Driving - How far is too far?

[Kae]

Well were are in Northern IN so you have a 3 hour jump on us but when we drive to FL we leave after work/school drive til about midnight. Tipton is a good stopping point. the only time we have ever had trouble finding a hotel was coming home & we wanted to stay in Bowling Green & there was a Vett thing going on.

I don't like doing a straight thru.


Kae

 

[3_disprincesses]

We have driven several times. For us, the best way is to leave late at night, spend most of the trip on the road while the kids sleep...it's 14-15 hours from here. We spend the 1st day just hanging out at the resort, swimming, resting. Then, take 2 days to come home. I prefer to fly...that way we spend 1/2 the day in Magic Kingdom

 

[theduck619]

We live in Indianapolis and have driven twice. While I prefer the quickness of flying, there are some benefits to having a car in Disney.

When we drive to Disney, we split it. Neither my DH and I sleep well in the car, so we don't want to be exhausted the first day.

On the way home we usually drive it without stopping getting home around 1 in the morning. This is how we do our beach trips to North Carolina also.

The last time we drove we left after my oldest two were done with the school day. We didn't want to take them out early because they were already missing the next week! That drive we split it in half.

My favorite way was driving to Tifton, GA. I think it was about four hours the next day which wasn't too bad. I can't remember exactly because that has been awhile.

That's one of the things I am looking for. If I can find a point where I only have 4-5 hours worth of drive the next day then it would suit me just fine. We won't be seeing anything else on the way down. Do you remember where you stayed? BTW we are on the west side of Indy.

 

[MoniqueU]

WE drove one time from CA to La and then a deay trip to MS. I don't know how people do these long car trips year after year? We didn't even have our kids with us, had that happened I would of had to be dropped off at the airport for the way home. I now can't hardly stand a 1 hour car ride thanks to that trip.I liked car trips when I was a kid but I was an oly child so there was no fighting, now I have 3 of my own all older and none of them want to spend much time in a car either. We would never waste time and vacation time to drive to Orlando or similar distances if there are reasonable flights to get there..
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[Jackie-Joe-n-Ashton]

My DW and I have now driven down to WDW twice now, once in '05 and for our Disneymoon in '07. We are west of Philly, and close to I-95. We drove straight through both times and did it in about 17-18 hours. We take a cooler of sammiches and snacks and stop at the State welcome centers on I-95 (they seem to be the cleanest). Fortunately I work swing shifts and can modify my sleep to work the trip. We usually leave about 6pm and arrive around 11-12 the next day. The killer part for me is when you hit the Florida state line, you get excited that you are in Florida , but then it is still about 4 1/2 hours to Disney depending on traffic. I am lucky enought to recover qucikly with a short nap and a shower and we just lounge at the resort to get into the swing of vacation. The drive back we leave about 3pm and usually get home around 8 the next morning. Obivously we don't have to worry about traveling with children yet (except me and I am driving) but this trip we are taking the doggie with us and not sure how well he will handle the long trip.

 

[yakkin' yeti]

We've done the drive twice from southwestern MI. It actually wasn't very stressful, but splitting it into two days was vital for us. (It helps that our son is a really good traveler -- I'd hate to try it with a fussy kid.) We go till about midnight the first day, and then can get to WDW by lunchtime.

 

[PrincessMom4]

We drive from Ontario (Canada-we live right across from Ogdensburg,NY) to Virginia (day 1) and from Virginia to Florida the second day. That way on the 3rd day its only a couple of hours and we are there, we can go to the parks right away. We HAVE to rest, partially because we have 4 kids and one of them is high needs.

 

[Juliet25]

We live in central Indiana and are considering driving to WDW when we go next year. From what I have calculated it will take about 15 hours. Has anyone made this drive on here before? Should we leave in the day and stay somewhere along the way for the night or drive straight through? We have four year old twin girls.

We have a 15 hour drive. We left at around 1 am and drove straight through with our 5 and almost 1 year old. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't too bad. Worth it to 1.) save money and 2.) have our car down there.

Coming back we ran into bad weather and ended up staying in a hotel north of Atlanta.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

That's one of the things I am looking for. If I can find a point where I only have 4-5 hours worth of drive the next day then it would suit me just fine. We won't be seeing anything else on the way down. Do you remember where you stayed? BTW we are on the west side of Indy.

I just asked my DH, and he said it is about 4 hours. We do take the toll road closer to Disney and he drives faster than he should, but I can't imagine it taking more than five.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn. They serve a continental breakfast so we don't have to make a breakfast stop. From what I remember there are quite a few motels at the Tifton exit.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

It very much depends on your family.

We just drove down from Central KY, and it was a pleasant drive, just like all the long ones we've made to Myrtle, Hilton Head, etc. I figure drive time was 12+/- hrs.

We always stop on Fri night, have a little lie-in Sat morning, eat at Waffle House or IHOP and then head out. We normally arrive w/in 1 hr of condo checkin.

We've done it with kids as young as 15 mo, and it was never a problem. When they were little, we pulled out the portable dvd player. Now that they are older, a good (long) book on cd will take care of them with no problem. We (re)listened to 10+ hours of Brendan Fraser reading Dragon Rider and had no issues at all with the boys. We'll do Around the World in 80 days going back (9 hrs of cd).

 

[pixiemagic30]

We always drive to Florida as a family, always have from Ohio which for us, is also a 15 hour drive. We also always drive straight through. We have done this several different ways. When the kids were younger, under 5, we would leave by midnight that way the kids are sleeping for most of the trip. In more recent years, we generally leave by 5am and we are in Orlando around 8pm. We stay off site at a Travelodge for under $50 and then we head to the resort early in the morning to check in and start playing. This way we also can get a good night's sleep before we play.

In the car, the kids watch dvd's, play travel games, sleep, listen to their mp3 players, etc.

ETA: When we stop for fuel, we use those as the potty stops as well. We are able to make some stops close to meal times so that helps to cut down the number of stops as well. When the kids were younger, we really limited their drinks and snacks in the car so that they wouldn't need to stop more often. As they have gotten older, we just make them wait! lol!

 

[goofy5]

It's about a 11-11 1/2 hour trip for us if we drive straight through but we will stop and eat etc. We plan to leave at 7pm and drive thru the night so the kids will sleep

 

[cam1]

NEVER NEVER NEVER

DID I say never! drive to Orlando again. Haha. We did it last year because airfare was so high from Chicago. We are a family of 4. We thought it would be a nice rode trip and save a little cash. So I reserved a full size car for my husband, my DS 11 and my DD 2 and myself. Well funny story when I arrived at the rental car place and told them what I was doing they looked out the window to my car and saw my DD flipping over the seats and upgraded us to a mini van for free. He told me we would need it boy was he right. WEll we left at 11:00 that night while th kids were sleep which was cool arrived in Atlanta around 10-11 a.m. stopped had breakfast. Deceide to stay the night and take in the sights of ATL which were very nice. Next morning got up at 6:00 to finish the drive. ATL was still like 6-7 away from ORlando. It felt like we were driving right back home. It's safe to say that once you hit FLorida you still had a way to go to get to Orlando. Haha. Well after we arrived and rested the day we were all set to hit the parks had a great week but then it was time to head home. WEll that was the hard part because when do you leave Orlando at night when the kids are sleep again sure why not but who wants to get up that early in the morning on your last day but we did and drove all day. I think we stopped at evey rest area on the way home because we were so tried and the next one seemed to be to far away. But we made the drive and guess what Indiana is a HUGH state. I kept saying oh we are in Indiana we will be home in no time I go to Indiana all the time for gas no biggie. I swear it seem like we spent the whole day driving through. The kids actually did really well with the drive we had t'v's books and games for them they didnt even fight over what to watch and the bathroom breaks were not so bad espically with the 2 year just being potty trained. There was the occassional panties on they head from the 2 year but no accidents. I was so thankful for the upgrade. But all in all the trip was fun and we have some memories but I have already booked airline tickets for this summer. I'll leave the driving to someone else

 

[sweetmama]

We live in central Indiana and are considering driving to WDW when we go next year. From what I have calculated it will take about 15 hours. Has anyone made this drive on here before? Should we leave in the day and stay somewhere along the way for the night or drive straight through? We have four year old twin girls.

I feel your pain. We are driving from East Texas to Pensicola, Florida the 1st night (about 10 hours) then on to WDW (about 6 or 7 hours) Also don't forget somewhere between Pensicola and Talahassee, FL it goes to EST.