Driving through the night...

[westjones]

Looks like we are going to be leaving in June after DH gets off work and driving through the night straight to WDW (17 hours). We have done it before a few years ago, but I am hoping it isn't so bad in June since it is the lightest time of the year.

Anyone else do this lately? Drive through the night? We go from Indianapolis, to Nashville, to Atlanta, to Orlando. Not a fun drive.

DH can't take off the extra day, and my DD has her last practice before a dance performance the day we leave, so that is why we have to wait until night.

I will have to learn to drink coffee!

I know we can do it (we have done it twice before). I just can't believe I agreed to this again!

Anyone trying this?
DJ

 

[palmtreegirl]

We use to drive straight through the night all time but the last time we tried(Oct. 2004) we didn't make it. We ended up stopping in South Carolina at around 4:30 am, we were just so tired and the kids were having problems sleeping in the car. We crashed for 4 hours and then left, we'll never do the night thing again, it was just miserable.

 

[CarolA]

Personally that is two scary cities at night. Both Nashville and Atlanta are doing lots of word work on nights and weekends.

 

[ducklite]

We would never try to drive straight through the night. Instead we get up and leave around 3:00am. That way we're fresh during the dark part of the drive, and get there right when it's getting dark again.

Anne

 

[bdcp]

We've never done the all night drive either. We always leave by 5 am and get 2-3 hours in before traffic picks up. It's also much safer to get a night's sleep before hitting the road. We have left the afternoon/evening before to beat weather and then we usually do 4-5 hours at the most before stopping for the night. If you leave at 4 am, that gets you into WDW around 9 pm. That is not too bad. Or, drive 4-5 hours the first night, get a room, sleep and do the rest during daylight. All you accomplish by driving all night is that you're totally exhausted when you get there.

 

[angel's momma]

We didn't drive straight through, but we did drive at night. We left at 11:30 pm, and there were hardly any cars on the roads at all, which I loved. We slept for 4-5 hours before we left, and DH slept several more hours while I drove. We stopped just after Atlanta, sometime between 4-5 pm. We would have been way too tired to drive to drive straight through, and planned to stop where we did. I liked the night-time driving, but we won't do it next time - a few unplanned for stops added enough time to put us in Atlanta at the wrong time.

 

[LIFERBABE]

I prefer to do it the way Ducklite recommended, because I hate night driving, but we couldnt leave until 3pm. We always keep the option of stopping open based on how we feel.

Our drive is the about the same, approx 18 hours. The one good thing about driving at night, is the roads were very empty, even the truck drivers pulled off (I hate being near big rigs day or night) so if you are rested it's great. During the wee hours, Dh and I switch off more frequently about every 11/2 to 2 hours. When we arrived at 10 am, I thought we would be exhausted, but we checked in, went to breakfast and Dh took the boys to DQ, while I got us settled into the room.

I was questioning our sanity on the way there, because it seemed so long, but after spending 16 days at WDW we were well rested and we left earlier, so the drive home was not bad at all. We did plan relaxing activities that evening and didnt hit the parks until 3pm the next day for MVMCP.

I would not drive that far for a trip less than 8 nights but we will most likely do it again in May/June for our 15 night stay.

 

[Kae]

all though my sister is not going to disney, she is going down to Naples. She left last night around 8-8:30 pm and she was around tampa at 2 pm. We live 3 hours north from you(Elkhart) If you can sleep during the day before you leave it might not be that bad. And let DH nap in the begining & drive 2nd shift. Good Luck.

Kae

 

[westjones]

I'm a stay at home mom, so I can get some sleep in during the day we leave. I don't drive in the cities though, so that makes it harder on DH.

We have to be at the Adventurer Club on Friday at 7:00 pm for the Project X Dis Meet party, so we have to leave on Thursday to get there. I would prefer to leave Thursday morning, but DH doesn't think he can get off until Friday (I will work on him as we get closer--that really would be a better option to drive all day Thursday and stop that night). We will see. I was just wondering if there were any others who have done this.

DJ

 

[cranbiz]

When we drive, we always drive straight thru. We have an 18-20 hour drive from MA. We have a family of 5 and airfare for 5 with a full size to mini van rental is usually big bucks so driving is the less expensive option. We also have anywhere from 2 to 3 drivers when we go so it's not that bad. When one feels tired, we switch off. I myself and DS love to drive at night, normally very little traffic and one can make good time. We normally leave mid to late afternoon and arrive early afternoon. We use that time after we arrive to stock up on supplies and unwind.

I don't advocate this for everyone, If you think it's for you, go for it. If you are uncomfortable doing this, by all means, find a place along the way to stop and rest. The way we do it works for us.

We just did the drive to Orlando in October and December.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

I was planning on driving through the night from Houston to Orlando. At about 2 AM outside of Baton Rouge I very nearly had my Beetle hit by an 18 wheeler who was entering and crossing all the way to the left lane without looking. I had to swerve hard to the right braking hard at the same time. At that point I decided to hang it up. It took us almost another hour to find a motel that wasn't booked and looked safe enough. I will never try that again. I almost didn't live to tell about it. It's just not worth it.

 

[westjones]

OK, I talked with DH about our 'plans' tonight, and he agreed to try to take off that Thursday so we can drive during the day. I told him that if we drove through the night we would be too tired to enjoy the party at the Adventurer's Club and we shouldn't do that to ourselves.

So I think we get to stop along the way. I feel better about that. Thanks everyone for your comments.
DJ

 

[Deb & Bill]

We usually leave after work/school and drive for about 5 or 6 hours (til about midnight). Stop in at a hotel, get some sleep, each the free breakfast and hit the road again. We usually arrive at WDW by mid afternoon and check into our hotel. We have done the all night thing once (left at midnight) and it was very hard - I packed the car while my husband got some sleep. Then he drove, but I had to stay awake to help him stay awake. Then he got tired and I had to drive. Not fun at all.

 

[ducklite]

One thing I've done in the past, it might be something to think about...

When we headed down for New Years, we got about 2 hours from home and realized we had to turn back to pick up a prescription medication that was essential and couldn't just be called in to a Florida pharmacy. Put us about four hours behind schedule. Ugh. That meant we'd be driving late into the night. We had planned on being at our hotel in time to see Jay Leno's monologue.

I have a freind who is not working right now (recovering from surgery). Her husband works at shift that gets him home around 2:00am. She waits up for him most nights.

So after my free cell minutes kicked in at 9:00pm, she called me (free call for both of us due to her phone plan). We chatted for over FOUR HOURS while I drove (hands free cell phone with a headset--both hands on the steering wheel!!!!) and DH snored away. It kept me wide awake and alert until around 1:30, then I pulled over, and woke up DH who had slept for about three hours and was fresh to finish the last hour until we got to the hotel.

Of course this woldn't be advised if you are in heavy traffic or bad weather where you need to ahve 100% absolute attention to the road. In that case your codriver really needs to be alert with you to copilot. Just use common sense.

Anne

 

[tinkerbeth]

We have about a 24 hour drive from Ontario down to Orlando, and we'll drive right through. We did it as kids all the time. We'd leave after school in our track suits, stop in Ohio for dinner at about 10pm, then drive drive drive.

DH and I are going to try it with ds3 for March Break. We both don't mind driving so we'll switch off. DS sleeps pretty well in his car seat and I think we're going to get or rent a dvd player for the car for the boring/dark bits of the drive. I think we can hit Atlanta before rush hour that way too, early early in the morning. (Is there a non-rush hour in Atlanta? )

Once I'm by the pool at AKL, I'll catch up on my sleep.

 

[Jon99]

For us, its the only way to go.. My wife is a teacher, I own a seasonal business so when we go, I have an open schedule... The morning we leave, I drive her to school and pick her up at 3:00, doing it this way instead of her coming home gets us on the road an hour earlier...

We leave at 3:00 with me driving, can make it to the Illinois/Kentucky border by 7:00, where we will stop and have a quick dinner, get gas and back on the road by 7:30... I will then drive for another couple of hours, until around 9:30, at which time we stop for gas and my wife drives.. During that time, I will try to sleep and she drives until about midnight (1:00 EST), then we fill up the tank, grab a snack and I will drive while my wife sleeps until we stop in Lakeland for breakfast and a break, with only about 3 hours of driving until we hit WDW...

Our daughter will sleep plenty, my wife gets in about 6 hours of sleep and even though I usually don't sleep, the excitement of Disney catches on and I don't feel sleepy one bit.. We save money and are able to bring more things, well worth it!!

 

[LIFERBABE]

Well another tip, whether you drive straight thru or not..........

Another reason I think the drive home (straight thru) was better for me, is that I purchased that 5 Disc Disney Classic CD set at DTD (Virgin Mega) before we hit the road. It was Great!! It made the time go by much faster and I could envision all the great attractions we enjoyed while I listened to the music. It has yet to leave my CD player and I listen to them at work too!

If that doesnt work, again I agree with Ducklite Phone a friend!

 

[westjones]

We have about a 24 hour drive from Ontario down to Orlando, and we'll drive right through. We did it as kids all the time. We'd leave after school in our track suits, stop in Ohio for dinner at about 10pm, then drive drive drive.

DH and I are going to try it with ds3 for March Break. We both don't mind driving so we'll switch off. DS sleeps pretty well in his car seat and I think we're going to get or rent a dvd player for the car for the boring/dark bits of the drive. I think we can hit Atlanta before rush hour that way too, early early in the morning. (Is there a non-rush hour in Atlanta? )

Once I'm by the pool at AKL, I'll catch up on my sleep.

The drive through Ohio and down is much nicer than the one we have to go from Indiana. My inlaws live in Marietta Ohio (Exit 1 right before you enter West Virginia). You hardly have to go through any big cities at all.

Thanks for reminding me of that. I think we will go to Ohio first and drive down from there. It is SO much more relaxing and much easier to drive (and I can do more driving since I won't drive in cities, but I will drive all the other times--gives DH a break).

DJ

 

[princesspumpkin]

I have driven all night long from PA to Atlanta several times. I love driving at night - because I work at night! I like less cars on the highway and i think the other driver gets more rest at night while you're driving. It's easier to sleep at night in the car than it is in the daytime (to me). Don't eat a lot of food. Sugary stuff is ok.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Since we aren't taking the kids, DH and I are planning to drive down for our next trip. We live in Ohio and will drive to somewhere in GA to spend the night. His couusin lives 10 hours from us and about 3-1/2 hours from Orlando and we'll probably stay in her town, that way we can visit and unwind with her for a few hours that evening. Leave early the next morning and drive into Orlando.