Driving to WDW from Texas

[disneyred]

hi all..
if I can get an answer for this .. I know it would be from here !
I am helping out a friend and supplying info to him :

the question :
How long is the drive from around Plano, Texas to WDW ?? Is it an easy drive ...with kids ?? Any experiences with it...?? Any major points ??
what woud be the major route ?
TIA .. for any info on this topic.

 

[brerrabbit]

Should be around 16 to 17 hours. We have driven several times from Houston and thats about how long it takes. We take IH-10 straight across to I-75 south to the Florida toll road across to Orlando. We usually break the drive into two days stopping the first night around Pensicola.

 

[luvmy2sams]

We've made the drive from SW OK thru Dallas and onto Orlando three different times. Here's our usual route...

I20 East to Shreveport
I49 South towards Alexandria
I10 East towards Baton Rouge
I12 East toward Hammond
I10 East towards Bay St. Louis
I75 South to Orlando

It sounds way more complicated than it is. Jumping between I10 and I12 in Louisiana avoids major traffic areas, but you never feel like you're changing roads. Make sense? The drives have always been very easy...lots of places to stop and stretch your legs along the way. However, we haven't made the drive since Katrina hit, so I'm not sure of the impact thru Slidell, Gulfport, etc.

On our drives down we've stayed at Pensacola, Tallahassee, and Marianna. I suggest staying the night in Marianna. That will give you about a 4.5 hour drive into Orlando the next morning. On our return trips we've stayed in Gulfport and in Hammond.

Our kids have been ages 15 months, 21 months, 3 years and 5 years on the drives. They've always been great travelers, but we made sure to have entertainment for them along the way (DVDs, coloring books, magnetic pages, etc.). We also had meals at places with indoor playgrounds. DH and I would eat while the kids played, and then we'd get the kids' meals to go. It worked out well for us.

Hope that you have a great trip!

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

As for the kids, pack lots of stuff to keep them occupied!! It took us about 24 hours from Ft Worth. We stopped a few times and also ran into a LOT of rain which may have slowed us down. If you have a portable DVD player, take it with a bunch of kids DVD's. Good luck!!

 

[Planogirl]

We have driven from Plano to Orlando and the times and routes others have posted are exactly what we experienced. It's a bit of a grueling drive but we break it up into two days and stop often. We also make sure that have drinks, snacks, games, lots of books, gameboy or whatever else we can think of to keep everyone occupied.

We make it a point to push HARD the first day and stop in the evening around 9 or 10. Then we have a much shorter distance the next day when everyone is really tired of sitting in the car.

By the way, coming back is worse than getting there. It helps to have a day or two scheduled to be off after getting home. Only having work or school to look forward to is pretty depressing.