Driving: Oklahoma to Orlando

[Cirlonde]

Hi!

My husband and I are planning a November 2014 trip to Orlando and we will be driving from the Oklahoma City metro area. We are trying to decide between two routes: #1: I-20 E/I-10 E which takes us to Dallas first and then through Louisiana, Mississippi and along the coast to Florida (18h31m, 1271mi) or #2: I-40 E/I-10 E which takes us through Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama (18hr34m, 1257mi). We will be driving on Saturdays and Sundays, both coming and going, and will spend one night somewhere in the middle of the drive.

Anyone have any experience driving either of these routes? I'm drawn to the #2 route because half the joy of a vacation is the journey for me...I love road trips, I love to see beautiful scenery and new places plus I absolutely hate driving through Dallas!!! My husband leans towards #1 because he thinks it would be faster since it doesn't go through a bunch of small towns. As a compromise, we've talked about driving there using one route and use the other coming home. But if I can find some definite answers from people who've done this before, then we may pick one and stick with it!

Thanks so much for your advice!

 

[oktxregulators]

Hello,

I live an hour east of Dallas and understand your concern with the Dallas traffic. What you could do it take Indian Nations down to Hugo and then 271 to Paris then 19 down to Canton and pickup I-20 there.

We drove last June and will be doing it again this year. We drive and stop generally right outside Mobile on the 1st day and then drive the rest of the way the 2nd day and get there in the early evening hours with enough time to ride up to Magic Kingdom on a Sunday for a few hours and then stay and take advantage of the late night hours for staying on property.

Dallas traffic is not typically bad if you can make it there by 3PM

 

[robertsfam5]

I took a route similar to #2 about 15 years ago and I remember it being very scenic especially in Mississippi and Alabama.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I would take the I40 (Little Rock/Memphis/ US 78 to Birmingham) route rather than dropping South to Dallas. Just my $.02.

 

[Cirlonde]

Thanks so much for your replies! I think I'm more anxious about the drive than the rest of the trip combined. Too many unpredictable things about it that I can't control!!

 

[CarolynFH]

On the interstate, big cities are much more likely to slow you down than small towns are. I vote for route #2. Having lived in north Texas for some time and now in the Houston area, I have experience with I-10 and I-20 and would avoid Dallas at all costs.

 

[flbmcman]

I work for the USPS in Jacksonville, FL and make the trip to Norman, OK several times, the latest being Sep/Oct 2013.

I would go from OKC to Memphis, TN, to Birmingham, AL, to Tiften, GA, then I75Sto FL Turmpike, to 429 and into WDW on Western Way.

2 tricky areas: Memphis and Birmingham

Take I 55S at memphis to Southhaven, and Goodman Rd E to US78/I22

When I 22 ends, good "local" until I22 REALLY ends then take RT onto Coalburg Rd to Daniel Panye LT TO I65S to I20E to US280 to Columbus, GA

Use Google Maps to make a little more sense of this.

Done this route several times and I make Noman in approx. 1.5 days

Hope this helps

 

[Stinkerbelle_628]

Hi!

My husband and I are planning a November 2014 trip to Orlando and we will be driving from the Oklahoma City metro area. We are trying to decide between two routes: #1: I-20 E/I-10 E which takes us to Dallas first and then through Louisiana, Mississippi and along the coast to Florida (18h31m, 1271mi) or #2: I-40 E/I-10 E which takes us through Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama (18hr34m, 1257mi). We will be driving on Saturdays and Sundays, both coming and going, and will spend one night somewhere in the middle of the drive.

Anyone have any experience driving either of these routes? I'm drawn to the #2 route because half the joy of a vacation is the journey for me...I love road trips, I love to see beautiful scenery and new places plus I absolutely hate driving through Dallas!!! My husband leans towards #1 because he thinks it would be faster since it doesn't go through a bunch of small towns. As a compromise, we've talked about driving there using one route and use the other coming home. But if I can find some definite answers from people who've done this before, then we may pick one and stick with it!

Thanks so much for your advice!

Hi-

My dh and I are planning to make this trip in a few weeks. Does anyone have any new tips? Cirlonde, how did it go?

 

[Cirlonde]

Hi-

My dh and I are planning to make this trip in a few weeks. Does anyone have any new tips? Cirlonde, how did it go?

We took the second route on the way to Florida and the first route coming back home. But we drove through the night on our way back home because there was a snow storm coming in that we wanted to beat, so it's hard to do a direct comparison. I think both routes are about equal, but I preferred the #2 route that avoided Dallas mostly just because it was new scenery! We spend a lot of time on I-35, so it was fun to see new road. We didn't hit any bad traffic going either direction and Google maps did a good job navigating for us.

The most important thing I learned from our drive is that we will fly from now on, haha! It's definitely a long and exhausting trip, but it's doable if you stop for at least one night each way. If we were retired, I think I would enjoy making the drive more than flying. It was really nice to have our own car and to be able to take as much of my crap with me as I wanted to (like having my OWN pillow and Dr Pepper!) But right now, the time off work is too valuable to waste 3 or 4 days making the trek. Of course, by the time we are retired...everyone will have self-driving cars and I can sleep on the way down!

Hope you have a wonderful and safe drive to Florida! Any route that ends at Disney World is a good route!