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

[BC1836]

We're leaving Tuesday morning around 7am from north central NJ. We take 81/77/26. We've driven down the same week the last couple of years and never had any serious delays, just some construction around Chambersburg PA which seems destined to continue until the end of time. We spend the night in Columbia SC and arrive at WDW early the next afternoon. The nice thing about this drive is that the middle part of the trip, which is when you would tend to get the most bored, is through the Shenandoah mountains in VA so the beautiful scenery makes the time go by faster.

It is GREAT to hear from Fwd Facing Tentacles again on this thread. Fwd Facing Tentacles are veteran WDW folks whom we appreciate on many levels.

All the best on your journey!

 

[vicceja]

Hi All - I have found so much information so far but thought I would ask the experts for extra help. This is my first time driving down to Florida. We live in Fairfield County, Connecticut. It will be me and my 3 boys (14, 12, 9) on December 23rd. I don't know if I should leave late evening on December 22nd or 2am on December 23rd. Since my husband cant come im sure I will have to probably stop in Fayeteville, NC for the night. As far as the return trip - have not even thought about that but I'm planning on leaving the 31st.... Thanks!

 

[dvczerfs]

We're leaving Tuesday morning around 7am from north central NJ. We take 81/77/26. We've driven down the same week the last couple of years and never had any serious delays, just some construction around Chambersburg PA which seems destined to continue until the end of time. We spend the night in Columbia SC and arrive at WDW early the next afternoon. The nice thing about this drive is that the middle part of the trip, which is when you would tend to get the most bored, is through the Shenandoah mountains in VA so the beautiful scenery makes the time go by faster.

how do you get to 81? 80,78,22? if you come across 80, there is alot of construction in the pocons. there is an easy and fast way around it. just pm me or i can post it here. i avoid it every day for work.

 

[dvczerfs]

Hi All - I have found so much information so far but thought I would ask the experts for extra help. This is my first time driving down to Florida. We live in Fairfield County, Connecticut. It will be me and my 3 boys (14, 12, 9) on December 23rd. I don't know if I should leave late evening on December 22nd or 2am on December 23rd. Since my husband cant come im sure I will have to probably stop in Fayeteville, NC for the night. As far as the return trip - have not even thought about that but I'm planning on leaving the 31st.... Thanks!

if you can stay awake, i would leave late at night and drive through the night. my wife cant sleep in a car but me, i start getting tired around 2am so we dont try it. be carefull leaving on the 31st, very heavy travel day. you would probley be better off going 26/77/81.

 

[tiggerplus5]

if you can stay awake, i would leave late at night and drive through the night. my wife cant sleep in a car but me, i start getting tired around 2am so we dont try it. be carefull leaving on the 31st, very heavy travel day. you would probley be better off going 26/77/81.

The beltway around DC and NJ will be a parking lot on the way back! At least on the way down you can try to avoid NYC, Delaware Memorial Bridge, DC depending on what time you leave. On the way back, we always end up in NJ in the afternoon waiting in bumper to bumper traffic. We always take the tappan zee bridge and avoid NYC too.

I'm thinking about trying this route-26/77/81- next drive. NJ is so depressing. You don't want to go home. You are missing disney and you have to wait in a traffic jam for hours.

Definitely leave in the middle of the night. We left at 6 pm from MA and found the drive much less stressful all the way through DC. No traffic at all. We had 5 drivers to go straight through. Two of the drivers worked nights and they did the late night driving. Take your time and sleep if you get tired.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Fwd Facing Tentacles]

how do you get to 81? 80,78,22? if you come across 80, there is alot of construction in the pocons. there is an easy and fast way around it. just pm me or i can post it here. i avoid it every day for work.

We are close to 78 so that's the way we go. Thanks for your kind offer though. We'll post from the road and let everybody know how the drive is going.

 

[dvczerfs]

We are close to 78 so that's the way we go. Thanks for your kind offer though. We'll post from the road and let everybody know how the drive is going.

 

[crzy4dsny]

Just back from our fourth drive to Disney. Made great time, only 16.5 hours both ways. We left Long Island at midnight 8/23 arrived at Disney at 4:30pm. No traffic at all, no construction, no accidents and not a drop of rain. Got thru the DC area by 4:30am no problem at all. Went straight thru Richmond around 6:30ish, again no problem. Hit Jacksonville about 2:00 no traffic there either, went straight thru. Left Disney on Friday 9/3 at 3:00 am. No traffic the entire way. Stopped at my sisters in northern VA, about 25 miles south of DC, got there at 2:30.

I Didn't notice too many cops but they were out there. I just kept up with everybody else on the road. Tried to keep it just under 80 most of the time. People were still passing me though.

 

[Donald is #1]

So, I am a year away from my next drive from NH to FL. My first drive last year was to Port Canaveral. Since I have an EZ Pass in my car, the tolls through Maryland were very easy. For this next trip, I will be driving to WDW. Since we will be stopping in DC on the trip down, we will be driving I-95 down. (At least from DC south) Are the only tolls that I will encounter in FL be on ones near Orlando?

Also, does it make sense to get a transponder ahead of time or am I better off not having one and just paying the tolls with cash?

Thanks

 

[michael's mom]

Just back from our fourth drive to Disney. Made great time, only 16.5 hours both ways. We left Long Island at midnight 8/23 arrived at Disney at 4:30pm. No traffic at all, no construction, no accidents and not a drop of rain. Got thru the DC area by 4:30am no problem at all. Went straight thru Richmond around 6:30ish, again no problem. Hit Jacksonville about 2:00 no traffic there either, went straight thru. Left Disney on Friday 9/3 at 3:00 am. No traffic the entire way. Stopped at my sisters in northern VA, about 25 miles south of DC, got there at 2:30.

I Didn't notice too many cops but they were out there. I just kept up with everybody else on the road. Tried to keep it just under 80 most of the time. People were still passing me though.

Sounds like a great trip. We're planning on leaving MA around 4pm, putting us in NYC near 8pm and DC before morning rush too! I'm curious...how many were traveling with you? Did you only stop for bathrooms and gas stop or did you stop for meals too? It'll be just DH and I with our almost 5 year old and I'm trying to gauge what our trip could look like. I am hopeful though that we could leave a little later and still get there at a good time.

Wow 80 mph! That sounds promising!

 

[michael's mom]

So, I am a year away from my next drive from NH to FL. My first drive last year was to Port Canaveral. Since I have an EZ Pass in my car, the tolls through Maryland were very easy. For this next trip, I will be driving to WDW. Since we will be stopping in DC on the trip down, we will be driving I-95 down. (At least from DC south) Are the only tolls that I will encounter in FL be on ones near Orlando?

Also, does it make sense to get a transponder ahead of time or am I better off not having one and just paying the tolls with cash?

Thanks

Don't you already have a transponder if you had one to go to Port Canaveral?

I've never done the trip, but I've been told from some who have that using EZ pass saves you more time than you'd think so I'd definitely do that. We're planning on ordering ours soon.

 

[lswheatly]

Has anyone attempted to drive from Los Angeles, CA to WDW?

 

[vicceja]

Hi All - Thanks for the replies - I think I will leave late on Dec 22nd and drive through the night. As far as 26/77/81...I don't know what those routes are as I just depend on my GPS. I will have to look into this. Anymore ideas or suggestions is greatly appreciated. I'm a little nervous as I will be the only one driving with 3 kids.

 

[crzy4dsny]

Sounds like a great trip. We're planning on leaving MA around 4pm, putting us in NYC near 8pm and DC before morning rush too! I'm curious...how many were traveling with you? Did you only stop for bathrooms and gas stop or did you stop for meals too? It'll be just DH and I with our almost 5 year old and I'm trying to gauge what our trip could look like. I am hopeful though that we could leave a little later and still get there at a good time.

Wow 80 mph! That sounds promising!

It was wife and I and three kids 12,11,9. We pretty much just used the bathroom when we stopped for gas. That's just how it worked out this trip. The kids slept for a loooong time, my son slept 11 hours my two daughters about 9 hours. We had packed muffins and chocolate milk for breakfast and lots of snacks. No one was hungry for lunch. We just waited for dinner when we got to the resort. The speed sounds fast but on those open roads it's not. Just go with the flow.

 

[crzy4dsny]

So, I am a year away from my next drive from NH to FL. My first drive last year was to Port Canaveral. Since I have an EZ Pass in my car, the tolls through Maryland were very easy. For this next trip, I will be driving to WDW. Since we will be stopping in DC on the trip down, we will be driving I-95 down. (At least from DC south) Are the only tolls that I will encounter in FL be on ones near Orlando?

Also, does it make sense to get a transponder ahead of time or am I better off not having one and just paying the tolls with cash?

Thanks

If you take 95 to 4 into Disney there are no tolls south of DC.

 

[michael's mom]

It was wife and I and three kids 12,11,9. We pretty much just used the bathroom when we stopped for gas. That's just how it worked out this trip. The kids slept for a loooong time, my son slept 11 hours my two daughters about 9 hours. We had packed muffins and chocolate milk for breakfast and lots of snacks. No one was hungry for lunch. We just waited for dinner when we got to the resort. The speed sounds fast but on those open roads it's not. Just go with the flow.

That gives me a lot of hope for our trip! Thank you. We were thinking we'd pack lots of snacks and some things we could eat on the go. I think we'll probably stop the following morning for breakfast to stretch our legs and let our little guy move around for a little bit. We're going to find a Cracker Barrel probably in SC if we leave here around 4. Did you switch off driving at specific intervals or when you felt like you needed to?

 

[BC1836]

Less than two months since the second phase of this thread began, Reply #500 and View #15,000 were reached today!

All the best.

Note #1: Have a great trip Fwd Facing Tentacles!

Note: #2 [Previously asked] Did anyone ever drive from California (the home of Disneyland) to WDW?

 

[2busy4life]

New to this thread but we are heading to Disney/Florida in December from Mississauga, Ontario. Total driving there and back is 2800 miles (4200 kms) plus the driving we plan on doing in Florida for the two weeks we are there.

We have not had a holiday (away from home in 21 years) and we almost cannot wait.

 

[dopeyone]

We drove for the first time in Aug. not bad 2400 miles round trip, we went straight through both times, stopped each time for a 1/2hr. break and a couple restroom stops. With all stops inc. it took us 19hrs., we encountered some heavy rain both times at various points in our trip.
We take 90/79/19/77/26/95/4....we are thinking about driving again in Feb. I was wondering how bad are the Mountains on my route in Feb. are they icy? are they well maintained? Those Mts. in WV seem like they could be brutal in winter!

 

[Ken_Breadbox]

We drove for the first time in Aug. not bad 2400 miles round trip, we went straight through both times, stopped each time for a 1/2hr. break and a couple restroom stops. With all stops inc. it took us 19hrs., we encountered some heavy rain both times at various points in our trip.
We take 90/79/19/77/26/95/4....we are thinking about driving again in Feb. I was wondering how bad are the Mountains on my route in Feb. are they icy? are they well maintained? Those Mts. in WV seem like they could be brutal in winter!

I don't have any real-world experience for you--in fact I'd like to thank you for sharing yours, as we are taking that exact route in less than a month and the online mapping utilities are all over the place with drive times.

I can say that I've done a lot of reading about routes. It's suggested that I-75 is considerably safer in winter, for a couple of reasons. One, the mountain passes are less steep and less prone to inclement weather; two, I-79 in Pennsylvania is subject to lake-effect storms that are independent of weather in the area. Think north of Barrie, if you've ever driven that: it can be sunny one mile, and a white-out the next.

We have driven I-75 on a trip to Destin, FL three years ago in midwinter. We were dodging nasty weather all the way north--missed the Enterprise, AL tornado by 15 minutes--it was high wind and rain until halfway through Ohio, then snow. Throughout, the road was bare and wet, extremely well maintained. Your mileage, of course, may vary.