Driving to FW from California - Any Advice?

[Escape Artist]

Thanks, everyone!

Yes, we already have reservations for 3/12-19 at FW. We have 4-5 days to drive each way, so not too much time to stop and sightsee. For the way there, we are thinking about stopping near Tucson day 1, Houston (Space Center?) day 2, New Orleans area day 3, then off to Orlando for night 4, so we can check in at FW at a reasonable time of day 5. The way back can be a completely different route, but we still have only the same number of days. My husband is a consultant paid hourly so that is all we can afford to take off right now!

Laurie in Carlsbad, CA

If you can work it out, the Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL, (about an hour down the road past Orlando) is way better than the one in Houston. The one in Houston is good, but the one in Florida is a lot better. Plus you can look for a spot where your West Coast kids can dip their toes in the Atlantic if you want, since you'd be right on the coast.

We stopped at the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert on our way thru. They didn't take very long and the Petrified Forest had a decent Jr. Ranger program that my kids did fairly quickly and still learned alot.

Your trip sounds like a bit of a whirlwind tour, but you're going to have a great time! When you get near Bex's place in Katy, wave north 25 miles to me! Actually, not too far from here is a Jellystone Park campground which is quite nice (pool/spray ground, lakes & trees, nightly kid movies), but if you're just looking to sleep and then hit the road again, it's probably not worth the 20 miles out of your way (it's near 290 & 1098).

Actually, I'd love to come back out your way. I miss Legoland!

Have a great trip!

Sue in Texas (Just NW of Houston)

 

[PrincessNana]

When you go through Houston, you should be coming in on I 10. Take a couple of rolls of quarters and take the Sam Houston Tollway. From your direction go to the right when you enter the tollway. Stay on it until you reach I 10 on the other side of Houston. You'll go through about 5 or 6tollbooths , the last one being a tall bridge over the Houston Ship Channel, but you'll miss most of the Houston traffic. This will put you on I 10 near Baytown. There's not much to see in this area. (I grew up here) Its all industrial. At this point, its only about 2 hours to Lake Charles, LA.
Have a great trip!

 

[Robb471]

We are thinking about almost the exact same trip, late March - early April 2009. We have three weeks (I'm going to try for 4) and are coming from near Sacramento, Ca. Airfare for the four of us (Wife, 2 boys 5 & 8) would be close to $2300 on Southwest, Diesel in the Motorhome would be another 50% or so of that.

We were thinking about hitting Tombstone, AZ, Schlitterbahn Water Park in NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas along with the Alamo, and maybe New Orleans for the WWII Museum and Bourbon St. on the way there. Then maybe only Graceland on the way back (although DollyWood is a close second), then just power driving.

I figure 7 days out, 10 days at FW with a 7 day ticket, which leaves 4-5 days back.

Are we nuts? The kids are on a year -round school schedule and this is the last year for that. We may never get a better time to go without a loss of school time thats not in the summertime.

Were just kicking it around, but it sounds like a vacation to remember....(if we dont all kill each other first!

 

[mh1973]

Would love to hear how the op trip was.

 

[mrsscooter]

Me too me too......I would love to hear how the trip went! Our family loves to roadtrip especially my kids. They are 8 and almost 7 and are at the ages now where we can play the corny-but-fun car games like license plat bingo. We bought a used tt last spring and have enjoyed just picking up and going for a long weekend, sometimes with no real plans or reservations....just drive until we're tired. We have a trip scheduled for next october down to the fort for two weeks....we plan on taking 2-3 days down 10 days at the fort and another 2-3 back up. Its still a year away, but my kids are already making the lists of what to bring in the truck!!! Road trips are great no matter where you go as long as your with family ......and nowadays anytime spent with the kids is precious.....its only a matter of time before they get older and realize that hanging out the parents on vacation just isnt "cool"anymore!!

 

[Robb471]

No one else has made this trip? OK, now I'm getting nervous...

 

[ntsammy5]

Man this is an old thread - I only live 22 hours away and I won't makw the trip driving - fly every time,......................................

I'm ripped though s take this comment for what it's wotrth

 

[MadFF]

lol, now I want to know how the trip went!

 

[cruisinbeagle]

Robb471,

Sorry for not responding sooner but I haven’t visited the boards in awhile.

We live in Southern California and have done this trip 3 times, the first two times towing a travel trailer and this last time a 5th Wheel, and would do it again in a heartbeat. Only once did we fly and I would vote for driving over flying any day. There is nothing like camping and seeing the US with your kids.

The first time we went my kids were 4 & 7 and we took a month long trip, 9 days to get there (I-10), 9 days in WDW & Cape Canaveral and 12 days home (I-40). This trip was focused on WDW but we had time to fit in extra days going and coming and seeing and doing a lot. We spent extra nights in places like San Antonio, New Orleans, Cape Canaveral & Pigeon Forge.

Our second trip our kids were 13 & 16 and we had 24 days. We took 7 days across (I-40), 11 days in WDW and 6 days home (I-10). Our main focus was spending time in WDW so we didn’t spend extra time anywhere else.

Our last trip just last year in May our daughter (26) went with us and we took 25 days. We spent 6 days to get there (I-10), 12 days at WDW, and 7 days home (I-40). We again focused on spending our time at WDW but we did spend more time in San Antonio, Memphis & Flagstaff. We just made sure we stayed somewhere close to our destination the night before so we would have a short distance to travel the following day and then we would have almost a full day in those places. We had to drive further distances on the other days but since we don’t have young kids anymore that wasn’t a problem.

I would say go for it! Your plans are very similar and you should have a wonderful trip. My only advice would be is if you could possibly add a day or two onto your trip home it would make a world of difference otherwise it will make for very long driving days and not give you time for anything else. Don’t cut any time from WDW because you’ll be sorry if you do.

Sorry for the long post but I hope this helps. If there is anything else I can help you with just ask.

 

[minnieandmickey]

My husband and I were just talking about a trip like this tonight for our DD grad trip in 2011 She is develomentally disabled and would love doing a road trip like this. So for now the plan is to take 10 days to get to WDW, 10 days @ WDW, and 10 days back a different route. I am a school secretary and am off during the month of July, so the plan is to take the last 2 weeks of June off and drive to WDW and spend the 4th of July there, then head back after 10 days. We've been to Fl many times so we can focus on the parks those days. Now the question is do we pull the pop up or do we just hotel and cabin it