Driving on Good Friday from Michigan

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

We will be driving for the first time from SW Michigan. Here is our itinerary, thursday 4/1 drive to Muncie, IN (NE of Indy) to pick up MIL. From there start driving south and make it to Murfreesboro TN by 7pm ish. I think that part should be fine.

The bad part is the drive the next day. 10 hours and driving through GA on Good Friday which is the beginning of their Spring Break as well. I just read that like the whole state has the week after Easter off like we do and that WDW will be packed. I'm most concerned about the drive and getting stuck in traffic around Atlanta.

Is there a better route that we should follow and override our GPS?

Any tips or advice are greatly appreciated.

 

[sweetpeakaris]

We drive from SW Michigan for Easter Break every year, this year we are flying. We normally take 75 South all the way, we normally leave the Weds night before Good Friday and drive straight through. We use to leave on Thurs, but traffic was way to heavy and we would get stuck in Tennessee for hours in traffic, and GA traffic is horrible too. On the highway you will see lots of Mi and Canada folks heading South.

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

Hmmm, would it be better to drive to get my MIL on wednesday night and then drive all day thursday to Macon? Then drive the last 5 hrs on friday? That would put us in Atlanta at 5 though and that's no good.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Poohs Pal]

We will be driving for the first time from SW Michigan. Here is our itinerary, thursday 4/1 drive to Muncie, IN (NE of Indy) to pick up MIL. From there start driving south and make it to Murfreesboro TN by 7pm ish. I think that part should be fine.

The bad part is the drive the next day. 10 hours and driving through GA on Good Friday which is the beginning of their Spring Break as well. I just read that like the whole state has the week after Easter off like we do and that WDW will be packed. I'm most concerned about the drive and getting stuck in traffic around Atlanta.

Is there a better route that we should follow and override our GPS?

Any tips or advice are greatly appreciated.

Driving through Atlanta anytime on a Friday is a killer. Stay in the HOV lane and it will be a little easier. Even during peak times I prefer to drive the HOV rather than the by/pass. The by/pass is just about as bad and can take as long in my opinion. You could try to time it so you hit Atanta about 10am that may be a good in between time.

 

[kristenrice]

We are leaving Grand Rapids around 3:30pm on Thursday, April 1, after picking up DD6 from school. We made a hotel reservation in Seymour, IN for that night. The next day, Good Friday, we are driving into Lake City, FL and spending the night there. I know it is only 2.5 hours away from Orlando, but we'd rather sleep in on Saturday morning, make the "short" drive and then spend the afternoon and evening in one of the parks.

Since we are spreading the drive out over three days, we are not too concerned with "making good time". We're really just trying to make sure that everyone is still sane when we arrive. We will have mom, dad, me, DH, and the two kids, ages 4 and 6, all packed into our Suburban. The longest trip the kids have ever taken is the 2.5 hour trip to Traverse City so this will be HUGE for them. I am hoping that I am the one driving when we hit traffic since I am the only one whose blood pressure doesn't skyrocket!

 

[Poohs Pal]

We are leaving Grand Rapids around 3:30pm on Thursday, April 1, after picking up DD6 from school. We made a hotel reservation in Seymour, IN for that night. The next day, Good Friday, we are driving into Lake City, FL and spending the night there. I know it is only 2.5 hours away from Orlando, but we'd rather sleep in on Saturday morning, make the "short" drive and then spend the afternoon and evening in one of the parks.

Since we are spreading the drive out over three days, we are not too concerned with "making good time". We're really just trying to make sure that everyone is still sane when we arrive. We will have mom, dad, me, DH, and the two kids, ages 4 and 6, all packed into our Suburban. The longest trip the kids have ever taken is the 2.5 hour trip to Traverse City so this will be HUGE for them. I am hoping that I am the one driving when we hit traffic since I am the only one whose blood pressure doesn't skyrocket!

We just made the drive during the holidays from Michigan with 2 5yro twins. Sweet aunt that I am I bought portable DVD players for Dneice's little one's. They had received never seen before movies for their birthday and christmas and they were so busy watching the movies that they survived the drive better than the adults(LOL). We left christmas day Friday about 2pm(2 vechicles full of family) and arrived Sunday at about 1pm. On the way home we made better time. Left disney on Monday the 4th about 10am and got home just about midnight Tuesday. We all seem to handle the heavy traffic pretty good but then again it is all women driving so no men on a mission to out manuever the next guy. We just go with the flow and if traffic gets tied up we have a snack and gossip.

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

We all seem to handle the heavy traffic pretty good but then again it is all women driving so no men on a mission to out manuever the next guy. We just go with the flow and if traffic gets tied up we have a snack and gossip.

So true! My DH will be doing all the driving because I am a nervous driver. I take my "chill pills" to be a not so nervous passenger. My DMIL will be in the middle row and keeping the kids happy and distributing snacks. We will have dvds, portable games, small toys, pillows, games etc. My kids will not sleep in the car otherwise we would leave at night. I like the thoughts of not being in a rush. DH does tend to get much more frustrated with those things than I do.

You all have given me something to think about. Not sure what our plan will be yet. Still thinking.

 

[kristenrice]

My DH will be doing all the driving because I am a nervous driver. I take my "chill pills" to be a not so nervous passenger.

My DH is a police officer and I am a paramedic, so we are "professional" drivers....although it is definitely our passengers who are nervous when we're behind the wheel. (I don't know why...we're trained to drive safely)

 

[justussix]

We use AAA Trip Ticks for mapping our route. We usually take the typical 65 to 69 to 24 to 75 route. It has less miles than taking 75 all the way and Ohio still has a 65 mph speed limit the entire state. The above route eliminates that.

My question is regarding US 31. AAA's first recommendation is taking 196 out of Grand Rapids over to US 31 straight down to Indianapolis and picking up 65 there. It cuts out about 40 miles. But if it's not limited access at least most of the way and if speed limits are 55 mph, then it doesn't save us any time at all. In fact, it likely adds time.

Has anybody tried this route, and what was your experience?

We're leaving the Thursday prior to Good Friday and hope to make it south of Macon, GA by leaving around 4:00 am. We've got four little ones including one who will be only 11 months, so stops should be frequent slowing us down quite a bit.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

We live here in Atlanta. You want to avoid this place on a holiday weekend, Friday rush hour. The rush hour on Thursday should not be as bad as Friday.

Once you are just past Atlanta, you have about 7-7.5 hours left to WDW. I must confess that is if you "keep up with traffic".

By the way, except for some construction in south Georgia, once you are past Atlanta, you can just set the cruise control and enjoy a mostly uneventful trip.

 

[marius97]

We use AAA Trip Ticks for mapping our route. We usually take the typical 65 to 69 to 24 to 75 route. It has less miles than taking 75 all the way and Ohio still has a 65 mph speed limit the entire state. The above route eliminates that.

My question is regarding US 31. AAA's first recommendation is taking 196 out of Grand Rapids over to US 31 straight down to Indianapolis and picking up 65 there. It cuts out about 40 miles. But if it's not limited access at least most of the way and if speed limits are 55 mph, then it doesn't save us any time at all. In fact, it likely adds time.

Has anybody tried this route, and what was your experience?

We're leaving the Thursday prior to Good Friday and hope to make it south of Macon, GA by leaving around 4:00 am. We've got four little ones including one who will be only 11 months, so stops should be frequent slowing us down quite a bit.

I'm from a MI city that is basically a suburb of South Bend, IN. US 31 is a regular highway from Grand Rapids all the way to south of South Bend. At that point it turns into a limited access highway. For the first 20 miles or so the speed limit goes up and down as you go through a few small towns. After that it is mostly 55 mph (maybe higher?) all the way to Indy. From what I can tell, there is no good way to get from GR to I75. You either go higher miles but faster speed limit. Or lower speed limit, but lower miles. The good thing about going 31 is that you won't have any traffic until you get to Indy.

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

I think we have made a driving decision. We will leave Wednesday night after work, drive to Muncie (to get MIL) stay over and leave early-ish the next morning hoping to get to Valdosta by dinner time or shortly there after. We will then drive 5.5 hrs to disney on Good Friday. Thanks for all the tips, we will definitely use the HOV lane whenever possible and just take our time. We have a gps, iphone mapping, and trip tik so we should be covered!

Less than 40 days now! Hoping and praying for healthy travelers and safe roads!

 

[kydisneyfans]

You would also want to miss the Louisville and Nashville rush hours. It's a tight squeeze across the Kennedy bridge into Louisville. We had an hour delay in the afternoon on a regular weekday not too long ago.