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

[supersuperwendy]

We take 16 1/2 to 17 hours. That's with stopping for gas and potty breaks only. Kids get drive-through and DH and I just snack in the car. We bring nuts, pretzels, hard boiled eggs, water, M&Ms, maybe some Tastykakes.

If we plan to sleep on the road, we drive to Walterboro SC in about 12 hours, then it's about 4-5 hours to WDW from there. Last trip we drove straight through for the first time, due to encouragement from folks on this board. We loved it! We left home around 4:30 am and got there at 10:30 pm, after losing 2 hours to unexpected traffic in DC at 6:30 am (construction). So we should have arrived at 8:30 pm - very doable!!

Not sure which burbs you're coming from, since I don't think Neverland is in Montgomery County but if you have a choice, Blue Route to 95 is better than 202 to 95, even though it seems like a backtrack if you're in some parts of Montco or Chester County.

Thanks so much. We are in chester county and have taken rt. 1 south to nottingham then cut through Maryland to 95. It seems way faster then 202 through Delaware and we avoid the toll. We've driven down to DC for cheap flights so we might as well keep driving and save the airfare! I'm still having a hard time convincing my husband to do it. He thinks it takes way too long and won't save us enough money to warrant it. We drive (11 hours) to western Michigan to visit his mom every year because its cheaper then flying but he wont drive to wdw. What can I say to convince him? If we drove straight through how much could I expect to pay in gas and tolls in a Toyota sienna?

 

[dvczerfs]

Thanks so much. We are in chester county and have taken rt. 1 south to nottingham then cut through Maryland to 95. It seems way faster then 202 through Delaware and we avoid the toll. We've driven down to DC for cheap flights so we might as well keep driving and save the airfare! I'm still having a hard time convincing my husband to do it. He thinks it takes way too long and won't save us enough money to warrant it. We drive (11 hours) to western Michigan to visit his mom every year because its cheaper then flying but he wont drive to wdw. What can I say to convince him? If we drove straight through how much could I expect to pay in gas and tolls in a Toyota sienna?

your further south than me, im up in nazareth. we drive a crysler t&c which is about 19 miles per gallon.(i think it has something to do with how its driven ) but i dont see yoy spending much more than $350.max round trip. im guessing your going to drive about 1000 miles and im sure you get atleast 20 miles per gallon. there are a few people on this thread from your area, now that we know what part of pa your from that can help you with what they spend and times.

 

[supersuperwendy]

OMG do my eyes deceive me?! He texted me back and said...driving sounds like a nice time! I can't believe it! He did ask if we could remove a day in WDW to allow for the driving time. That actually works out fine for us. Our arrival day was only going to be spent at DTD anyway so no biggie! I can apply those points to our trip next June instead!

My parents are old pros at driving to WDW and suggested stopping for the night in Savannah, GA. I checked trip advisor and found Cambria Suites. It gets great reviews and can accommodate all 6 of us in one room! With my choice privileges it's only $84.99! Has anyone stayed there? If so did you like it?

How about driving home from WDW. Where do you stop overnight or do you push it straight through just to get home?

 

[dvczerfs]

OMG do my eyes deceive me?! He texted me back and said...driving sounds like a nice time! I can't believe it! He did ask if we could remove a day in WDW to allow for the driving time. That actually works out fine for us. Our arrival day was only going to be spent at DTD anyway so no biggie! I can apply those points to our trip next June instead!

My parents are old pros at driving to WDW and suggested stopping for the night in Savannah, GA. I checked trip advisor and found Cambria Suites. It gets great reviews and can accommodate all 6 of us in one room! With my choice privileges it's only $84.99! Has anyone stayed there? If so did you like it?

How about driving home from WDW. Where do you stop overnight or do you push it straight through just to get home?

MEN!! lol , we drive straight through. we are out the door at okw at 3am and pull in at home at 7:30 pm.

 

[supersuperwendy]

I'm thinking on our check out day I'd like to stay at the parks for a few hours. Then maybe drive 6-7 hours then stop for the night.

Who leaves WDW in late afternoon to drive back to the northeast? Where you do stop overnight?

 

[nono]

I'm thinking on our check out day I'd like to stay at the parks for a few hours. Then maybe drive 6-7 hours then stop for the night.

Who leaves WDW in late afternoon to drive back to the northeast? Where you do stop overnight?

We leave after breakfast and then stop overnight around Emporia, VA (no further north). That would probably be a bit far if you are doing the parks for awhile. I think that doing a short day the first day is fine! My only 2 cents is try to be sure your second day leg is no longer than 11-12 hrs. We find that's our limit with the kids.

 

[disneymam]

I'm thinking on our check out day I'd like to stay at the parks for a few hours. Then maybe drive 6-7 hours then stop for the night.

Who leaves WDW in late afternoon to drive back to the northeast? Where you do stop overnight?

We stayed in a great HI Express in Walterboro, SC last week. It is 5 1/2 hours approx. from the parks.

 

[supersuperwendy]

Because there's 6 of us I'll need to find some kind of Country Inn and Suites or something similar for the drive home. I'm getting really excited about driving down!

Have you taken a detour to go over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge? My kids have never seen it and I have such fond memories of visiting it with my grandparents as a kid. I don't know if it's a good idea though in December. I'm afraid it will be too cold to enjoy the pier. We are also going to WDW next June. Would you wait and visit the CBB then?

How much time does it add to the day 1 drive? If we were planning to stop in Savannah, GA what would be the best time to leave PA and head to the Chesapeake to arrive in Savannah not too terribly late?

 

[wijkowski]

My parents are old pros at driving to WDW and suggested stopping for the night in Savannah, GA. I checked trip advisor and found Cambria Suites. It gets great reviews and can accommodate all 6 of us in one room! With my choice privileges it's only $84.99! Has anyone stayed there? If so did you like it?

Cambria Suites are fantastic. We paid roughly $90.00 and were very happy. If possible, eat dinner in Savannah. The food is great.

Ron

 

[sharadoc]

I'm thinking on our check out day I'd like to stay at the parks for a few hours. Then maybe drive 6-7 hours then stop for the night.

Who leaves WDW in late afternoon to drive back to the northeast? Where you do stop overnight?

Congrats and welcome to the club! Thanks for the tip about Route 1, I'll have to look into that. We so desperately want to find an alternative to 95 but not all the way out to 81. We just set our schedule to hopefully avoid DC traffic, but it's difficult.

Our schedule is to usually leave WDW around 11-12. We've stayed in Santee, Wilson, couple of other NC towns. We usually go to Country Inn and Suites, so we kind of know what to expect.

I think if you want to go 6-7 hours, you would be northern South Carolina. Florence is a nice spot - lots of nice and pretty new hotels. That would put you about 8 hours from home.

Driving is togetherness! You and your hubby will probably talk to each other for more time than you ever do, with busy family life and work! We love being able to really talk and listen to music that we don't usually get to hear since the van is usually Radio Disney LOL. We set up our satellite with external speakers for the front seat while the kids watch DVDs.

We have a Dodge Grand Caravan, we can get 25 mpg if we don't use A/C, and closer to 20 with it. We assume 1000 miles (it's really 1025). So we use 40 gallons each way. Our drive in January 09 was at $1.89 a gallon, so we spent less than $200 on gas. Our last drive cost us right around $350. Still a good deal

Learn to drive and you'll go a lot more often!!

 

[disneymarie]

I think if you want to go 6-7 hours, you would be northern South Carolina. Florence is a nice spot - lots of nice and pretty new hotels. That would put you about 8 hours from home.

Driving is togetherness! You and your hubby will probably talk to each other for more time than you ever do, with busy family life and work! We love being able to really talk and listen to music that we don't usually get to hear since the van is usually Radio Disney LOL. We set up our satellite with external speakers for the front seat while the kids watch DVDs.

Learn to drive and you'll go a lot more often!!

We are NE PA, stopped at Florence and I agree a nice spot South of the South of the Border, and tons of options. Very trave friendly area.

 

[MamaJessie]

Driving is togetherness! You and your hubby will probably talk to each other for more time than you ever do, with busy family life and work!

I absolutely agree. I actually look forward to the drive down (the drive home not as much because it means we are on our way home )

 

[BC1836]

Our last drive cost us right around $350. Still a good deal

Our June 2011 round-trip drive of 2,233 miles in a 2011 Honda CRV (84 miles driving around WDW) cost us $239.50 in gas.

To be sure, we're looking forward to our next drive (#24) next month!

All the best.

 

[MinnieTink]

Our June 2011 round-trip drive of 2,233 miles in a 2011 Honda CRV (84 miles driving around WDW) cost us $239.50 in gas.

To be sure, we're looking forward to our next drive (#24) next month!

All the best.

We drove in April 2011, in a 2010 Honda Odyssey. Round trip gas...plus Driving to Universal and back and a bit more driving around Orlando, and our gas expense was a little more than $400. I was looking at flights today, for my parents and oldest DD.... It is amazing to me that families can fly anymore at all. It would cost the 5 of us around $1700 and up to fly. Huge difference.

Thankfully my kids are troopers and enjoy/tolerate the ride. In April we dropped our oldest DD off at 3 am at the high school where she boarded a bus to the airport. We took off then and arrived around 8 pm. (would have been 7:30 pm had we not had to spend about a half hour looking for a gas station at one exit!) There was definitely something magical driving in under those arches as the sun went down, and arriving as the lights were coming on at the Wilderness Lodge. <<sigh>>

Well safe drives everyone!

 

[nytimez]

Have you taken a detour to go over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge? My kids have never seen it and I have such fond memories of visiting it with my grandparents as a kid. I don't know if it's a good idea though in December. I'm afraid it will be too cold to enjoy the pier. We are also going to WDW next June. Would you wait and visit the CBB then?

How much time does it add to the day 1 drive? If we were planning to stop in Savannah, GA what would be the best time to leave PA and head to the Chesapeake to arrive in Savannah not too terribly late?

I drive from/to NY, not PA, but I've taken both the "short" detour of 95 to do the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the longer detour for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. I think the Chesapeake Bay Bridge detour doesn't add much time at all, if any. And I think taking the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel adds maybe 30 minutes of driving or so. But it takes longer because I stop more often at farmstands and such... so it's hard for me to say how much actual driving is added to the trip, but I don't think it's too much.

I think the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is more impressive than the bridge-tunnel... but the overall ride that includes the bridge-tunnel is more pleasant, since you spend more time on local roads and driving through the coastal communities and farm country.

 

[BC1836]

Welcome to those from the How Long Do You Drive? thread!

All the best.

 

[sharadoc]

Welcome to those from the How Long Do You Drive? thread!

All the best.

Ooh - did another thread get combined with ours? Do I have to go back and read old/new posts? Where does it start??

 

[dvczerfs]

just a heads up, parts of i80 and i81 are closed in the eastern part of pa. the interstates are flooding. there is a travel adviser. out and they are telling people not to drive unless you have to. the good news is the rain will stop on TUESDAY!!

 

[disneymarie]

just a heads up, parts of i80 and i81 are closed in the eastern part of pa. the interstates are flooding. there is a travel adviser. out and they are telling people not to drive unless you have to. the good news is the rain will stop on TUESDAY!!

I saw the sun peek, just a bit before sundown.
I-80 in Columbia county, Bloomsburg is closed indef, and all the roads along it. I-81 in Frackville or Pine Grove exits are closed but the road was still open last I checked.
Not sure about down in Harrisburg area with the Swataria creek. Weather channel is showing the flooding right now. Jim Cantorie is in Wilkes Barre right now. THe flood gates gasgets are breaking through; bringing sand and a payloader against the gates. The only thing holding the water back from the down time is the leaking gates.

The most areas not protected by the dike, or in with stream creek water run off have flooded seveal feet all along the valley. There are houses coming down the river...

I am on the moutain,but the water running is running down off onto the roadway like a waterfall and closing off at least one lane of Rt 309.We have so mnay

 

[dvczerfs]

I saw the sun peek, just a bit before sundown.
I-80 in Columbia county, Bloomsburg is closed indef, and all the roads along it. I-81 in Frackville or Pine Grove exits are closed but the road was still open last I checked.
Not sure about down in Harrisburg area with the Swataria creek. Weather channel is showing the flooding right now. Jim Cantorie is in Wilkes Barre right now. THe flood gates gasgets are breaking through; bringing sand and a payloader against the gates. The only thing holding the water back from the down time is the leaking gates.

The most areas not protected by the dike, or in with stream creek water run off have flooded seveal feet all along the valley. There are houses coming down the river...

I am on the moutain,but the water running is running down off onto the roadway like a waterfall and closing off at least one lane of Rt 309.We have so mnay

parts of the turn pike are closed also. are you near wapwallopen by any chance?????