Driving to the World at night

[blairbear]

DH and I are thinking about driving overnight for our September trip. Has anyone done this? If so what were your experiences? Would you recommend doing this or not? Also was there enough open along the intrestate in case we wanted to stop for food or fuel?

Thanks Disers are the best!

Blair

 

[watersbland]

Just curious Blairbear, where are yall driving from? We are doing the same thing for our upcoming trip and we are about an hour east of Raleigh, NC. We have done a fair amount of late night driving for trips and have found along major highways like I-95, there are always plenty of 24 hr gas stations and fast food places open. For us, it just makes sense to miss all the heavy traffic around the larger cities on the way down.

 

[kksmom92]

That's what we always do and it works great for us. My husband works nights so he does the night driving while I sleep and then once morning hits I drive and he tries to sleep. (Hard to sleep with the kids in the van)

We've never had any problems with the driving at night.. we like it so much better because you can hit the cruise and just go. Most of the time my husband will have to touch the brakes is just because he's getting off the expressway to get more gas.

 

[watersbland]

That's what we always do and it works great for us. My husband works nights so he does the night driving while I sleep and then once morning hits I drive and he tries to sleep. (Hard to sleep with the kids in the van)

We've never had any problems with the driving at night.. we like it so much better because you can hit the cruise and just go. Most of the time my husband will have to touch the brakes is just because he's getting off the expressway to get more gas.

I too work nights 6pm-6am so I'm sure I will take the first driving shift. We also have my parents along so with 4 adults that can drive I think we will breeze right through it this time. I'm getting to that point where it's so close to time to go and the excitement is just snowballing now!

 

[NC State]

Watersbland I maybe in your area too.

We will be leaving Friday 9/11 at 1:00 am and driving during the night because husband also works at night. I think traffic will not be a problem until about 7:00 am so we should be about to hit the mid/end of the GA. I just worry about going through Jacksonville!

 

[blairbear]

Just curious Blairbear, where are yall driving from? We are doing the same thing for our upcoming trip and we are about an hour east of Raleigh, NC. We have done a fair amount of late night driving for trips and have found along major highways like I-95, there are always plenty of 24 hr gas stations and fast food places open. For us, it just makes sense to miss all the heavy traffic around the larger cities on the way down.

Watersbland we live in Bristol VA. We are taking the route that takes us to I-95, right before you get to Charlston. I would say that would be the point that we would hit where it would be getting really late. So it's nice to know that there will be a lot open.

My husband works 6-6 swing shift so his schedule changes all the time. But he will be coming off nights so we thought that it might be eaiser to do it that way.

 

[mgilmer]

Last summer we did the all night thing from Nashville to Orlando (13 hours non stop) leaving at 6 pm and getting to Orlando about 8 am. Went down I-75 and found a lot of places (mostly truck stops like Pilot) open. It was tiring (I did all the driving) but doable. That being said, next Dec we are flying.

 

[treeface]

We have done this from northern IN in the past and not had a problem with anything being open after we were south of Indy. We would leave around 6pm and arrive at WDW around 11:30am.

Now we usually stop overnight on the way down and drive all the way on the return, leaving first thing and getting home around 11pm.

From VA, once you are on the interstate, you shouldn't have any problem finding things open during the night, just don't wait until you're on empty!

 

[watersbland]

Watersbland I maybe in your area too.

We will be leaving Friday 9/11 at 1:00 am and driving during the night because husband also works at night. I think traffic will not be a problem until about 7:00 am so we should be about to hit the mid/end of the GA. I just worry about going through Jacksonville!

We are in Greenville so we'll just head out and pick up 95 outside of wilson. Do you think you could post here or pm when you get back and let me know how the trip down went? We too are pretty much only concerned with Jacksonville and you should blow through there around the same time we would. Hopefully everything goes well and you will enjoy your trip!


Watersbland we live in Bristol VA. We are taking the route that takes us to I-95, right before you get to Charlston. I would say that would be the point that we would hit where it would be getting really late. So it's nice to know that there will be a lot open.

My husband works 6-6 swing shift so his schedule changes all the time. But he will be coming off nights so we thought that it might be eaiser to do it that way.


I think you'll be glad you decided to do the late night thing and like other posters have said, along 95 there will be plenty open in the way of gas/fast food. Good luck!

 

[kydisneyfans]

Another night driver here. We take off some time just after midnight and arrive sometime early in the afternoon. I work the same schedule, so it is no big deal. Most gas stations are 24 hours along the interstate, there are a few fast food places open too. Don't wait until the last minute. You can get gas prices for Pilot on their website, that's how I plan my fillups.

Just be careful for animals, don't let your guard down. I have needed to slam the brakes on to avoid deer in more than 1 occasion. I usually find a couple of other vehicles and tag along as the 2nd or 3rd car.

 

[LadyBeBop]

We've travelled at night some, and we've never had any problems finding open gas stations. In fact, most of the non-truck stop gas stations along the interstates are open.

When we go in early 2010, we'll have our 15 month old DGD with us, and we'll probably do the bulk of our driving at night.

 

[mckinley]

We drove overnight back over the summer from Southern Illinois. It works out better for us dd9 sleeps the entire way and that way me make less stops. Me and dh took shifts so that we wasn't so tired the next day so we could still be able to do stuff when we arrived. Also the traffic is not so bad with the exceptions of lots of truckers. The one thing i didn't like was there was several areas were road construction was going on and its harder to see the workers at night.

 

[fsmith2845]

we have made the trip from SE Va.. left at like 8pm and hit the florida line at like 6am.. WE drove all through the night (well I did mostly) while DW and DD's slept. My wife took over at the first rest stop in FLa and drove us into Orlando. We hit the resort, freshen up a bit and go to Downtown Disney for lunch, shopping.. come back get our room then hit a park if we're up for it, or pool or something. Worked out pretty good and the only one tired is poor dad. lol but somehow manage to regain energy in the World...