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

[justreading]

Okay I need some more advice about our route. We are driving from upstate NY but really we live on the border of NY/PA. The plan is to take 81-95 all the way down to Disney. Here is my initial plan but I’m unsure about the plan for our first day so I’d love feedback:
Day 1 (sunday) - reach Fredericksburg VA 6.5 hours
Day 2 - reach Savannah GA 8 hours
Day 3 - reach Disney 4.5 hours

Our first day we will be leaving home around noon-1pm and I’m unsure if we should try to make it farther or stop for the night before the DC chaos and wake up early Monday morning to try to miss the traffic. And I don’t know if Fredericksburg is a good place to stop or if it’s too busy. Thoughts?

ETA we cannot leave any earlier on our first day, Sunday.

I can't give you advice about driving 95 but driving 81 to 95 I can recommend harrisonburg va and walterboro sc.

 

[pwdebbie]

Okay I need some more advice about our route. We are driving from upstate NY but really we live on the border of NY/PA. The plan is to take 81-95 all the way down to Disney. Here is my initial plan but I’m unsure about the plan for our first day so I’d love feedback:
Day 1 (sunday) - reach Fredericksburg VA 6.5 hours
Day 2 - reach Savannah GA 8 hours
Day 3 - reach Disney 4.5 hours

Our first day we will be leaving home around noon-1pm and I’m unsure if we should try to make it farther or stop for the night before the DC chaos and wake up early Monday morning to try to miss the traffic. And I don’t know if Fredericksburg is a good place to stop or if it’s too busy. Thoughts?

ETA we cannot leave any earlier on our first day, Sunday.

I live off of 81 in south-central PA. I'm not sure how you are planning to get to 95. You would be cutting over to 95 much sooner than the recommended "inland route" that I've used. I do 81 to 77 to 26 to 95. Looks to me like you might be planning 81 - 15 - 17 - 95? Honestly, you want to stay away from 95 until you are much farther south because of the beach traffic.

 

[erin1715]

I live off of 81 in south-central PA. I'm not sure how you are planning to get to 95. You would be cutting over to 95 much sooner than the recommended "inland route" that I've used. I do 81 to 77 to 26 to 95. Looks to me like you might be planning 81 - 15 - 17 - 95? Honestly, you want to stay away from 95 until you are much farther south because of the beach traffic.

I know. I keep getting mixed replies with whether or not I should stay on 95 most of the way or go the inland route. A lot of ppl say the truck traffic on the inland route is a nightmare as well as if there is an accident then there is no way to get around it. So I’ve been wavering on which route to take.

 

[mamabunny]

I know. I keep getting mixed replies with whether or not I should stay on 95 most of the way or go the inland route. A lot of ppl say the truck traffic on the inland route is a nightmare as well as if there is an accident then there is no way to get around it. So I’ve been wavering on which route to take.

Regardless of the route you take, plan for morning rush hour on the days you will start on the road.

What our family has historically done is try to stay on the "far" side of a major city, so that we can have good choices of hotels (restaurants, gas stations, etc.) but we are going "against" rush hour traffic in the morning when we leave the hotel and start the next day's drive.

So an example from my drive is Memphis TN: We travel through there basically from the west, and then head south-east out of town on I-22. We don't stay in West Memphis, or Memphis on the way down; we stay on the east/south east side of town which is either Southaven MS or Olive Branch MS. In the morning, we can leave whenever we want, because all of the traffic is going *into* the city, and we are *outward* bound.

 

[bluezy]

I know. I keep getting mixed replies with whether or not I should stay on 95 most of the way or go the inland route. A lot of ppl say the truck traffic on the inland route is a nightmare as well as if there is an accident then there is no way to get around it. So I’ve been wavering on which route to take.

We're in eastern PA -- about 5 miles off of the PA turnpike/476. We've done this drive numerous times. Personally, I'd take 81 to 476 to 95. You're traveling on a Sunday. Traffic should be pretty light since it's a weekend. I'd definitely try to get past DC if you can. You will have traffic in the Richmond area regardless of what time of day you go through there so just be prepared for that. Once you're past Richmond, it's clear sailing (unless there is an accident) until the Jacksonville area -- which has a beltway if you want to avoid most of the traffic. We're usually travelling through Jacksonville early on a Sunday morning so we don't take the beltway because there's not a ton of traffic at that time. I just checked my notes and when we made the drive in 2016, we stayed at the Hyatt in Fredericksburg, VA. I don't really have any notes about it but I didn't say "never stay here again" or "scary area" so it must have been ok. My notes also indicate that we left the hotel at 7:45 in the morning and we arrived in Kingsland, GA (just north of the FL border) at 6:00 and stayed at a Comfort Suites there. The next morning we left the hotel at 7:45 and were at DW at 11:45. We always stop at the FL Welcome center so we probably spent 15-20 minutes there because we actually arrived before it opened at 8:00. I also know that we got a text from Disney around 9:30ish that morning saying our room wasn't ready yet and they'd let us know when it was. We had already planned to stop at Walmart for some snacks and breakfast foods for the room so we just lingered there for awhile (probably about 30-40 minutes) before heading to the resort (where we received our "your room is ready" text just as we walked in the door of the lobby). The FL WC and Walmart stops are included in the 4-hour travel time. We've stayed at a Comfort Suites in Savannah, GA (Port Wentworth) a few times and I know it's usually about a 4 hour drive to DW from there with a quick FL WC stop and really fast Walmart stop.

 

[thegash35]

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[dvczerfs]

Hello my friends, just an update for the people following along on this incredibly journey. Today, after five days of looking for our Florida dream house, we are under contract!!!!! It’s in a Gated, Golf community. Big salt water, covered heated pool in the backyard that faces the golf course. 12’ ceilings, cathedral and 9’ ceilings throughout. Fingers crossed no major issues with the home inspection.
We are well on our way to finally, after 30 years becoming permanent Florida residents.

 

[OKW Lover]

Congratulations on the new house!!! What part of FL will you be in? Val & I are in Winter Garden, very close to the parks.

 

[BC1836]

Hello my friends, just an update for the people following along on this incredibly journey. Today, after five days of looking for our Florida dream house, we are under contract!!!!! It’s in a Gated, Golf community. Big salt water, covered heated pool in the backyard that faces the golf course. 12’ ceilings, cathedral and 9’ ceilings throughout. Fingers crossed no major issues with the home inspection.
We are well on our way to finally, after 30 years becoming permanent Florida residents.View attachment 591789
View attachment 591789

This is noteworthy, since dvczerfs is the all-time record holder on this site (see page 1, post 1). Coincidentally, he and his family joins the founder of this site (yours truly), who moved to Florida four years ago.

All the best!

 

[amcnj]

Hello my friends, just an update for the people following along on this incredibly journey. Today, after five days of looking for our Florida dream house, we are under contract!!!!! It’s in a Gated, Golf community. Big salt water, covered heated pool in the backyard that faces the golf course. 12’ ceilings, cathedral and 9’ ceilings throughout. Fingers crossed no major issues with the home inspection.
We are well on our way to finally, after 30 years becoming permanent Florida residents.

Hope all goes smoothly. It looks and sounds great. And now you are graciously giving others a chance to pursue your record!

 

[deedeew80]

Hello my friends, just an update for the people following along on this incredibly journey. Today, after five days of looking for our Florida dream house, we are under contract!!!!! It’s in a Gated, Golf community. Big salt water, covered heated pool in the backyard that faces the golf course. 12’ ceilings, cathedral and 9’ ceilings throughout. Fingers crossed no major issues with the home inspection.
We are well on our way to finally, after 30 years becoming permanent Florida residents.View attachment 591789
View attachment 591789

Congratulations!!! Beautiful home!! Thanks for keeping us updated!

 

[dvczerfs]

Congratulations on the new house!!! What part of FL will you be in? Val & I are in Winter Garden, very close to the parks.

Thank you!! The house sits on the line of Davenport and Haines City. Our address is Haines City. We are a few miles south of exit 55 of I4.

 

[dvczerfs]

Hope all goes smoothly. It looks and sounds great. And now you are graciously giving others a chance to pursue your record!

Yes, I am only 20 miles now. Lol

 

[NH-to-FL]

Hello my friends, just an update for the people following along on this incredibly journey. Today, after five days of looking for our Florida dream house, we are under contract!!!!! It’s in a Gated, Golf community. Big salt water, covered heated pool in the backyard that faces the golf course. 12’ ceilings, cathedral and 9’ ceilings throughout. Fingers crossed no major issues with the home inspection.
We are well on our way to finally, after 30 years becoming permanent Florida residents.

Congratulations on finding and getting a contract on your new home so quickly. It looks wonderful! I like the large trees along the road. And being on the golf course really has a different look than the typical tightly packed Florida development.

Wishing you a smooth close and an easy move into your new home!

 

[dvczerfs]

Congratulations on finding and getting a contract on your new home so quickly. It looks wonderful! I like the large trees along the road. And being on the golf course really has a different look than the typical tightly packed Florida development.

Wishing you a smooth close and an easy move into your new home!

Thank you!!! We love the size of the lot. The way the house sits, the only people who can see the back of the house is from the fairway.
Most importantly, eight palm trees in the back yard. Lol

 

[Pooh's World]

Okay I need some more advice about our route. We are driving from upstate NY but really we live on the border of NY/PA. The plan is to take 81-95 all the way down to Disney. Here is my initial plan but I’m unsure about the plan for our first day so I’d love feedback:
Day 1 (sunday) - reach Fredericksburg VA 6.5 hours
Day 2 - reach Savannah GA 8 hours
Day 3 - reach Disney 4.5 hours

Our first day we will be leaving home around noon-1pm and I’m unsure if we should try to make it farther or stop for the night before the DC chaos and wake up early Monday morning to try to miss the traffic. And I don’t know if Fredericksburg is a good place to stop or if it’s too busy. Thoughts?

ETA we cannot leave any earlier on our first day, Sunday.

The area before Fredricksburg on 95 is a big bottle neck at almost all times. May be the worst slow down on the whole trip down to Florida.

If you can get past the Fredricksburg bottleneck qiuckly, go through it as quickly as you can and then there are alot of restaurants/food places at the Central Park Shopping Circle (on the below map it's where the Funland is located)
https://www.shopatcentralpark.com/directory/
If it's bottlenecked then maybe stop and rest before Fredricksburg.

 

[Pooh's World]

I know. I keep getting mixed replies with whether or not I should stay on 95 most of the way or go the inland route. A lot of ppl say the truck traffic on the inland route is a nightmare as well as if there is an accident then there is no way to get around it. So I’ve been wavering on which route to take.

Beach traffic shouldn't be too bad if you are going on 95. You would just go south past Richmond.
The beach traffic only gets bad if you go east towards Norfolk when you hit Richmond.

Fredricksburg is the one area to avoid though.

 

[AaronInWI]

Yes, I am only 20 miles now. Lol

Congratulations on the new house! Now you'll just have to drive back and forth between your house and Disney 100 times before finally parking the car to keep that 2000 mile steak alive!

 

[dvczerfs]

Congratulations on the new house! Now you'll just have to drive back and forth between your house and Disney 100 times before finally parking the car to keep that 2000 mile steak alive!

Thank you!! I probably got that 100 trips done since we have been here since April. Lol

 

[ShannyMcB]

Hey all! DH and I are in a pro/con situation. We currently have plane tickets to travel from RI to FL but wondering if we should drive.
If we decide to cancel and flights and drive we would be looking at leaving early Friday morning (7ish) and staying overnight in NC. We would be looking to then leave NC around the same time Saturday morning to put us in WDW between 5 and 6 assuming quick stops to pee and grab some chicken nuggets for the kids.
Thoughts? Does this sound reasonable? We aren't planning on roap dropping or anything so rolling into a park on Sunday at like 10 wouldn't matter to us too much.