Driving to Disney from Maine

[DisMomme]

We're driving down to Disney this August from Maine with 2 boys, 12 & 14 We usually drive up to Canada in a day (8-9 hour trip) with no problems and only a few "necessary" stops. Where is a reasonable place to stop on our way down to Florida? Friends suggested Rocky Mount NC as a good place to find hotels along the way. Is that doable in a day? With traffic and such. Also, what time should we leave? Btw Midnight 2 am or later? We'd love to avoid as much rush hour traffic in Boston, CT, NY etc. Thanks for any advice!
~Kim

 

[Missytara]

You will most likely have to call ahead, and you may have to stay away from the beach and resort areas. I live in DE and in July/August time frames, most hotels along the beaches require a three night minimum stay. I tried last year to go to Ocean City, MD one night for my birthday in August; and they required I book it for three nights. I ended up doing something else to Baltimore instead.

Also we are noticing in my neck of the woods that people are tending to stay close to home and the beaches in DE have been packed. Also people seem to be taking three day weekends this year, all summer, rather than a one-week or two-week vacation. So traffic tends to be very heavy around the Baltimore/DC area on Thursdays, Fridays and Sunday nights because so many people from DC own properties at the DE beaches.

Rocky Mountain is a beautiful area and you would enjoy it immensely, but I would phone ahead just to be sure....

 

[Shih-Tzu]

No sure where you are in Maine - but we drove once from New Brunswick...We left here at 8:00am (7:00am your time) and crossed at Houton at 9:00am (8:00am your time)...we had our normal stops (meals, breaks, etc) but our first over night stop (which was around 8:00pm) was at Carney' Point, NJ (which is just at the end of the NJ Turnpike before you go into Delaware). (Although we got "lost" in Trenton NJ somehow - got off the turnpike somehow and the rest is history...) I believe the hotel was a Howard Johnson's at the time and the rate was reasonable and it included a breakfast in an "atrium" type affair beside the swimming pool. We left there the next morning and we were entering VA outside of Washington around noon.. (we got on the Auto Train there, sorry I'm not much help after that part....)

 

[francie57]

We are in CT (about 3.5 hours from Kennebunk, for reference) and can get to Goldsboro, NC in just over 12 hours. So depending on where you are and the day of the week you are traveling you could make it to NC. For traffic in CT it also depends if you are traveling Rt. 84 or Rt. 95. Rt. 95 is a mess during rush hour. I would avoid 95 until after 9:00 a.m. to be on the safe side. We avoid 95 completely and use the Rt 84 to 684 route and then pick up the Garden State Parkway and then pick-up 95. It is longer mileage but shorter time/traffic wise.

 

[KELLY]

I'm from Wells and would do it but my girls are so little. That is just not happening this year. We got awesome airfare out of Portland for 700.00 for 4 or us. Portland is only 30 minutes from our house and we booked non-stop flights. It would have cost us more to drive because we would have to stay at a hotel for a night and one on the way back. Good luck. I did it pleanty of times when we were kids and never thought it was bad. Unless my dad didin't listen to my mom and we got lost. We would laugh at him.

 

[Robert P]

We're driving down to Disney this August from Maine with 2 boys, 12 & 14 We usually drive up to Canada in a day (8-9 hour trip) with no problems and only a few "necessary" stops. Where is a reasonable place to stop on our way down to Florida? Friends suggested Rocky Mount NC as a good place to find hotels along the way. Is that doable in a day? With traffic and such. Also, what time should we leave? Btw Midnight 2 am or later? We'd love to avoid as much rush hour traffic in Boston, CT, NY etc. Thanks for any advice!
~Kim

Rocky Mount, NC is the first major exit in NC on I-95. I would say that is a good place to stop, and is reachable from Maine in one day, depending on traffic and time of day you drive. (Though I can't offer much input on when to leave, b/c I don't deal with rush hour up there on a regular basis).

 

[TheWog]

Where in Maine you are coming from makes a difference. Since it takes 8-9 hours to get to Canada I will assume you are southern Maine (York, Wells, Kennebunkport, etc.). If you leave at midnight you will make it past NYC before rush hour hits and should be fine through that area and hopefully make it past DC before the evening rush begins. Beyond that I do not have personal experience. Good luck.

 

[tami82]

Rocky Mount is a great stopover. We stopped there on our way to Myrtle beach and stayed in the courtyard by marriott. Very nice hotel we had a huge king bed. The indoor pool was nice as was the outdoor couryard area. There were some nice restaurants in walking distance, Texas Steakhouse & Saloon was very good.

 

[DisMomme]

Thanks for all the great replies and tips. Especially about avoiding 95 in the CT area. I don't mind the extra miles if it means quicker travel.

Good guesses everyone, we live in Kittery (barely in Maine).

 

[a1tinkfans]

We're driving down to Disney this August from Maine with 2 boys, 12 & 14 We usually drive up to Canada in a day (8-9 hour trip) with no problems and only a few "necessary" stops. Where is a reasonable place to stop on our way down to Florida? Friends suggested Rocky Mount NC as a good place to find hotels along the way. Is that doable in a day? With traffic and such. Also, what time should we leave? Btw Midnight 2 am or later? We'd love to avoid as much rush hour traffic in Boston, CT, NY etc. Thanks for any advice!
~Kim

Kim
Have a SAFE trip, thats a LONG haul!!!

I grew up driving from NY to Fla and have very fond memories....5 kids in the back of a station wagon, a few buckets of homemade fried chicken....a stop at South of The border.....now those were the days...
Have a WONDERFUL vacation!!!

 

[Rockmtn]

We made the drive last year. We live in the Greater Portland area.
My son was almost 5 at the time.
We decided that we would leave at 10pm. That way we could get through CT and NY during non busy times. We ended up getting through Washington DC at about 6-7 in the morning. Once out of DC was pretty much clear sailing. I took a break and my Wife drove for about 4 hrs between 4 and 8.
The great thing was my son slept all night and woke up at about 6:30.
The plan was to drive to Savannah GA that first day. We got in about 4 in the afternoon.
Getting in at that time gave us alot of time to recover from the long first day.
We visited some outlet stores and went out to a nice dinner and got to bed at a reasonable hr.
Next day we had a short 4hr drive to Orlando and got in about 1pm. Was nice not to have a full day of driving on our arrival day.

This is where we stopped in Savannah. Was clean, right off the exit and had plenty of dining choices close by. Was a nice area as well.

http://www.hotelplanner.com/Hotel/H...utDate=04/21/08&Bid_ID=0&NumRooms=1&NumBeds=2

I think we actually paid about $63 total for the night.

 

[TheWog]

Thanks for all the great replies and tips. Especially about avoiding 95 in the CT area. I don't mind the extra miles if it means quicker travel.

Good guesses everyone, we live in Kittery (barely in Maine).

If you leave at 10:00 p.m. or midnight you will make it past NYC before rush hour so I wouldn't take the long route at that hour. I would go 95 to the Tappan Zee, but that is me. Have a safe trip.

 

[DisMomme]

Kim
Have a SAFE trip, thats a LONG haul!!!

I grew up driving from NY to Fla and have very fond memories....5 kids in the back of a station wagon, a few buckets of homemade fried chicken....a stop at South of The border.....now those were the days...
Have a WONDERFUL vacation!!!

I remember trips like that too. Sooo much fun, usually

We made the drive last year. We live in the Greater Portland area.
My son was almost 5 at the time.
We decided that we would leave at 10pm. That way we could get through CT and NY during non busy times. We ended up getting through Washington DC at about 6-7 in the morning. Once out of DC was pretty much clear sailing. I took a break and my Wife drove for about 4 hrs between 4 and 8.
The great thing was my son slept all night and woke up at about 6:30.
The plan was to drive to Savannah GA that first day. We got in about 4 in the afternoon.
Getting in at that time gave us alot of time to recover from the long first day.
We visited some outlet stores and went out to a nice dinner and got to bed at a reasonable hr.
Next day we had a short 4hr drive to Orlando and got in about 1pm. Was nice not to have a full day of driving on our arrival day.

This is where we stopped in Savannah. Was clean, right off the exit and had plenty of dining choices close by. Was a nice area as well.

http://www.hotelplanner.com/Hotel/H...utDate=04/21/08&Bid_ID=0&NumRooms=1&NumBeds=2

I think we actually paid about $63 total for the night.

Great idea to leave at night! Never thought about that. Thanks for the link. 4 hours sounds great for arrival day. Actually we have family down in Sarasota and we had planned on 2 nights down, so maybe we could get in a visit also! Thanks again

 

[ParrotBill]

I-95 will take you across Manhattan and the George Washington Bridge, attempt only after 10pm and before 5am.

Otherwise take an alternate route. Last time we made the drive this way we stopped in Selma, NC. There are many small towns with decent hotels along the way. Use a big travel search engine that has mapping and look at all the small cities in your target area to get a list. You can go without reservations but stop early to find room. If you wait too long after 6pm the hotels fill up with others doing the same thing. Or, pick a spot and make a reservation.

Back to the route. Use maps.google.com and use the drag feature to experiement with alternate route.

Kittery, Maine to Selma, NC:
1) via I-95: 12:47 drive time
2) Via I-95, I-84, I684, I-287, Tappan Zee Bridge & Garden State Pkwy: 13:05 (close enough - do this!)

I also looked at the long route, Kittery ME to Lake Buena Vista, FL
Default route with I-95: 21:45
Alternate using I-95, I-84, I684, I-287, Tappan Zee Bridge & Garden State Pkwy: 22:04
Alternate Route using I-84, I-81, I-77, I-26 then I-95: 23:21

Now I realize that's an hour and a half longer, but, I will tell you that NYC/Newark, and Baltimore, and Washington, and Richmond are not much fun to drive, and quite horrid if you hit any heavy traffic. I also think your average speed will be 55-60 overall through much of this. Plus heavy traffic a lot of the time even if not rush hour.

The longer way is easier more comfortable highway driving. Speed will average closer to 65.

The google estimates seem to assume an average of 63mph. If the I-95 route were 5% slower (60mph) and the I-81 route were 5% faster (66mph), they would change as follows:
I-95 route: From 22 to 23 hours
I-81 route: From 23.3 to 22.1 hours

Interesting, eh? In my experience, I-95 is slower and the other route is faster.

 

[baileybelle]

Hey fellow Mainer! We've driven down 3 times from Biddeford.

The route we usually take is: 95-84-81-66-17-95. You by-pass NY, NJ, DC. The last time we drove down non-stop. Never again!!! We left around 6pm and arrived at 5pm the next day, 23 hours.

The time before that we stopped in NC. We fly now because of the low fares and non-stop service out of Portland on Airtran.

 

[DisMomme]

Hi!

Just wanted to thank everyone who posted routes!! I now have DH mapping everything out and figuring the best time for us to leave and the best route for us to take. Can't wait to get on the road again...

THANKS AGAIN!!!!!!!!