Driving To Disney World Activities

[myhouseofmouse]

I think you will be fine. Many folks swear by the "state line gift" and I think that will be something I will do for our next trip.


I don't know the route you are taking as we haven't driven it, but we have stopped in SC to see the giant peach water tower, Charlotte NC has a giant baseball water tower, Metropolis IL has a giant statue of Superman. I am sure your route will have a surprise along the road, even if it's "how many chik-fil-a cows can we find"

Enjoy your trip!!

Great info, thank you...What is the "State line gift"??? never heard of that...

i love the destination places idea too...One the way down we are planning on driving straight thru and leaving at dinner time so "Hopefully" the kids will sleep most of the night going down. However, on the way back we are planning on stopping and staying the night somewhere, so there cdould be some time to check out a few of those places.

p.s. planning on taking 95 all the way down from Philly. (we live 2 hours north of philly)

 

[nono]

p.s. planning on taking 95 all the way down from Philly. (we live 2 hours north of philly)

We also make a big deal of stopping at the "last Wawa before FL" when driving down... Figuring where you are from, you might be into that. VA is the end of the line at the moment until FL.

Since we often take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and cut down through VA Beach, our "last Wawa" is in VA Beach area. For you coming down I-95, I'm guessing it would be Richmond area.

 

[myhouseofmouse]

We also make a big deal of stopping at the "last Wawa before FL" when driving down... Figuring where you are from, you might be into that. VA is the end of the line at the moment until FL.

Since we often take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and cut down through VA Beach, our "last Wawa" is in VA Beach area. For you coming down I-95, I'm guessing it would be Richmond area.

Very good information...That is a big thing around these parts, nothing like a WAWA anywherwe else we have been. A good heads up I will have to find out where that last one is.

thanks

 

[Desnik]

When my kids were younger magnetic games, colorforms travel kits, and actvity books were a big hit! I use to buy some toys/activities/games/books from the dollar store and wrap it up to give them "prizes" for being good on the trip at every state line.

Now, my kids are 10 & 15 and they mainly use their iPhones and iPads on the trip. They nap, watch movies, play games with their apps, listen to music, and we all talk.

We have flown and drove down to Disney many times. They both have their pluses & minuses. You just have to make the best of it & make the ride fun for the kids, and the adults

 

[MOpGrad2013]

Just clicked back and saw your question.

Before your trip, stop at the local dollar tree or other discount store and pick up coloring book, small novelty toys (party favor stuff)...Then you can place it in brown paper lunch bags or wrap with gift wrap. Each state line, the kids get to open a new gift to keep them occupied until the next state.

Some people add facts about the state or a small map (mapquest or AAA trip tik) of the area they will travel through. Example, I would make a map showing the route through TN on I-24 all the way to Georgia.

 

[myhouseofmouse]

Just clicked back and saw your question.

Before your trip, stop at the local dollar tree or other discount store and pick up coloring book, small novelty toys (party favor stuff)...Then you can place it in brown paper lunch bags or wrap with gift wrap. Each state line, the kids get to open a new gift to keep them occupied until the next state.

Some people add facts about the state or a small map (mapquest or AAA trip tik) of the area they will travel through. Example, I would make a map showing the route through TN on I-24 all the way to Georgia.

LOL...Thanks a good idea, I think you and the poster right befor eyou suggested the buy gifts and wrap them up, I like the idea of opening them up at state lines and adding some state specific info. Thank you

 

[monorailsilver]

Is the auto train cheaper than flying? We are in the Washington D.C area and depending on if we get a good deal, our tickets will run us about $550 for 3 round trip tickets.

Well I was just able to price out flights on delta since jet blues April ones aren't out yet. To leave from Hartford (45 min. Away) RT would be $800/pp x 5 plus a minimum of $100 for our car to stay there.

Our of NY which we are roughly 2 hours from it was around $350 pp and I would stay at my moms which is 30 min from the NY line in CT. But I'd have to either drive and park at one of the airports or take a limo which would be a minimum of $200.

Oh and those flights were into ft. Myers not MCO.

Then we would want to rent a car. We are headed to my sisters during April vacation which ends in Easter. I could use her car but what if she needed to go out.

Plus I want my beach cart and my kids want their boogie boards (which I forgot to pack this past April....I never heard the end if that one!) and my umbrellas for the beach. I don't need chairs since she has quite a few.

If I was going to Disney, we would fly because we wouldn't need a car.

I did book rooms both ways and it was just under $1900 RT. which is more then a plane ticket pp but we have a car and all our crap and 2 meals.

 

[myhouseofmouse]

Yeah I think with taking the auto train you really have to do the math and take ALL costs (and time) into consideration.

 

[myhouseofmouse]

waht is the AAA trip Tix???

 

[sharadoc]

Great info, thank you...What is the "State line gift"??? never heard of that...

i love the destination places idea too...One the way down we are planning on driving straight thru and leaving at dinner time so "Hopefully" the kids will sleep most of the night going down. However, on the way back we are planning on stopping and staying the night somewhere, so there cdould be some time to check out a few of those places.

p.s. planning on taking 95 all the way down from Philly. (we live 2 hours north of philly)

We are not fans of the straight through drive. Here's the schedule that works PERFECT for us:

Get a good night's sleep so you're not driving and starting the trip tired and cranky. Leave home at 9 am, stop on the road for dinner, then drive a couple more hours to northern Georgia, stop around 10 pm.

Get up the next morning and get back on the road around 9-9:30, have breakfast at the hotel or on the road, stop at the Florida Visitor Center for free juice and tons of brochures and magazines about Disney to page through the rest of the way. Drive 4 hours to Disney World and arrive right at check-in time.

Completely rested and relaxed, we take bags to the room and unpack, walk out the door and hit a park! And have a great first day!!!

No, we are not losing a day. We would still check in the same day and stay the same amount of time no matter how we arrived.

We have tried leaving at 4 am and driving straight through and have wasted the second day as zombies. In your case, it could be worse because your kids could be well rested and only you and your DW will be zombies, which means you'll still have to go out and hit the parks as if you slept.

We have a Virgin Mobile hotspot that can connect 5 devices via WiFi, last I looked it was really cheap from Virgin. Cost is $50 for a month of unlimited internet access, no contract so we only use it on trips. We used it in our room too, until free WiFi hit Disney World. But it's great to use on the road. I work from home and will be doing so on our departure day - I'll be working in the car LOL.

 

[myhouseofmouse]

We are not fans of the straight through drive. Here's the schedule that works PERFECT for us:

Get a good night's sleep so you're not driving and starting the trip tired and cranky. Leave home at 9 am, stop on the road for dinner, then drive a couple more hours to northern Georgia, stop around 10 pm.

Get up the next morning and get back on the road around 9-9:30, have breakfast at the hotel or on the road, stop at the Florida Visitor Center for free juice and tons of brochures and magazines about Disney to page through the rest of the way. Drive 4 hours to Disney World and arrive right at check-in time.

Completely rested and relaxed, we take bags to the room and unpack, walk out the door and hit a park! And have a great first day!!!

No, we are not losing a day. We would still check in the same day and stay the same amount of time no matter how we arrived.

We have tried leaving at 4 am and driving straight through and have wasted the second day as zombies. In your case, it could be worse because your kids could be well rested and only you and your DW will be zombies, which means you'll still have to go out and hit the parks as if you slept.

We have a Virgin Mobile hotspot that can connect 5 devices via WiFi, last I looked it was really cheap from Virgin. Cost is $50 for a month of unlimited internet access, no contract so we only use it on trips. We used it in our room too, until free WiFi hit Disney World. But it's great to use on the road. I work from home and will be doing so on our departure day - I'll be working in the car LOL.

Sounds like a good plan, I know I am crazy about the whole leaving at dinner time..whats worse is that we are leaving Thanksgiving Night...eating an early dinner with the whole family, then leaving to be on the road by 6pm. I guess I just keep thinking it will make the drive so much better for everyone driving over night. I know this plan works only if the kids and wife actaully get some sleep and if I can stay awake and not crash the car.

Does anyone else have suggestions tips for Best time to leave for a driving trip????

 

[Carriesouthard]

Sounds like a good plan, I know I am crazy about the whole leaving at dinner time..whats worse is that we are leaving Thanksgiving Night...eating an early dinner with the whole family, then leaving to be on the road by 6pm. I guess I just keep thinking it will make the drive so much better for everyone driving over night. I know this plan works only if the kids and wife actaully get some sleep and if I can stay awake and not crash the car.

Does anyone else have suggestions tips for Best time to leave for a driving trip????

We plan on driving all night too. DH will drive while the kiddos and I sleep hopefully!!! 1st time driving so we shall see...

 

[nono]

Sounds like a good plan, I know I am crazy about the whole leaving at dinner time..whats worse is that we are leaving Thanksgiving Night...eating an early dinner with the whole family, then leaving to be on the road by 6pm. I guess I just keep thinking it will make the drive so much better for everyone driving over night. I know this plan works only if the kids and wife actaully get some sleep and if I can stay awake and not crash the car.

Does anyone else have suggestions tips for Best time to leave for a driving trip????

LMAO -- we are leaving at 4 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving...so everyone has their "sweet spot." Funny thing is, we've done it overnight, all day, early rise, late rise...but for us, which is what is different than sharadoc's sweet spot, is I really dwindle on the energy as the day goes on...so if we have me drive the overnights or early am hours, we get further.

In the end, it's all about our own travel family's unique characteristics...

 

[MickeyMaz]

We also make a big deal of stopping at the "last Wawa before FL" when driving down... Figuring where you are from, you might be into that. VA is the end of the line at the moment until FL.

Since we often take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and cut down through VA Beach, our "last Wawa" is in VA Beach area. For you coming down I-95, I'm guessing it would be Richmond area.

We saw them opening a Wawa not far from the parks down when we were down in April. Do you know where the Walmart is off of 192?

We have two flavors of driving down from the Philly area. With the DW and without the DW.

With the DW, we leave at around 7:00 pm and drive right through. She'll drive until midnight and then I go until 8:00am. She'll drive the rest of the way after that. We get to Orlando a little after noon.

I teach, so in the summer, we all drive down and the wife flies as she works during the summer. So, without the DW, we leave at 4:30 am to get past DC before their morning rush gets going. We stop in St. Augustine for the night and drive the rest of the way in the morning. In St. Augustine, if we made good time we have dinner and go to the Disney Outlet store. We leave early and get to Orlando by 11:00 am.

 

[sharadoc]

In the end, it's all about our own travel family's unique characteristics...

Exactly right! That's why I never say what anyone does is wrong, it just doesn't work for us.

Sounds like a bunch of us are arriving day or two after Thanksgiving! We should meet up

One other thing to folks reading this. If you've never driven that far before, and this is your first ever long driving trip, then an overnight drive is NOT recommended. The "for 2000+ mile drivers" thread is chock full of information, advice, horror stories, and overall good and bad info for just about every situation. Come on over there and join us. There are a TON of PA drivers too.

A common opinion though is NOT to do your first ever long drive as an overnighter. We did our first drive in 1994, we tried straight through for the first time in 2011. We were road veterans, knew what it took to drive that long, had our routines down pat. The straight-through was still a nightmare!

One other thing I advocate - jump off I-4 onto 417 at Sanford and take that to WDW. You miss the downtown Orlando and crazy driver traffic. You'll need around $7.50 in tolls, but it's really worth it!

 

[myhouseofmouse]

Sounds like a bunch of us are arriving day or two after Thanksgiving! We should meet up

One other thing to folks reading this. If you've never driven that far before, and this is your first ever long driving trip, then an overnight drive is NOT recommended. The "for 2000+ mile drivers" thread is chock full of information, advice, horror stories, and overall good and bad info for just about every situation. Come on over there and join us. There are a TON of PA drivers too.

A common opinion though is NOT to do your first ever long drive as an overnighter. We did our first drive in 1994, we tried straight through for the first time in 2011. We were road veterans, knew what it took to drive that long, had our routines down pat. The straight-through was still a nightmare!

One other thing I advocate - jump off I-4 onto 417 at Sanford and take that to WDW. You miss the downtown Orlando and crazy driver traffic. You'll need around $7.50 in tolls, but it's really worth it!

Sounds like good advise, I will look into the I-4 onto 417 route. I have done the over night drives before, I'll be honest it has been a few (maybe 16) years sinc emy last long trip, It will be my families first long trip.

 

[Carriesouthard]

Sounds like good advise, I will look into the I-4 onto 417 route. I have done the over night drives before, I'll be honest it has been a few (maybe 16) years sinc emy last long trip, It will be my families first long trip.

We have driven 16 hours before and the drive to wdw should be around 20 (driving time) so I think we will be ok. We usually wake up about 3am and hit the road...this will be our 1st overnight trip!

 

[myhouseofmouse]

We have driven 16 hours before and the drive to wdw should be around 20 (driving time) so I think we will be ok. We usually wake up about 3am and hit the road...this will be our 1st overnight trip!

Good Luck, Have a good trip

 

[myhouseofmouse]

One other thing to folks reading this. If you've never driven that far before,
One other thing I advocate - jump off I-4 onto 417 at Sanford and take that to WDW. You miss the downtown Orlando and crazy driver traffic. You'll need around $7.50 in tolls, but it's really worth it!

I was lookin gat the maps for this, about how much time does this save?? and do you recommend it coming and going???

 

[pepe of ohio]

I was lookin gat the maps for this, about how much time does this save?? and do you recommend it coming and going???

I read this before we left home with the intentions of using the 417.... But we arrived at the junction around 4:30 am and there was no traffic at all so stayed on I4.. Clear sailing right to WDW... Same leaving for home, left WDW at 6 am and breezed up the I4 thru Orlando with no trouble..

Guess the time of day is very critical deciding when to by pass I4...