For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only! (II)

[BC1836]

ONE more day!!! We leave tomorrow night (well, early Saturday am - about 2am) - sooooo excited - 1st stop Ocala, then Disney!!! We are all so excited, I don't know how I'll go to sleep early enough to get some rest before the drive down!!

A good time to depart and a good day to depart. And the weather is looking great (slight chance of thunderstorms by the time you pass through GA).

Don' forget to note the times you crossed state borders. Please share the info upon your return home.

But until then....

All the best.

 

[amtag]

It feels like we have a million years until we leave for Fort Wilderness October 28th. We'll be heading down I-95 because our experiment on I-81 did not go well. Anyone have any idea what the tolls are up to now on 95 while towing?

We had the I-95 vs I-81 debate for a loooong time planning this trip, but we figure we are leaving early enough and it's a Saturday, so we are going for the 95 route.

I will be making lots of notes on the trip and will report back to everyone - probably tomorrow night from our hotel in Georgia

 

[michael's mom]

It feels like we have a million years until we leave for Fort Wilderness October 28th. We'll be heading down I-95 because our experiment on I-81 did not go well. Anyone have any idea what the tolls are up to now on 95 while towing?

I know it's still a few months away but I'm definitely looking forward to your report on how the trip down and back went. We're leaving from the South Shore of MA and will be going down 95.

Do you have a transponder from FastPass? I'm not sure if you can use it when towing something though? We haven't ordered ours, but we will be shortly. A friend of ours has driven down twice, the first time w/o fastpass, the second time with and she said you wouldn't believe how much time it saved them not having to stop and wait in the Cash lanes.

Good luck! I wish I was 2 months away and not 7, but I'll take the 7 over none right?

 

[bdoyledimou]

Do you have a transponder from FastPass? I'm not sure if you can use it when towing something though? We haven't ordered ours, but we will be shortly. A friend of ours has driven down twice, the first time w/o fastpass, the second time with and she said you wouldn't believe how much time it saved them not having to stop and wait in the Cash lanes.

I can attest to that.. going through New York/New Jersey at 3 AM the cash lane tolls waits were 5 to 10 minutes each.. and there are a LOT of them seemed like we would drive for 5 minutes in between each 10 minute wait. Huge trucks all around you makes it difficult to judge anything as well

 

[rak5701]

Does anyone know what tolls if any there are on I-95 from about Washington DC south???

 

[BC1836]

Does anyone know what tolls if any there are on I-95 from about Washington DC south???

None.

 

[loveysbydesign]

It feels like we have a million years until we leave for Fort Wilderness October 28th. We'll be heading down I-95 because our experiment on I-81 did not go well. Anyone have any idea what the tolls are up to now on 95 while towing?

Uh, oh...what issues did you have on 81?

 

[Tina]

I'm starting to think ahead to my drive coming later next month. How many have packed a cooler with perishables and how many hours did you go? We're staying a week in a timeshare and will be eating breakfasts in the room. I'm looking at 13 - 15 hours (13 in a perfect scenario drive). I'd like to pack a cooler with some breakfast items (yogurt, butter, jam, cream cheese, etc). I'll also be packing some non-perishables. That would leave us only need milk and juice, which we can pick up at Hess in DTD and not need to find a grocery store. How many hours can we get out of cooler and things not get warm?

 

[mamapajama]

I'm starting to think ahead to my drive coming later next month. How many have packed a cooler with perishables and how many hours did you go? We're staying a week in a timeshare and will be eating breakfasts in the room. I'm looking at 13 - 15 hours (13 in a perfect scenario drive). I'd like to pack a cooler with some breakfast items (yogurt, butter, jam, cream cheese, etc). I'll also be packing some non-perishables. That would leave us only need milk and juice, which we can pick up at Hess in DTD and not need to find a grocery store. How many hours can we get out of cooler and things not get warm?

There is a Super Walmart not far from that DtD Hess you speak of. It's like a 5 minute drive from that Hess station. Why don't you pack food for the car and just get your perishables when you get there? We are staying at OKW and only packing food for the car trip. I wouldn't chance food spoling when I have a car and easy access to a market.

 

[Tina]

I know there are plenty of stores in the area, but I really don't want to bother with shopping, especially after a 13-15 hour drive. We'll want to have the stuff in the room on our first morning for breakfast and I thought grabbing milk and juice, while gassing up the car upon arrival would be easier. On our way into Orlando, we'll also be picking up some friends arriving at the airport, so we'll have a car full of tired travelers. The last thing anyone will want to do is deal with Walmart.

 

[michael's mom]

I'm starting to think ahead to my drive coming later next month. How many have packed a cooler with perishables and how many hours did you go? We're staying a week in a timeshare and will be eating breakfasts in the room. I'm looking at 13 - 15 hours (13 in a perfect scenario drive). I'd like to pack a cooler with some breakfast items (yogurt, butter, jam, cream cheese, etc). I'll also be packing some non-perishables. That would leave us only need milk and juice, which we can pick up at Hess in DTD and not need to find a grocery store. How many hours can we get out of cooler and things not get warm?

What about stopping and refilling the cooler with ice when you fill up for gas? That's our plan. We are also planning on packing a cooler with our perishables for our ride down because DS is very picky about some foods (his yogurt) and I had a hard time finding it last year. Also, we're going for my sis's wedding so our first 2 days down there we'll be doing wedding stuff and I just want to hit the parks on day 3. So, we're shopping up here, and we are planning on refilling our cooler with ice as needed throughout our ride down (approx. 23 hours I've been told).

I'm thinking of getting those huge glad bags (bigger than gallon) and putting my groceries like yogurt, string cheese, etc. in it and having the ice surround it.

Good luck!

 

[Tina]

I can't believe I didn't even think of adding ice along the way. LOL. I plan to pack the cooler with multiple freezer packs, but adding ice about 8 hours in might be just what we need.

 

[Maliki2]

We have decided to drive again...from Swanton,Vermont to Disney World in January. I know the weather will be nasty but with the price of airfare and car rental we will save about $1000...which isn't so bad. Going to take 2-3 days each way depending on the weather.

 

[michael's mom]

I can't believe I didn't even think of adding ice along the way. LOL. I plan to pack the cooler with multiple freezer packs, but adding ice about 8 hours in might be just what we need.

you may be better off skipping the freezer packs altogether and just starting off with ice. We had a cookout on the 4th and filled the soda coolers with ice. It was 90 degrees out on the 4th up here and the next day the soda was still very cold after being left outside overnight.

 

[michael's mom]

I'll definetly be making a trip report this time around. Yeah we have the fastpass & it works great. Definetly order one & they are free anyway. I drove to the east boston office & it took about 5min to get the transponder. Because we are towing they gave us one to use when not towing & one for towing. Are you staying in Fort Wilderness??

I just plan on ordering one online. I figure, I have plenty of time to get one so I can wait for it to be shipped out to me.

No, we're not staying at FW. We'll be at CBR with the rest of my family. We're the only one's driving but there'll be a whole bunch of us because my sister's getting married down there. Airfare is just way too much that week and we'd rather spend the money on something else So, we'll be taking our maiden voyage in April. I've been the passenger on two drives down, but never done the driving myself so it'll be interesting.

 

[michael's mom]

Driving down is a piece of cake & you'll do fine. We had originally thought of going to CBR but ended up booking Pop up until last week that is. I wanted to go to FW so I posted a thread in the camping forum looking for ways to convince her to camp again this year. Well because of a post on there my wife started a search. She then came across another thread with a reference to a website I won't post, but it freaked her out & she decided to camp. I love the resorts but I think I freaked her out & now have ruined future resort visits for myself.

Congrats to your sister by the way.

Oh no! I hope you can find a way to get her to a resort again. And no, I don't want to know what freaked her out Sometimes ignorance is bliss

We're really excited about my sister's wedding. I never thought she'd be the one to do a Disney Wedding...I'm the crazy Disney fan in the family. But, it'll be a lot of fun.

As for the driving, I'm actually looking forward to it. I hate all the stress of flying now...I get so nervous that I'm going to have something I'm not supposed to or forget something I need. Getting DS through security is a nightmare and his carseat NEVER fits through the xray machine. So I am so excited about not having to deal with any of that. I really think the day of driving will be worth it. Besides...so many people (incl. you) have told me it's not a big deal at all.

 

[snowy76]

Well first there was tons of construction on I-81 thru a section of PA.

Hi there... new to the thread. Read this and laughed.... was that one section oh, just south of Binghtamon NY to just north of Hagerstown, MD? Because I think it's PA state law to always be working on 81... which also never seems to be paved anywhere, ironically.

 

[pwdebbie]

Well first there was tons of construction on I-81 thru a section of PA.

Thought I would chime in with a reminder. In the Chambersburg area construction has been going on for years. We avoid 81 anywhere south of exit 20 (Rt. 997) to the Maryland line. We took a bridge over 81 south of Chambersburg last week and I couldn't believe how bad 81 looked. Just be prepared to be very alert in this area and travel slowly for a while.

 

[chipper10]

Very interesting! Thanks for the information. Did you all stop at all for food? or was it Get and go? I should have warned ya about the cops. Especially around the Valdosta area. I-75 is known for speed traps. Where you able to keep a speed say 70 instead of 65 and not get pulled?

We stopped at mostly McDonalds's so DS could run and play. I would say we stopped about every 1.5-2 hours for DS to go to the bathroom. Once we got past IL, I think the speed limited every where was 70. We went 73-74 mostly. In FL, I drove 76, mainly because I was ready to get somewhere for the night and the traffic was nothing. I have more notes somewhere. I'll dig them out as we unpack. Gas at the Boardwalk Hess was $2.57 on Saturday morning. We left Disney around 8:40am and made it home at 12:45am. The rain was pretty rough driving home and DS was very fussy. He just could not get comfortable.

 

[Kinziepoohsmom]

We left Newburyport on Friday at 4:30pm and took the I-81 route. The most traffic we had was on 495 in the Lawrence-Lowell area. Once we got past that it easy driving. I-81 in PA was fine with no construction, etc. Left Chambersburg on Sat am got to Kingsland GA sat night and sunday we were at VWL in our room at 1:30pm. This was our first time driving and it was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated.