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

[BC1836]

Anyone who's living along I-95 savanahh to Jacksonville FL- we are stopping in Macon tonight (Thursday). Hubs is determined to drive over to coast and south to Jacksonville (started in MO). We are meeting family in Jacksonville Friday, before heading to Orlando Friday night

My question- ok idea or not considering the storms/flooding happening?

Ugh he didn't tell me he planned to do that until tonight!

The local (Orlando) TV forecast tonight (Thursday 11 p.m.) suggests more thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon and early evening, especially east-central and Atlantic coastal FL. Check out Intellicast for additional weather info. We've had this weather since Sunday and it's expected to continue for about another week. I-4 has had its share of flooding issues the last few days: three lanes into one or two, depending how heavy the rain was.

All the best!

 

[Monykalyn]

The local (Orlando) TV forecast tonight (Thursday 11 p.m.) suggests more thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon and early evening, especially east-central and Atlantic coastal FL. Check out Intellicast for additional weather info. We've had this weather since Sunday and it's expected to continue for about another week. I-4 has had its share of flooding issues the last few days: three lanes into one or two, depending how heavy the rain was.

All the best!

Thank you- have been trying to find a better weather info site. Found the 511travel info one but it seems to be wonky trying to view on iPad.

We will take it slow and easy. No rush for us- did not realize I4 had flooding isssues. We do have a sun pass so can take toll roads for less congestion maybe.

 

[dvczerfs]

I know everyone has there favorite weather AP, I started using this accuweather ap a few years ago. Last year, they called hurricane Irma almost to the tee.
The cam ap, has traffic cams in and around the area. With all the construction lately, some of the cameras are not operating but it gives you a good idea what is moving and what is sitting.

 

[BC1836]

$2.83 per gallon, regular, in central FL (not counting Orlando proper).

All the best!

 

[Monykalyn]

Love Florida toll roads-sunpass is a life (sanity?) saver.
4 days til we do the trip again (thank goodness I got to fly home a couple weeks ago)-this time round trip with the other two kids. They were pretty good last time and we will be on longer trip this time.

I like the accuweather app too. And we use Waze driving app-pretty helpful in spotting slow downs and police

 

[BC1836]

Love Florida toll roads-sunpass is a life (sanity?) saver.
4 days til we do the trip again (thank goodness I got to fly home a couple weeks ago)-this time round trip with the other two kids. They were pretty good last time and we will be on longer trip this time.

I like the accuweather app too. And we use Waze driving app-pretty helpful in spotting slow downs and police

Make sure you have adequate funds in your Sunpass account since the toll service will be down for maintenance from June 5 at 7 p.m. to June 11 at 6 a.m.

All the best!

 

[BC1836]

Since starting this thread back in 2007 (see page 1, post #1), we made 46 round-trip WDW drives. The drive time to WDW has been a little different since we moved to FL six months ago: yesterday, it took us 59 minutes to get from our house to the Western Way entrance!

Of course, we should actually "ban" ourselves from this thread because we no longer qualify.

All the best!

 

[yesdnil]

Hello, experienced drivers! We are still super early in the planning stages and I'm throwing around the idea of driving instead of flying for our next trip.

We're coming from central Texas, and Google puts the drive time at around 17.5 hours (one way). There will be 4 adults and a toddler, so I'm thinking with food, stretching, and bathroom breaks, we can probably make that in about 20 hours. I think we would rent a minivan (for extra legroom & luggage space), leave around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and trade off between the 4 drivers during the overnight hours so we can all get a decent amount of sleep (and hope and pray the little one sleeps through the night as well).

For a flight to arrive at our destination around the same time as this, we would need to leave for the airport at about 4 in the morning day of. So logistically, driving only is adding 12-14ish hours to the trip each way.

So, dear experienced ones, what advice do you have for me?

 

[dvczerfs]

Hello, experienced drivers! We are still super early in the planning stages and I'm throwing around the idea of driving instead of flying for our next trip.

We're coming from central Texas, and Google puts the drive time at around 17.5 hours (one way). There will be 4 adults and a toddler, so I'm thinking with food, stretching, and bathroom breaks, we can probably make that in about 20 hours. I think we would rent a minivan (for extra legroom & luggage space), leave around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and trade off between the 4 drivers during the overnight hours so we can all get a decent amount of sleep (and hope and pray the little one sleeps through the night as well).

For a flight to arrive at our destination around the same time as this, we would need to leave for the airport at about 4 in the morning day of. So logistically, driving only is adding 12-14ish hours to the trip each way.

So, dear experienced ones, what advice do you have for me?

I don't come from Texas but welcome to the club. Always remember about toddlers sleeping through the night and getting a good night sleep, adults don't get to sleep through the night and get a good nights sleep. When you arrive they are ready to go and everyone else needs a nap. Lol
As far as those times go on google and all the other sites, a lot figures into it. They just never work out for me anyway. Maybe I just drive to fast. Lol . We don't stop for sit down meals but we do stop for gas and a stretch. Those site all have me at 17 1/2 to 18 hours. I do it in 16. Again, a lot figures into it, time of day, traffic etc.
I can do it in 15 if there's a hurricane coming. Lol

 

[AaronInWI]

Hello, experienced drivers! We are still super early in the planning stages and I'm throwing around the idea of driving instead of flying for our next trip.

We're coming from central Texas, and Google puts the drive time at around 17.5 hours (one way). There will be 4 adults and a toddler, so I'm thinking with food, stretching, and bathroom breaks, we can probably make that in about 20 hours. I think we would rent a minivan (for extra legroom & luggage space), leave around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and trade off between the 4 drivers during the overnight hours so we can all get a decent amount of sleep (and hope and pray the little one sleeps through the night as well).

For a flight to arrive at our destination around the same time as this, we would need to leave for the airport at about 4 in the morning day of. So logistically, driving only is adding 12-14ish hours to the trip each way.

So, dear experienced ones, what advice do you have for me?

As @dvczerfs said, the Google Maps times can be inaccurate. However, because we stop every two hours or so for a good 10-15 minutes at a time (or longer when we stop for lunch), we end up hitting around what Google Maps says. Any time we "bank" by driving faster than Google assumes, we lose when we stop. But that's just how we drive. I get antsy sitting for too long, and need to get up and stretch my legs.

We don't have kids, so I can't vouch for this one from personal experience, but one piece of advice I've read many times is to put something under the toddler's feet, like a storage bin or something, to act as a foot rest. Having the legs dangling over the car seat could get uncomfortable for the kid.

Otherwise, just enjoy the drive! While you still have daylight, have fun seeing parts of the country you might never have seen before. Enjoy how the landscape and vegetation changes as you move east. That's always part of the fun for me when we drive.

 

[Summer2018]

As @dvczerfs said, the Google Maps times can be inaccurate. However, because we stop every two hours or so for a good 10-15 minutes at a time (or longer when we stop for lunch), we end up hitting around what Google Maps says. Any time we "bank" by driving faster than Google assumes, we lose when we stop. But that's just how we drive. I get antsy sitting for too long, and need to get up and stretch my legs.

We don't have kids, so I can't vouch for this one from personal experience, but one piece of advice I've read many times is to put something under the toddler's feet, like a storage bin or something, to act as a foot rest. Having the legs dangling over the car seat could get uncomfortable for the kid.

Otherwise, just enjoy the drive! While you still have daylight, have fun seeing parts of the country you might never have seen before. Enjoy how the landscape and vegetation changes as you move east. That's always part of the fun for me when we drive.

Does anyone have issues with their bank when driving through multiple states?

Years ago, we drove to Florida and after my husband had to get gas for the second time in one day, the bank blocked the transaction.

Now we notify them of our plans. They wanted me to list every state we are driving through and the dates. After listing them, the bank told me that’s too many lol. They made a note of North Carolina where we are spending the night and Florida. They will text me every time I use my card to verify that it’s me using it. What a pain in the a$$.

I’m guessing that I will have to do this with my credit cards too.

What do all of you do?

 

[deedeew80]

Does anyone have issues with their bank when driving through multiple states?

Years ago, we drove to Florida and after my husband had to get gas for the second time in one day, the bank blocked the transaction.

Now we notify them of our plans. They wanted me to list every state we are driving through and the dates. After listing them, the bank told me that’s too many lol. They made a note of North Carolina where we are spending the night and Florida. They will text me every time I use my card to verify that it’s me using it. What a pain in the a$$.

I’m guessing that I will have to do this with my credit cards too.

What do all of you do?

This will be my first time driving, so I don’t know. But this is a great to think about! I will notify my bank before we go.

 

[dvczerfs]

Does anyone have issues with their bank when driving through multiple states?

Years ago, we drove to Florida and after my husband had to get gas for the second time in one day, the bank blocked the transaction.

Now we notify them of our plans. They wanted me to list every state we are driving through and the dates. After listing them, the bank told me that’s too many lol. They made a note of North Carolina where we are spending the night and Florida. They will text me every time I use my card to verify that it’s me using it. What a pain in the a$$.

I’m guessing that I will have to do this with my credit cards too.

What do all of you do?

I use two different gas credit cards. I call and put a travel notice on both of them every trip. I also call my bank and put a travel notice in both regular credit cards.
I have a list of phone numbers and account numbers that I leave with dd. If they should be lost or stolen, I can have them stopped pretty fast.
I do not bring the list with me.
If something should happen, I call dd and she text me the list. The account numbers are not in order, Dw and I are the only two who know the order of the numbers. Lol

 

[dvczerfs]

Another thing I learned, if you travel during hurricane season and you are down there during or after a storm, cash is king. I never had a problem on Disney property. But, the first thing to go down is the internet. Gas stations, stores for the most part have generators to keep gas pumps, lights, registers working. The banking requires the internet and the dishes that weren't lowered on purpose and need to be put back up on line, blow down. It takes some time after the storm to get them all up and running. If you happen to be there, make sure you got some cash on you if your traveling out during this time.

 

[Summer2018]

Lots of great advice.

 

[java]

Help! Where to stop on the drive? I want further south than Savanah in GA. I want to be like 3 hours or less from the parks. Any thoughts? I need safe!

 

[Cheerio]

Jacksonville? We liked Daytona as well, about an hours drive.

 

[arminnie]

I presume that you will be on I10 driving thru Houston. I'd be very concerned about hitting traffic congestion in Houston. I haven't lived in Houston in decades, but the traffic was brutal when I lived there. And it's gotten worse. I found that rush "hour" was from 4-7pm.

We drive from New Orleans to WDW on I10 after starting in Arkansas. I know that is not the most direct route from Central Arkansas, but we have a condo in NOLA where we can spend a night and drop off the dog with friends. We are retired so we usually make that trip multiple times a year.

There are some great seafood restaurants on Battleship Parkway, Spanish Fort - just past Mobile. Original Oyster House, Felix's, plus several others. All are good except for Ralph and Kacoos. Very casual and they open at 11 am which might work for you for lunch if you are going to stop for lunch.

 

[AaronInWI]

Does anyone have issues with their bank when driving through multiple states?

Years ago, we drove to Florida and after my husband had to get gas for the second time in one day, the bank blocked the transaction.

Now we notify them of our plans. They wanted me to list every state we are driving through and the dates. After listing them, the bank told me that’s too many lol. They made a note of North Carolina where we are spending the night and Florida. They will text me every time I use my card to verify that it’s me using it. What a pain in the a$$.

I’m guessing that I will have to do this with my credit cards too.

What do all of you do?

We only use credit cards and Disney gift cards now when we travel (we were just reminiscing the other day about using traveler's checks on our first couple trips to WDW), but we had the same thing happen to us at a gas station. We went in to pay for gas and a snack of some sort using a CC, and they denied it. It only took a quick call to the CC company to rectify it, but I learned my lesson to call the CC company ahead of time to let them know we'll be traveling.

 

[BC1836]

If you are driving soon to WDW, please check out Orlando TV stations online for their traffic updates. Recent and future closures on I-4 have been problematic of late, especially as they relate to local roads...but progress is being made.

All the best!