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

[disneyfan55]

Thank you for your advice. I will certainly take that into consideration.

For those that go down 81 from this area, do most of you take 81/77/26/95?

We have gone 81/77 and actually gone down on 75 since we were visiting relatives in Atlanta. 77 sometimes has traffic, and only one time did we do that. Since we were visiting relatives a little west of Atlanta, we stayed on 81 until 40 and avoided 77. That would be out of the way though for a trip directly to FL. The time we took 81 south from PA we got on 95 just after Washington DC (my husband was following GPS - which I hate so wasn't paying that much attention)

 

[Tink1971]

Just back( Friday) from a 10 night stay.

We live 45 minutes west of Chicago.

Left Sat 10/23 at 9:30 pm. Got to Ruby Falls at 8 am Eastern time ate at the cracker barrell, then did the tour at the falls. Spent a total of 3 hours or so there. It was a good half wayish point to stop and stretch the legs. Then back in car, stopped in Downtown Atlanta at Varisty Dogs, and being from Chicago, you know how I like my hot dogs and this was an experience and I can at least say I did it. Arrived at our hotel at about 8:30 pm at the Hampton Inn just outside of Downtown Disney for the night. An excellent hotel to stay at for a night before you check into your Disney hotel if you arrive early, or even if you stay offsite. So a total of 22 hours in car, and we all did great. I did all the driving myself. My wife and 4 1/2 year old daughter did great traveling.

On the way back. Left Thursday 11/4 at 11:30 am and went straight thru again arriving home just before 6am. Straight thru again. We had some overnight construction in Chatanooga and Nashville but nothing to bad either way.

My wifes 2003 trailblazer with 125K miles on it with a sears travel bubble averaged 16mpg and I would guess the average we paid per gallon was about 2.69 or so

Good to hear... thanks for the update. We leave 11/19/10 and was wondering how your drive went. I was following your posts on this thread before you left.

 

[pwdebbie]

Thank you for your advice. I will certainly take that into consideration.

For those that go down 81 from this area, do most of you take 81/77/26/95?

That is the route we took the first two trips. Currently on our way home from our third trip. We took 95 this time and dh and I both agreed we liked it better. If we go again, we will probably do 95 again instead of 81.

 

[dvczerfs]

Question to the veteran drivers: You've just completed your 1,000+ mile drive to WDW. What next form of transportation best describes the "Ah-we've-made-it-and-this-is-so-relaxing" moment?

For us, it's the launch that connects the GF and the Poly to the MK.

And your WDW transportation moment?

All the best.

well, after we check in and put things away, we go to publix for some shopping. the drive to publix makes me feel like, hey, were here!!! disney transportation, id say the bus ride from okw to the mk.

 

[dvczerfs]

Hello all,

We've driven from our home in Lancaster county PA to Disney nearly a dozen times over the years, every time going I95. We are thinking about doing I81 on our next trip, but we're just not sure. We leave 3 weeks from today, (A Friday) and if we went I95 again, we'd be in the D.C. area around 1 - 1:30pm. Any thoughts? It is a bit out of the way for us to work our way over to I81, we can access I83 in about 20 minutes, and be on our way south toward Baltimore and 695 west.

Thanks!

i dont go down 95 out of the northeast only because there are 3 major citys we have to drive through and traffic in philly, washington and balt. can be a hairy at times. i have to go down the northeast extension of the turn pike to get to philly and that in its self is a 30 mile parking lot on most days.ive driven 95. ive driven 81-77-26 and also 81-66-17-95. like i said i take 95 off the table for us because just getting to philly to get 95 could be a 3 hour ordeal. it depends what time of year, what day we leave and the time of day we leave. not summer time, i do 81-66-17-95. i have it timed to miss all the rush hours. in the summer on a friday or sat. i use 81-77. 95 in the summer on a friday pm or sat. morning you hit alot of shore traffic. if i lived were you do, i would leave very early am (2am) and take 83 and 695 and 95. being so close to 83, i would just leave very early and head south! it takes me 16-1/2 hours and its 1080 miles one way.(but i drive a bit on the fast side) good luck and have a nice trip.

 

[starwood]

Looks like we will be making this trip quite a lot for the next 5 months. DS was accepted into the Disney College Program. We need to drive him down in January and then I intend on making several trips down (just to check) and then bring him home in May.

 

[KristiMc]

Looks like we will be making this trip quite a lot for the next 5 months. DS was accepted into the Disney College Program. We need to drive him down in January and then I intend on making several trips down (just to check) and then bring him home in May.

How fun!! Congrats to your DS. My boys are only 9 & 6 but I have already told them about the College Program and how cool it would be.

 

[dvczerfs]

Looks like we will be making this trip quite a lot for the next 5 months. DS was accepted into the Disney College Program. We need to drive him down in January and then I intend on making several trips down (just to check) and then bring him home in May.

congrats!!!

 

[BC1836]

dvczerfs: Howdy! Your WDW countdown clock indicates your next journey is in 16 days. Our paths may cross about a week after that!

All the best.

 

[dvczerfs]

dvczerfs: Howdy! Your WDW countdown clock indicates your next journey is in 16 days. Our paths may cross about a week after that!

All the best.

we are leaving nov30th. driving to s.carolina and fininshing dec1st.we will be driving home dec 11th. im meeting up with about 8 other disdads on this trip so my cell phone is loaded full of cell numbers with funny lookin dis names. im driving a crysler town and county,greenish. cant miss it. dvc lic. plate, dvc member decal on back window, mm lic. plate frame, mm magnet on the back door,pa plates. oh, and a big dvc member blanket in the back window covering the bags. generaly found in the left lane.

 

[Marshay]

Well we are making our 2nd drive down to Disney in 5 days!! We're leaving Friday afternoon and seeing how far we can get. I have two hotels on reserve -- one in SC and one in GA, but will need to cancel one of them.

I wish we could leave in the morning, but we can't. Oh well, we'll see how traffic goes.

Our intent is to check traffic on our google maps for going down 95 vs going down the backways. We actually prefer 95 -- unless there is an accident or it's rush hour. We are leaving at 1:30pm so I'm not expecting rush hour.

but we had such a good experience on our 1st trip in July that we will try driving down again!

 

[pwdebbie]

Currently on our way home from our third trip. We took 95 this time and dh and I both agreed we liked it better. If we go again, we will probably do 95 again instead of 81.

I wrote the above before going around DC yesterday morning. While we made it around the west side to 270 without any slow down, we both decided that the craziness of the traffic is just not for us. So we think next trip (dh told me to start planning the next trip ) we will take 15 to 17 and pick up 95 south of DC.

 

[dvczerfs]

I wrote the above before going around DC yesterday morning. While we made it around the west side to 270 without any slow down, we both decided that the craziness of the traffic is just not for us. So we think next trip (dh told me to start planning the next trip ) we will take 15 to 17 and pick up 95 south of DC.

debbie, did you ever take 15 before? i never did and ive been looking at that. we go out to int66, never had any problems on 66 but just looking to cut out going further west.

 

[Tina]

While I use 15 in the other direction, I use this route to travel from Northern VA to the PA turnpike a few times a year. It's actually a decent drive. I get on/off at the Dulles Greenway but you can continue along through Haymarket & onto 29/15 south to 17. I also use 17 when driving to Disney, getting on 95 in Stafford. Traffic can back up here due to those getting on 95, but like anything else, you can time it to avoid backups. Route 15 will also back up in some areas during rush hour.

 

[sharadoc]

we are leaving nov30th. driving to s.carolina and fininshing dec1st.we will be driving home dec 11th. im meeting up with about 8 other disdads on this trip so my cell phone is loaded full of cell numbers with funny lookin dis names. im driving a crysler town and county,greenish. cant miss it. dvc lic. plate, dvc member decal on back window, mm lic. plate frame, mm magnet on the back door,pa plates. oh, and a big dvc member blanket in the back window covering the bags. generaly found in the left lane.

We'll be there that week, too (12/4-110! Can we join the meeting or is it just Dads??

 

[pwdebbie]

debbie, did you ever take 15 before? i never did and ive been looking at that. we go out to int66, never had any problems on 66 but just looking to cut out going further west.

We live between 15 and 81 and have taken 15 north to Harrisburg and south to where it meets 17 in Virginia. This used to be our preferred route to Williamsburg. It is pretty good road all the way but busy through Frederick, MD, and wherever it was that we picked up 17, Warrenton maybe? It probably takes longer, but when we were going to Williamsburg every year, we didn't mind.

 

[JenSully]

We'll be returning from WDW Thanksgiving weekend and planning to stop overnight in Rocky Mount, NC. Anyone have any recent experiences with the safe, affordable hotels in the area?

What should we consider? What should we avoid?

 

[dvczerfs]

We'll be there that week, too (12/4-110! Can we join the meeting or is it just Dads??

we all know each others days in what parks and each others cell numbers so we can text each other. if you want, ill give you what days we are in what park and ill pm my cell number to you and we can see if we can meet up to say hello! just let me know if your intrested.

 

[dvczerfs]

We live between 15 and 81 and have taken 15 north to Harrisburg and south to where it meets 17 in Virginia. This used to be our preferred route to Williamsburg. It is pretty good road all the way but busy through Frederick, MD, and wherever it was that we picked up 17, Warrenton maybe? It probably takes longer, but when we were going to Williamsburg every year, we didn't mind.

i think ill stick to what we are doing. we get on int66 from 81 and get off at the warrenton exit. follow 17 through opal etc... we never hit any traffic on that part but we never hit it at rush hour.

 

[dvczerfs]

While I use 15 in the other direction, I use this route to travel from Northern VA to the PA turnpike a few times a year. It's actually a decent drive. I get on/off at the Dulles Greenway but you can continue along through Haymarket & onto 29/15 south to 17. I also use 17 when driving to Disney, getting on 95 in Stafford. Traffic can back up here due to those getting on 95, but like anything else, you can time it to avoid backups. Route 15 will also back up in some areas during rush hour.

im guessing 15 is like 17 as far as road condition, traffic etc...