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

[Shir Kahn]

We've got the longest drive record beat, it's 3252 kilometers from our house to Walt Disney World, or 2020.69 miles. We've done the drive 5 or 6 times now. Never have driven straight through, the most I've driven in one shot was 26 hours. Interestingly, it's almost exactly the same distance to Disneyland from here! 3213 kilometers, or 1996.46 miles! We've done that trip twice so far! We just got a new Mitsubishi RVR GT last year around February and it's almost about to hit 20,000 kilometers, 7500 or so of which was from our trip last August to Florida!

 

[Lee23]

Leaving in 14 days on a 1100+ mile drive from CT.
We plan to hit the road about 3 a.m. to get through New York then New Jersey before 7 a.m.
We are hoping to pass through D.C. mid morning to avoid the majority of rush hour traffic.
We've made a reservation for an overnight stop in Florence, SC.

I'll be doing most of the driving, switching off with my SIL at times.
Kids will be with us; DD 13, DNephews 5 & 2.

I have a question about EZPass. I don't currently have one, though I want one before this trip. Is there any benefit to purchasing it in New Jersey rather than New York?
I was told by a friend that NJ EZPass rates are cheaper for bridge tolls in and out of the city.


Any advice on those times?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[KaylaMarie134]

Hello!!
I am officially new to the boards, but i have been lurking for over a year! Excited to see so many road trippers! My Boyfriend and I are pointing the car south May 9th and heading to WDW until Memorial Day (May 28) We are driving from Bangor, Maine - 1559mi. one way! we started our countdown at 468 days so I feel like were super close to going now!

 

[JustTJ]

We have our whole family booked for a Cruise on the Fantasy for January 2013. My daughter is expecting twins this spring, getting married in August and we decided to add them to our Cruise for a belated honeymoon Her twins will be roughly 7 or 8 months old by this time. We are all planning on driving (24hrs of driving from home, not including bathroom and meal breaks). Has travelled that far with such young children? I'm concerned about how well the babies would make out strapped into car seats over a period of two days. Any tips out there?

 

[BC1836]

We've got the longest drive record beat, it's 3252 kilometers from our house to Walt Disney World, or 2020.69 miles. We've done the drive 5 or 6 times now. Never have driven straight through, the most I've driven in one shot was 26 hours. Interestingly, it's almost exactly the same distance to Disneyland from here! 3213 kilometers, or 1996.46 miles! We've done that trip twice so far! We just got a new Mitsubishi RVR GT last year around February and it's almost about to hit 20,000 kilometers, 7500 or so of which was from our trip last August to Florida!

Congratulations! You have earned First Place in the category. See the first post on the first page of this thread.

All the best.

 

[Shir Kahn]

Congratulations! You have earned First Place in the category. See the first post on the first page of this thread.

All the best.

Thanks!

 

[dvczerfs]

We've got the longest drive record beat, it's 3252 kilometers from our house to Walt Disney World, or 2020.69 miles. We've done the drive 5 or 6 times now. Never have driven straight through, the most I've driven in one shot was 26 hours. Interestingly, it's almost exactly the same distance to Disneyland from here! 3213 kilometers, or 1996.46 miles! We've done that trip twice so far! We just got a new Mitsubishi RVR GT last year around February and it's almost about to hit 20,000 kilometers, 7500 or so of which was from our trip last August to Florida!

 

[dvczerfs]

We have our whole family booked for a Cruise on the Fantasy for January 2013. My daughter is expecting twins this spring, getting married in August and we decided to add them to our Cruise for a belated honeymoon Her twins will be roughly 7 or 8 months old by this time. We are all planning on driving (24hrs of driving from home, not including bathroom and meal breaks). Has travelled that far with such young children? I'm concerned about how well the babies would make out strapped into car seats over a period of two days. Any tips out there?

let me think back. our dd was 9 mnths old on her first drive. we have about a 17 hour drive. we departed home at 5pm and drove through the night so she slept for most of it. we also had a vcr and tv in the van which kept her busy while she was awake. bring what ever keeps them at home with you. books, toys, blanket.
she also had a camper that we kept at a camp ground so she was use to traveling about an hour and a half evey weekend with no problem.
good luck and have a nice trip.

 

[dvczerfs]

Leaving in 14 days on a 1100+ mile drive from CT.
We plan to hit the road about 3 a.m. to get through New York then New Jersey before 7 a.m.
We are hoping to pass through D.C. mid morning to avoid the majority of rush hour traffic.
We've made a reservation for an overnight stop in Florence, SC.

I'll be doing most of the driving, switching off with my SIL at times.
Kids will be with us; DD 13, DNephews 5 & 2.

I have a question about EZPass. I don't currently have one, though I want one before this trip. Is there any benefit to purchasing it in New Jersey rather than New York?
I was told by a friend that NJ EZPass rates are cheaper for bridge tolls in and out of the city.


Any advice on those times?

Thanks in advance for the help!

sorry cant help you out with the easy pass stuff but i think your times look good. hopefully by the time you hit dc, balt. area, the rush hour traffic should be gone.
i like your signature. im a dad and you couldnt pay me to go on that trip.

 

[job09]

thats how we started doing it in one shot. i can never sleep the night before. i just lay there flipping and flopping. so. we started hitting the road around 3-3:30am. (im up at 4am for work everyday anyway, no biggie for me) by 7:30pm, your pulling in. we unpack, get settled, take showers and have a quick bite than watch some tv in bed. we dont last long, we both are out in 5 min. up early the next morning. off to dtd to earl of sandwich for breakfast. do some looking around than off to publix for some food. back to resort for some lunch and a nap and hit our first adr by 6pm.
next day and eveyday afetr that we do parks in the early am. back in the pm.
when its just tammy and i, we do find some benches here and there and just enjoy scenery.

Good advice. This April will be our third time going from downtown Chicago to WDW. Last year we made it to Macon GA (we were caught in a tornado right outside of Atlanta or we might have made it in one shot.) This year we are going to try and make it to Valdosta but after reading your post I'm thinking about driving straight through. Do you think its worth it or are you too tired to enjoy the extra time at WDW? Anyone making the drive from Chicago? Do you go 157 through IL or cut over to Indiania via 94? Coming home we are driving to Pensacola Beach for a few days then going through Alabama to Chicago. So much more freedom driving!

 

[cruisingkat]

We drive from the Chicago burbs several times a year. We do the drive in two days. Otherwise, we arrive at Disney way too tired to do much that first day. We have done both 57 down to 24 and 65 to 24. We prefer 57 over 65. The truck traffic on 65 is a lot more than on 57. Also now, Illinois' truck speed is the same as posted for cars along most of 57. On 65, many times we got behind trucks passing other trucks which slowed us down. Even though the 65 route is a little shorter, both take about the same amount of time.

 

[Lee23]

sorry cant help you out with the easy pass stuff but i think your times look good. hopefully by the time you hit dc, balt. area, the rush hour traffic should be gone.
i like your signature. im a dad and you couldnt pay me to go on that trip.

Thanks!!

 

[Harlemgirl720]

Good morning all. I am driving down in August. We are driving from NY to New Bern, NC. From New Bern, I am driving to Kidani. I looked at mapquest and it has me going west to 95 and then down. Since I am on US 17, would it be better to hug the coast into Myrtle Beach and Savannah then down into Fl and then across? It will be myself, mom, son and grandson. And I will be doing all the driving.

 

[amcnj]

Lee23: EZpass in NJ has a website (not sure if we are allowed to post other sites, but a search for nj ezpass will locate it) with their terms and discounts. Maybe other states have one too. I believe most discounts went away and are now commuter discounts only, meaning you need so many trips a month for a discount to apply. Also note that NJ charges $1.00 a month fee for ezpass. I know people who got theirs in PA to avoid that fee. Not sure if PA is still free.

 

[dvczerfs]

Good advice. This April will be our third time going from downtown Chicago to WDW. Last year we made it to Macon GA (we were caught in a tornado right outside of Atlanta or we might have made it in one shot.) This year we are going to try and make it to Valdosta but after reading your post I'm thinking about driving straight through. Do you think its worth it or are you too tired to enjoy the extra time at WDW? Anyone making the drive from Chicago? Do you go 157 through IL or cut over to Indiania via 94? Coming home we are driving to Pensacola Beach for a few days then going through Alabama to Chicago. So much more freedom driving!

well, for us, its worth it. this is just how we feel and what works out for us. but, when we use to do two days of driving. the night before, i dont sleep. we would leave early (4am) to beat the local rush hour traffic and drive to s.carolina. we would get there around 4pm, check-in, unload a small overnight bag and get something to eat. we would try to fall asleep early and as normal, i didnt sleep. up early and hit the road at 4am. we would pull into wdw around 10:30am or so. (remember, you just spent $100 for a motel room and been driving for one and a half days) you go to check in at wdw and your room is not ready!!!!
now you have a van full of stuff, you want to get unpacked a relax and now you wait till 4pm till your room is ready and you can unload. so in our minds, we took two full days to drive 1086 miles and get checked in.
when we leave at 3-3:30am. im there by 7:30-8:00pm. its like a normal day at home but you are wdw. when you arrive at 7:30pm, your room at wdw is ready!!! in one hour, im unpacked and on vacation in one day!!! im i tired??? sure, but now im done for 12 nights. only took me one day. we just feel better when we are there, we know the room is ready and the work is done in 18 hours or so, not, almost two days.

 

[vavalynn2]

Okay this is the first time we have ever considered driving....

1283 miles one way from central ny.

We had no plans to travel this spring, but now that we have decided airfare is terrible!

It should cost us 150 one way in gas, I have also accounted for one hotel nights stay each way. Total cost of 500.00

It would just be DH and I driving....

How does this sound? Any feedback greatly appreciated...

Picking DH up right from work at 4:30pm. We expect to take route 81 to Harrisonburg, VA, approx 8 hours. Spend the night.

Next day get up at 6 and drive the rest, should be about 12 hours.

What do you think?

 

[dvczerfs]

Okay this is the first time we have ever considered driving....

1283 miles one way from central ny.

We had no plans to travel this spring, but now that we have decided airfare is terrible!

It should cost us 150 one way in gas, I have also accounted for one hotel nights stay each way. Total cost of 500.00

It would just be DH and I driving....

How does this sound? Any feedback greatly appreciated...

Picking DH up right from work at 4:30pm. We expect to take route 81 to Harrisonburg, VA, approx 8 hours. Spend the night.

Next day get up at 6 and drive the rest, should be about 12 hours.

What do you think?

thats what we are doing in may. we cant leave till 1pm on a friday. we are staying at the hampton inn in harrisonburg va again. if your second day is a work day, make sure you dont hit charlotte nc at a rush hour.

 

[vavalynn2]

We booked the Hampton inn too in Harrisonburg.

The second day will be a work day,maybe? Good Friday?


On the way home- Orlando to Dobson, nc. Then home.

 

[job09]

We drive from the Chicago burbs several times a year. We do the drive in two days. Otherwise, we arrive at Disney way too tired to do much that first day. We have done both 57 down to 24 and 65 to 24. We prefer 57 over 65. The truck traffic on 65 is a lot more than on 57. Also now, Illinois' truck speed is the same as posted for cars along most of 57. On 65, many times we got behind trucks passing other trucks which slowed us down. Even though the 65 route is a little shorter, both take about the same amount of time.

We like 57 too, MapQuest says it adds 2 hrs but it doesn't feel like it. Where do you stop?

 

[job09]

well, for us, its worth it. this is just how we feel and what works out for us. but, when we use to do two days of driving. the night before, i dont sleep. we would leave early (4am) to beat the local rush hour traffic and drive to s.carolina. we would get there around 4pm, check-in, unload a small overnight bag and get something to eat. we would try to fall asleep early and as normal, i didnt sleep. up early and hit the road at 4am. we would pull into wdw around 10:30am or so. (remember, you just spent $100 for a motel room and been driving for one and a half days) you go to check in at wdw and your room is not ready!!!!
now you have a van full of stuff, you want to get unpacked a relax and now you wait till 4pm till your room is ready and you can unload. so in our minds, we took two full days to drive 1086 miles and get checked in.
when we leave at 3-3:30am. im there by 7:30-8:00pm. its like a normal day at home but you are wdw. when you arrive at 7:30pm, your room at wdw is ready!!! in one hour, im unpacked and on vacation in one day!!! im i tired??? sure, but now im done for 12 nights. only took me one day. we just feel better when we are there, we know the room is ready and the work is done in 18 hours or so, not, almost two days.

That sounds good too. How many times have you done this drive? What was your wildest trip? I think we could almost make it all the way through. Do you drive straight through on the way home? I know what you mean about not being able to sleep on the road.