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

[disneymarie]

Just arrived @ WDW a few hrs ago from NJ. Left NJ approx. 3:30pm Thurs, picked up Ds @ camp, and hit 78W around 4:15. Crowded but moved well 78>81 through to VA. Then we were in the thick of a good 5 or 6 weeknight construction zones. Most were not too terrible, but my, around Staunton, VA, we lost about 30 min waiting to merge to one lane. Also hit violent, angry lightening storms after that, lol, slowed us down more!
Expected to arrive @ our hotel on Jonesville, NC around 12am, pulled in around 2am.
Today, left Jonesville, NC approx 8:45am, went 77 to 95 in SC, no prob until left FL Welcome Center after we crossed FL border--just read ksc37's post that accident on 95 was fatal, so sad. It delayed us a good 30 min, then hit Jacksonville around 5pm (yeah, 5 o'clock on a Fri, great) and it was crowded but mostly moved. Hit WDW by 7:45.
Lessons learned:
1. We prefer starting our trip early (5am-ish), not 3:30-ish like we did.
2. Beware of weeknight construction on 81 in VA!
3. WDW is still WDW and our kids & we were so happy to get here

We'll leave WDW at approx. Noon next Sat, we're still debating whether to take the inland route (81) or the costal route (95) back to Jersey.

Hope this helps someone

Glad you arrived safely! That is so sad about the accident, it is the one anxiety issue I have challanging me about the drive.
The only input about the route home I can offer is the path of the potential hurrican coming up the coast next Fri. Sat. I would not want to drive through torrential rain and winds. If it goes along the coast you will want to consider the inland drive.

 

[Goofygirl17]

So directions from here to CT

95 north to
26 west to
77 north to
81 north to
78 east to
287 east to
tappan zee bridge to
95 north?

I don't have the mapquest or AAA directions saved in order to reverse them. Guess I should have thought of that before we left CT!

Anyone know the exit numbers?

Thanks!!

 

[dvczerfs]

So directions from here to CT

95 north to
26 west to
77 north to
81 north to
78 east to
287 east to
tappan zee bridge to
95 north?

I don't have the mapquest or AAA directions saved in order to reverse them. Guess I should have thought of that before we left CT!

Anyone know the exit numbers?

Thanks!!

you got it!!! i dont know exit numbers but everything is well marked and theres no suprise exits or lanes to be in. that advise is good till 287, after that your on your own your past me. dont forget to wave on i78, stroudsburg rt33 exit.

 

[Goofygirl17]

you got it!!! i dont know exit numbers but everything is well marked and theres no suprise exits or lanes to be in. that advise is good till 287, after that your on your own your past me. dont forget to wave on i78, stroudsburg rt33 exit.

Thanks! We'll wave! I'm hoping to leave here by 7 tomorrow morning. Got the suitcases in the car... just have to get backpacks, cooler, and snack bag in tomorrow morning- oh yeah, and the kids! They're not going to want to get up but we need to get moving. I hope we can get 11 or 12 hours in tomorrow so Monday's drive is shorter.

 

[disneymarie]

Doesn't everyone travel with a GPS to show traffic, lane assist and detour help when traveling. I do hundreds of miles in a week and can not get along without one. Mine is a Garmin with traffic. \

 

[Goofygirl17]

I have a Garmin too but it's a couple years old and we didn't update it for this trip since I had such good directions and I have a GPS/map app on my phone. It doesn't do turn by turn/voice directions though so I like to have the Garmin for back-up. It's a pain to re-route my GPS to do the inland route is why I was asking for exit numbers. It sounds pretty straight forward though so I'm sure we'll be fine.

 

[RutgersAlum]

@Disneymarie, thank you, great point about the hurricane next Fri. If that does materialize, I suspect we will cut our trip short a day to make the drive back to NJ.
@Disneymam, glad I helped!
Safe travels, all!

 

[Disneyholic]

Doesn't everyone travel with a GPS to show traffic, lane assist and detour help when traveling. I do hundreds of miles in a week and can not get along without one. Mine is a Garmin with traffic. \

We started years ago with a TOMTOM. Worked well getting us everywhere excepto out of WDW. I think it wanted to stay. Later we got a Navigon. That worked pretty well, except when we went to Washington, DC. It wouldn't let us put in E, W, N, or S for streets and took us to the wrong end of town because of this. Then we got a Mio. That worked OK. DH just got a Garmin for his car and I just got a Dodge Journey with GPS in the radio. Both seem to work well. Took the Journey to Port Canaveral for our cruise this past May. Got us right to port and found our way to Georgia for a couple of days of Gold N Gem Grubbin. Then found a good route to get us home from there. I was always the map person and with getting older and needing bifocals I was starting to have trouble reading the maps. I would take my sunglasses off to read them and be blinded by the sun, plus I couldn't read the road signs with the glasses off. The GPS is much easier to read although depending on how fast you are going it doesn't tell you soon enough were to turn. Didn't have this problem on highways so much as driving through town. It says turn now and you're already passing it. I know it gives you warning, but sometimes it isn't enough if you have someone right on your tail.

 

[disneymam]

Doesn't everyone travel with a GPS to show traffic, lane assist and detour help when traveling. I do hundreds of miles in a week and can not get along without one. Mine is a Garmin with traffic. \

Our Garmin is now three years old and does not recognize new roads. Lately, I have been using my Verizon Droid for my GPS. My droid shows traffic, accidents, and construction detours.

 

[cruisingkat]

We had an older Garmin (at least 4-5 years old) - hubby bought the lifetime maps for it so he can download new updated maps a couple of times a year. It came with a years trial traffic subscription - but it still gave us traffic after our free trial was up. After he bought the lifetime maps, the kids bought him a new one that included lifetime maps and traffic. Even when traffic wasn't available (in a non-populated area) when we ran into a traffic jam caused by an accident, we just hit detour and it took us a different way - may have taken as long as if we stayed on the interstate sitting in traffic - but at least we were moving.
We have gotten the European maps when we did our 28 day Med cruise a few years back. Gamin recommended that we get the CD and only take the maps of the countries we were going to so the Nuvi didn't have to search through all of Europe. It was really great to be able to walk around Venice without getting lost. And we always saved the port location before we went touring - we were always able to find our way back to the ship. The only problem that we had was with the Turkey ports - Turkey is not part of Europe. Thank goodness we did a private tour in Turkey where they picked us up at the ship and brought us back.

 

[pwdebbie]

Our Garmin is now three years old and does not recognize new roads. Lately, I have been using my Verizon Droid for my GPS. My droid shows traffic, accidents, and construction detours.

I bought the lifetime updates for Garmin about two years ago and new roads are slowly appearing on screen now. I think we bought our Garmin in 2007, I know she's made three trips to FL since then. I honestly get tired of having to do the updates, but in reality they are worth having. I've got another notification waiting in my email, just haven't gotten around to it yet..

 

[ginny_lynn]

Hello! My name is Virginia and we will be making our first trip to Disney world next August!! We are driving from Nova Scotia Our party has 6 people can anyone give advise as to what hotel chains have suites for 6 for reasonable rates to use for the drive down, I know some Econolodges have suites for 6, any other suggestions are gretly appriciated!!! Thanks!

 

[pwdebbie]

Trying this again.

Driving to POFQ. The Disney website say to use Exit 65. I do not recall what exit we took off of I-4 south in the past (just did what the GPS said to do), however looking at this on the map, it looks like I should be getting off before that at Exit 67 onto Epcot Center Drive. Am I correct?

 

[dvczerfs]

Trying this again.

Driving to POFQ. The Disney website say to use Exit 65. I do not recall what exit we took off of I-4 south in the past (just did what the GPS said to do), however looking at this on the map, it looks like I should be getting off before that at Exit 67 onto Epcot Center Drive. Am I correct?

that would be the best way into pofq.

 

[dvczerfs]

Doesn't everyone travel with a GPS to show traffic, lane assist and detour help when traveling. I do hundreds of miles in a week and can not get along without one. Mine is a Garmin with traffic. \

i have a garmin. it sits on the dash and i leave it on maps. its not navigating, its just showing me where i am, what exits is next, how fast im going. the way i sit in our van, i can see how fast im going on the dash without ducking down so with the gps, its on the bottom left hand corner. i did use it to get me around a bad wreck in june on i81. i also drive 800 to 1000 miles a week for work!!! maybe we drive by each other!

 

[Caitie-Cecilia]

Good morning!

We have just made the official decision to drive on our Oct/Nov trip this year instead of flying and I am actually really excited! Airfare would come to $950 for DH, DS9 and for me. Rental car (small with double upgrade to fullsize) is rented for $600. Then luggage fees. Gas while there. $250 for the the night in a hotel + park and fly before leaving. Just crazy. Shockingly it works out better to travel in our not especially gas efficient but incredibly comfortable vehicle and we successfully made it to Rapid City SD in one day last May so we have high hopes for success again.

DH is taking care of routes and has updated the TomTom (our phones also work beautifully for gps in a pinch, but the TomTom rocks!) and I am driving myself (har har) crazy getting prepared. Can anyone help me with any links to places for road trip tips, suggestions, etc.?

I don't love the idea of drving through but we're in an odd situation - at this point we can't leave sooner than 3:30pm on Thursday and we were lucky enough to get a week in a DVC through a time share so we have a room booked starting Friday night. Because it's not a day to day rental but a full week, we can't move it or cancel it. We've decided at this point we're going to plan both a drive straight and also an alternative that has us checking in late (possibly as late as Saturday morning) but knowing we'll have a room ready whenever that arrival is.

We have 13 nights booked between this DVC week and 6 nights on points following it so losing part of a night is painful, but not nearly as much as if we only had a week or were staying on cash.

So long post short, I would love to join this thread as we prepare and would love any advice or links to advice any veterans have! We've flown to WDW countless times over the last 15 years but never driven. It's been a fun change in mindset to start buying MNSSHP and MVMCP tickets before airfare but I kinda like it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ThreeKMom]

Any advise about driving to Disney in a hurricane?

We plan to leave nj next Thursday around 5:30 and hopefully drive straight through arriving at the Boardwalk close to lunch time, I fear the newly forming hurricane may change our plans.

HELP!!!

 

[disneymam]

Any advise about driving to Disney in a hurricane?

We plan to leave nj next Thursday around 5:30 and hopefully drive straight through arriving at the Boardwalk close to lunch time, I fear the newly forming hurricane may change our plans.

HELP!!!

Oh no!!!! We leave Thur AM from PA and doing 81. Hoping it is not too bad

 

[ThreeKMom]

Oh no!!!! We leave Thur AM from PA and doing 81. Hoping it is not too bad

Me too!

 

[disneymarie]

Trying this again.

Driving to POFQ. The Disney website say to use Exit 65. I do not recall what exit we took off of I-4 south in the past (just did what the GPS said to do), however looking at this on the map, it looks like I should be getting off before that at Exit 67 onto Epcot Center Drive. Am I correct?

We were at the POR, the GPS took us to a service road entry. But the signs were the best help when driving back. Now off site to find a Walmart, Whattaburger, or Radio Shack, she did her job.

I am debating a new Garmin, the bigger screen. AAA has one with lifetime maps but the cost is high. I also have some problems with not enough warning on unfamilar exits and roads not seeing the upcoming turn. "RECALCULATING" ergh