Driving question...

[MaggieMoo'sMom]

Would you...

Leave Middle Tennessee at 8:00 am (the earliest we can leave) drive to Lake City and spend the night--- 8 Hours

----or----

Leave Middle Tennessee at 8:00 am (the earliest we can leave) drive to Orlando and spend the night ---10 1/2 hours

We will check in the next day either way...opinions?

 

[twokids0204]

Would you...

Leave Middle Tennessee at 8:00 am (the earliest we can leave) drive to Lake City and spend the night--- 8 Hours

----or----

Leave Middle Tennessee at 8:00 am (the earliest we can leave) drive to Orlando and spend the night ---10 1/2 hours

We will check in the next day either way...opinions?

I would drive straight through.

 

[masonjar]

We live in Lynchburg (TN) and have done both. If you are going to leave at 8:00 am, I would go ahead and drive the whole way. If you leave more towards lunch time, I would stop in Lake City.

If you do decide to stop, be sure to have reservations. Our first trip we had to leave around lunch time and decided to stop....with no reservations. It was awful trying to find a place to stay. The next two years we had reservations in Lake City and drove in the next morning and the last two years we drove the whole way.

I like driving the whole way...but only if you leave early enough and are rested for the long drive.

I see you are staying at the Polynesian. This is what we are doing...and did last time. Drive on down and stay at Pop or offsite. check in early at the Polynesian....The earlier you check in, the better your chances of getting the Longhouse you want. If they originally put you in a Longhouse you don't want there are better chances of more rooms being unassigned that early in the day in the longhouse you do want.

 

[luvindis]

Hey neighbor We are from McMinnville. We have done both ways, it is exhausting driving straight thru but we arrive so much earlier and less expense of an extra hotel. We arrive early and check in and run to a park and get something to eat then by lunch our room is usually ready take a couple hour break and then good to go for the evening. Now saying this our boys are teenagers so that may make a difference with travel. We usually only take one potty break and make sure you go in the back way to Disney not I4.

 

[Al and Kate's Mom]

My Middle TN peeps!!! We're doing a split drive - leaving Friday evening so we get to Atlanta after rush hour and staying overnight in Macon (almost exactly 1/2 way) then getting up early and driving the rest of the way in...doing it that way so we won't be so exhausted when we get there, because you KNOW you can't just sit around the room on your first night at WDW

 

[luvindis]

Sorry, lol, didn't tell you we always drive at night and leave around 8 pm. So this could change things too. Have a great trip!

 

[luvindis]

We will hijack this thread for Mid-Tennessee

 

[dpuck1998]

I would drive the extra two and half hours and get to Orlando. That is two more hours at Disney the next day. You would still get there early enough to have dinner at one of the resort restaurants.

 

[Tomh]

I would go ahead with the 10.5 hour drive, though I do have a question.

Is that 10.5 hours that it takes you to actually get from point A to point B, OR is that 10.5 hours that mapquest says it takes? The reason why I ask is that Mapquest doesn't allow for traffic, construction, stopping to go to the bathroom (I don't know too many people who can go 10.5 hours without a couple of stops), stopping to eat, stopping to get gas . . .

Mapquest says that it takes about 12.5 hours to drive from my home to the hotel I stay at in Manning SC. Last year we left home at 7 in the morning, and didn't get to the hotel until 11:00 at night, for a total of right around 16 hours. Now we did run into some really bad weather, which slowed us down a LOT. We also made quite a few stops, and had some traffic to deal with, but still it was a 3 and a half hour difference.

Even at that though, I would go for a straight through, especially if you can get a decent nights sleep the night before the trip. We drive to SC the first day because that lets us get into Disney early the next afternoon, so we get to check in, then head to DTD for a little shopping, and a nice sit down supper after a day and a half on the road, and we are still able to get back to the room, and get to bed reasonably early for a good nights rest before our first park day.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Not the OP, but we drive through Murfreesboro on our way to WDW from where we live, and Murfreesboro-Orlando is about 10 hours for us.

We would drive it straight through. In fact, we usually drive through the night, check in early, get our KTTWs and launch right into the parks. We're a little sick and twisted that way....

 

[humboldthny]

Option #2...
That's essentially what we do when we drive from NC - it's about the same amount of time. We leave and drive it all in one day, stay at an inexpensive off-site hotel, check in early the next morning and get in a full day at the parks. We also do the reverse at the end of the trip: stay a full day in the park, get a cheap room off-site, leave to go home early the next morning.

 

[duketennisgal]

I would drive it straight through. 10.5 hours is really not a long drive, I recently did an 11 hour drive all by myself (had plans to stop but wasn't tired so kept going).

Driving straight through will give you more time the next day at the parks, more time in the parks always gets my vote!

 

[Kurby]

what day are you arriving? if it's during the week day you may want to spend the night in Lake City and arrive in WDW after rush hour.

we've arrived am and pm rush hour and during the day - we prefer during the day.

we never seem to get the long lines at check in when we arrive around 11am

this trip we'll be arriving around 8pm so it shouldn't be too bad both driving through and check in.

if you're arriving on the weekend - drive straight through then you're there.

unless you don't care if your bags are in your car or you don't have access to your room you prob won't get in until at least 11am anyways - if you're ok checking in and coming back to get your room later then arriving early is good too.

either way i think it's more a personal decision on how long you want to be driving in one session.

we do it - but that's because we drive from Canada and it's 22 hours so we drive 11 stop then 11 and get to WDW late at night

 

[Pixie Princess]

Just keep driving!! It takes us around 8 hours depending on the never ending construction nightmare in south GA. I always feel like Lake City is my beacon of hope.. the drive is almost done. I always get pumped up when we go by the exits there.

 

[MaggieMoo'sMom]

It's so amazing to get so many responses!!! I went to lunch and then came back to see your helpful advice!

My husband works nights at Nissan, and will be home at 7:15am. I plan to be packed and ready to leave when he gets there. He will drive most of the way, but he will only make it until about 3ish before he needs a nap. I was thinking he could nap while I drive the last leg of it. I am thinking of staying in the Buena Vista Suites they advertise on the top of the resort boards. We are surprising DD4 with this trip for her 5th birthday present (b-day June 7th) and do not plan to tell her until we pull in to the Poly to check-in... She thinks we are going to the beach. We would get a good night's sleep before hitting the parks the next morning!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Leave Middle Tennessee at 8:00 am (the earliest we can leave) drive to Orlando and spend the night ---10 1/2 hours

We will check in the next day either way...opinions?

Go the distance if you can. That's what we did last year and were in the parks just after RD. We got a full day in.

 

[MaggieMoo'sMom]

My Middle TN peeps!!! We're doing a split drive - leaving Friday evening so we get to Atlanta after rush hour and staying overnight in Macon (almost exactly 1/2 way) then getting up early and driving the rest of the way in...doing it that way so we won't be so exhausted when we get there, because you KNOW you can't just sit around the room on your first night at WDW

We did this when we went in October. I teach elementary school, so we left as soon as I got off (around 3:30) and drove to Macon. This broke it up nicely for us.

 

[MaggieMoo'sMom]

My Middle TN peeps!!! We're doing a split drive - leaving Friday evening so we get to Atlanta after rush hour and staying overnight in Macon (almost exactly 1/2 way) then getting up early and driving the rest of the way in...doing it that way so we won't be so exhausted when we get there, because you KNOW you can't just sit around the room on your first night at WDW

What are your dates May ???-???... we may be there at the same time.

 

[Coach81]

Push through!!!!

 

[iheartdolewhips]

I would go ahead and drive on to Orlando and stay as close to Disney as you can (I would prefer on property). That way the next morning you can go ahead and start your trip, rather than having to drive more.