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

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for us, if your not going to drive straight through, traveling in the very early morning the better. you are either going to sleep on the road and get there a day later fresh or sleep at wdw and get there a day earlier and tired. it does feel better to get there a day earlier.:thumbsup2


Thanks I am just getting really excited for our trip and seeing granddaughters reaction to her first trip to Disney:goodvibes
 
Thanks I am just getting really excited for our trip and seeing granddaughters reaction to her first trip to Disney:goodvibes

I would say that's more of a motivator to leave early in the AM, get a good night's sleep and arrive at Disney World refreshed and ready to hit the ground running! I'd stick with your original plan, especially if Granddaughter hasn't been in a car that long before.

That first trip is SO exciting, but don't exhaust yourself before you get there.
 
I would say that's more of a motivator to leave early in the AM, get a good night's sleep and arrive at Disney World refreshed and ready to hit the ground running! I'd stick with your original plan, especially if Granddaughter hasn't been in a car that long before.

That first trip is SO exciting, but don't exhaust yourself before you get there.

That's what we are thinking of doing although hubby found out they are launching a rocket on May 5 and its something he has always wanted to see although I keep telling him they could cancel it
 
That's what we are thinking of doing although hubby found out they are launching a rocket on May 5 and its something he has always wanted to see although I keep telling him they could cancel it

We saw a launch from the Contemporary a few years ago, you could see the big fireball....but the whole thing lasted only seconds. That launch had been scheduled for Saturday, and finally went off on Wednesday......so they are not dependable.
 

pending on were in nj you are, you can wake up real early, hit the road by 3-3:30am, go up 95 into s.carolina.(you miss alot of the 95 traffic) take 26 to 77 to 81. 81 will take you to either 78, which will head into the center of the state towards newark or you can hit 80 off of 81 and that will take you on a more northern rte. its a nice ride, its about 100 miles longer (about an hour or so longer) but its all open interstate. if you stay on 95, your going to crawl home from south of the border to nj.:thumbsup2

We're from Bergen County NJ. Would you suggest taking 81 both ways? We leave on Friday 8/27 and return on Labor Day. I'm trying to get the extra day off so we can leave late on Thursday evening but might have to wait for Friday. Our original plan was to leave on Friday @ 8 or 9pm and drive straight down. I'm hoping the kiddies will sleep most of the night. For the return were planning on leaving Dis @ 10am. I guess that's not such a good idea. :lmao:

I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I planned the dates! :eek:

We have a place in South Jersey so I know what it's like traveling around here on the weekends in the summer. I just never registered in my brain that it's not only the Garden State Pkwy that has summer traffic but the entire coast.:confused3
 
Indeed!

Let's cure that with this question: How many of you 2,000+ mile round trip drivers have done a "straight-through" drive, i.e., from your home to WDW/Lake Buena Vista in one day/one driving period?
We have done this 5 times. It is 1,300 miles one way for us. Going to Disney we take 2 days. We leave our house at 2 AM and stop in Savannah, Ga around 8 PM. Coming home it's "pedal to the metal". We switch off driving and are home in 23 hours. It's not pretty but it gets the job done. This year we are stopping on the way home because it is Easter. We are hoping to find a nice hotel somewhere in Va. (exit 61 Hopewell, Chester or somewhere around there) Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
 
We're from Bergen County NJ. Would you suggest taking 81 both ways? We leave on Friday 8/27 and return on Labor Day. I'm trying to get the extra day off so we can leave late on Thursday evening but might have to wait for Friday. Our original plan was to leave on Friday @ 8 or 9pm and drive straight down. I'm hoping the kiddies will sleep most of the night. For the return were planning on leaving Dis @ 10am. I guess that's not such a good idea. :lmao:

I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I planned the dates! :eek:

We have a place in South Jersey so I know what it's like traveling around here on the weekends in the summer. I just never registered in my brain that it's not only the Garden State Pkwy that has summer traffic but the entire coast.:confused3

:lmao: ok, 95 from dc to south of the boarder is the garden state pkwy on a friday from noon on.:thumbsup2 are you closer to 80? if you are, come across 80, you will hit rt33. its in the poconos by the outlet mall you can miss it. take rt33 which is a 4 lane highway. take it to i78. i78west to i81. its faster than coming all the way across 80 to 81. or if your closer to i78 take i78 to 81. i78 is the main interstate between pa and newark airport and i287.:thumbsup2 need help, just yell.:thumbsup2 my dd has a dance comp this weekend over in nj. i know im going i78 to i287 north.
 
We're from Bergen County NJ. Would you suggest taking 81 both ways? We leave on Friday 8/27 and return on Labor Day. We have a place in South Jersey so I know what it's like traveling around here on the weekends in the summer. I just never registered in my brain that it's not only the Garden State Pkwy that has summer traffic but the entire coast.:confused3

Driving such a long distance on Labor Day could be a drive to remember. :sick:

Even the day before and the day after will not be particularly smooth sailing.

All the best. :thumbsup2
 
:lmao: ok, 95 from dc to south of the boarder is the garden state pkwy on a friday from noon on.:thumbsup2 are you closer to 80? if you are, come across 80, you will hit rt33. its in the poconos by the outlet mall you can miss it. take rt33 which is a 4 lane highway. take it to i78. i78west to i81. its faster than coming all the way across 80 to 81. or if your closer to i78 take i78 to 81. i78 is the main interstate between pa and newark airport and i287.:thumbsup2 need help, just yell.:thumbsup2 my dd has a dance comp this weekend over in nj. i know im going i78 to i287 north.

We're close to 78 so we'll plan on that route. I guess somewhere down the line we'll need to get back over to 95. Where do we connect with 95?

I'm REALLY gonna beg to get off on Friday so we can leave on Thursday. If I had to wait until Friday, what time would be best..of the worst??
 
We saw a launch from the Contemporary a few years ago, you could see the big fireball....but the whole thing lasted only seconds. That launch had been scheduled for Saturday, and finally went off on Wednesday......so they are not dependable.


That's what I told him so we are back to our original plan

Pam
 
We're close to 78 so we'll plan on that route. I guess somewhere down the line we'll need to get back over to 95. Where do we connect with 95?

I'm REALLY gonna beg to get off on Friday so we can leave on Thursday. If I had to wait until Friday, what time would be best..of the worst??

We take 78 to 81 to 77 to 26 to 95! Very nice drive, beautiful scenery!:thumbsup2
From googlemaps:
Merge onto I-78 W/US-22 W via the ramp to Harrisburg Continue to follow I-78 W 49.9 mi
Merge onto I-81 S Passing through Maryland, West Virginia Entering Virginia 369 mi
Take exit 81 to merge onto I-77 S toward Charlotte NC Passing through North Carolina Entering South Carolina 229 mi
Keep left at the fork, follow signs for I-26 E/Charleston and merge onto I-26 E 52.8 mi
Take exit 169A to merge onto I-95 S toward Savannah 77.8 m
 
We have done this 5 times. It is 1,300 miles one way for us. Going to Disney we take 2 days. We leave our house at 2 AM and stop in Savannah, Ga around 8 PM. Coming home it's "pedal to the metal". We switch off driving and are home in 23 hours. It's not pretty but it gets the job done. This year we are stopping on the way home because it is Easter. We are hoping to find a nice hotel somewhere in Va. (exit 61 Hopewell, Chester or somewhere around there) Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

All the well-known hotel//motel chains are generally satisfactory; to be sure, an individual room at and individual location sometimes can be less than satisfactory. If you are traveling at Easter, make sure you have a reservation. You can make a couple of reservations in advance but make sure you are aware of the facility's cancellation policy. A number of chains use 6 p.m. as the cancellation deadline; after that, you get charged whether you stay there or not.

All the best. :thumbsup2
 
We're close to 78 so we'll plan on that route. I guess somewhere down the line we'll need to get back over to 95. Where do we connect with 95?

I'm REALLY gonna beg to get off on Friday so we can leave on Thursday. If I had to wait until Friday, what time would be best..of the worst??

that time of year on thursday or friday, i would take the loveybydesign root. 81-77-26-95-4. it will keep you away from 95 and shore traffic most of the way.:thumbsup2 im going down on friday june 17th and thats the way im going. non summer traffic times i take 81-66-17-95 but you will sit on 95 going that way.:thumbsup2
 
Someone a couple weeks back was thinking of taking the Cape May-Lewes Ferry on the earliest ferry to head to WDW. Summer schedule is now out. As like last summer, it looks like there are some ferries on Saturdays that leave the Cape May side at 6:30 a.m...which I think was later than the poster wanted.

Hope the original poster sees this. :magnify: :)
 
I would say that's more of a motivator to leave early in the AM, get a good night's sleep and arrive at Disney World refreshed...."

Ah, easier said than done. We find it very difficult to sleep before a trip...and we've been doing "straight-through" drives of late. We end up catching a vehicle nap in VA. It's not what we would call "a good night's sleep" but it helps.

All the best. :thumbsup2
 
Ah, easier said than done. We find it very difficult to sleep before a trip...and we've been doing "straight-through" drives of late. We end up catching a vehicle nap in VA. It's not what we would call "a good night's sleep" but it helps.

All the best. :thumbsup2

:lmao: it start about 3 days out for me. i sleep about 4 hours a night. the night before we leave, ill sleep about 3 hours,get up at 2:30am,leave,drive till about 2pm. dw takes over for about 2 hours and i finish the rest.even then, it will take me about 2-3 days after we get there till i can sleep about 7-8 hours. dw says im nuts.:lmao:
 
Driving in May for the first time!! YICKS! I am expecting and will be about 25 weeks along and we will also have our 1 year old. Leaving from IN, about 1083 miles one way. First I have found varying hours on different sites. Google says 18 our GPS says 15 ½ does anyone know from first hand experience?

Also- My husband wants to leave at 8 pm and drive straight through? Opinions on this? We would arrive at 11 a.m. and get a priceline hotel in the DD area then the following day after hopefully some rest we will start our stay at Disney.

Thanks for your Help!
 
Is Columbia SC a good stopping place for the night? Sometimes it's nicer to stay in smaller cities, but I think Columbia might be big. We will have driven about 14 hours to there. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.
 
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