped at Wytheville, VA down and Statesville on the way back.

The way I figure it out is I create the route in Google Maps and add a stop that is how far I want to drive in hours away. I then search for hotels and look for groups of them near the highway. If you look for groups there is more competition so cheaper and there are usually places to eat (almost always a Cracker Barrel) the next morning.

I would have liked to stop earlier but there is just nothing in WV near the border. I would have to look at a map but I'm assuming that's were the mountains stop so there are more people aka more businesses.

Princeton, WV (exit 9 on I-77) has quite a few hotels and businesses, but it's really easy to miss at night, because you can't see everything until you're past the exit. I think of it as the last bathroom stop in WV.....the next one is not until you get to the first rest area in VA (a good 15 - 20 minutes or so....what feels like forever with a 4 year old!) We've been traveling back and forth between Pittsburgh and NC for the past 15 years, so I know where all the good stops are, especially since I do it by myself with DD8 and DS4 part of the time! If DH is with me, we usually leave at night so the kids sleep and stops aren't as much of an issue for us.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Wouldn't it be cheaper for a one person to fly?

 

[1Grumpy9]

Wouldn't it be cheaper for a one person to fly?

Not necessarily...It depends on when OP is looking to travel. Normally, I would fly to WDW, but in December when I am looking to go, flights are more than driving round trip. I could drive it for $250 (that is an over estimate right now with gas prices), but flights would be over $350.

 

[keishashadow]

Wouldn't it be cheaper for a one person to fly?

agree, May fights typically cheap and ME can offset need for rental car.

OP that said, beware the speed traps in beckley, wv. we've driven down I-95 too via turnpike to Breezewood but much prefer the I-77 route

 

[andrews_dad]

One of our first trips was leaving directly from my girlfriend's final in grad school (now my wife) from Pitt campus. She and I took turns driving down. Arrived to our place in Orlando about 5 AM or so after driving straight through. 22 years old so we had the energy! Stayed up and ate breakfast and was at MK for rope drop, stayed until they closed. Now I nap every day with the kids at Dis World and we leave the parks by 7:45 for bed time for the baby! LOL.

 

[Starshine]

Just to give an idea on the flying prices, we've been flying out of Pittsburgh the second week in May for 7 or 8 years now, and the most I've ever paid on Southwest is $210 round trip. Unless you are afraid of flying or have other reasons for needing to drive, it would definitely be cheaper to fly!