Driving time and cost

[MillbrookMom]

How long to drive down from Toronto area....and roughly how much do you spend for gas, hotels, meals, etc.?

 

[canadaman]

I drove in the summer of 2008. I live hours north of toronto and we took the i75. We drove a 2008 hyundai elantra. Gas prices were high that summer like they are now.

We spent about $600 including gas, 1 hotel stay each way, and food along the way. That is in american dollars.

 

[Brandilovesdisney]

Could you tell us where you stopped along the way and which hotels you stayed at? How much were they hotel stays? What time did you leave both home on the way down and Disney on the way back?
Thanks so much!!!!

 

[OntFamily]

I live in Mississauga, and have driven numerous times (always using I-77/79).

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&sour...23,-80.244141&spn=17.892487,39.418945&t=h&z=5

The driving time for me was approx 20-21 hours. Stateville, NC is almost halfway, and there are plenty of hotels/motels in this area.


For the return, we left WDW @ 7:00am, and arrived in Pittsburgh @ 12:30am (where we stopped for the night). It made the drive the next day very simple and easy.

 

[canadaman]

Could you tell us where you stopped along the way and which hotels you stayed at? How much were they hotel stays? What time did you leave both home on the way down and Disney on the way back?
Thanks so much!!!!

We left hanover ontario at about 2am. We got to sarnia and crossed the border around 5am. We drove all the way to Dalton Georgia which we got to at about 5pm so it was a long day of driving. We had pre-booked the travelodge in Dalton. It cost roughly $70. It was nice but if I did it again i wouldn't book it ahead of time. I think we could have got a better deal just showing up and asking for a room not to mention we could have drove a little further then we did.

We left Dalton at about 6 30am and arrived at Disney at about 2pm I think.

Ont the way home we left Disney at about 2pm. We drove till about 10 30 or so which got us back to Dalton Georgia. We tried to stay at the Travelodge but it was full so we stayed at one accross the street. It cost $50. We left the next morning around 6 30 again and drove straight through till we were home which was about 10pm or so if I remember correctly

 

[dancin Disney style]

When we drive down we leave Oakville around 2:30am and drive the 77/79 route until approx 9pm. That gets us to the Savannah, GA area. Which then leaves about 3.5 hours the next day. I really hate road trips so the only way I will do it is by having only 1 long day....I could never split the trip and do half on each day.

Cost....
We pack breakfast and lunch plus all snacks and drinks in a cooler for the first day. We only stop for a fastfood dinner. We stay at a hotel that must be under $80 and includes breakfast. The same goes for our return home. The total ends up being around $550-$575 for our family of 4 which includes the food in the cooler, the hotels, dinner and gas for the RT....but that's at a normal gas price.

We did the drive in 2008 when gas prices were similar to now at $4.00-$4.10/gallon. That trip we only stayed in a hotel going south and drove straight through coming home. The cost was $710.

We drive a Chev Venture and it's pretty good on gas.

When we decide to stop for the night we usually just pull off and go in a few places to find out what the rate is and to look at the rooms. We have always had good luck with Comfort Inns and Hamptons. They always include a nice breakfast and I get points.

 

[iluveeyore]

When I plan a drive from Southern Ontario, I use the fuelcostcalculator.com site to estimate how much gas will cost - has current prices and uses your vehicle for mileage calculation. If we plan on stopping in a certain state, we stop at the state's welcome center and grab a coupon book to see which hotels have discounts for one night stays. For food, we usually pack a cooler with food and snacks and maybe stop once if we want something hot to eat.

 

[mombrontrent]

We are making the drive from Barrie in just a couple weeks This will be our first time driving. We are taking our van 2010 Grand Caravan. We have a 2007 Mazda 3 which would be alot cheaper in gas but we are family of 5 and there is no way we could make our 3 kids sit elbow to elbow for that long of a trip, I could just imagine the bickering Plus with one in a booster still and all our luggage it's just not going to happen. We plan on taking our time driving down, stopping two nights. Maybe the first night in Pennsyvania or Maryland and the second in Georgia Heck we might we so anxious to get to Disney we might arrive early and stay in Orlando an extra night. Not to sure we will just wing it. On the way back we will just drive straight through or stop one night. We will pack snacks and drinks and have lots of car games and such ready to keep the kids occupied. Can't wait

 

[Bertie9396]

We just drove down the end of March we took I-75. We left Barrie at 5 am and had crossed the border at Sarnia before 8:30 a.m. we stopped in Clinton, TN around 6ish for the night (stayed at the Holiday Inn Express - around $100/night but the rooms were NICE and they had an indoor pool so we were happy). Left at 4:30 a.m. and were in our hotel in Kissimmee by 4:30 p.m.

On the way back we left at 5 am and stopped in Williamsburg, TN at the Cumberland Inn (very nice place and it cost us around $80/night - includes breakfast!!). We left there early in the morning and were home shortly after 6 pm that night.

Stop at the welcome centers in each state. They have coupons for hotels, etc. there and the people were very helpful.

Gas wise, I'm not sure how much we paid...I'd guess around $600-700. I'll have to ask my hubby. We packed food to take with us so we only really stopped for one lunch (subway) and one dinner on our way there and again on our way back. We only have one child, who is 6 and phenomenal in the car. She slept early in the mornings in the car and was great the whole trip. If someone had to use the restroom we would take that opportunity to fill up on gas, buy any food and stretch our legs, etc. Same thing if we had to stop for gas, we'd all get out and do our thing and hit the road again. It worked out really well for us. If you are going to go the I-75 route I really recommend the Along 75 book by Dave Hunter. It really came in useful.

 

[cslittle999]

We're in Orangeville and the drive is around 2100km one way. On previous trips with our Grand Caravan it worked out to around seven tanks of gas. Really that's the calculation you need to make. Remember that it will be long days of highway driving so you'll get better gas mileage than you might think. Even though gas prices are high they are a lot cheaper in the US. US prices are on average around $.30 less per litre.

On the way down we leave around 5 AM and stay in Huntersville, NC. It's around 13 hours total travel time over multiple trips (we keep trip logs). From there it's around 8 hours to Orlando. On the way home we do two over night stays because no one wants to get up early on checkout day. I'm a bit of a hotel snob so the hotels we stay at are usually around $100/night but you can find cheaper.

We save money on food by bringing our lunches for the trip down with us along with drinks and snacks.

 

[maryliz]

We just did it, with a one night stop each way. We have learned over the years, and now prefer to stay at a Hampton Inn. Costs us around $100/night each way but the breakfast is fabulous.

We were just debating about flying or driving in Aug since we just drove down end of Feb and we figured with food, gas, hotels, it was around $750 ... AND four days on the road. Needless to say, we're flying in Aug for $780 return!

 

[candielips]

We are making the drive from Barrie in just a couple weeks This will be our first time driving. We are taking our van 2010 Grand Caravan. We have a 2007 Mazda 3 which would be alot cheaper in gas but we are family of 5 and there is no way we could make our 3 kids sit elbow to elbow for that long of a trip, I could just imagine the bickering Plus with one in a booster still and all our luggage it's just not going to happen. We plan on taking our time driving down, stopping two nights. Maybe the first night in Pennsyvania or Maryland and the second in Georgia Heck we might we so anxious to get to Disney we might arrive early and stay in Orlando an extra night. Not to sure we will just wing it. On the way back we will just drive straight through or stop one night. We will pack snacks and drinks and have lots of car games and such ready to keep the kids occupied. Can't wait

Our 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan cost us under $150 each way in just gas driving from Bowmanville, Ontario on the I77/79. that was last summer and gas prices were not quite as high though.

There is a nice little motel we have stopped at in South Carolina, I think it was a Country Hearth Inn & Suites. It was maybe $45 a night including breakfast and it is right off the highway. I wish I could remember the name of it or the city, it really was surprisingly nice.

 

[PrincessMom4]

We have a 2003 Dodge Caravan and it costs us about $500 in gas there and back.

 

[archdandy]

Do you think it's really worth it to drive for the savings if its only two people? We talked about driving down for our June trip but my DH was really against it due to the stress and probably not really saving any money. We drive a Kia Rio 4 door. It's a pretty small car and it costs around $40-50 to fill our tank (depending on how much gas is). If we paid for a hotel on the way there and the way back, say we spent $100 on each one, how much approx. do you guys think it would have cost us to drive?

 

[dancin Disney style]

Do you think it's really worth it to drive for the savings if its only two people? We talked about driving down for our June trip but my DH was really against it due to the stress and probably not really saving any money. We drive a Kia Rio 4 door. It's a pretty small car and it costs around $40-50 to fill our tank (depending on how much gas is). If we paid for a hotel on the way there and the way back, say we spent $100 on each one, how much approx. do you guys think it would have cost us to drive?

go to www.fuelcostcalculator.com to find out what gas will cost. Since the site is American you have to use your nearest US city....I use Buffalo and then you need to add on the cost from home to that city.

In general, if you have access to a US airport it will cost you more to drive then to fly. Driving only saves money for a family of 4 or more. If you are restricted to fly out of a Canadian city then you could save a few dollars by driving but I think you have to factor in the extra time. For me vacation time is money so flying is the best way to get the most value out of my vacation dollars.

 

[cslittle999]

Do you think it's really worth it to drive for the savings if its only two people? We talked about driving down for our June trip but my DH was really against it due to the stress and probably not really saving any money. We drive a Kia Rio 4 door. It's a pretty small car and it costs around $40-50 to fill our tank (depending on how much gas is). If we paid for a hotel on the way there and the way back, say we spent $100 on each one, how much approx. do you guys think it would have cost us to drive?

It's hard for two people to save money driving.

Not knowing where you are in Ontario I would guess at 8 tanks of gas, 2 lunches, 2 dinners and 2 hotel nights. Let's say around $800. Flying would likely cost a tank of gas, airport parking and 2 plane tickets. It should be cheaper unless you need a rental car once you get to Orlando.

 

[archdandy]

Thanks guys. I figured it probably wouldnt save us very much money. I guess my DH was right, hehe.

 

[Remmy]

We drive from around London, Ontario.

We have driven down there 4 times. Most recently in 2009 and 2010 we drove our 2007 Pontiac Torrent. The last time we drove down in 2010 with a "pod" on the roof the cost of gas total (for there and back) was around $400 when gas was around $2.99/gallon. We would stop on average every 4 hours to switch drivers and drive right through and depending upon boarder hold ups (the Windsor boarder can be really busy at times) it would take us roughly 21-22 hours straight.

As well, we have always gone in the winter and luckily, had great weather.

This last time we went on the the 28th of January in the middle of a snow storm. We decided to take the Sarnia boarder crossing as we like to now use that crossing (we love shopping in Port Huron) and with people going 20-50 kilometers in Michigan, Ohio, and part of Kentucky, it took us around 26 hours!!! To be fair, we stopped counting the number of cars in the ditches when we reached halfway in Ohio and were up to 60 cars.

This time we were driving our 2001 Ford F-150 extended cab truck. We didn't know this at the time but this truck has excellent gas mileage and we only had to stop every 8 hours (to Florida and back in much better weather). We spent less on gas, just over $320 with gas averaging close to $3.50 or more per gallon. We packed snacks to take us most of the way and only stopped for one meal there and back.

This time we had every intent on trying to find a room and stay over on our way back but we stopped in Jellico, Ten. and I search the room for bed bugs. I found dead cockroach bodies, so we kept on driving. We then tried to stay just north of Cincinnati but the rooms were really costly for only wanting to sleep in them for about 5 hours by this time. We decided to drive straight through again.

We always go I-75 and we live by the book Driving Along I-75. It is packed full of useful information.

Cost wise, it is cheaper for us to drive then fly. Depending on when you go, weather wise, we think it would be great driving when there is no chance of bad snowy weather. Now with what happened to us this last time with truly bad, bad, bad weather, that is hard to predict when we are planning almost 6 months in advance, we are thinking of flying down when we are going as a family again. Our next vacation will be just the two of us and we are going to be guinea pigs to see how the experience goes. The one thing that I love about driving is we can take extra stuff and no worries about weight restrictions.

I would suggest seeing what appeals to you the most, as sometimes either way could be stressful (flight delay, lost luggage, car break down, etc.) and what is the most economical for you.

I wish you the best with your decision.

Remmy

 

[minnie56]

DH just drove back-one way-this past weekend. Arrived home Sat nite..he went to pick DD up her having worked at WDW for a year so she had LOTS of stuff!! Rented a car from Enterprise--total cost picking up in MCO and dropping in Buff was $86. Gas-for the one way trek $300!

So you know....

 

[MamaLema]

Do you think it's really worth it to drive for the savings if its only two people? We talked about driving down for our June trip but my DH was really against it due to the stress and probably not really saving any money. We drive a Kia Rio 4 door. It's a pretty small car and it costs around $40-50 to fill our tank (depending on how much gas is). If we paid for a hotel on the way there and the way back, say we spent $100 on each one, how much approx. do you guys think it would have cost us to drive?

I don't think it's worth it for 2 people. We are a family of 6, so we save a lot. The best part of driving is that I can bring back as much as we can fit in the car