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

[dvczerfs]

Us, too!

We're leaving Thursday after work to get south of Richmond, then on to Florida on Friday and checking into the Wilderness Lodge on Saturday!

Only concern is the weather: There are four disturbances forming in the Atlantic...

just keep an eye on the storms. as long as your not on the road when they come a across. we went through hurrican wilma. we went to check in at okw and i said are you still taking people? the lady laughed,why she said? i said theres a cat 3 hurrican coming i didnt know if you still allowed people to check in. she asked me where i was from, i told her. she said she was from mass and a cat 3 around here is like getting 4 inches of snow at home. ok than. we were at the mk, the wind started to blow like crazy and we left the mk around 9pm. they closed all the parks at 10pm. we got back to okw and there was a mes. to please bring in the patio furnature. the wdw channel was the map of florida and the radar image of the storm. we fell off to sleep around 11. i got up at 3am and the red light on the phone was blinking. i quick dialed the mes. line and it was the front desk at okw. the lady said the parks are closed till further notice but olivias (the rest.at okw) will be open at 6am for breakfast and the gift shop will open at 7am. i have to say, those resorts on property are all cement and steel and we didnt hear a thing. we got up around 7 and it was pouring like crazy, i took a few videos of it. i didnt know a palm tree could bend that far. it was in and out by 9am. it came across the tv that the parks will reopen at 11. we had a adr at the castle for 11. we went into the park and there wasnt a leaf, dirt nothing on the ground. we got seated around 11:45 and the sun was out by noon.

 

[dvczerfs]

I'm so jealous of e everyone getting ready to leave. Have a safe drive and a magical trip. Six weeks from now we will be on the road!

i was just there for 8 nights in the middle of june and its like i havnt been in three years!!! 45 more days cant come fast enough till we hit the road again.

 

[sharadoc]

i was just there for 8 nights in the middle of june and its like i havnt been in three years!!! 45 more days cant come fast enough till we hit the road again.

Jealous!! Seriously, you are doing something special for Tammy for your second honeymoon, RIGHT????

 

[dvczerfs]

Jealous!! Seriously, you are doing something special for Tammy for your second honeymoon, RIGHT????

well, first its about our 5th honeymoon. and yes, she has been wanting to have breakfast in the castle. the last time we ate there for breakfast was 15 years ago. she never wanted to spend the money, so i did.

 

[disneymarie]

well, first its about our 5th honeymoon. and yes, she has been wanting to have breakfast in the castle. the last time we ate there for breakfast was 15 years ago. she never wanted to spend the money, so i did.

Now thats a husband. If mine would make a ressi anywhere at Disney for a dinner I would love it. He is just part of the group and not the planer. Will be headed down in Oct and free dining and I wish he planned a meal for us somewhere. We do have ADR's and he would not even know what that is.
Have a wonderful time everyone on their way this week.

 

[disneymarie]

i was just wondering today, friday, i passed a newer dark color chevy suburban heading south on rt 33 this morning around 8am. the suburban had a pa lic. plate and a hard black plastic rood top carrier on it. i couldnt see the driver but the person in the passenger seat had blonde hair. the suburban also was well disney fan marked. i was just wondering if it was anyone on this thread?

We have to have a "thing" to put on our DIS cars so we can honk as we travel along. Maybe Lime green Mickey Cling? Well, as we are driving down on Oct our Odyseey will have Disney written all over it, lol. Coming back the boys want the Auto train.

I am another with anxiety traveling so I will have to stock up on Ativan and Disney material to read and watch.

 

[Tanooki]

2nd and last day on the road to get to our magical vacation.

Traffic was very busy and heavy ont he 81 yesterday, more than we've seen before (we usually drive in March and/or December) so the day was very long but we made it!

GPS says that we should be at Pop around 7:20pm but we'll see what happens with the stops...

 

[dvczerfs]

Now thats a husband. If mine would make a ressi anywhere at Disney for a dinner I would love it. He is just part of the group and not the planer. Will be headed down in Oct and free dining and I wish he planned a meal for us somewhere. We do have ADR's and he would not even know what that is.
Have a wonderful time everyone on their way this week.

i do everything but pack her clothes. all she has to do his put her stuff in the suite case, give me her drivers lic., put her purse away, grab her sunglass' and hop in the van. she always says its not easy being married to an organized neat freak!

We have to have a "thing" to put on our DIS cars so we can honk as we travel along. Maybe Lime green Mickey Cling? Well, as we are driving down on Oct our Odyseey will have Disney written all over it, lol. Coming back the boys want the Auto train.

I am another with anxiety traveling so I will have to stock up on Ativan and Disney material to read and watch.

we have to come up with a logo. im also a disdad and our logo got spotted and nixed by disney. something about copywrites. they were very nice about it and gave us the guide lines of what to do and not to do. anyway, what day are you heading down in october???? we are leaving sept. 27th and will be coming home october 8th. if anyone is going to be there at the same time and want to meet up for a hello and a hand shake, pm me, we can exchange cells.

 

[dvczerfs]

2nd and last day on the road to get to our magical vacation.

Traffic was very busy and heavy ont he 81 yesterday, more than we've seen before (we usually drive in March and/or December) so the day was very long but we made it!

GPS says that we should be at Pop around 7:20pm but we'll see what happens with the stops...

im not sure what is going on lately but even around the lehigh valley theres been more traffic in the last month. some of it is construction but there seems to be alot more traffic. have a safe trip, keep in touch!!!

 

[barreloflaughs]

Summarizing:

Trip South..
78>81>77>26>95>4

Departed at 3AM on Saturday, July 23
Arrived at Sheraton Vistana at appx. 11PM.
I drove the distance.
Stopped for potty breaks frequently enough.
Quick lunch stop at a Wendys somewhere in the Carolinas.
Late dinner stop somewhere around Palm Coast.
Would have gotten to Vistana sooner but I was tired and stupidly followed GPS directions exiting onto International Drive much too early. ACK!

Traffic: None until we hit 95. An accident held us up for about 30 minutes not long after we got onto 95 in GA. (and, of course, on International Drive but that was due to my stupidity).

Trip North
4>95>NJ Trpk>287

Departed AKL Monday morning Aug 1 at 9AM.
Arrived home on Tuesday morning at 3AM.
Split the driving with Mrs. Barrel (mostly me though)
Stopped for lunch at a Subway...somewhere in So.Carolina or GA.
Stopped for dinner at rest area in DE.

Traffic: None...anywhere.

All in all, not bad. The drive home was worse but only because we were going home and driving into the night instead of into the day. When we pulled into our garage I turned to my wife and said 'Let's never do that again'. Of course I am now ready to do it again (but don't tell Mrs. Barrel!).

barrel

 

[disneymam]

I bought a white paint marker from Michael's craft store yesterday. It is specifically for car windows. Anyone ever try one of these? We are going to paint mouse ears on the windows. So excited! Less than two weeks!

 

[Jungle Cruiser]

DVCZerfs, we just passed your exit on route 78! First exit in PA going west from NJ, correct? We are on our way to visit my parents who live near Chambersburg, PA. Good thing we are going to WDW next month since we are driving the first 4 hours of our route to WDW.

 

[disneymom06]

I have enjoyed everyone's report just wanted to add some times from our trip. We left NY on Thursday afternoon and arrived at SSR on Friday at 11:30AM

1:53 PM Start just north of the GW
2:16 PM NJ line
4:33 PM Delaware line
4:49 PM Maryland line
7:08 PM Virginia line
11:58 PM North Carolina line
2:51 AM South Carolina line
6:13 AM Georgia line
8:16 AM Florida line
11:15 AM Arrive at SSR

Just a few notes: We drive straight through as we have 2 drivers. We know that we will stop over for the night if needed but DH never wants to waste the night time drive. It is when we make our best time.
The drive down was pretty good. (It is all relative, as one year we parked on 95 for 4 hours because they closed 95 north due to an accident. Our best time was 18.5 hours, our worst 26 hours.) We had a 20 minute break in Maryland and a 30 minute dinner stop in Virginia. We had just hit about 30 minutes of congestion traffic and needed a break. Then about Exit 78, the slowdown started before this, this was a 45 minute traffic crawl because of some night construction. We travel 95 all the way down. We have tried some of the detours around DC and Richmond but none ever saved us enough time that we felt it was worth it.

Gas prices are awesome. Understand where we live I paid 4.05 a gallon when we left home. Here are some of the prices that I observed or paid on the way down.

NY 4.05
NJ 3.67
Del 3.57-3.61
MD 3.76
VA 3.37-3.39
NC 3.67
SC 3.39-3.44
GA 3.55-3.67
FL 3.53

Luckily, we had to get gas only in NJ, VA, SC and Fl.

Thanks again, I'll report back on the way home.

 

[Tanooki]

Me again

We're getting close to the I-4 now, we should be at Pop around 7:30pm, which is very good considering the few stops we made (4 kids, you know...)

Traffic was better today but we did encounter a stop-and-go part on the I-26 (started around Gaston, SC) because of a 5-car accident on the other side of the Interstate (people are so nosy...) The back-up on the accident's side was at least 10 miles long

So far so good today. We are seeing a lot of lightning since we go to FL but not too much rain. It's also VERY hot when we get out of the car, like 95, and it's brutal... better get used to it for the next 8 days!

 

[dvczerfs]

DVCZerfs, we just passed your exit on route 78! First exit in PA going west from NJ, correct? We are on our way to visit my parents who live near Chambersburg, PA. Good thing we are going to WDW next month since we are driving the first 4 hours of our route to WDW.

it would be the second exit. rt33 stroudsburg/ pocono exit. on your way back home its the next exit after #67. if you look to your left, and its clear you can see for miles.

 

[dvczerfs]

I have enjoyed everyone's report just wanted to add some times from our trip. We left NY on Thursday afternoon and arrived at SSR on Friday at 11:30AM

1:53 PM Start just north of the GW
2:16 PM NJ line
4:33 PM Delaware line
4:49 PM Maryland line
7:08 PM Virginia line
11:58 PM North Carolina line
2:51 AM South Carolina line
6:13 AM Georgia line
8:16 AM Florida line
11:15 AM Arrive at SSR

Just a few notes: We drive straight through as we have 2 drivers. We know that we will stop over for the night if needed but DH never wants to waste the night time drive. It is when we make our best time.
The drive down was pretty good. (It is all relative, as one year we parked on 95 for 4 hours because they closed 95 north due to an accident. Our best time was 18.5 hours, our worst 26 hours.) We had a 20 minute break in Maryland and a 30 minute dinner stop in Virginia. We had just hit about 30 minutes of congestion traffic and needed a break. Then about Exit 78, the slowdown started before this, this was a 45 minute traffic crawl because of some night construction. We travel 95 all the way down. We have tried some of the detours around DC and Richmond but none ever saved us enough time that we felt it was worth it.

Gas prices are awesome. Understand where we live I paid 4.05 a gallon when we left home. Here are some of the prices that I observed or paid on the way down.

NY 4.05
NJ 3.67
Del 3.57-3.61
MD 3.76
VA 3.37-3.39
NC 3.67
SC 3.39-3.44
GA 3.55-3.67
FL 3.53

Luckily, we had to get gas only in NJ, VA, SC and Fl.

Thanks again, I'll report back on the way home.

Me again

We're getting close to the I-4 now, we should be at Pop around 7:30pm, which is very good considering the few stops we made (4 kids, you know...)

Traffic was better today but we did encounter a stop-and-go part on the I-26 (started around Gaston, SC) because of a 5-car accident on the other side of the Interstate (people are so nosy...) The back-up on the accident's side was at least 10 miles long

So far so good today. We are seeing a lot of lightning since we go to FL but not too much rain. It's also VERY hot when we get out of the car, like 95, and it's brutal... better get used to it for the next 8 days!

 

[disneymarie]

i do everything but pack her clothes. all she has to do his put her stuff in the suite case, give me her drivers lic., put her purse away, grab her sunglass' and hop in the van. she always says its not easy being married to an organized neat freak!


we have to come up with a logo. im also a disdad and our logo got spotted and nixed by disney. something about copywrites. they were very nice about it and gave us the guide lines of what to do and not to do. anyway, what day are you heading down in october???? we are leaving sept. 27th and will be coming home october 8th. if anyone is going to be there at the same time and want to meet up for a hello and a hand shake, pm me, we can exchange cells.

I will PM the cell.
Gosh, If I had to depend on the dh to do our trip planning, I would end up at Darlington and Daytona....Nascar

We will be driving down the 3rd, from I-81 above the I 78, staying until the 11th taking auto train home. The son and grandson are train addicts. We could have flown round trip for what the train home is with sleepers. It will be nice to have the van though.

I rode back in 09 with the kids, flew down to meet them. Funniest thing, we pulled into the POR and got out of a taxi, what do you know, the kids pulled in behind us from the Auto train. We arrived the night before and stayed at the Sprots, Disney provided a taxi for us.

We are having a birthday celebration for my older son at San Angel on the 5th. Epcot is open late that night I think. My youngest is turing 16 while there so dinner at Norway the 10th. In between, I have a character for the grandson 6, I was hoping to get Chef Mickey for him, but nothing available. I will call on when we are there for possible cancellation.

I am considering another trip in Dec and having the AP upgrade. The dd cyber schools so that is not a probem, but the dgs is starting kindergarten this fall. We have to get school approval for him. My hope is to upgrade and fit 3 trips in. That will be it until the economy is stable again.

This is a trip we would never had been able to make but for funds from a tragedy. There was a portion allotted to take the trips my older dd always wanted before she passed away. The trips are for the kids to make new memories. With budgeting I think we could do the 3. The one son and she wanted to crusise, we were cautious about the cost by taking one from NY with a local charter. Everyone had the best time of their life.
Except the older son and grandson; they are taking the Disney trip.

 

[disneymarie]

I bought a white paint marker from Michael's craft store yesterday. It is specifically for car windows. Anyone ever try one of these? We are going to paint mouse ears on the windows. So excited! Less than two weeks!

I like that, how will you draw? send a pic, if you don't mind I am going to try the silhouette
mickey head with ears. I can do an outline,the older son will likely not go for a filled in one....He thinks I am off with the overboard Mouse.

 

[dvczerfs]

I will PM the cell.
Gosh, If I had to depend on the dh to do our trip planning, I would end up at Darlington and Daytona....Nascar

We will be driving down the 3rd, from I-81 above the I 78, staying until the 11th taking auto train home. The son and grandson are train addicts. We could have flown round trip for what the train home is with sleepers. It will be nice to have the van though.

I rode back in 09 with the kids, flew down to meet them. Funniest thing, we pulled into the POR and got out of a taxi, what do you know, the kids pulled in behind us from the Auto train. We arrived the night before and stayed at the Sprots, Disney provided a taxi for us.

We are having a birthday celebration for my older son at San Angel on the 5th. Epcot is open late that night I think. My youngest is turing 16 while there so dinner at Norway the 10th. In between, I have a character for the grandson 6, I was hoping to get Chef Mickey for him, but nothing available. I will call on when we are there for possible cancellation.

I am considering another trip in Dec and having the AP upgrade. The dd cyber schools so that is not a probem, but the dgs is starting kindergarten this fall. We have to get school approval for him. My hope is to upgrade and fit 3 trips in. That will be it until the economy is stable again.

This is a trip we would never had been able to make but for funds from a tragedy. There was a portion allotted to take the trips my older dd always wanted before she passed away. The trips are for the kids to make new memories. With budgeting I think we could do the 3. The one son and she wanted to crusise, we were cautious about the cost by taking one from NY with a local charter. Everyone had the best time of their life.
Except the older son and grandson; they are taking the Disney trip.

sounds good! do you text or talk?

 

[pwdebbie]

DVCZerfs, we just passed your exit on route 78! First exit in PA going west from NJ, correct? We are on our way to visit my parents who live near Chambersburg, PA. Good thing we are going to WDW next month since we are driving the first 4 hours of our route to WDW.

I live near Chambersburg (to the east). If you happen to see a little white Subaru putting around with a Lime Green Mickey Head in the driver's side back window, that's us. Dh decided to not take it out after our last trip.