Driving to WDW from Toronto

[MamaLema]

Anyone else driven from Toronto or surrounding area? Where is a good spot to stop and spend the night?

What time did you leave?

Any tips? We are going with our 3 DS.

 

[PanamaMike]

I drove from Toronto via I-75.
Left at 9am...drove for 12 hours.
I stopped in Caryville, TN (not far south of the Kentucky Border).
The next day, I departed at 9am again arriving in Orlando around 7pm.
My return trip I stopped in Williamsburg, KY, just north of the Tennessee border.
Solo driver, so no kids to deal with.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

One suggestion is to get the "Along the I-75" book by Dave Hunter. If you are driving the I-75 route it's a wonderful resource as it describes everything that's at each exit.

We do the drive down in 2.5 days so we leave Toronto around 4pm (we try for 2pm but never seem to make it since I have to go into work on the day we leave). Anyway we usually stop at exit 197 in Ohio. We get up early the next day and usually stop just south of the Macon bypass. The third day we usually get to Orlando about 1pm-2pm.

We do the drive home in 2 days. The first day we reach Chattanooga TN -- not really very far but we never seem to leave WDW too early. The second day is a long day but we make it home around midnight.

Hope this helps.

 

[Paul G]

I also highly recommend the "Along the I-75" book by Dave Hunter. It was amazing how accurate he is in predicting where the speed traps will be! I got a copy from the library on extended loan.

We have driven from Waterloo twice along I-75. We leave at 6 am and arrive in Dalton Georgia by 8-9pm. On the second day we are on the road by 7:30 and we arrive at WDW around 3-4pm.

We pack food so we don't have to stop very much. A small TV with a built in vcr (or DVD) really helps pass the time for the kids. We start taping there favourite shows a few months in advance so we have about 40 tapes built up for the trip.

We also bring a video game (last time we brought the N64). That was an excellent way to occupy the kids.

I make several CDs with audio books in mp3 format for my wife and I to listen to. I bought a Y cord at radio shack so we can plug in 2 sets of headphones into one mp3 player. If you get a good book you actually don't want to stop driving, you just want to keep on listening. With the headphones we can listen while the kids watch a movie or play there video game.

You can get audio books at the library also. I recommend anything by Anne Rice - very entertaining.

I also made audio book CDs for the kids with Harry potter and other similar titles.

I got trip maps for the kids so they could follow along on those instead of driving me crazy by asking where we were all the time.

I also made up booklets with lists of hidden mickeys for them to find so they could study them on the way down. If you private message me your email I can send them in msword format documents.

I also got them the backpack like things that you hang on the back of the front seat (so it is in front of them and they can reach it) and I equiped each one with a water bottle and about $20 of candy in various sized baggies stuffed into the pouches - they loved that - I remember the crinkling sound of candy wrappers for the whole trip. I know that one won't be popular with all parents but it worked for us.

On the way back we left WDW at about 7am and drove to Jelico Kentucky. The next day we arrived home at around 6pm.

Needless to say we had a fabulous time staying at the Wilderness Lodge last time. We are planning another trip next year but this time we are going to fly out of Buffalo on South West.

 

[OntFamily]

I drove from Toronto last month (on the I-79/77/26 route). It is a shorter route than I-75 when the drive starts in Toronto.

I found the traffic light, and next to no trucks.

As to the best place to stop for the night, it depends on what time of day you plan to leave. The halfway mark is probably somewhere close to the NC/VA border (lots of places to stay in NC).

 

[MamaLema]

Thank you all for the great advice. We will buy the book and start from there

 

[Skywalker]

Hi MamaLema!

We have two little ones so we did it slowly. We left around 6:00 a.m. and stopped around 5:00 pm in Lexington, Kentucky. We took off again early the next morning and stopped around 5:00 pm somewhere in southernmost Georgia! Hit Disney the third day around 2:00 pm or so.

We got off the road early (suppertime) and always stayed at hotels with a pool so that the boys could work those muscles, get some excerise, have a meal and get a chance to really get tired!

It worked out great for us.

Oh yeah, don't forget the DVD player! What a lifesaver!

 

[DSNY FN]

We drive from London and have 3 kids 7 3 and 1.5 years old. We leave London around 6:30 or 7 after dinner get the kids in their PJ's and hit the road. We find the kids will sleep all night and we can get a vast majority of the driving out of the way before they ever wake up. We stop and eat some breakfast at the Georgia welcome centre we usually hit this around 8 AM. We take our electric cooler for drink boxes and milk etc. We then let the kids run around for a bit to burn off some energy and then get changed and head out to The Macon bypass and stop at the rest area just at the start of the bypass to eat lunch. We then head to Valdosta and stop there for the night usually arriving there around 3 int he afternoon it gives everyone a nice relaxing afternoon and good nights sleep in a bed. We leave here after breakfast about 8 or 9 AM then we stop at the Florida welcome centre for the free OJ and pictures of the kids at the welcome to Florida sign. We then head to WDW usually getting there around lunch time and checing in. We travel I75 and use the Along the I75 book.

 

[Daisy-J&D]

I just got back from my Toronto to Orlando trip on Sunday. On the way down we took I75 using Dave Hunter's book as mentioned above and on the way back we went our own route.

Day 1 - Left Toronto at 4:30 am, first night was Chattanooga TN at 8:30 pm. I really pushed it to get as far as possible. I enjoyed driving so it wasn't a problem at all. We stopped for Lunch and a couple of breaks (including Target).

Day 2 - Left Chatanooga at 9:00 am and drove to Atlanta. Toured the Coca-Cola museum and got back on the road. Stopped at a Super Walmart for some food and arrived in orlando at 7:30 pm. We had huge problems finding a hotel a day early without reservations - EVERYTHING was booked. It took 3 hours to find a hotel with a room available )= Next time I won't arrive early!

Return trip: We decided to go a different route back to mix things up. I found that the I75 book was good but we were relying too heavily on it and not reading the and understanding signs on our own. (When we goofed up we really got lost!) Without the help of CAA, Map Quest or any book I drew the most direct route on our map and then used benchmarks to navigate. (ie, first goal is to get to Daytona beach, next goal Jacksonville)


Day 1 - Left Orlando at 4:30 am and took I4 to Daytona Beach, I75 past Savannah and then west to Columbia SC. We then took I77 and I79 north to Pittsburgh where we spent the night.

Day 2 - Left 9:30 am Continued on I79 and then took I90 east to Buffalo. Hello Canada! Got home at 3:00 pm after a few stops and slow slow construction problems.

The second way was much faster but there was a lot of construction that slowed us down. The twisting and turning mountains through West Virginia were pretty boring but more fun for me (the driver to navigate) than a straight road!!! There was nothing confusing with the route and I do it again!!

We took about 100 CD's with us but we ended up listening to the radio most of the time. It was fun listening to the different radio stations along the way.

 

[MamaLema]

back to Skywalker

We've decided to drive during the whole night as this will help with the kids not asking "Are we there yet?" so many times

And we're going to get a dvd player to make the ride seem faster for the kiddies.

Mind you, we are not going till Sept but its never too early to start planning, right?

 

[DSNY FN]

MamaLema good choice to drive through the night it really does help. We just feed the kids get them a bath and into their PJ's and load them in the car. We are on the road no later than 7 PM and they are usually asleep by the time we hit the border @ Windsor. You will find it helps the drive along with getting alot of it out of the way while they sleep and less stops for thebathroom etc. Have a great drive and no it is never to early to start planning we are planning our 2006 cruise allready.