Driving to Disney: From Southern Ontario.

[FirstTimeDisneyDad]

We are driving next month for our trip and since it's our first, I'm not certain how it will go.

We did a similar length drive to Halifax two years ago, but were able to break that up into 3 days with a stop at the in-laws in Montreal, plus our youngest was only 16 months, so we needed to break it up.

We plan on leaving at about 4 AM and driving to just south of Charlotte and stay Rock Hill, SC. I know that many folks use this as a Day 1 stop.

Question - has anyone pushed this day and gone on to Columbia, SC? Is it worth the extra hour? Hotel suggestions? I think that if we drive for about 15 hours (with stops) , then a 6 PM-ish stop around Columbia would be about right.

On the way back , we figure our first day laving WDW will be the easier one (we'll probably leave later then 3 am!) and plan on stopping in Rock Hill again. Then do the tougher day the next one...getting home when we get home.

Our tricks...

Crazy Frog CD, DVD player, 2 screens, tons of movies! That, and our kids are great sleepers in the car.

Thanks for any thoughts on the above question.

Cheers

FTDD

 

[SherryG]

We did the drive to Disney in November. (from G-town too) Left @ 4:00 am and stopped in Rock Hill, SC at 6:30 pm that night. That was 2 bathroom breaks and a stop for lunch & gas. Left Rock Hill, SC @ 7:30 am the next morning and arrived at our hotel in Daytona (spent our 1st night there at the ocean) @ 3:30 pm.

On the way home I would try getting further then Rock Hill, SC or it will make for a VERY long day the next one!! Everyone is alot crankier on the way home then on the way there!! We stopped in Wytheville, VA (about 30 mins. south of the West VA border) on the first day back and then had about a 11 hour drive the next day. (alot more stops too!!) Have a great trip!!

 

[F4disneyfan]

The curtains sound like they work great! We, this year, will have the new Caravan with the table and wireless headphones for the DVD. I am super stoked about that! The windows on the passenger sides, actually come down as well, so I may try to rig something up with a blanket or towel. I don't mind the drive at all really....the drive home kind of sux though.....all the fun is over! We also recline the kids carseats as far as they will go, and this yesr DD just has one of those boosters, that go under your butt, so she will get a better sleep than last year. We were going to drive straight through (DH can stay awake for days...LOL) but just got too tired. We don't plan that part at all...we just kind of go with the flow.

We have the DVD system in our van also but the kids hardly use it they much prefer reading or colouring or listening to music. They also like to play travel games with each other and hours and hours of eye spy to. The DVD gets used for maybe one movie each way now it has been used about 20-30 times max in 4 years of ownership.

 

[temper]

Maybe Lisa or Ham Ham can help out.

We are leaving March 12th 2010 from Mississauga Ontario at about 4pm ish to drive to Orlando. I want to know where we should stop so that we can drive through the mountains during the day. We want to see so we dont want to be stuck driving through at night.

Any help would be great.

Cheers

 

[Cdn Gal]

We are sorry to interrupt this broadcast for....

Go Canada Go!!

 

[cslittle999]

Maybe Lisa or Ham Ham can help out.

We are leaving March 12th 2010 from Mississauga Ontario at about 4pm ish to drive to Orlando. I want to know where we should stop so that we can drive through the mountains during the day. We want to see so we dont want to be stuck driving through at night.

Any help would be great.

Cheers

We're in Orangeville. Pittsburgh is about 6 hours for us. I would be looking for a hotel south of Pittsburgh. Washington, PA might be a good choice. You would have around 15 hours to Orlando from there the next day.

 

[tigercat]

We just finished driving down. We ended up going I-75. The weather was the deciding factor on deciding which route we took. We ended up stopped for 2 hrs. just south of Knoxville TN for an 18 car pile up. We started Fri night, stopped for the night then drove the next day from 9 a.m. until midnight and then arrived at Disney Sun at 2 p.m. This is not the first time we have driven but if I have my drothers I would fly. Because of the weather we had to watch the weather, the roads and our speed. The 2 little ones (2 and 4) were great. I hate driving down. After we added up all the bills for food (we only ate one big meal a day), gas and hotel we could have flown. I love to drive and I ended up doing pretty well all the driving but it was not fun. Did I mention that my dd is also 5 months along with her 3rd? More potty breaks. When I think of the time we could have been resting and in the parks instead of driving......
tigercat

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

Temper i agree on Pittsbourgh. Just south of it I would recomend. Its about 4 hrs from the peace bridge 5 hours from Oakville. Then the mountains will be lit for you to drive during the day. Enjoy your trip.

 

[brytorlyn]

If you are only 3 people I would look seriously at flying out of Buffalo. We live in Oakville and we flew from Buffalo for about $600 bucks (2 adults and 1 child)....much cheaper than from Toronto.

We have driven many times ( I don't like flying if I can avoid it and also we have gone down with 2 kids and treated it like an extension to our vacation). It takes about 21 hours to drive. This can be done as a straight drive, no sleeping with 2 drivers...but it's hell!

WE have done it as a 10 hour drive on day 1 and 11 hours on day 2...and we arrived at night in Orlando and stayed off property and got up early and checked into Disney to get our tickets next morning. Most comfortable for us is the 3 day plan....leave after school on Friday and drive 5 hours or so and then about 8 hours on Sat and Sun and you will arrive Sun night in time to relax and prepare for Disney. This does add another hotel night though ( we travel often and so we usually use Sheraton points for the night in Orlando or get a Priceline room)

My husband just checked flights today and said taxes all in from Buffalo it would be $658 for 3 people.

I like driving but my husbands schedule allows us to take extra time for our trip so dometimes we take a week to go down and a week to come back and a week at Disney. This year we went to Washington and Atlanta as well as other stops on our way there and back.

If you drive you can control costs by packing snacks and even lunch on day one and there are some cheap motels in the states.

 

[brytorlyn]

Oh yeah and my favorite extra stop if you do drive and have a little extra time is Grove City Outlet Mall in near Pittsburgh. Great shopping and prices and NO TAX on clothes. WE always manage to swing by there and there are some great deals especially on kids clothes.