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

[patclairesmom]

Wow that is great time! I haven't been on here in a few days but curious as to how the rest of your drive went!

As soon as we hit Florida, it started to rain, so it slowed the drive down. We Left Santee@ 7:30 and made it to the Raddisson Celebration @2pm, so not such a great ride.

On the ride home, we left the hotel @ 7:30 and made it to Roanoke Rapids, NC a little before 6pm. We stayed at a newly renovated Comfort Suites. We liked it until I got a call saying we stole a pillow . I assured the woman we didn't and they said they are going to look at the tapes to see if we took it and if we did they were going to charge us $100. First of all, I didn't know they had cameras in the room and second a $100 for a pillow??? Haven't see a charge show up...yet.

Second part of the trip slowed down when we got to the DC area due. We left Roanoke Rapids @8 and got to Middletown a little after 2pm.

 

[Shir Kahn]

I just read a CNN article stating that gas prices in the U.S. have been plummeting in the last month or so! Very happy about that!

 

[sharadoc]

We drove non-stop once. It just about killed us. I have a friend who recently did the same and she swore it just about killed them and they will never do it again either. We now stop over one night around Chattanooga on the way down. We don't reserve hotels ahead of time. We just stop and find a hotel that looks decent with an inexpensive rate. We have young kids, though, so we like to be able to be flexible on where we stop so we can go longer or shorter if need be.

We drove non-stop a couple of times. Both times we hit some major catastrophe that added 4 hours onto our trip so it was horrendous. We've decided to do 2 days again and did so on our August trip. SO much better! We remembered why we thought the driving thing wasn't such a bad choice LOL.

We no longer plan to do straight-through drives with shorter trips. We'll only go when we have at least 10 days so we can do a night on the road in each direction.

We like to reserve a hotel that's a reasonable distance and stick to it.

 

[Shir Kahn]

We usually wait until we're getting close to stopping for the night and then hop on hotwire to get a really cheap room somewhere. Usually between $25-$40 for a decent "we're only here for 6-7 hours" type of room. We haven't been unfortunate enough to get stuck in a roach motel yet!

 

[NJRRK]

BC, gas in SC only 3.09? Prices have started moving downward again by me over the last week, but still well above that level. Maybe ours didn't drop due to Sandy, and we will see some big drops soon.

Enjoy your trip!

$3.25 at the cheaper stations around Hudson and Bergen counties.

 

[BC1836]

Assorted Transportation Notes from WDW:

Disney Hess $3.19 today (regular)

Monorail breakdown around 5 p.m. Caused lots of problems. We had to take a cab to the Contemporary to make our dinner reservation.

Purchased a Mickey Waffle car air freshener!

All the best.

 

[BC1836]

Another monorail breakdown day! This one is longer than yesterday's; it's been down since the early afternoon. Although WDW is running extra buses and adding a cruiser to the two-launch GF-Poly-MK loop, it's still causing big lines and long waits. But then again, we've got our vehicle!

All the best.

 

[sharadoc]

Another monorail breakdown day! This one is longer than yesterday's; it's been down since the early afternoon. Although WDW is running extra buses and adding a cruiser to the two-launch GF-Poly-MK loop, it's still causing big lines and long waits. But then again, we've got our vehicle!

All the best.

And right there is why we like driving!! Monorail is great, but if it breaks down, then we can hop in our own car and go!!

 

[dvczerfs]

And right there is why we like driving!! Monorail is great, but if it breaks down, then we can hop in our own car and go!!

SHAAARON!!! how are you guys doing? hows the new house going? we are having a looooooooooooooooooooong last few weeks. just one thing after another. car shopping, christmas, health issues with family and i think im going to start drinking!!!! tammy tells me tonight her dad (78) needs another heart valve and now his red blood count is low. they dont know where its going. he had a valve put in about 17 years ago and they said it was good for 10 years so its time. briana went for her stress test today. they said she did well!! briana was laughing, all the "old" people were looking at her like what is she doing here, picking up a grand parent? rotten kid, takes after her mother. i havnt been on line that much at all lately. keep in touch and if for some reason i dont hear from you, have a merry christmas!!!!

 

[BC1836]

Walt Disney World transportation notes:


Disney Hess dropped to $3.15 a gallon (regular)

Best way to get from the Grand Floridian to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for an afternoon wine tasting at Jiko's: drive!

All the best.

 

[BC1836]

Walt Disney World transportation notes:

Took monorail to EPCOT. Returned to TTC but resort monorail was down (third day in a row with problems); had to wait for a launch from MK after taking a ferry. Took 1:20 to get from EPCOT to the Grand Floridian.

We should have driven to EPCOT. Duh.

All the best.

 

[Jakesmom504]

As soon as we hit Florida, it started to rain, so it slowed the drive down. We Left Santee@ 7:30 and made it to the Raddisson Celebration @2pm, so not such a great ride.

On the ride home, we left the hotel @ 7:30 and made it to Roanoke Rapids, NC a little before 6pm. We stayed at a newly renovated Comfort Suites. We liked it until I got a call saying we stole a pillow . I assured the woman we didn't and they said they are going to look at the tapes to see if we took it and if we did they were going to charge us $100. First of all, I didn't know they had cameras in the room and second a $100 for a pillow??? Haven't see a charge show up...yet.

Second part of the trip slowed down when we got to the DC area due. We left Roanoke Rapids @8 and got to Middletown a little after 2pm.

Ugh we are in SC right now and I'm dying! I just want to be there already!! I thought I would be ok but umm no...although I haven't slept much at all either since 7:30 yesterday morning! We left at 8:30pm last night and at 6:25am we are probably about an hour from Savannah. I know we are making good time but I just want a real bed! Haha

Crazy about the pillow thing! Lol.

 

[APB513]

Ugh we are in SC right now and I'm dying! I just want to be there already!! I thought I would be ok but umm no...although I haven't slept much at all either since 7:30 yesterday morning! We left at 8:30pm last night and at 6:25am we are probably about an hour from Savannah. I know we are making good time but I just want a real bed! Haha

Crazy about the pillow thing! Lol.

Drive safely! You'll be there soon

 

[BC1836]

We filled up at Disney Hess today at $3.15, but moments later the price was reduced to $3.13.

All the best.

 

[BLTLDZ]

This is Lisa, (Lisa & Dave, from Jiko wine tasting, and the beach club)! It was so nice to meet you and your lovely wife! I hope your anniversary dinner was magical We hope to keep in touch Safe travels!!!

 

[BC1836]

This is Lisa, (Lisa & Dave, from Jiko wine tasting, and the beach club)! It was so nice to meet you and your lovely wife! I hope your anniversary dinner was magical We hope to keep in touch Safe travels!!!

Howdy, Lisa! You are true to your word: indeed, you did contact us. And, yes, our Victoria & Albert's dinner was extraordinary, thank you.

We will keep in touch. May we all meet again over glasses of Rudera "Robusto" Chenin Blanc!

[To all: One of the extra benefits of a WDW visit is meeting up with other folks who "get it." These are the individuals who understand and appreciate what makes WDW so unique and special. And we had the pleasure of crossing paths with Lisa and Dave.]

All the best.

 

[BC1836]

We have returned home from our 28th WDW 2,000+ mile round-trip drive.

After many straight through drives [see this thread's updated All-Time Records on Page 1], we decided to add a day to our drive.

We departed on Friday 12/7/12 at 7:30 a.m.

DE: 9:00 a.m.
MD: 9:18 a.m.
VA: 11:15 a.m.
NC: 2:29 p.m.
SC: 5:15 p.m.
GA: 8:24 p.m.

We stayed overnight in Pooler, GA, after driving 778 miles.

The next morning we departed at 9:17 a.m. and crossed into FL at 10:39 a.m.
We visited friends in Lake Orange and then drove to the HIE in Lake Buena Vista, arriving at 5:55 p.m. We later drove to DTD where we spent a few hours. The next morning we took our short drive to the Grand Floridian for the week.

And now...whoosh...it's over.

April can't come soon enough.

All the best.

 

[stasijane]

Well It looks like I'm back to prepairing for a drive again. My DD 13 and Myself are heading down for the Princess half in Feb and while I was hoping to fly this time as me being the only driver it gets hard at times. My DD is really scared of the thought of flying, and I dont want to make her. I figure she will be ready someday, but if she Keeps up at this reate I will be driving forever and Central Missouri is a long drive for one person.

 

[BC1836]

Who will be making the last 2,000+ mile round-trip WDW drive in 2012, and who will be making the first in 2013?

All the best.

 

[lsg1]

Who will be making the last 2,000+ mile round-trip WDW drive in 2012, and who will be making the first in 2013?

All the best.

We will be driving down from NYC (Staten Island be exact) on Jan 20th. Not sure if we will be the first, but it is one month from today