Driving - I-95 - Question about stops

[kribit]

I live in Florence. THis is the perfect exit to stop and that is why the hotels are located here! We get tons of travelers all year long!

We have 2 new chains right at the highway, Olive Garden and Longhorn.
Be sure to stay at this exit by the mall and not the others. This will feel safest and most convenient.

Let me suggest 2 local GREAT restaurants, especially with kids ( Ihave 3).

IF you stay on 20 and head into town you will come to Florence Mall. There is a local restaurant called Red Bone. Everything there is good, the atmosphere is really quaint, but here is the best part. THey hav alittle play area for the kids and a good humor truck parked inside. After their meal, the kids go into the truck and pick out their ice cream treat.

Across the street is Starfire. It is greek. But generally speaking you can get anything, the menu is HUGE! THe food is good, I would liken the atosphere to TGI Fridays. Ask anyone at the hotel for directions. THey are less than 2 miles form the exit and worth the little extra drive for a change of pace.

DH and I are not into trying off the beaten path places ingeneral. We are choose chains in general. You won't be disappointed!

Do you know if this is the same exit as the new Holiday Inn Express? thanks so much.

 

[Princess Nancy]

YUC YUC YUC! Do not stay at south of the border, stop if you must. Do not eat there either. If your insurance policies are up to date try the coaster!!

Another 30 minutes and you can be in Florence.

Stay on 20 when you exit and literally you will run into the McDonald's Parking lot. There is an outdoor playland for the kids.

 

[MinMouse]

Wow - you all are great - that is a lot of info.
I do not know where is the south of border - I will do a search

Thanks for all the information. I will check the transportation board

Jessy

South of the Border is in SC just south of the SC/NC border. We've never stopped. I guess we never needed a break around this area. We just check it out as we pass on by.

 

[jgeorge15]

So is Dillon South of border?

We like to go as afar as we can go. As you all suggested I will reserve a hotel - eithen in Florence or Santee or both and cancel one

Best western on Santee - do they have free breakfast?

If not is there another hotel that will have free breakfast bar?

Any suggestion for Florence ?

I really appreciate your replies - We were just going to go with out reserving - now I will reserve soon so that we will have something at some place

Jessy

 

[Princess Nancy]

The New Holiday Inn Express is fine. Not the exit I would choose or near any of the restaurants I suggested.

There is a Fatz Cafe, Cracker Barrel, Wendy's there.

My preference would be that you stayed nearer the Mall.

Now, if you don't really see yourself venturing out, that hotel will be fine.

Stick with Florence or Santee.

You don't really want to stay in Dillion either.

Courtyard on Hospitality Blvd.
Hilton Garden Inn on Hospitality
Marriott on Hospitality
Quality Inn and suites on Dunbarton
Springhill Suites on Hospitality (my favorite)


Call and ask if they are at the Magnolia Mall Exit.

Good Luck!

 

[MinMouse]

So is Dillon South of border?

We like to go as afar as we can go. As you all suggested I will reserve a hotel - eithen in Florence or Santee or both and cancel one

Best western on Santee - do they have free breakfast?

If not is there another hotel that will have free breakfast bar?

Any suggestion for Florence ?

I really appreciate your replies - We were just going to go with out reserving - now I will reserve soon so that we will have something at some place

Jessy

OK, had to pull out my trip tik from AAA for this one. Dillon has two exits. Exit 193 is the South of the Border Exit. Exit 190 is also an exit for Dillon but my info shows it only has one gas station, no lodging, no dining. I love to use the triptik and see how far we've gone, how far we've got to go. If you have AAA I would definitely recommend getting a trip tik, tour books for the states you're passing through and state maps. We stayed in a Comfort Inn in Selma (exit 97) which is right near Santee, I believe. It was clean and had a free continental. But there was NOTHING else around. So if you're looking for other things to do I'm not sure this would be the best stop. We've never stopped in Florence.

 

[MinMouse]

I live in Florence. THis is the perfect exit to stop and that is why the hotels are located here! We get tons of travelers all year long!

We have 2 new chains right at the highway, Olive Garden and Longhorn.
Be sure to stay at this exit by the mall and not the others. This will feel safest and most convenient.

Let me suggest 2 local GREAT restaurants, especially with kids ( Ihave 3).

IF you stay on 20 and head into town you will come to Florence Mall. There is a local restaurant called Red Bone. Everything there is good, the atmosphere is really quaint, but here is the best part. THey hav alittle play area for the kids and a good humor truck parked inside. After their meal, the kids go into the truck and pick out their ice cream treat.

Across the street is Starfire. It is greek. But generally speaking you can get anything, the menu is HUGE! THe food is good, I would liken the atosphere to TGI Fridays. Ask anyone at the hotel for directions. THey are less than 2 miles form the exit and worth the little extra drive for a change of pace.

DH and I are not into trying off the beaten path places ingeneral. We are choose chains in general. You won't be disappointed!

Nancy,

We are always hoping to find "local" restaurants to stop at but it seems to be all chains at the I-95 exits. Then when we do find something that's not a national chain we are afraid to eat there Anyway, I want to put your recommended restaurants with my travel stuff. Just to make sure I have this right . . . these would be off of Exit 160A on Route 20 about two miles from the highway and near the mall? Thanks so much. I'd love to try Red Bone!

Thank you,

Mindy

 

[kribit]

Thanks so much PrincessNancy. I switched my reservation to Springhill...it's the same price and we can use our Marriot Rewards.

It was so hard on our drive down last trip because we stayed in Raleigh, NC and we got SO LOST. We were definatley in a place that we shouldn't have been in the middle of the night. I thought we had done all our research but didn't realize Raleigh was so far off 95. It seemed close from our AAA TripTik, then we got lost. I guess it wouldn't have been that far if it wasn't so late, but we were at the tail end of that leg of the trip and we were just so tired.

Anyway, thanks for offering your advice. One of the things I love about these boards. What would I do without them?

 

[jgeorge15]

Sorry to ask more questions

My husbabd now says we should go as far as possible. Since time change happens this weekend we will have an hour more of daylight so may be can make up to sevanah. So what would be the options for Sevanah or a place between Sevanah and Santee?

I looked at bestwestern at santee - looks ok $65 for one night - if this can be cancelled same day before 6 I kight book this and one more either at sevanah or some place before

Would love to hear your suggestions

Princess nancy - are all hotes you listed in santee?

 

[mirthmaiden]

But Pedro loves you . For more info. www.pedroland.com

We live in NC, a few years ago we were driving down to WDW. We pulled into S.O.B, opened the back of the van and said, "Okay kids, grab your suitcase, we're here.". DS was only 6 at the time and he said, "you're kidding, right?" It is the cheesiest dump.

I always get a good laugh out of those billboards. Never have stopped there but I might one of these times just to check it out. The way they go on about the "private parking" and such, I always figured it was one of those places where you check in and out in an hour

 

[owensamo]

I don't know about where to stop - we're driving down from Raleigh/Durham in April, but intend to get to Walterboro or between there and Savannah on our first day (we're leaving after work on a Friday), and then we'll drive down to Port Canaveral and check into a Hampton Inn there for the night before our cruise.

Typically we leave at 3-4 in the morning, and drive as far as we can. The last 2 trips we had reservations just outside of Orlando, but ended up calling and adding a night to our WDW reservations because we didn't see the sense in getting *almost* there, but not quite!

As for places to stop, we're lucky in that we can schedule a Wal*Mart, Super Target or Mall about every 2 hours from where we start. I went to http://www.usastar.com/i95/homepage.htm and printed off the exit guides, and then used things like Google/Yahoo! maps and Microsoft Streets and Trips to figure out where all the malls were. Finally, McDonalds.com has listings of all of the McDonalds on I95, and which ones have playlands - I added that info to the list as well. We've used the list a couple of times, and added/deleted things as needed (stuff not on the website, or places we don't really care about). Unfortunately, I recently lost my hard drive, so I'm going to be spending a day in the near future recreating my guide again!

A couple of places we like to stop - Magnolia Mall in Florence, SC, Prime Outlets in St. Augustine, FL (it has a Disney outlet!), and we usually go 295 around Jacksonville and stop at Orange Park Mall in Orange Park, FL (it has a carousel in the food court, and a playground). Other times we've stopped at the Santee outlets (I don't recommend them - they're mostly empty) and there's another outlet mall we usually stop at as well, but I can't remember where it is. For the other stops, we usually hit a Target or a Wal*Mart - we can not only get some exercise this way, but also can pick up anything we might have realized we've forgotten.

Mur!

 

[Princess Nancy]

Thanks so much PrincessNancy. I switched my reservation to Springhill...it's the same price and we can use our Marriot Rewards.

It was so hard on our drive down last trip because we stayed in Raleigh, NC and we got SO LOST. We were definatley in a place that we shouldn't have been in the middle of the night. I thought we had done all our research but didn't realize Raleigh was so far off 95. It seemed close from our AAA TripTik, then we got lost. I guess it wouldn't have been that far if it wasn't so late, but we were at the tail end of that leg of the trip and we were just so tired.

Anyway, thanks for offering your advice. One of the things I love about these boards. What would I do without them?

Yess, get off the highway at exit 160, it will go past Target on the left then Magnolia Mall. THis road is called David Mcleod Blvd. At the light at the corner of 2nd loop road, you will see Atlanta bread on the corner, behind it is FLorence Mall (all stores face out!) AS you look at Piggly Wiggly, Redbone is to the right, just around the corner. They have a huge sign on the corner. Ask anyone, they can tell you exactly where Redbone is located, if you get lost. It is a completely safe area. I would head there anytime Day or night.
Have Fun!
Glad to help!

 

[Princess Nancy]

Sorry to ask more questions

My husbabd now says we should go as far as possible. Since time change happens this weekend we will have an hour more of daylight so may be can make up to sevanah. So what would be the options for Sevanah or a place between Sevanah and Santee?

I looked at bestwestern at santee - looks ok $65 for one night - if this can be cancelled same day before 6 I kight book this and one more either at sevanah or some place before

Would love to hear your suggestions

Princess nancy - are all hotes you listed in santee?

Nope, sorry, the hotels I mentioned are all in Florence, SC.
I don't know what hotels are in Santee. I have only ever stopped there to go to the McDonald's!!

 

[pbharris4]

Not sure where in Central VA you live, but I live 50 miles North of Richmond and 50 miles south of D.C. right off I-95. We drive most of the time. We go from here to Savannah, GA and if we push it just a little..Brunswick, GA which is about 60 miles south of Savannah. Both are nice places to stay. In Savannah..the Wingate Inn is nice and Holiday Inn Express..I am sure there's a few more. In Brunswick,,we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which was really nice, but no free breakfast. This year we'll stay at Country Inn and Suites (free breakfast).

Florence, SC is about halfway between here and Orlando. Personally, we like to go to as far as we can the first day and then the drive isn't bad the second day. We stayed at a Wingate Inn in FLorence once. It was awful! We heard the train really early in the a.m., they had no crib or pack & play or anything for my DD or it was broken. If I stay anywhere in SC again it'll be the Hilton Garden Inn or something like that. I am really, REALLY picky about hotels along I-95. I-95 is heavily traveled all year long. I try to stick to the newer hotels.

 

[KristiKelly]

I always get a good laugh out of those billboards. Never have stopped there but I might one of these times just to check it out. The way they go on about the "private parking" and such, I always figured it was one of those places where you check in and out in an hour

You've gotta stop just once, and only once just to say that you have. We've never eaten there or bought anything, only used the bathroom WITH TONS OF TOILET PAPER LINING THE SEAT!!! I live in NC, thank God it's in SC and we don't have to claim it.

 

[LglBlonde]

The ONE time we drove to FL = we stopped in Jekyll Island, and it's very nice. We got a good deal on a room on entertainment card discount. you could probably do well on Priceline too.

Don't stop in Lumberton for sure! My DH is from there!

I also swear by tripadvisor.com!