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

[dvczerfs]

on the way down- just watch the weather channel and see the deal. if you think about it the roads really are a mess 24hrs of less.

So if it looks like the snow is going to hit smack dab in the middle of the drive- yank the kids out of school half day early and make a break for it. Or GASP- wait half a day longer and go after the storm. I'll let you guess what my family does.

that's what I get for not reading all the post first before I start commenting. sorry mike, I said the same thing you did.

 

[mikek]

that's what I get for not reading all the post first before I start commenting. sorry mike, I said the same thing you did.

it's all good.
well- except the part where you said you left Disney EARLY to avoid to avoid weather

 

[dvczerfs]

it's all good.
well- except the part where you said you left Disney EARLY to avoid to avoid weather

if I remember we were to get hit with an ice storm here at home on a Saturday afternoon. we planned on leaving that Saturday at 3am and getting home around 7pm which I would have driven into the storm. we left wdw Friday afternoon and made it home before the storm started.

just gave us another reason to go back!!! we had to leave early.

on the way home from our trips, someone will say "we didn't get to ....... "
well, I guess we will have to go back!

 

[Disneyholic]

HAVE A NICE TRIP!!! ILL SHOVEL YOUR DRIVEWAY FOR YOU WHILE YOUR GONE!

Thanks. I was wondering who was going to take care of the snow.

Actually between the 1st day of hunting season & the fact that it could snow, I'm a little nervous for the trip home. We leave here on Thursday & the weather looks good right now for the trip down, but in a week a lot can change. We went down to Maryland a few weeks ago & there were 3 areas on 81 & 83 that had lots of blood & chunks from Tractor trailers hitting something. I was a wreck til we got home safely.

 

[dvczerfs]

Thanks. I was wondering who was going to take care of the snow.

Actually between the 1st day of hunting season & the fact that it could snow, I'm a little nervous for the trip home. We leave here on Thursday & the weather looks good right now for the trip down, but in a week a lot can change. We went down to Maryland a few weeks ago & there were 3 areas on 81 & 83 that had lots of blood & chunks from Tractor trailers hitting something. I was a wreck til we got home safely.

they are all over. rt33 has parts all over. the guy next door just hit an eight pointer down the street from us in front of gracedale. they just have no where to go around here and they are heading into town to find something to eat. they are so use to being around cars and people anymore it don't bother them. my wife totaled her car last fall on hanoverville road on her way home from work. couldn't figure out why so many cops showed up. the were deciding who was taking it home. he was a big one and I guess the deer wasn't to banged up but was dead.

 

[dvczerfs]

our dd had off last night and a bunch of her friends headed to the studios. she sent us this picture and asked what was going on, the flags were not at half when they entered the park. it is for the passing of diane Disney miller, walts oldest daughter. she passed away Tuesday at the age of 79.

 

[sharadoc]

HI SHARON!!!!! ok, don't tell B I posted this picture. she said she will get me a better one. she said her shirt is a mens and its to big. i said she looks like an umpa lumpa!! she said there not very flattering for short people.

http://s901.photobucket.com/user/dv...5-4473-ae14-37177b851acb_zps9d23ae16.jpg.html

Oh she looks adorable! I think we're going to do a party probably Tuesday the 17th. We want those short lines and the parade. So we should see her there !

 

[dvczerfs]

Oh she looks adorable! I think we're going to do a party probably Tuesday the 17th. We want those short lines and the parade. So we should see her there !

her "weekends" have been Mondays and Tuesdays. but, now that the holidays have started, she had Tuesday and Thursday.

being that she requested and was granted the 20th and the 21st off, she is going to be working 17th,18th,19th..................

 

[myhouseofmouse]

We are in single digits now from our first "family" drive to the world. We are leaving Thanksgiving evening. Getting excited. Thanks for all the helpful tips and tricks.
A special thanks to: "dvczerfs" Thank you for all your extra help and insists, I'm sure they will all come in handy for our trip.

 

[mjmyers10]

We are in single digits now from our first "family" drive to the world. We are leaving Thanksgiving evening. Getting excited. Thanks for all the helpful tips and tricks. A special thanks to: "dvczerfs" Thank you for all your extra help and insists, I'm sure they will all come in handy for our trip.

Looks like we have the same schedule. Leaving 1 am Black Friday to hopefully have Earl of Sandwich that night for dinner!

 

[dvczerfs]

We are in single digits now from our first "family" drive to the world. We are leaving Thanksgiving evening. Getting excited. Thanks for all the helpful tips and tricks. A special thanks to: "dvczerfs" Thank you for all your extra help and insists, I'm sure they will all come in handy for our trip.

I can't believe it is almost thanksgiving. Have a safe trip!!!! I didn't do anything, just agreed with what you wanted to do but thank you! Keep us posted and shoot me a text if you need Drive safe and watch them cops!! Lol

 

[dvczerfs]

Looks like we have the same schedule. Leaving 1 am Black Friday to hopefully have Earl of Sandwich that night for dinner!

Earl of sandwich. Thanks now I'm hungry. Lol ohhhh can I go for a ham egg and cheese about now. Lol. Have a safe trip.

 

[mjmyers10]

Earl of sandwich. Thanks now I'm hungry. Lol ohhhh can I go for a ham egg and cheese about now. Lol. Have a safe trip.

They opened an Earl of Sandwich at the Parx Casino in Bensalem PA. I have been tempted a few times to head out there.

 

[duggage]

This will be my first time driving the family to WDW (Detroit area). Van occupants are 3 adults(me, wife, mil) and 3 kids(17, 10, 7). I'll probably be doing all the driving since: 1. I really like road trips. 2. my wife really likes when I drive. 3. My mil is "meh" about driving and dislikes the idea of my 17yo behind the wheel.

Woohoo for me!

We're leaving on Black Friday early in the morning and stopping overnight along the way. Check in at our resort (OL River Island) isn't until 4pm on Saturday, so we'll probably hit a Beall's along the way and try for an early check-in.

My plan is to stop for the night somewhere from Macon to Valdosta depending on how good traffic is/etc. I know there is a "hotel tonight" app that would work for the Macon area only(no small towns), but I'm a little concerned about using that or priceline/etc to book last minute owing to there being 6 of us.

I found on Expedia that there is a Comfort inn suites that holds 6 and apparently includes a hot breakfast for ~100$ pretty much all along that stretch of road (I75). Should I consider securing a place now or just wing it like I was planning to? Is there some other last-minute tip I should be following?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this trip a lot. We usually fly down, but I did most of the driving last year to Miami for a cruise, and it reconnected me with my love for road-tripping. We're gonna do another WDW trip in August (probably on prop), and I already told my wife we'll probably be driving.

 

[Jhuff8181]

We are driving from New Hampshire in mid January. We are leaving early in the morning on a Sunday hoping to get into WDW around 10:00 am on Monday. We will be near Fredericksburg, Va. around 3:30. I was thinking about surprising my family by taking a break and stopping by Splitsville for a game. Has anyone ever done this or been there? Can anyone tell me if this is a good idea?

 

[mikek]

This will be my first time driving the family to WDW (Detroit area). Van occupants are 3 adults(me, wife, mil) and 3 kids(17, 10, 7). I'll probably be doing all the driving since: 1. I really like road trips. 2. my wife really likes when I drive. 3. My mil is "meh" about driving and dislikes the idea of my 17yo behind the wheel.

Woohoo for me!

We're leaving on Black Friday early in the morning and stopping overnight along the way. Check in at our resort (OL River Island) isn't until 4pm on Saturday, so we'll probably hit a Beall's along the way and try for an early check-in.

My plan is to stop for the night somewhere from Macon to Valdosta depending on how good traffic is/etc. I know there is a "hotel tonight" app that would work for the Macon area only(no small towns), but I'm a little concerned about using that or priceline/etc to book last minute owing to there being 6 of us.

I found on Expedia that there is a Comfort inn suites that holds 6 and apparently includes a hot breakfast for ~100$ pretty much all along that stretch of road (I75). Should I consider securing a place now or just wing it like I was planning to? Is there some other last-minute tip I should be following?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this trip a lot. We usually fly down, but I did most of the driving last year to Miami for a cruise, and it reconnected me with my love for road-tripping. We're gonna do another WDW trip in August (probably on prop), and I already told my wife we'll probably be driving.

we have 5 in our family so we too need to find a suite for the overnight stop. I used to book a hotel someplace along the way but to be honest almost every time we were way off. You have to cancel by 6pm or get charged but we never had an idea where we would be at the end of the night at 6pm. Wound up we always seemed to stop way too soon where we could have knocked off hours of driving the second day becasue we still felt fresh, or we wound up dreading the last couple hours becasue we picked a hotel too far.

so the past several years we've just booked online as we go with a smartphone. Tried a few different methods. We tried brand specific apps and while we like the rewards, they are somewhat limiting in the options when you are on the road- you might have just driven past the last of that family of hotels for 100 miles when you decide 'its time'. Next we tried priceline- not at all a fan of the bid thing- we tried a little but there wound up being too much uncertainty- we wanted to know to stop at "exit XX" and not just some range +/- X miles. So then we just booked the priceline rooms with known prices. Then we found hotels.com - it's from expedia but rather than getting the rewards of one brand they put aside 10% of each reservation and after ten nights booked through them they give you all that back to book a night wherever you want. So it's sort of the best of both worlds- rewards but a big variety of hotels to pick from.

Anyway- never had a problem getting a last minute room within a few exits. When I start getting tired I tell my wife or 12 year old that we need a room around exit X and then they get to work. They always find something- so on I95 at least it's never a problem, I cant speak to other routes though sorry. Mostly I say "I think i'm good for about an hour- so find something 50-70 miles away" but at times I've literally said "I'm done just find the next reasonable hotel" and they found one like 5 minutes down the road. We usually stop sometime between 10p and 2am.

The biggest hassle is that frequently even entering in the apps that we have 5 people you have to dig into the websites to confirm that the rooms actually have 3 queen beds. With 5 there are some hotels that seem to think 2 queen beds fits 5- I think they assume we'd accept a cot, but that's not something we're in to. Many say 'this room is too small for your party' but others dont seem to get that we dont want to deal with a cot or jam 3 in a bed. Probably 1/3rd think we'll jam 5 into two beds, a third we can't figure out so dont book, and 1/3rd we can confirm are actual 3 bed suites.

 

[patclairesmom]

We'll be leaving at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning, taking I95 down. Planning on stopping in Savannah, well actually at a Quality Inn in Pooler, Ga. The next day we're going to tour Savannah. We'll have another stay overnight and then we'll be on our way to Disney.

 

[myhouseofmouse]

I can't believe it is almost thanksgiving. Have a safe trip!!!! I didn't do anything, just agreed with what you wanted to do but thank you! Keep us posted and shoot me a text if you need Drive safe and watch them cops!! Lol

Same here, how time fly's and it really is flying now. I'll try to send some updates and keep you posted. Thanks again

 

[mapleleaf4ever]

This will be my first time driving the family to WDW (Detroit area). Van occupants are 3 adults(me, wife, mil) and 3 kids(17, 10, 7). I'll probably be doing all the driving since: 1. I really like road trips. 2. my wife really likes when I drive. 3. My mil is "meh" about driving and dislikes the idea of my 17yo behind the wheel.

Woohoo for me!

We're leaving on Black Friday early in the morning and stopping overnight along the way. Check in at our resort (OL River Island) isn't until 4pm on Saturday, so we'll probably hit a Beall's along the way and try for an early check-in.

My plan is to stop for the night somewhere from Macon to Valdosta depending on how good traffic is/etc. I know there is a "hotel tonight" app that would work for the Macon area only(no small towns), but I'm a little concerned about using that or priceline/etc to book last minute owing to there being 6 of us.

I found on Expedia that there is a Comfort inn suites that holds 6 and apparently includes a hot breakfast for ~100$ pretty much all along that stretch of road (I75). Should I consider securing a place now or just wing it like I was planning to? Is there some other last-minute tip I should be following?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this trip a lot. We usually fly down, but I did most of the driving last year to Miami for a cruise, and it reconnected me with my love for road-tripping. We're gonna do another WDW trip in August (probably on prop), and I already told my wife we'll probably be driving.

Will be doing a similar drive in April. Crossing the border in Detroit. The plan(for now anyway) is to book a suite in advance at either the Comfort Inn in Cordell, Ga or the Comfort Inn in Byron, Ga. Both sleep 6, and for me it works to have a pre-set destination. I have not stayed at either, but the reviews seem positive.

 

[ness0905]

we went great Sandwich but no Mac and cheese very small but had what we wanted

They opened an Earl of Sandwich at the Parx Casino in Bensalem PA. I have been tempted a few times to head out there.