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

[sharadoc]

Hello all! Disney newbie here! My boyfriend and I are taking our first ever Disneyworld trip in 2 weeks (both of us are in our 20s).

And, of course, we're driving from Upstate NY. We're planning to leave at 6am on Friday January 10 and stopping for the day once we hit Raleigh, NC (to visit a friend and stay the night there). We'll leave Raleigh at 6am Saturday morning to arrive at Disney (hopefully) by dinner time.

So to all you lovely people--any advice for first time drivers? How do you prepare your car for the trip?

P.S. I've been following these forums for months as I planned our trip. Wish I would have joined sooner! Looking forward to your advice!

Welcome to the best thread on the DISboards!!!

By "prepare your car" do you mean mechnically or for comfort/entertainment?

We drive a Grand Caravan and we always take it into the shop about a month before our trip to get a full check-up. For the interior, we pack snacks and drinks, we prefer hard-boiled eggs, pretzels, nuts, M&Ms and granola bars plus cheese sticks and yogurt. We try not to overdo the snacks or they'll take up too much room. We have a cooler and a crate for everything. We bring bowls and napkins and plastic utensils and that usually covers us. We have a 6 disc DVD so we make sure we have enough different movies for the trip both ways, that's usually 25 or so, depending on what we bring. The kids get bored of compilation DVDs, like the Muppet Show, so we don't bring those any more.

We like stopping at night, it gives us a chance to sleep and be well rested when we hit WDW the next day.

95 is a very easy drive once you hit North Carolina. We also prefer 417 Greenway off I-4 instead of using I-4 the whole way in. It's a roll road, you'll need a roll of quarters for each direction. But it avoids downtown Orlando and all the crazy drivers and is a really easy drive for the last hour of the trip.

We love questions - ask about anything, one of us will have an answer!!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Welcome to the best thread on the DISboards!!! By "prepare your car" do you mean mechnically or for comfort/entertainment? We drive a Grand Caravan and we always take it into the shop about a month before our trip to get a full check-up. For the interior, we pack snacks and drinks, we prefer hard-boiled eggs, pretzels, nuts, M&Ms and granola bars plus cheese sticks and yogurt. We try not to overdo the snacks or they'll take up too much room. We have a cooler and a crate for everything. We bring bowls and napkins and plastic utensils and that usually covers us. We have a 6 disc DVD so we make sure we have enough different movies for the trip both ways, that's usually 25 or so, depending on what we bring. The kids get bored of compilation DVDs, like the Muppet Show, so we don't bring those any more. We like stopping at night, it gives us a chance to sleep and be well rested when we hit WDW the next day. 95 is a very easy drive once you hit North Carolina. We also prefer 417 Greenway off I-4 instead of using I-4 the whole way in. It's a roll road, you'll need a roll of quarters for each direction. But it avoids downtown Orlando and all the crazy drivers and is a really easy drive for the last hour of the trip. We love questions - ask about anything, one of us will have an answer!!

Where do you pick up 417?
We've picked up 429 but wondering if there's something closer?
Thanks!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Ahhh! My boyfriend and I leave thursday night from northern Illinois! I'm so excited!


I have a question though...what are the tolls like? I know there's a few in Illinois. We'll be taking 65-75 then into Florida. How much should we bring for tolls?

 

[jrj]

Hello everyone... We're driving to DA World from North Dallas, TX... our plan is to leave at 0 dark thirty and drive to Tallahassee... Stay overnight in Tallahassee, then head out the next morning for the short drive to DA World...

Question: does anyone have suggestions for hotels in Tallahassee?

I've read lots of reviews from different travel web sites, however, would like your input as well...

Thanks much...
Joy

 

[AaronInWI]

Hello all! Disney newbie here! My boyfriend and I are taking our first ever Disneyworld trip in 2 weeks (both of us are in our 20s).

And, of course, we're driving from Upstate NY. We're planning to leave at 6am on Friday January 10 and stopping for the day once we hit Raleigh, NC (to visit a friend and stay the night there). We'll leave Raleigh at 6am Saturday morning to arrive at Disney (hopefully) by dinner time.

So to all you lovely people--any advice for first time drivers? How do you prepare your car for the trip?

P.S. I've been following these forums for months as I planned our trip. Wish I would have joined sooner! Looking forward to your advice!

I'm not a whole lot more experienced than you, with my first (and so far only) drive coming last year. (However, drive number two is only 236 days away!) But these are a few things I did and learned.

• As previously mentioned, a few weeks before the trip I got the oil changed and had my mechanic (whom I trust completely) do a good once over to make sure everything was sound.
• I cleaned the car inside and out. I was going to be spending 40+ hours in the car over the next few weeks, so I knew I wanted it to be clean.
• A day or two before, I replaced the windshield wipers and also packed replacements just in case.
• We got a little garbage can to keep behind the passenger seat to help keep the car clean.
• I did a packing trial run so I knew how I wanted to pack the car for the drive. Stuff I'd need on the road (medications, snacks, drinks, etc.) I made sure to keep handy so I didn't have to dig too much.
• We took our time getting down. We stopped for our meals, found a rest area every two hours or so to stretch our legs and avoid road fatigue. Our destination wasn't going anywhere, so getting there an hour later than we had hoped is better than not getting there at all because I did something stupid trying to push past my limit.
• Which brings me to -- know your limits. Some people can drive 8-10 hours or more with no problems. Others can only drive two or three. I knew my limit was six hours, and then I'd need my wife to drive for a while so I could rest my eyes and my brain.

That's all I can think of right now. Oh, but most of all -- enjoy the drive! To paraphrase Carousel of Progress, there's a great big beautiful country, just waiting to be explored.

 

[dvczerfs]

Glad you made it home okay and sorry you are sick. Is it a cold or stomach?? I have a bad cold maybe we picked it up at Fort Wilderness.

Welcome back to the real world Briana!!

well let see. tammy got the cold on Monday. briana had the stomach Tuesday, tammy had the stomach Thursday (and the cold) and I got the cold Friday the day before we headed home.

the car ride home was fun. wasn't the first time and im sure it wont be the last. I guess we are looking at going down early September next year. its been a ruff 2013. I figured out our gas for this trip and the five trips we made since December 2012, we spent $2173. on gas. it was well worth it to see her diploma hanging on her wall.

 

[disbelle12]

Thank you all for your advice!

Counting down 'till we leave...only 11 days away! This weekend we're taking the car for an oil change, cleaning it out, etc. I'm also going to stock up on snacks this weekend too.

Do you guys ever hit the parks on your arrival day? The earliest we'll arrive is 4:30pm...I was thinking about resting for a bit, grabbing a quick bite to eat, and then head to Magic Kingdom for the electrical light parade and Wishes. What do you think? Too much in one day?

 

[jrsharp21]

Thank you all for your advice!

Counting down 'till we leave...only 11 days away! This weekend we're taking the car for an oil change, cleaning it out, etc. I'm also going to stock up on snacks this weekend too.

Do you guys ever hit the parks on your arrival day? The earliest we'll arrive is 4:30pm...I was thinking about resting for a bit, grabbing a quick bite to eat, and then head to Magic Kingdom for the electrical light parade and Wishes. What do you think? Too much in one day?

We are planning to hit the parks the day we get there. If we drive straight through we will get to WDW around 8am. If we stop to sleep we will get there around 2pm. We are planning to hit MK the day we get there and they have EMH until 2am!

 

[AaronInWI]

Thank you all for your advice!

Counting down 'till we leave...only 11 days away! This weekend we're taking the car for an oil change, cleaning it out, etc. I'm also going to stock up on snacks this weekend too.

Do you guys ever hit the parks on your arrival day? The earliest we'll arrive is 4:30pm...I was thinking about resting for a bit, grabbing a quick bite to eat, and then head to Magic Kingdom for the electrical light parade and Wishes. What do you think? Too much in one day?

I guess that would depend on how you plan on using your park ticket days. This is what we did --

Arrived in Orlando around 3:30.
Checked into a non-Disney hotel (Drury Inn) for the night.
Grabbed a bite to eat.
Drove to Downtown Disney for a sundae at Ghirardelli and a little shopping.
Went back to the Drury Inn to rest up.
Checked out at 8:00 am.
Checked into our Disney resort and headed to the Magic Kingdom.

We liked this plan because we got a little Disney atmosphere without using a park day for only a few hours in a park.

 

[hearts8701]

Leaving Chicago o'hare area early Thursday morning I really have no choice leaving earlier is not a choice with up to 10 inches of snow coming I need to decide which route in snow 65 or 57 I prefer 65 but the lake affect snow could make driving 57 a better choice for driving anyone have thoughts I checked with the weather channel page it states interstate conditions have snow until 24 either way

 

[BC1836]

Leaving Chicago o'hare area early Thursday morning I really have no choice leaving earlier is not a choice with up to 10 inches of snow coming I need to decide which route in snow 65 or 57 I prefer 65 but the lake affect snow could make driving 57 a better choice for driving anyone have thoughts I checked with the weather channel page it states interstate conditions have snow until 24 either way

You may be the first 2,000+ Mile Round Trip Driver to reach WDW in 2014!
Keep all of us posted on your journey.
Happy New Year!
All the best.

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Leaving Chicago o'hare area early Thursday morning I really have no choice leaving earlier is not a choice with up to 10 inches of snow coming I need to decide which route in snow 65 or 57 I prefer 65 but the lake affect snow could make driving 57 a better choice for driving anyone have thoughts I checked with the weather channel page it states interstate conditions have snow until 24 either way

Yay drive safely!! I'm leaving Thursday night from the Chicago area!!

 

[Goofygirl17]

We're home too. Love the pictures of everyone who got to meet up! Sorry we missed everyone.

We had the drive from %$$# on the way down! The longest it's taken me on 95 is 21 hours. It took us 27!!! We left CT at 5 pm on Friday the 20th. The amount of cars on the road- all the way down- was unbelievable! In spite of that we weren't doing too badly until we hit traffic in Georgia. We were about 1/2 hour from the GA/FL border and stopped. It took about an hour to get to the border and then even longer to get to the Welcome Center. We sat in front of the welcome center for quite a while and then it took about 5 hours to get from Jacksonville to our resort. We checked into our resort around 8 on Saturday.

The drive home was much better! Took about 19 hours not counting stops.

We had a great time but have never seen it so crowded. It was wall to wall people but we still got to go on most of our favorite rides and we loved the decorations!

 

[hearts8701]

Yay drive safely!! I'm leaving Thursday night from the Chicago area!!

You will be right behind me I'll post if I run into any difficulties on the road travel safe

 

[Surfinpiratee]

You will be right behind me I'll post if I run into any difficulties on the road travel safe

Awesome!!!

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Oops! Duplicate post

 

[stasijane]

We're home too. Love the pictures of everyone who got to meet up! Sorry we missed everyone.

We had the drive from %$$# on the way down! The longest it's taken me on 95 is 21 hours. It took us 27!!! We left CT at 5 pm on Friday the 20th. The amount of cars on the road- all the way down- was unbelievable! In spite of that we weren't doing too badly until we hit traffic in Georgia. We were about 1/2 hour from the GA/FL border and stopped. It took about an hour to get to the border and then even longer to get to the Welcome Center. We sat in front of the welcome center for quite a while and then it took about 5 hours to get from Jacksonville to our resort. We checked into our resort around 8 on Saturday.

The drive home was much better! Took about 19 hours not counting stops.

We had a great time but have never seen it so crowded. It was wall to wall people but we still got to go on most of our favorite rides and we loved the decorations!

Thats a long time to be sitting there like that. Was there an accident on the road or something? That happened to me and a friend about a year ago. We hit traffic at like 2am and sat there forever!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Leaving Chicago o'hare area early Thursday morning I really have no choice leaving earlier is not a choice with up to 10 inches of snow coming I need to decide which route in snow 65 or 57 I prefer 65 but the lake affect snow could make driving 57 a better choice for driving anyone have thoughts I checked with the weather channel page it states interstate conditions have snow until 24 either way

Be safe - snow just started here an hour ago (~50 miles West of St. Louis).

 

[hearts8701]

Taking 57 to 24 to 75 January 3 2014
Left Chicago at 7 am we decided to take 57 verses 65 because of the lake affect snow the traffic was slow moving at 50 miles per hr mainly because of visibility until Kankakee than we were moving steady at 65 miles per hr very light traffic the sun was shining by the time we hit Effingham we seen four cars and a semi a ditch due to ice no salt on roads brought speeds down to 45 miles per hour with one lane open until exit 166 by exit 150 everything was smooth sailing until Salem cones were up for construction one lane open until just before exit 103 cheapest gas was $3.19 in Illinois gas up before you leave Illinois gas in Kentucky is $3.39 at the state line
The bridges entering Kentucky were down to one lane just until the second bridge was crossed
Cheapest gas price in Kentucky was $3.19
Tennessee expecting to break a 18 year record with a cold front on Sunday with 3 inches of snow expected in Nashville
Cheapest gas price in Tennessee was $3.02
Stopping in dalton ga for the night it's pretty cold here too

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Taking 57 to 24 to 75 January 3 2014
Left Chicago at 7 am we decided to take 57 verses 65 because of the lake affect snow the traffic was slow moving at 50 miles per hr mainly because of visibility until Kankakee than we were moving steady at 65 miles per hr very light traffic the sun was shining by the time we hit Effingham we seen four cars and a semi a ditch due to ice no salt on roads brought speeds down to 45 miles per hour with one lane open until exit 166 by exit 150 everything was smooth sailing until Salem cones were up for construction one lane open until just before exit 103 cheapest gas was $3.19 in Illinois gas up before you leave Illinois gas in Kentucky is $3.39 at the state line
The bridges entering Kentucky were down to one lane just until the second bridge was crossed
Cheapest gas price in Kentucky was $3.19
Tennessee expecting to break a 18 year record with a cold front on Sunday with 3 inches of snow expected in Nashville
Cheapest gas price in Tennessee was $3.02
Stopping in dalton ga for the night it's pretty cold here too

I'm on the road as well! Were on 65, good weather! Are Kentucky and Tennessee good?