Driving to WDW 17 hours one way? Do you take a day to rest when you get there?

[wishesuponastar]

I am wondering what you do when you get the WDW because of driving?
Do you take a day to rest? We have to drive 17 hours one way so I'm thinking we will be kind of frazzled when we get there.
It's cheaper to drive than fly for us.

 

[mistysue]

We've been wondering the same thing. We had the thought to take off an hour or two before bedtime, drive through the night and then take the entire next day to slowly creep closer. By the time we need to stop for breakfast we would be probably about 2/3 of the way there. We would spend that last day pretty much hanging out at rest stops or parks or something so the kids can run a bit while we relax... end the day swimming at our hotel and do parks the next morning. It would save us at least $1400.

 

[katman2540]

I feel your pain. We tend to have one night in a hotel before we get to Disney. We usually make ti to Jacksonville for 7:00pm (or later traffic depending) and crash for the night in a hotel. Then we get up nice and early and get to Disney for opening so we are rested and have the whole day in the parks.

 

[mkstlowe]

We did this once. We stopped at the half way point to eat and get sleep. We got up very early and was in Walt Disney by 1pm and still good to go. Its a long ride that I would do again. This trip we are flying but it's because the time off needed to drive for the hubby is not there. When we drive I still make sure i have a full week.

 

[wishesuponastar]

OP here, thanks for your quick replies. I think I will take advice and try and arrive at WDW the night before and get a good nights rest to hit the parks in the morning.

 

[MarbleBob]

Are you going to drive the 17 hours straight through, or spend the night somewhere on the way down?

We come down once a year from St. Louis, I think it's about 17 hours with no stops. We normally get up early on Saturday and go for about 13-14 hours the first day and spend the night in southern Georgia. Get up in the morning and arrive around 2 pm. We also usually stay on property with a length of stay ticket package, which means we can visit the parks on Sunday afternoon/evening. We've done this numerous times and have never felt too tired to enjoy ourselves (If I was going to do a 17 hour straight drive, I'm sure I'd be brain fried and would want to get a good nights rest before heading to the parks)

 

[Karenj2]

We're thinking of doing the same thing... We're going to have four drivers, and split the 16+ hour drive. Since we both will have almost 2yos, we're going to leave about an hour before bedtime for them, then drive through the night. I have a feeling we'll be pretty tired by the time we get to WDW and set up the campsite (did I mention we're camping?), so I'm hoping that we'll be able to take an hour or two nap once we're set up. That'll keep me going until our normal bedtime. (We do the one hour nap thing when we travel through time zones, too.)

 

[RachaelA]

Our drive is 15ish hours. We leave at 5 or 6am and drive straight to Disney. Stay at a cheap hotel offsite, check in at 7:30am and then get to 9am rope drop. We're crazy I'm sure this will change for future trips since we'll have DD.

 

[Suz D]

We're thinking of doing the same thing... We're going to have four drivers, and split the 16+ hour drive. Since we both will have almost 2yos, we're going to leave about an hour before bedtime for them, then drive through the night. I have a feeling we'll be pretty tired by the time we get to WDW and set up the campsite (did I mention we're camping?), so I'm hoping that we'll be able to take an hour or two nap once we're set up. That'll keep me going until our normal bedtime. (We do the one hour nap thing when we travel through time zones, too.)

You are far braver than I am! We driven the 15+ hours to WDW several times. Our most grueling trip was a May trip where we left our house at 3:30 AM and drove all day, getting into Jacksonville at rush hour and WDW at 7:30 PM. We took an unfortunate 1 hour lunch stop (never do that again).

The rest of the times we've traveled, we've driven about 9 hours the first day (leaving fairly early in the morning), stopped for a night in a hotel at about dinner time with an early bedtime. Then we hit the road again bright and early the next morning and were in WDW in time for lunch. Works great! We then take a nice long nap and hit the parks for the evening.

Our girls were 13 & 3 for the first trip and 14 & 4 for the second one.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

Our drive is approximately 12 hours. What we have found that works the best for us is to sleep in late the day before and then head out about 4 ~ 6 pm in the evening. We also eat a light supper on the way out of town, usually Chick-Fil-A and we've done the children's menu at Cracker Barrel. Both of those provide enough food where you don't feel hungry for a while but not so much that the meal makes you drowsy.

We then drive through then night switching drivers as necessary. Allowing for gas and rest stops we usually arrive about 8 to 9 am. We check-in and get our keys. If we are lucky the room is available and we can just go to the room and grab a nap. If not, we hit the parks. The adrenaline of being at Disney keeps us jazzed for a while. When we do "hit the wall" it is often about the time the room is ready. We then go back to the resort and grab a late afternoon nap. When we wake we get clean, get a bite of supper and hit Epcot for Illuminations.

We've done the early morning departure - and found out we woke up tired and arrived tired. Later in the morning for the departure meant the we arrived very late - tired and hungry and looking for a restaurant still open. And in both scenarios we often caught traffic delays on the way to Orlando. Driving through the night it was smooth as silk and we made good time.

It may not work for you but for over 20+ trips driving it has worked for us.

 

[ksimmons621]

Our drive is about 17 hours. We've tried several different approaches - stopping 1/2 way, driving straight & going immediately to the parks, & driving straight then resting. For us (I'm a night owl & I have 5 kids) driving straight then resting is by far the best way to go. We make WAY better time when the kids are sleeping. If we're staying at OKW we'll get a cheap hotel nearby & try to arrive around 2-3pm. After unloading, eating, & cleaning up we're all ready to crash early. Then we're well rested for rope drop the next morning. We'll check into OKW when we take our afternoon break. If we're staying at FW Campground we'll just go straight there, set up, grab some Trails End for dinner & call it a night.

 

[HeatherC]

What works the best for us is to leave at around 6am and drive till 6pm. We stay in a hotel and have a leisurely dinner or let the kids swim. We are in bed by 9pm and wake up the next morning...take our time with breakfast and are at our destination by noon.

We also do the drive through the night thing, but we are EXHAUSTED the next day and just wind up sleeping a lot when we arrive....so for is it makes more sense to keep to our regular schedule. But Dh and I are wimps! We are so not night people.

Have a great trip!

 

[auntfrannie]

My drive is 16 hours. I like to drive straight through then stay at a cheaper hotel in the Orlando area. I sleep like a log because I'm tuckered! The next morning I check into my Disney hotel early and I'm ready to hit the parks!

 

[hearts8701]

we drive from chicago about 18 hours for us we stop on the way down around canton ga. on the way down wake up early and get to disney early afternoon we take it easy the first day lay around the pool early to bed wake up rested the next day start our magic most important when we leave for the long drive home we take it easy the day before we head back home no parks surely no water park the day before going home we have a late dinner at a resort walk around boardwalk nothing too tiring so we're fresh in the morning

 

[mrseace711]

We drove straight thru from NW Indiana about 20 hrs. We left home at 7pm. I drove until 10pm when I was sleepy. Hubby took over, the kids had fallen asleep by then they had been up since 630 . Hubby drove until around 4am and we stopped at a rest stop for about an hour. I slept the entire time. I took over driving and drove all the way to Disney arriving around 530pm We only stopped for breakfast and gas inbetween. By the time we reached Disney we were all so excited we forgot how tired we were We checked in, dropped our bags in our room, and had dinner at the food court. After we had pool time and were in bed around 930pm

 

[VAN]

Back in the day, when we drove, it was a 20 hr drive. In order to avoid losing a day because of being tired, we would get on the road at 3:30 am. We pretty much drive for 16 straight hours (with rest stops, picnic lunch, etc) and then plan to be off the road at a reserved hotel room by about 7:00 ish. We'd order pizza to be delivered to the room and break out the beers.

After a good night sleep, we'd be on the road by 7:30 am for the final four hours ... checking into our resort about 11:00-11:30, ready to go.

This worked really well for us.

 

[MaggieBailey]

Even though DH and I are only 8 hours away, it takes us about 12 because we take a detour to drop the doggies off at a friends house . We check in, and then eat at the food court/swim... Since we like to stay at POFQ, we have taken the boat down to DTD and had dessert at Ghiradelli. Then bedtime and an early day at the park! I want to really be able to enjoy park time, not be exhausted and grouchy, thus the reason for not jumping right into it .

 

[Kellydelly]

We are a little north of you in SE Michigan. When we drive we start around 10 pm and drive all the way to Georgia, stopping to switch drivers every 3 hrs or so. We stop and get a hotel in the Valdosta area (just a few miles north of the Florida border). We end up getting to that hotel around 6-7 pm (we just use our AAA book and call the hotels to book a room when we get to that area). The kids can swim or whatever and we get a good night's sleep. In the morning it is about 3-4 more hrs to Orlando area. We check into our rental home early afternoon and then go to Downtown Disney to get into the spirit and swim later that night. You could drive down there faster if you don't want to stop, but we like to see the sights along the way, like the caverns in Tennessee. It breaks up the driving . When we leave Orlando we check out of our rental home by 10 and just start driving north, stopping later that night to get a room somewhere. The drive home usually sucks, but what can you do . For us this trip usually starts Thursday night and we return 10 days later on Sunday night. It was easier doing this with babies and toddlers than our school-aged kids .

We usually have 4 day tickets for Universal, so we spend most of our time there, and then a day at Disney with our non-expiring hopper tickets we bought years ago.

 

[mmaikisch]

We have about a 17 hour drive as well. We are in ne pa, and have 3
Dd's (now 2,5 and 10). What seems to work best for us is to leave
About 12pm right after lunch, and drive until we hit rush hour traffic.
We stop to eat
And let the girls play a bit, they change into their pjs, and then we
Continue to drive straight through. They usually sleep through the
Night, and we arrive in Orlando around 8 am when the kids are
Usually just waking up. We go eat breakfast, then head to dtd until
Our room is ready, then go out by the pool, and get to bed early so that we
Are fully rested for an early morning in the parks. My husband and I do
Share the driving though lol

 

[lovehoney]

I think we are going to leave at 4am and drive through, arriving in Orlando around 9pm and check into an inexpensive hotel. The next morning we check into WDW then hit the parks.