Driving time.

[Newliskeardfamily]

What is the bottom line around travelling via car to Disney? I am travelling from Niagara and am the only one in the car that can do a driving shift. How quickly can I reasonably expect to get there?

 

[mort1331]

Well if your the only one to drive, it depends on how long you want to drive without sleep.
We are 30mins north of TO and went via windsor, drive time down was 23.5 hours and back was 25. We had 2 drivers and drove straight with stops for gas and food.
From what my brother tells me and he is around Hamilton and goes via Niagara, he is approx 20 hours straight.
So bottom line is if you can drive 10-12 hours a day you can make it in 2 days.

 

[minnie mum]

Nobody can tell you exactly, as too many things can affect it. You can use Google maps to provide an estimate based on the route you choose to travel. But this will be an absolute minimum time. Plan to add time for stops at the border plus stops for gas, food, bathrooms, plus possible slowdowns due to congestion, accidents or construction.

Our driving time from Eastern Ontario, via 1000 Islands, is about 21.5 hours. But we take 2-3 days to travel each way.

 

[bankr63]

Depends on your own driving stamina more than anything else.

Actual drive time is pretty much what Google maps says. I have a timer in my trip computer that measures ignition time, and this past trip it pretty much matched. What I made up by bending the speed limits was lost in traffic or gas stops.

My best time was as a solo driver with my young teen son. Minimal stops and he was a trooper about keeping going. We had a single overnight stop in South Carolina for about 8 hours before hitting the road again. Left Eastern Ontario around 7:00 am, drove 14-15 hours first day, 7-8 the next, arriving mid-afternoon. Road time was still 23 hours, but trip time was pretty good, all in about 32 hours. Your time from Niagara is probably 2-3 hours shorter than ours.

BUT I have a lot of stamina for long haul driving. Know your limits and drive within them. Plan for longer if you are at all bothered by the thought of going that long without much break. Plan for two nights on the road if you don't like interstate driving after dark. Plan for longer if you have passengers who need frequent rest or recreation stops. Plan for less time if you don't give a darn about speeding tickets (well, plan for more if you end up as one of the many Ontario drivers we see pulled over with a State Trooper parked conveniently behind).

 

[Newliskeardfamily]

Wow great stories. How much cheaper is it to drive instead of fly?

 

[hardis5]

Checkout 5Dreamers recent post on driving down March Break. http://www.disboards.com/threads/our-drivive-to-wdw-from-the-gta-over-march-break

How much you'll save will depend on how many are driving down with you/flying. I've spent almost $450 CDN out of Pearson but we are flying out of Cleveland for $74 USD round trip (direct flights) next month. So how much depends how many and from where. 5Dreamer spent $199 USD for gas and that is impossible to beat when talking Buffalo or Pearson if having the time and stamina to drive.

 

[Newliskeardfamily]

holy heck! That rate from Cleveland is amazing! How did you get that?

 

[hardis5]

Spirit and their $9 club fare. Our dates are little higher now but May 17-24 (one day later are still $38 USD each way direct available still). This means I remembered ours $1 cheaper than thought each way so ours was $76 round trip. Buffalo has some nice fares, Detroit is cheaper normally, so we just looked a little further afield (3 more hours further than Buffalo) saving over $500+ USD ($800+ USD on today's fares) and booked Cleveland. We have friends who've flown from Latrobe many times to save the further drive of 15 hours from there. It is that flight/time equation that each time we look at. Driven many times but when I pay little more than drivng and save 17 hours of driving each way, the decision is virtually made for me.

 

[ottjdub]

Checkout 5Dreamers recent post on driving down March Break. http://www.disboards.com/threads/our-drivive-to-wdw-from-the-gta-over-march-break

just an updated link.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/ou...e-gta-over-march-break.3499876/#post-55518658

Driving is a different Adventure in it's own. If you enjoy driving then give it try. Stop and enjoy some of the sites on the way down and on the way back. If you are a golfer then you can stop at the Golf Hall of Fame http://www.worldgolfhalloffame.org/ or drive through Augusta Georgia and drive by one of the most famous Golf Courses in the world. http://www.masters.com/en_US/index.html

There is http://www.thesouthoftheborder.com/ a cheesy tourist stop but fun for the kids to get out and stretch their legs.

There are many pros and cons to driving, either way enjoy the trip.

 

[Newliskeardfamily]

Am not familiar with Spirit and their $9 club. Sounds interesting.

 

[bankr63]

Wow great stories. How much cheaper is it to drive instead of fly?

Here's our breakdown for March break (posted elsewhere). You'll have to decide what costs to use for the comparison, Some include hotels and gas, but I think of the drive as part of the vacation, especially the night after St Augustine that was a part of the trip plan anyway.

The dollar situation also had us decide to do this one on the cheap, so we drove down, and limited our activity a bit - 2 park days, and a day in St Augustine FL, otherwise just pool time and shopping therapy. In general, I think we were pretty successful. Our general cost breakdown is (all costs in US$):

• $304 Fuel (Chev Traverse 7 passenger full-size CUV)
• $286 Hotels on road (3 nights, breakfast included at all 3)
• $1000 Sheraton Vistana Resort 7 nights, maintenance fees and property taxes for 2016
• $547 Dining (6 Dinners, 6 Lunches, and one breakfast, plus a bunch of snacking during our two park days)
• $0.00 Park tickets - 1 MK and 1 AK day on existing 10day WPFAMNE Tickets from 4 (?) years ago. Don't actually recall what we spent for these all that time ago...
• $735 Groceries and Liquor. Sounds like a LOT but we bring a lot of groceries home with us. Favorite US brands that we can't get up here in Canada. For instance I think there were 16 cases of pop (oh sorry, soda) by the end of it all (Blenheim's Ginger Ale and Cheerwine from the Carolinas mostly, but also some Sierra Mist and Polar Fruit Sodas). We ate/drank maybe $200 of that while there. I bought a case of beer for pool day beverages and still brought a half of that home with us.
• $525 incidentals and souvenirs.

Total US spend was $3350 for the trip (2 people, 9 days), of which about $1000 was not trip related (stuff we brought home). Our average US$ exchange paid was $1.32 Canadian (range $1.341 to $1.304). Still heartily recommend the Amazon card for our Canadian travellers. The rates tracked very closely to the Bank of Canada (no exchange fees), plus the 1% cash back that has already appeared on my statement. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job of keeping our costs down for a quick economy trip.

 

[cottontail]

Hi: We drive down from Hamilton and yes it is 20 hours, my husband does all the driving. We go thru ny, pa the virginias, nc, sc, ga etc. We always make a habit of stopping for washroom breaks either at a wendys (grab a snack from their value menu, used to be 99.cents and usually clean washrooms) or at the beginning of each new state you will see a welcome centre. These have staff running them rather than some of the welcome centres with no staff, it is much safer and cleaner.

Watch your speed at Summersville WV route 19 for the speed trap google it. We drive 12 1/2 to 13 hours to Columbia SC, and stop overnight. We pick a hotel with continental breakfast to get on the road quickly. It does feel a little long 13 hours, you might want to stop at 12 hours and do a little longer the next day. Next day approx 7 to 7 and 1/2 hours in Orlando from Columbia SC.

We always have a case of water and small snacks with us. The drive is very nice mostly two lanes going one way with a huge grassy median and two lanes going the opposite way and nice scenery.

 

[mshanson3121]

Wow great stories. How much cheaper is it to drive instead of fly?

For us, as a family of 4 it was significantly cheaper than the cost of 4 flights, parking, luggage, and a rental car for 12 nights. We drove from Atlantic Canada, 28 hours, spread it out over 3 days, DH did all the driving. We used www.hotelcoupons.com to get phenomenal deals on hotels (never paid more than $65 US per night and that included full hot breakfast each morning). We took a cooler with us and kept it filled with drinks and stuff to make quick lunches with (PB & J sandwhiches, apples, celery, carrot sticks, granola bars etc) which also saved on cost. Between free breakfast at the hotel and lunches we packed, we only had to buy one meal per day.

Our breakdown was roughly this (there and back):

Tolls: $20
Gas: $250
Lodging: $300
Meals: $150

Total: $720US

Compared to the cost for flying:

Flight: $1100
Rental Car: $350
Parking: $150
Luggage: $100

Total: $1700

 

[ontdvc2015]

I have driven to Disney 5-6 times now and other than maybe an hour or 2, I have been the only driver. I always try to get most of the driving done in the first day, so we generally leave around 4am and drive until 7-8pm. That was until we had kids and started traveling with them. It is something 1 person can do, but it just depends on your stamina and your patience. I HATE traffic, so if its around 5-6pm and we hit traffic, that usually means the stop for the night will be coming sooner rather than later. I general take 2 days to drive down just because of the costs of the hotels. If money wasn't a big issue, then 3 days as the only driver is ideal I think. 8 hours a day for each of the days would be nice and you wouldn't be as burned out once you finally made it.

I love hearing about other peoples driving trips, even though it takes a while, its still a fun part of the vacation experience!

 

[starvenger]

Not a fan of traffic either. My old job had me travel across the GTA from Markham to the airport area. No bueno.

Only road trip with the kids was a multi-city one: Montreal - Portland, ME - Boston. The kids were 2 and 5 at the time, so I tried to keep the car travel under 6 hours each time, which meant that there was an overnight in Syracuse on the way back from Boston. It worked out for us.

We may do another road trip next year. Looking at a PCH journey as I've relatives in the Bay Area, and my brother's relocated to the Los Angeles suburbs. And the kids are probably better able to handle longer drives. If my sister-in-law and her family come over, we may pivot and head to Myrtle Beach (or indeed, Orlando) instead.

The reason I bring my trip up is that while the stamina and patience of the driver(s) is the most important factor in driving time, it pays to understand how everyone else in your party handles long trips, and how to adjust accordingly. For me, I know that I can go 10-12 hours (with 1 or 2 breaks) on the road in a day, but the kids aren't up to that yet.

 

[LdnCpl]

Wow great stories. How much cheaper is it to drive instead of fly?

Depends on how many people are going. If there is only 2 of you then the difference in cost of flying versus driving is minimal so I'd pay the little more and fly. However if there's 4 or more, than driving down could save you hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I'm basing this on a departure out of a US airport. From a Canadian airport the savings is substantial.

 

[FigmentSpark]

We drive every year, rent a van and it's still cheaper than Air Canada by $1000! It takes us 2 days driving to get home from Orlando, but 2.5 days to get there. I think my husband just likes an extra stop in Savannah with a hot tub before running the Disney line up marathon. Anyway, yes, WATCH YOUR SPEED ON THE 19! You can go around the 19 through Charleston, but that's an extra 2.5 hours. Not worth it, just watch the signs (they change at funny places, which is how they get you). We do Toronto to Beckley, WV, then Savannah, then Orlando. On the way back, we stay in Bluefield, then home the next night.

 

[Newliskeardfamily]

wow. great info. dont blame him for the hot tub stop. Disney is so non stop!

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Thanks for all of this. My family of six basically has to drive or else we fly, rent a minivan, and then not eat during the trip.
We are west of the GTA, and our big debate is going through Ft. Erie or going through Windsor to catch I-75 down. It's three hours to Windsor, two to Ft. Erie for us. Google Maps says going to Michigan and taking I-75 saves two hours, but it feels so counter-intuitive.
We went through Ft. Erie and Pennsylvania on our way to Washington, DC, in 2012, and that was OK. We are visiting my aunt in South Carolina this time, so we're driving there, and then stopping for the night. She's only five hours away from Orlando. We figure we should push it, and have a big marathon drive at the start of the vacation, when we're fresh.
Our plan for the return is to take it easier. So Orlando to SC, spend the night, then SC to Washington, DC, spend a second night, and then DC to home.

 

[FigmentSpark]

My reply from the other thread:

I have heard that going through Windsor is better... better highways and less tolls. We always go through Fr. Erie and only once had trouble - a pile-up in Pittsburgh put us behind by an hour (right at lunch and we were starving, of course!) I think weather makes a difference, too. If you're going in Jan. or Feb. when the weather in the mountains is iffy, the 75 might be better. We always seem to go in mid-March, so not as much of a weather problem.