Driving to WDW from Philly. Any advice?

[ChrisinNJ]

We have done the trip 2x from Monmouth county NJ.

In 2008 We drove to Florence SC & stayed at a hotel there. There are many of them. I believe we stopped at a wingate by windham, it was just OK.

Florence is a great place to stop because it is past the halfway mark. I think we drove 14 hours to get to Florence (but we had many stops because I was having trouble w/ my windshield wipers & it was raining). Then the next day we drove 8-9 hours to kissimmee.

Our last trip was this past fall. We drove through with no stops. Going down, we left here at 2:30am, and arrived at our condo at 10pm (19.5 hours, with a 1 hour stop so my hubby could close his eyes). Coming back we left the condo at around 8:30am and arrived home at 3am (about 18.5 hours).

The kids watched lots of movies, ate lots of snacks (for some reason they just LOVE munching on celery during road trips) mainly clelery, carrots, cereal, grapes, pretzels & crackers.

They all brought their Nindento ds, and some coloring pages. They also slept for much of the ride.

Good Luck & have fun!!!!

 

[eliza61]

Anyone here make this drive before, and fairly recently? About how long does it take? I know we will need to stop overnight. Any location and/or hotel suggestions? Traveling with my DH and two DD's (ages will be 6 and 10). Yes, they are not terrific in the car.

But we have all the "stuff" to try and make it as comfy as possible for them: DSI's, in-van dvd player, coloring books/reading books, Mad Libs for the older DD, etc.

Any advice is appreciated!

We've done it the last 5 trips. This year is actually the first timein a long time that we are flying.

1) Leave in the wee hours of the morning. Like 3:00 am. there are two advantages to this. a) kids will tend to fall back asleep and b) you will be past DC corridor by the morning rush.

2) Leave in the wee hours of the morning. This also leaves you plenty of time to stop. We are on the road by 3 and then we stop at the many cracker barrels for breakfast and we are not rushed.

3) Very easy drive once you get past Richmond. Once you get past Richmond I-95 ramps up to 70 mph and the roads seem to be in better condition. Here is where we pop in dvd's. you can really get a good stretch of easy driving (as long as the weather is clear) done.

4) we always stop and spend the night at Brunswich Ga. It is almost on the Georgia/Florida state line. If you leave at 3 am you will get there around 7 pm (this time included 3 nice breaks for us, breakfast, lunch and South of the border). This was enough time for every one to decompress, eat dinner and then it was only ~ 3 hours from Orlando. Plenty of inexpensive hotels, I think we have stayed in a comfort suites (75 bucks) and a holiday inn (89 bucks). tons of chain restaurants around.

5) SOUTH OF THE BORDER Must stop. not going to explain it except you will see the billboards about 500 miles out.

 

[rileysmommy]

We live in Bethlehem, PA so just a bit north from Philly. We always drive straight down 95 with an overnight stop in Santee, SC. There is a nice Best Western there with a hot breakfast and also a Cracker Barrel and some other fast food places to eat at for dinner. We leave home about 7 am and drive until about dinner time, if we don't hit too much traffic. Then the next day is only about 4-5 hours to Disney. It isn't bad and we have the usual assortment of games, DVD's, snacks, etc.

One thing we do that helps my kids is that they get a little gift as we cross each state line. Sometimes it's a new book or an activity book or sometimes even a new DVD or video game. When going down I-95, the exit numbers count down in each state. So my kids can look at the exit signs and can tell how much longer until we cross into the next state. This helps make the time a little easier. My kids are now 9 and 5 but this will be our 4th time driving down this summer.

Good luck!!!!

 

[bmartin1206]

From Indianapolis to Orlando counting stopping for gas and food about 18 hours if we drove straight through. If we got a room each way it'd take us 36 hours and $940. If we flew (assuming a layover each way) it'd take approx 12-15 hours at about $900 (with early arrival at airport added in). Unless your sight seeing or visiting family along the way, I'd fly.

 

[mtquinn]

From Indianapolis to Orlando counting stopping for gas and food about 18 hours if we drove straight through. If we got a room each way it'd take us 36 hours and $940. If we flew (assuming a layover each way) it'd take approx 12-15 hours at about $900 (with early arrival at airport added in). Unless your sight seeing or visiting family along the way, I'd fly.

Whoa! How is it so much money? I have yet to estimate gas, tolls, food, hotel stay, etc. Have you?

 

[J3nn78]

We love to drive. Getting there is half the fun for us!

We prefer to take 2 nights getting there from northern NJ

Day 1- We aim to get to and possibly through NC. We take a slightly longer route by taking the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel-we always eat on the bridge. We also take the Cape May Ferry-again just for fun!

Day 2- Depends on what we want to see/do. We have stayed at Savannah, GA, St. Augustine,FL, and Daytona Beach, FL. Lots to see and do in each city, so we pick one and stay our 2nd night there.

Day 3- We drive the rest of the way.

We like to find cheap/free things to see and do along the way. Nothing too time consuming, but enough to get a break from the road for a bit.
We also pack LOTS of food/drinks to snack on. The kids never get board with my snack collection-and it is nice to have while in Disney too.
Lots of entertainment-I try to keep some of it secret so it is new and exciting when they see it in the car.

Going home is all business. We are worn out from vacation, so we make it home in about 26 hours, including our hotel stop for the night.

 

[3mickeymom]

We have driven to WDW twice from Monmouth County NJ straight through. It sounds like you are planning on stopping so you will be better off. My only advice there is when stopping, try to get someplace with a pool so everyone can work off some energy and relax. As for what to bring, I pack a cooler with some REAL FOOD since fast food is unpredictable(in quality not availablility) fresh fruit, a pasta salad, nice wraps(much easier to eat in the car than sandwiches. -soft clean BEACH TOWELS make great indivdual blankets and can be multi purpose.-SLEEP MASKS for all, they block out harsh highway and gas station lighting and make it easier to catch a nap during daylight hours. - Jump ropes, a ball for catch anything that your kids could do when they stop to help them get their blood circulating and expend some energy.- Umm, I brought a folding POTTY when my kids were small. It was only for emergencies, but once after being stuck in a 2hr, turn off your engine traffic jam, I was gald I had it. -CRAYONS MELT when left in a hot car. Make sure they are put away or bring colored pencils instead. Play games, sing songs, tell jokes, share favorites. I enjoy the forced togetherness memories my family shares in the car. Have a safe and wonderful trip.