Driving to WDW from the GTA: our tried and tested itinerary

[FigmentSpark]

Quebec plated cars will always have snow tires (mandatory in QC), they are generally available in the Ottawa area (our agency allows workers to refuse to take cars that do not have snow tires).
Read the rental terms carefully about longer trips. Many of the agencies do restrict US travel (including the aforementioned Enterprise if you actually read the contract available online), although the agents may not know that. Only becomes an issue if you have a problem with the vehicle and they discover you are out of the allowed zone.

@TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE consider staying on I-81 to I-77 and down through Fancy Gap, Charlotte NC, Columbia SC. This is nominally a slightly longer route in distance, but is so much more relaxing and lower traffic that it is almost always quicker or the same. I will always take this route unless snow pushes me over to I-95 sooner. I-95 is number one or two in traffic volume in the US, and is no fun to drive IMO. Every time we do drive 95, we see carnage along the way.

ETA:

From Enterprise Website:


That's in lay terms, the actual contract is more specific, but basically km are unlimited in province of rental on most classes, but they can charge by km outside of the rental province (that would be really sucky for PEI renters I would think).

Thanks for checking that. Here is what it said on the link you provided from Enterprise:



I will look into it further, as well.

 

[TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE]

I've thought about going the Charlotte route and I know its the same distance....guess I just get stuck in my ways!

knock on wood, but I've never seen any carnage on I-95 and although it can get busy, I spent so many years doing the 401 around the GTA that it never bothers me. I've driven in every province and maybe 20 states and the only thing as busy as the 401 at its busiest is maybe the Gary to Chicago route (sooooo many trucks going fast), plus Baltimore-Washington tangle of roads can be a bit nerve wracking

 

[bankr63]

Thanks for checking that. Here is what it said on the link you provided from Enterprise:

View attachment 294033

I will look into it further, as well.

Yes, you can drive the vehicles in the US. I guess I linked that poorly, go back one step and read the section on unlimited mileage https://www.enterprise.ca/en/help/faqs.html#mileage. That's where it says that mileage is unlimited in the renting province. Doesn't say they will charge you, but they certainly can. Last rental I had with them, the terms of the actual contract were clearer and indicated that they WILL charge outside of my province. Again, I have no idea if they can prove it, but every GM car with OnStar certainly can.

 

[starvenger]

So interestingly enough, we were talking to my sister-in-law and she's planning (with her 2 kids) to come to Canada from the UK for a few weeks, which naturally led to talks of a road trip. And so now I'm in pre-planning stages for driving down to the Orlando area.

General question - is it worth it to get a Sun Pass?

 

[PanamaMike]

General question - is it worth it to get a Sun Pass?

Just returned from my 2nd trip in 10 months. Drove there both times. Also drove twice in 2013 as well as trips in 2011, 2008 and 2000.

Never even considered getting a Sun Pass.

Very little driving on toll roads required

 

[Bowen Family]

We always love crossing the St Mary's River since we know we are in Florida, then stop and get our juice at the visitor centre.

Yes! Crossing that bridge, seeing the Florida sign, and then stopping at the visitor centre, always feels like crossing the finish line!

 

[Bowen Family]

There is a thread for over 2000 miles drivers in the Transportation forum which has been going for 13 years....I've often through we should get a standing thread in the Canadian Section on driving since so many little threads come up. Maybe a Canada-Florida By Car thread?

Great idea. How does one go about implementing this? Do we ask a moderator to pin a new thread to the top of the Canadian board?

 

[bankr63]

Yes, you can drive the vehicles in the US. I guess I linked that poorly, go back one step and read the section on unlimited mileage https://www.enterprise.ca/en/help/faqs.html#mileage. That's where it says that mileage is unlimited in the renting province. Doesn't say they will charge you, but they certainly can. Last rental I had with them, the terms of the actual contract were clearer and indicated that they WILL charge outside of my province. Again, I have no idea if they can prove it, but every GM car with OnStar certainly can.

Not sure it makes much of a difference cost wise, but we have SunPass on both our cars. It is true that tolls are easy enough to avoid in the Orlando area, and most tolls are still manned for cash payment. I really like taking the 417 around Orlando to avoid I-4, especially now with all the construction for the express lane twinning which will last for the next several years. It is so much easier to skirt around the city with very little traffic, so we have the pass for convenience more than saving. Also makes airport parking very easy if you are picking up parties down there.

Note that if the US ever gets their act together for universal tolling (Congress' mandated compliance was 2015 I think, but no where near done) then your SunPass will work everywhere. We travel some of the toll 'pikes in the north east from time to time as well. Florida actually makes it pretty easy for Canadians to get the passes. Our second pass arrived in the mail last week as we are taking our second car this year. Don't think it was any more than a week arriving after ordering online.

 

[Burgermom]

We did the drive several times from gta to Disney as a kid and the drives there were actually part of the fun and the parts of the trip that I remember the most. We would always stop a few fun places on the way. And yes, lots of music!

 

[Lexx1214]

My DH is not a fan of flying at all (I personally think it’s a fear of flying he won’t admit to), so we are driving from Ottawa to WDW in September. He believes we can drive straight through as he’s done it a few times in the past - with him being the sole driver (his ex wife refused to drive anywhere). I’m not 100% sold on this, though he has said that he’ll share the driving with me (I insist). Has anyone made this drive straight through? How long did it take you? Was it difficult to keep going during the night?

 

[FigmentSpark]

My SIL and her family did Ottawa to Daytona Beach in one shot. They were completely wiped out for the entire next day. Luckily, they were there to visit grandma, so she was able to watch the kids (who'd slept blissfully in the car) and my SIL and BIL slept all day. I think she said it was 24 hours, but don't quote me on that.

In my opinion, at least do a one night break or you pay for it later.

 

[TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE]

I've driven from Ottawa a few times and its 20 hrs of actual driving to Orlando. The traffic gets busier the further south you go. Its doable if all adults, but it will be tiring

 

[Starwind]

Read the rental terms carefully about longer trips. Many of the agencies do restrict US travel (including the aforementioned Enterprise if you actually read the contract available online), although the agents may not know that. Only becomes an issue if you have a problem with the vehicle and they discover you are out of the allowed zone.

Two summers ago I was helping a friend plan a trip to WDW from NB. IN the end she didn't end up going, but she and I did a lot of research about renting a minivan.

THe policies varied widely between rental agencies. And within agencies depending on where you were renting the vehicle from (province, city, airport or local location) as well as if you were doing the rental direct with the agency or via a third party like CAA or Costco.

Even when it says "unlimited km" when you read the fine print that often is only for the province of rental and MAYBE certain named adjoininig provinces. It almost never includes USA travel at all, I think we found one where it did and that was only into Maine (adjoining state from NB). So that fine print is the kicker.

So we did a lot of math that included that per km charge and suddenly good deals were not so good anymore and other deals which had not looked as good actually trned out to be much better.

Bottom line: if you are renting a vehicle and plan to take it out of the state or province you rent it in, you NEED to check the fine print and/or contact the rental agency directly to verify the terms of the rental, restrictions and any extra costs that you will incur due to your intended route of travel.

And that assumes you can even take it out of the country, because some agencies will not let their vehicles leave the country.

SW

 

[mort1331]

My DH is not a fan of flying at all (I personally think it’s a fear of flying he won’t admit to), so we are driving from Ottawa to WDW in September. He believes we can drive straight through as he’s done it a few times in the past - with him being the sole driver (his ex wife refused to drive anywhere). I’m not 100% sold on this, though he has said that he’ll share the driving with me (I insist). Has anyone made this drive straight through? How long did it take you? Was it difficult to keep going during the night?

We drive straight from north of Toronto. Takes us between 22-24 hrs depends on traffic and weather. Night time is tough no doubt and I have told my wife that we can pull over at a rest stop and let me rest for 1-2 hrs, but she drives for couple of hours. Then I take over and finish the route.
You must know yourself and how you drive. I have driven to the west coast and only stopped at rest areas for a nap. Some people do need their beds to rest. I can sleep standing so know yourself. Not worth the savings if you dont get there.

 

[Rita007]

We have flown a couple of times but driving is far more cost effective. We drive from the Greater Toronto Area and normally stop 2 nights on the way down and have also done other little side trips (Savannah for a few days, Washington DC, Colonial Williamsburg, Nashville). Driving again this summer and trying to decide where to do a little bonus trip. We always do the extra trip on the way home. Now that our kids are a little older, we may try the 1 night stop option. Going this year with my brother in law and his family and will keep with the 2-night option because they are not car trip people for the most part. Hopefully they will change their minds!

 

[isabellea]

We drive from Ottawa. We've left at 3pm right after work and made it down to Harrisburg Penn on I81. Its always worrisome about the Syracuse corridor with the possibility of lake effect snow and I think its always snowy or foggy through Scranton area. We always feel pleased to put Binghampton behind us - we feel the worst chance of bad weather is now done.

Day 2 I stay on I81 down past Winchester, onto I66, then the 17 which is my fav route around DC, then joining I95 at Fredericksburg. Avoiding DC is the worry for us in Ottawa and Montreal
Then down taking the bypass around Richmond and just giv'er all the way until you see that first palm tree on the middle shoulder in South Carolina. We always love crossing the St Mary's River since we know we are in Florida, then stop and get our juice at the visitor centre.

We drive straight-thru from Montreal and this is basically our itinerary except that we prefer taking the 15 at Harrisburg (we usually arrive in DC around 1am so no traffic). The worst weather we got was last March when we hit heavy snow in Maryland (on the 15).

The first time we drove to FL we stopped in Charlotte to sleep and OMG we hit really bad traffic!! It was the only time we stopped for the night. We found we were less tired when we don't stop.

We have a SunPass and we love it! But we often go to St Pete Beach and Ft Lauderdale where there's many tolls. Not essential if only going to Orlando.

When travelling during Spring Break, we often change our tires for our 4 seasons tires (in QC we are required by law to have snow tires until March 15th but you get get up to 3 1-week exemptions for free per year). Next winter we will travel in December and we are planning on keeping our winter tires.

 

[TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE]

I went in December and was glad I had my snows on - they still get winter in the northern US. Its only 4,000km so its not like you will wear them out.

 

[Csaks]

I've thought about going the Charlotte route and I know its the same distance....guess I just get stuck in my ways!

knock on wood, but I've never seen any carnage on I-95 and although it can get busy, I spent so many years doing the 401 around the GTA that it never bothers me. I've driven in every province and maybe 20 states and the only thing as busy as the 401 at its busiest is maybe the Gary to Chicago route (sooooo many trucks going fast), plus Baltimore-Washington tangle of roads can be a bit nerve wracking

I 95 ts childs play compared to the 401. Eastbound on a Friday of a long weekend is hell, nothing compares.

 

[starvenger]

So another question I have here is travel speed. I tend to drive a little bit over the speed limit on highways (no real rhyme or reason for it) so I want to ensure that my usual speed isn't at a point where I might get pulled over.

I feel that when you're in the cities you can safely travel at the speed of traffic. Whether that's 30mph under or 10mph over, there's a buffer of protection as cops are more concerned with the dangerous drivers than those that "go with the flow", as it were. But it's those "in between" points I'm concerned about, since you're not exactly in a pack of cars going at the same pace.

What speeds does everyone stick with during those times? For example, I've done I90 between Buffalo and Cleveland a few times, and 5-10mph over seems to be a non-issue. I75 in Ohio has been the same. Any thoughts on some known speed trap hot spots along the I75 or I77/79 routes?

 

[bankr63]

I don't generally push it too hard in the US as there is a lot more enforcement there than in Canada. My biggest tip is to watch to local plates when you are judging the flow; not the rest of the Ontario ID-10-T's going hellbent for leather. If the local plates are moving quickly, you can too, but some states seem to be much less tolerant of speeding and you will usually notice the in-state plated cars going much slower than the out-of-state plates. As a rule I don't generally go any more than 5 over regardless. On a long drive like that, it makes less difference than you would think it should.