First time ever driving from PA to Orlando...questions

[Get me to Disney!]

So, we probably have "sucker" written all over our forehead. I was on the phone with Hilton making a hotel reservation and they made me an offer. Come stay at one of our condos, listen to a two hour speech, blah, blah, blah. All I heard was "you can come to Disney for four days, two nights and stay in a two bedroom condo" (for 300.00). Now, we need to get there. Air is not horrible at 1200.00 for 6 of us but not what I really want to spend money on right now. So, we're attempting a drive - an 18 hour one. Is there a thread that I cannot find about driving and tips for it? Also, what about food, can you take food into the parks and is there a thread on that? This is going to be a bare bones trip and is going to be all about seeing a glimpse of the mouse who we have missed since our last visit in 2010. Thanks for ANY help!!!

 

[abdgeek]

A lot of families drive to Disney to save money so don't worry about that. I always fly to Disney, but my sister prefers to drive the 12 hours to save money and have her car.

1) The first thing you have to decide is if you want to drive the 18 hours straight or whether you will stop overnight somewhere.

2) If you're staying in a condo with a kitchen, stop by the grocery store when you get to Orlando and buy what you need for your meals. All bags brought into the parks are searched and I know that you can bring in some small food items, but not a picnic basket. You may want to pack a cooler for the park and leave it in your car for later in the day. You can then exit the park, eat and then return or you can eat a meal in the park.

3) Plan what you want to do before you come down. Since you will only have a couple of days, you don't want to miss any time at the park just figuring out what you want to do.

 

[benedicttw]

We drive from Ohio all the time. Adds to the trip because the kids are stuck in the car and we actual talk. Last trip our16 old daughter made a scavenger hunt game with point. We had a great time. What are the ages? A straight drive is hard be we have done it to save time. Many time on a straight through drive we stop in Daytona for the night and drive the last hour to Disney early in the morning.
Other times we leave a day after work to get in 6 to 8 hours drive. Sleep and finish the next day.
A lot depends on how well do the drivers do on a long trip.
Give more details on ages. Ease of travel. Type or vehicle. I my be able to give other suggestions. We have driven from the time our oldest was 3 to last year when she was 24 and heading down for her Disney wedding

 

[benedicttw]

Ps I don't follow threads very well so please feel free to pm me

 

[Get me to Disney!]

Thank you for the tips so far and keep 'em coming!! My kids are 15, 13, 10, 7 and are very good riders as are my husband and I. We've never driven that far for that long but that doesn't scare us. The car is a minivan (of course lol) and I'm hoping she does well

This will be another surprise trip for the kids so I will have to be the one who is creative and getting activities together for the long drive prior to.

We kind of thought we would take turns driving like he drives all through the night and then I take over for the day and hopefully both sleep in the car - we're just gonna play it by ear though.

Thanks again!!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

At the four major parks (AK, DHS, EC, MK) coolers are restricted to "small, soft-sided, which can fit in a locker". And they cannot be rolling bags.

The only restrictions that apply to all parks (theme and water) are nothing in glass containers (other than medicines and baby food) and no alcoholic beverages.

Some things people don't think about (which tend to be in glass) are pickles, salsa, Mayonnaise, Starbucks drinks, Snapple drinks, Tabasco.

At the water parks any type or size cooler is acceptable. I have seen people come through the gate (Typhoon Lagoon) hauling wheeled coolers about 4' x 3' x 2½'. Note that the cooler can be on two wheels or carried, but the way the rules are written you can not have it in a wagon and it cannot have four wheels.

If you show up at the gate with prohibited items we will give you three choices:
(1) Take prohibited items back to your car or resort.
(2) Put prohibited items in the nearby trash can.
(3) (Only for other than alcoholic beverages) If you have plastic bags or cups you can dump the items out of the glass containers and throw away the container.

 

[RemixBoyNJ]

The last long drive we did, we split it up every gas tank or so, this way neither one of us was driving for a long period of time. (This was a drive from PA to Alabama) It also gave us a chance to stretch out the legs and the back.

We also found that leaving super early in the morning was better for us than driving all night. The drive seemed shorter for us this way.

Good Luck

 

[RemixBoyNJ]

The last long drive we did, we split it up every gas tank or so, this way neither one of us was driving for a long period of time. (This was a drive from PA to Alabama) It also gave us a chance to stretch out the legs and the back.

We also found that leaving super early in the morning was better for us than driving all night. The drive seemed shorter for us this way.

Good Luck

 

[Ennazus8810]

We are coming from Ohio (18 hours as well) in less than 3 weeks. We did it in Nov of 2011 straight through,and plan on doing it again. My girls were excellent travelers, and we were in the "get us there mode". The drive really wasn't that bad. We left about 4PM and got to POP at 9:30AM.

 

[chartle]

2) If you're staying in a condo with a kitchen, stop by the grocery store when you get to Orlando and buy what you need for your meals. All bags brought into the parks are searched and I know that you can bring in some small food items, but not a picnic basket. You may want to pack a cooler for the park and leave it in your car for later in the day. You can then exit the park, eat and then return or you can eat a meal in the park.

You can absolutely carry an entire meal into a park. Sandwiches, sides the whole shebang. No need to keep it in the car.

 

[feezle]

Get some good music. Helped make the drive go faster for me (Ohio). Thinking about an audio book this time. Straight through for us!

 

[sbnewhampshire1]

We always bring a back pak. We freeze our water bottles the nightbefore to keep things cold and pack sandwiches, chips , snacks fruits and veggies.It does need to be searched on entry to the parks but no big deal. we always find a nice to have a picnic!
Everyone old enough takes a turn carrying the packpac! sharing is caring..and it sure saves a lot of money After lunch water has thawed out and is ready to drink.mmm so refreshing...Enjoy

 

[Hootch]

always drive. It is about 16 hours for us. My in-laws live about half way there so we stop there and visit the first night.

BTW - last week we finished a 5,000 mile road trip to California.

 

[gianna2006]

We've driven many times from NY (22 hours). We like it best when we leave about 6pm and have the kids play their games or watch a few DVD's until bed time. We stop, PJ"S and bathroom, then they try to settle down for the night. My husband does most of the driving through the night while I try to catch some zzzzz's. Then I tend to take over around 4am. As long as the kids sleep, we just keep going and going!! We find that if we stop at a hotel to sleep, by the time you get the room you get a second wind and then you can't sleep anyway!! We get there around 1 or so the next day and because we drove through the night we don't hit any traffic around the Washington/Baltimore area!

It's very tiring, but sooo worth it not only because it saves us a lot of money on flights and car rental, but also because we aren't chained to a schedule. We can stop as often as we want and leave when we want. Also, we can pack as much as we want as long as it fits in the car (no 50lb limit!!).

Video games, DVD's, and books are a must. My husband brings a book on CD to listen to while he drives (I find this puts me to sleep, but he loves it!). Ipod for me! And maybe a hidden Mickey book too!!

Good luck!

 

[Dizisfun]

We drive from Maryland and have always driven straight through. We drive until we have a 1/2 tank of gas, then we start looking for someplace to stop for gas. We use this gas stop as a place to stretch our legs, get a drink/snack, use restroom, etc. At this point we switch drivers. As we always drive straight through it breaks up the drive for us. I bring a pillow so I can try and nap while he drives. He doesn't nap much when I'm driving....

 

[SKINUT]

unless you buy the timeshare directly from Hilton. That two hour presentation could go longer if you aren't firm and as aggressive as their salesperson that you aren't interested. If you are interested, I suggest listening and asking questions without buying, check out www.Tug2.net, look at resale sites and ebay. You'll get the same for le$$.

As for the trip, we just got back. We left Deptford, NJ around 8pm and drove straight through. We do many of the same activities as the previous posts. We get movies from Redbox, read, talk about things we want to visit/see, play the Wii (we bought a converter for the lighter socket)/DS', then they fall asleep. We do trade off the driving. When the kids get up (8, 8, 3) we have breakfast, drive until we arrive, go to Walmart (Redbox is there for returns) to shop for the week, then check in. We buy Crystal Light mix, put it in water and freeze the bottles the night before the park. We pack lunches and use the frozen bottles to keep things cold. We take a stroller with under storage for the cooler. Your kids are older, but a stroller of any size is helpful with drinks, souvineers, tired kids, etc. All in all it isn't a bad driving trip. What didn't work was trying to drive back during the day- that was a nit-picking disaster! Feel free to PM. Good luck!

 

[aznshents]

OP, have you considered the Auto Train? It starts in Lorton, VA and goes to Sanford, FL and saves you a heck of a lot of driving- I took it when I drove from MA and enjoyed the experience immensely.

 

[aubreysmom09]

OP, have you considered the Auto Train? It starts in Lorton, VA and goes to Sanford, FL and saves you a heck of a lot of driving- I took it when I drove from MA and enjoyed the experience immensely.

I just looked this up, because I live in Southern VA. It would be nice to keep the mileage off the car, but for the price I can fly and rent a car for the 4 of us. Looks like we will just drive the 13 hours, it would be a lot of fun though.

 

[Dizisfun]

OP, have you considered the Auto Train? It starts in Lorton, VA and goes to Sanford, FL and saves you a heck of a lot of driving- I took it when I drove from MA and enjoyed the experience immensely.

We did the auto train one year on the way back....We drove down, everyone is always eager to get there so that drive is never bad. Once we got there we decided that we didn't feel like driving back so we took the auto train back to Virginia and then drove the 3 hours home.