Driving: Leave Early or Leave Late?

[onajourney]

Glad to see this thread. We have a 21 hour drive, so we have to break it up into 2 days. We are currently planning on leaving at 3am and driving to Nashville by 5pm with breaks, eating, etc. We are hoping the kids (11, 9 and 5) will go back to sleep once in the van. We will then spend the night in Nashville. Then I think it is 10 hours from there, so we will probably sleep well and get a full night's sleep in, leave around 7am to make it to Orlando by 7pm ish and then just swim/relax.

 

[CANDICE]

We are planning a trip for December 2010 and I would LOVE to drive instead of fly! But DH will not hear of it! Can anyone give me some tips on talking him into driving. I think it makes for good family time and it reminds me of all of my childhood road trips across the country. We live in coastal NC, so it is about 10-12 hours for us to drive to WDW but only a 1 1/2 hour flight from Raleigh. I think my boys, DS10 and DS4 would love the drive. Help me convince DH to drive so we can save that airfare!

 

[Belle & Ariel]

We leave midafternoon and get to the world about midnight. We like driving at night with less traffic. The downside is if you go in the winter it gets dark at about 5 and by 9 you feel like you have been driving in the dark forever.
We used to live in St. Louis--1000 miles away. We always left mid-afternoon and drove till 1 or 2 am. Our 3 kids fell asleep and we had several quiet hours to enjoy each other's company as the miles flew by.
When we have to get up early to fly to cruises, we start our vacation so tired and it just doesn't work for us.

 

[crysplefty]

We have done both and prefer to leave in the early am around 2am. Last year our kids were 3 and 11 months and we left in the evening. We didn't get very far because our kids started fussing around 10 pm because they could no longer sleep comfortably in their car seats. This year we left at 2am and they did fine. We went the same time this year as last so for this trip they were 4 and 23 months. But every kid is different, so your kids may be fine with traveling over night.

 

[DaisiLou]

We are planning a trip for December 2010 and I would LOVE to drive instead of fly! But DH will not hear of it! Can anyone give me some tips on talking him into driving. I think it makes for good family time and it reminds me of all of my childhood road trips across the country. We live in coastal NC, so it is about 10-12 hours for us to drive to WDW but only a 1 1/2 hour flight from Raleigh. I think my boys, DS10 and DS4 would love the drive. Help me convince DH to drive so we can save that airfare!

Candice, we're not that far from you. I can be in Wilmington in 1.5 hours if I push it.

Honestly, I-95 is a straight shot, and it's not a bad drive at all. I wouldn't dream of spending the money on airfare to drive from here to Orlando....

 

[puffkin]

We always fly, but we kind of face the same dilemma. Fly out on an early flight or fly out late the night before.

We used to always fly out in the morning on a Saturday. We would be up super early, have all the "hassles/stress" of travelling, finally get too Disney, get checked in and be absolutely exhausted that first day. We would then push ourselves that first night because hey we are in Disney. Then be tired and cranky the next day. It would take a few days to get that right balance of rested for Disney touring.

The last 3-4 trips, we take a late Friday flight out. Yes that day is super long and tiring, but we get all the travelling done and over with. We don't make any major plans our first morning and sleep in. We are well rested and ready to go then....usually by about noon. DS still wakes up early, but we kind of funk around the resort and get into "vacation mode". There is no travel tiredness carrying into other days of our vacation.

With driving, I would try to drive all the way to Disney. That extra hour probably won't make a huge difference. I like to check right into my resort even though it is super late, but if you can't afford that there are lots of gorgeous and cheap offsite properties right there to stay at that first night. Sleep in, grab a breakfast or lunch, then head over to your resort and check in. You will be well rested and ready to go by mid afternoon. If you drove in that morning, you will be cranky and tired. Even if the kids sleep in the car (and that is a big IF) it isn't the same as getting a good nights sleep in a bed.

 

[CANDICE]

Candice, we're not that far from you. I can be in Wilmington in 1.5 hours if I push it.

Honestly, I-95 is a straight shot, and it's not a bad drive at all. I wouldn't dream of spending the money on airfare to drive from here to Orlando....

No, your aren't that far! I live 20 minutes north of Jacksonville out in the middle of no where! And my DH is one of those most hated state troopers in NC....maybe that explains why he is so grumpy when I talk about the world! HA HA HA! If you live in Raleigh, you know what I mean about the highway patrol! Yeah, we would go to Fayetteville to get on I-95 and it is not that far away. He just hates driving when he is not working since he is in a car all day long! Glad to hear from a fellow North Carolinian!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Mobile to Orlando is easy. We usually stop in Daphne or Mobile from Orlando on the way home. If we leave from home right after work, we'll drive to Daphne from home (6 hours), then drive the last to Orlando the next day arriving around 2:30 or 3PM. If we leave early in the morning, we'll drive to Tallahassee, then roll into WDW before noon the next day. We've been driving since our son was 4 yrs old. He never had a problem.

We leave from NW Louisiana. We've done the entire drive in one haul, too, on Christmas Day to get home instead of stopping along the way.