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

[disneymarie]

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

It looks like several have taken the inland route when winter weather is a threat. Keep the weather channel on and stay tune here to the pro's that have driven hundreds of trips in all kinds of weather is a plus.
I am hoping that this one also treks out to see like the others though....

http://hurricane.accuweather.com/hurricane/atlantic/2011/irene/storm.asp

 

[disneymarie]

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!

When we travel with 6 I get connecting or next to each other rooms. The activity to get the little ones to sleep and getting 6 people to a shower and luggage is more then most rooms can handle. the cost is not much different and more convienant to just book the two rooms. But you need an adult in each room, or older kids. That is some trip, miles wise.

 

[MinnieTink]

Hey just joining in again..... We are possibly leaving on Saturday afternoon for our 6th drive down from Northern NJ... Just add me to the list of people worrying about the drive in possible Hurricane weather. I am hoping by then Irene will have made a lovely turn towards the east and heads out to sea!

Safe driving to all!

 

[pwdebbie]

I just saw this as I got on the computer this afternoon:

Three Generations of New York Family Die in Crash Returning From Disney World

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/2...sh-returning-from-disney-world/#ixzz1VgrRZZSD


Very sad, I hope it wasn't someone from this forum.

 

[dvczerfs]

Hi All!
We're back from our trip last week. We left Friday night and took 81-77-26-95. This was a good route and we saw very little traffic at all. I actually liked the street lighting on this route better than on 95 too. It took us about 18 total driving hours from East Stroudsburg to our condo in Kissimmee. We made a stop at the Florida Welcome Center to eat our cereal for about 20 minutes and then we stopped at Daytona Beach.

The ride home we drove straight up 95 because by the time we hit the Virginia area it was late already and there was really no traffic.

All in all, it was a good trip. I don't think we'd drive straight through again unless we left at different times and had a few extra days off. I'm still a little fatigued from the drive home and arriving at 6 am Sunday.

Great trip though...I'm in withdrawl of course wishing I was in Florida and WDW!

pwdebbie,
i seen the name angela in that crash on i95 in north carolina where people were killed. i remembered this name and glad to see she is home.:thumbsup

 

[disneymarie]

So glad another safely home and uneventful trip.

 

[sharadoc]

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 have two schools of thought on that one. The Epcot Center Drive exit will take you on 535, which leads to the DTD entrance/Buena Vista Drive. One you go past all of DTD, you just need to make a right onto the road that has OKW, POFQ and POR. BUT, that stretch of 535 backs up for miles, could take 30 minutes from I-4's exit to the Disney Entrance and I don't think it's more than a mile or two.

If you get off at the main entrance you are driving further inside the Disney property, but you most likely will not be sitting in traffic. Plus you can get a nice little tour of all the signs, LOL.

So, what's better - less miles but traffic, or more miles but more driving? Last trip we settled on less traffic and more driving inside WDW. Kind of part of the fun of arrival now.

 

[dvczerfs]

We have two schools of thought on that one. The Epcot Center Drive exit will take you on 535, which leads to the DTD entrance/Buena Vista Drive. One you go past all of DTD, you just need to make a right onto the road that has OKW, POFQ and POR. BUT, that stretch of 535 backs up for miles, could take 30 minutes from I-4's exit to the Disney Entrance and I don't think it's more than a mile or two.

If you get off at the main entrance you are driving further inside the Disney property, but you most likely will not be sitting in traffic. Plus you can get a nice little tour of all the signs, LOL.

So, what's better - less miles but traffic, or more miles but more driving? Last trip we settled on less traffic and more driving inside WDW. Kind of part of the fun of arrival now.

i get off exit 68. at the ramp light i turn right, go to the entrance which is the second light and turn left onto hotel plaza blvd. than a right onto buena vista drive and than a left onto disney vacation club way. when you get off the exit stay in the left lane. ive never really hit that much traffic there but i guess if you hit that at a shift change it could be fun.

 

[3smithboys]

We just got back tonight from our trip... we took 95 down - left on a Wednesday night (Aug 10th) at 8pm and drove straight through the night. DH and I took turns - we were going on the Disney Dream for the first part of our vacation, so we drove straight into Port Canaveral- we were there by about 12:30ish and did not hit any traffic. It was an uneventful ride.

The ride back we decided to try for the first time 95, 26, 77, 81, 76... We left Orlando yesterday (Sat, Aug 20th) at 1:00 pm. We drove to Charlotte, NC, and it was a good ride up to Charlotte - no problems at all and we made it there by 9pm. We left at 9:30am for the ride home to the Philly area.... this ride was a nightmare!!!! It took us 11 1/2 hrs... there were traffic backups for no reason, bad weather, lots of big trucks driving stupid, and general heavy traffic...

Next year... we're flying.

 

[Goofygirl17]

We've stopped for the night in Harrisonburg VA. We left Orlando at 7:50 and had a good drive until we hit traffic on 81 in VA. Sat in stop and go traffic for about 45 min. Not sure what time we'll leave in the morning but I think it'll take about 8 hours to get home- hopefully less.

 

[dvczerfs]

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!!!

it looks like friday noon it could be a cat. 1 across orlando. i would start looking into adjusting your plans. hopefully it turns to the east more and out to sea but i wouldnt want to be on the road friday. it looks like its moving fast ehich is good. we went through wilma but we were already at okw when it hit. keep an eye on that thing.

 

[dvczerfs]

We've stopped for the night in Harrisonburg VA. We left Orlando at 7:50 and had a good drive until we hit traffic on 81 in VA. Sat in stop and go traffic for about 45 min. Not sure what time we'll leave in the morning but I think it'll take about 8 hours to get home- hopefully less.

there were alot of bad thunder storms through the northeast sunday afternoon and sunday night. there are people without power yet this morning. summertime, sunday afternoon, bad weather makes for a not to easy travel time. we stayed at the hampton inn in harrisonburg va in june, nice area.

 

[ThreeKMom]

it looks like friday noon it could be a cat. 1 across orlando. i would start looking into adjusting your plans. hopefully it turns to the east more and out to sea but i wouldnt want to be on the road friday. it looks like its moving fast ehich is good. we went through wilma but we were already at okw when it hit. keep an eye on that thing.

We are watching closley! This morning it seems to be getting stronger and possibly verring to the east. Hopefully it will miss FL completely!

BTW, I started packing, the first thing I put in the suitcases were the ponchos!

 

[mrspopeye]

Leaving tonight from Michigan.... taking I-75 all the way. Car almost ready, oil changed, tires rotated, air filters changed, interior vaccumed and floor mats in wash machine. My DH will be proud

Now if I can only calm down enough to get some sleep before we leave.

Never heard of putting floor mats in the washing machine- does that work better than the carpet shampoo? I have a front loading washer so it makes sense that might work. Do you just let them dry outside in the sun? Great tip.

 

[dvczerfs]

We are watching closley! This morning it seems to be getting stronger and possibly verring to the east. Hopefully it will miss FL completely!

BTW, I started packing, the first thing I put in the suitcases were the ponchos!

dont forget the ponchos.and maybe hip boots.

 

[dvczerfs]

We are watching closley! This morning it seems to be getting stronger and possibly verring to the east. Hopefully it will miss FL completely!

BTW, I started packing, the first thing I put in the suitcases were the ponchos!

now they are saying a poss. s.carolina land fall. maybe it will keep blowing east.

 

[disneymam]

We just got back tonight from our trip... we took 95 down - left on a Wednesday night (Aug 10th) at 8pm and drove straight through the night. DH and I took turns - we were going on the Disney Dream for the first part of our vacation, so we drove straight into Port Canaveral- we were there by about 12:30ish and did not hit any traffic. It was an uneventful ride.

The ride back we decided to try for the first time 95, 26, 77, 81, 76... We left Orlando yesterday (Sat, Aug 20th) at 1:00 pm. We drove to Charlotte, NC, and it was a good ride up to Charlotte - no problems at all and we made it there by 9pm. We left at 9:30am for the ride home to the Philly area.... this ride was a nightmare!!!! It took us 11 1/2 hrs... there were traffic backups for no reason, bad weather, lots of big trucks driving stupid, and general heavy traffic...

Next year... we're flying.

Yesterday we drove from Williamsport PA to Hershey PA Via route 15/322/81 and traffic was awful too. We have never seen it that bad on a Sunday

 

[sharadoc]

i get off exit 68. at the ramp light i turn right, go to the entrance which is the second light and turn left onto hotel plaza blvd. than a right onto buena vista drive and than a left onto disney vacation club way. when you get off the exit stay in the left lane. ive never really hit that much traffic there but i guess if you hit that at a shift change it could be fun.

We have always sat in bumper to bumper traffic there. I guess the distance from the I-4 ramp to the turn doesn't make it seem that bad.

 

[dvczerfs]

We have always sat in bumper to bumper traffic there. I guess the distance from the I-4 ramp to the turn doesn't make it seem that bad.

i come in that way even if we stay at the contemp. it makes me feel like im getting there faster.

 

[ThreeKMom]

dont forget the ponchos.and maybe hip boots.

We might just need the hip-boots, two years ago we were in the MK near Fantasyland during a rain storm and the area was very flooded! My DD had to take her socks off to wringe(sp?) them out!

As long as we can make it to the Boardwalk some time on Friday we will be HAPPY!