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

[Gr8t Fan]

We made it home safely on Sunday and our total gas for the trip down and back was $273. We also filled up once while in Orlando (but I excluded that from the total). The Hess stations on property were the cheapest that we saw while in Orlando averaging $2.72 to $2.73. Interestingly enough, the cheapest gas on the return trip home was in downstate Illinois (just past the Kentucky border) where we paid $2.44 a gallon at Speedway.

Lots of traffic on the way home too. We were surprised by all of the stop and go, expecting a wreck or a disabled car up ahead, but we never did see one. Just long pockets of congestion that finally gave way.

Gearing up for our trip in 16 days now!

 

[ericstac]

Gas is about $2.30 around here.

We are fueled up and heading out at 2:30pm. I expect to pull into Port Orleans Riverside around 6am, Its a haul from TX to WDW especially overnight but my family keeps me well entertained throughout the night so its not too bad. One time everyone in the truck got tired on me around Tallahassee so I pulled over and we napped for a few ours at a rest stop there. Woke up and drove to the Krispy Kreme a couple miles up the road and then kept on moving and still made rope drop

 

[Rvillediser]

Hi there. We will driving from the Chicagoland area Jan 2 heading down for a lil vacation as well as picking up my daughter (finishing up a DCP tour of duty) and driving back on Jan 8. Not too keen on driving thru the mountains in the middle of winter. Am I being unrealistic about mountain travel in January? Can you provide an alternate route avoiding mountains? Thanks a bunch!

 

[hearts8701]

Hi there. We will driving from the Chicagoland area Jan 2 heading down for a lil vacation as well as picking up my daughter (finishing up a DCP tour of duty) and driving back on Jan 8. Not too keen on driving thru the mountains in the middle of winter. Am I being unrealistic about mountain travel in January? Can you provide an alternate route avoiding mountains? Thanks a bunch!

We also leave chicago the o'hare area on January 2 we have been making the trip for the past 11 January's we only had trouble in the mountains with ice once in all our trips don't get me wrong the ice was thick and dangerous on the roads shutting down roads for over 8 hours causing us to stop and get a room for the night the next morning started out slow moving I recommend you go thru the Tennessee mountains during day light hours if possible

 

[Rvillediser]

Thanks hearts8701! Very good to know. We live closer to Midway. We'll just plan to leave in the wee hours of the morning then. We prefer to drive straight thru, weather permitting of course. This will be our first drive down in the winter months.

 

[hearts8701]

Thanks hearts8701! Very good to know. We live closer to Midway. We'll just plan to leave in the wee hours of the morning then. We prefer to drive straight thru, weather permitting of course. This will be our first drive down in the winter months.

We will be traveling a few hours behind you taking 65 to 24 to 75 to the florida turnpike getting off at the 429 exit onto disney property if you run into any major backups please post

 

[NJRRK]

Gas is down to $2.49 regular cash here in Jersey City.

 

[Cando86]

Hi all!

I've been following this thread and part IV for a while in anticipation of our trip March 14-21.

We live about 30 mins from the Detroit border & will be crossing there. This will be our first time driving (my Dad was a long-haul truck driver with a Toronto-Miami route, so I've made the trip several times, but I'm thinking a semi with a bunk & 2 adults & 3 kids in a minivan will be a bit different lol!!)

We'll cross the border about 3pm on Fri the 13th - would love to leave earlier, but I'm a teacher so no can do.
My DH is taking Friday off and will sleep all day so we can drive straight through. We figure with stops every 2-3 hours we'll make it around 6-7pm.
We'll start home Sat the 21st early am & will take 2 days.

Any recommended stops for meals - we are planning to eat in the van, but will stop to eat supper Fri PM & brunch Sat.
Tolls - I think there are toll roads, but am not sure...
Hotel for the way back - do we need to book for Sat night or should we be able to find something en route? A room for 5 sometimes complicates things.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
We're hoping driving works for us - airfare for 5 is crazy expensive!!

I have some of the same ?s as you! We'll be heading out from Metro Detroit January 4th and trying to figure out where to stop (hotel-wise) on the way down. We're thinking outside of Atlanta, maybe Macon, but would love to hear from others who have done a similar route!

 

[Madame]

I have some of the same ?s as you! We'll be heading out from Metro Detroit January 4th and trying to figure out where to stop (hotel-wise) on the way down. We're thinking outside of Atlanta, maybe Macon, but would love to hear from others who have done a similar route!

I got some good suggestions on my thread Detroit to Disney-a lot of folks thinking I'm a little crazy to attempt it & offering flight advice lol!

Maybe we are, but we want to try the drive at least once and see for ourselves if we can handle it!!

I think we're stopping around Cincinnati to eat supper, then Knoxville or Atlanta for breakfast, lunch in Gainesville.
Good luck!

 

[Cando86]

I got some good suggestions on my thread Detroit to Disney-a lot of folks thinking I'm a little crazy to attempt it & offering flight advice lol!

Maybe we are, but we want to try the drive at least once and see for ourselves if we can handle it!!

I think we're stopping around Cincinnati to eat supper, then Knoxville or Atlanta for breakfast, lunch in Gainesville.
Good luck!

Everyone keeps trying to talk me out of it too
I will take a look at that thread - thank you!

 

[AaronInWI]

I got some good suggestions on my thread Detroit to Disney-a lot of folks thinking I'm a little crazy to attempt it & offering flight advice lol!

Maybe we are, but we want to try the drive at least once and see for ourselves if we can handle it!!

I think we're stopping around Cincinnati to eat supper, then Knoxville or Atlanta for breakfast, lunch in Gainesville.
Good luck!

Yeah, you'll get a lot of of that "crazy" talk from those who simply don't understand. Don't listen to them. It is loads of fun, and not the painful ordeal that they'll make it out to be. I'd rather drive and control my own destiny (leave when I want, stop when I want, eat when I want), than fly and have the airlines control everything, including what you can and cannot bring with you.

I personally wouldn't do it overnight and straight through, but that's only because I know my own limitations. Honestly I wish I could make that sort of drive, but it simply wouldn't be safe. We've made the drive twice from about an hour north of Milwaukee, and I'm itching to do it again (sadly not for a few years). It takes us about 18 hours in total. We split it up into two days, driving about 12 hours on the first day (leaving in the wee hours of the morning) and then a short 6-hour drive the second. Once you hit the road, the miles and hours seem to fly by. It's funny, during "normal" drives to Milwaukee (which I'll do a few times a month for various reasons), it seems to take forever to get there. But when I'm on a road trip, I feel like I'm passing through 10 minutes after I leave home.

 

[Cando86]

Yeah, you'll get a lot of of that "crazy" talk from those who simply don't understand. Don't listen to them. It is loads of fun, and not the painful ordeal that they'll make it out to be. I'd rather drive and control my own destiny (leave when I want, stop when I want, eat when I want), than fly and have the airlines control everything, including what you can and cannot bring with you.

I personally wouldn't do it overnight and straight through, but that's only because I know my own limitations. Honestly I wish I could make that sort of drive, but it simply wouldn't be safe. We've made the drive twice from about an hour north of Milwaukee, and I'm itching to do it again (sadly not for a few years). It takes us about 18 hours in total. We split it up into two days, driving about 12 hours on the first day (leaving in the wee hours of the morning) and then a short 6-hour drive the second. Once you hit the road, the miles and hours seem to fly by. It's funny, during "normal" drives to Milwaukee (which I'll do a few times a month for various reasons), it seems to take forever to get there. But when I'm on a road trip, I feel like I'm passing through 10 minutes after I leave home.

That's exactly how we're doing it. Our drive is 18 hours and we'll do 12 the first day and 6 the second. And I totally agree on everything you said! I'm actually kind of looking forward to the drive. DBF... not so much.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Thanks hearts8701! Very good to know. We live closer to Midway. We'll just plan to leave in the wee hours of the morning then. We prefer to drive straight thru, weather permitting of course. This will be our first drive down in the winter months.

Small world - we live about 2 miles from Midway.

Anyway, we usually leave after work on Friday (anywhere from 6-9 pm depending) and drive straight through too, weather permitting. In 2008 we had to slow things down quite a bit due to weather but we're pretty experienced winter drivers so it wasn't a problem. Most times it's the other crazy drivers around us that worry me.

Enjoy your trip and drive safely. We are leaving again on 12/19 so I'll be sure to post about road/traffic conditions when we get back.

 

[Rvillediser]

Gr8t fan- small indeed! Safe travels!

Hearts8701- sure will!!!

 

[cop185]

Ok, not to hijack the thread, and change topics. But with gas at $2.50 along the jersey shore we have decided that we are going to drive down for spring break in April instead of spending $2k in airfare

So we have it down to leave going south around 4am to avoid the dc traffic and may drive straight thru since we have 3 drivers, but here's always been my issue: what time to leave to come back north? We will be checking out on Saturday and hate all that 95 north traffic. What's a good time to leave, and if you don't do the whole trip in 1 shot, where do you try to aim for to stop? We once left in the early afternoon and made it to Fayetteville nc at 2am, but we were wiped out and slept to late to avoid the afternoon rush. Thoughts and ideas???.

 

[nono]

Ok, not to hijack the thread, and change topics. But with gas at $2.50 along the jersey shore we have decided that we are going to drive down for spring break in April instead of spending $2k in airfare

So we have it down to leave going south around 4am to avoid the dc traffic and may drive straight thru since we have 3 drivers, but here's always been my issue: what time to leave to come back north? We will be checking out on Saturday and hate all that 95 north traffic. What's a good time to leave, and if you don't do the whole trip in 1 shot, where do you try to aim for to stop? We once left in the early afternoon and made it to Fayetteville nc at 2am, but we were wiped out and slept to late to avoid the afternoon rush. Thoughts and ideas???.

Well we overnight in Florence, SC up to Dunn, NC (in that range) on the way back so that we can pack up and have an easy day 1...and then catch the late afternoon ferry to Cape May by leaving somewhere between 6-7 am on day 2. We turn right at Emporia, though, so we don't have to deal with DC at all.

 

[marius97]

Ok, not to hijack the thread, and change topics. But with gas at $2.50 along the jersey shore we have decided that we are going to drive down for spring break in April instead of spending $2k in airfare

So we have it down to leave going south around 4am to avoid the dc traffic and may drive straight thru since we have 3 drivers, but here's always been my issue: what time to leave to come back north? We will be checking out on Saturday and hate all that 95 north traffic. What's a good time to leave, and if you don't do the whole trip in 1 shot, where do you try to aim for to stop? We once left in the early afternoon and made it to Fayetteville nc at 2am, but we were wiped out and slept to late to avoid the afternoon rush. Thoughts and ideas???.

Can't speak to your route, but I've always found it really hard to get up early to leave for home. For some reason, everyone are slow movers that day. We always end up leaving early to mid-morning to head up I75. Straight through going down is a lot easier than coming back. The adrenaline rush of going to Disney keeps us alert for the drive.

 

[melanie18]

Ok, not to hijack the thread, and change topics. But with gas at $2.50 along the jersey shore we have decided that we are going to drive down for spring break in April instead of spending $2k in airfare

So we have it down to leave going south around 4am to avoid the dc traffic and may drive straight thru since we have 3 drivers, but here's always been my issue: what time to leave to come back north? We will be checking out on Saturday and hate all that 95 north traffic. What's a good time to leave, and if you don't do the whole trip in 1 shot, where do you try to aim for to stop? We once left in the early afternoon and made it to Fayetteville nc at 2am, but we were wiped out and slept to late to avoid the afternoon rush. Thoughts and ideas???.

We left WDW on our most recent trip in November at 5:45am on a Saturday and arrived home in central NJ (Mercer County) at 10:45pm. Didn't really plan on driving straight through, but we had such an easy drive, we just kept going!

 

[amcnj]

We left WDW on our most recent trip in November at 5:45am on a Saturday and arrived home in central NJ (Mercer County) at 10:45pm. Didn't really plan on driving straight through, but we had such an easy drive, we just kept going!

Had a similar experience our last drive home too. We left WDW at 8 AM, were in DC around 9 pm, so no real traffic issues, and back home in So. Jersey at just after midnight. I wish every trip was so smooth!

 

[sharadoc]

Hi folks. Haven't checked in for a while, so busy with holidays since we got back from our trip. Quick rundown of our drive down:

Left PA around 11:30 AM on November 19, picked up Lauren from school and hit the road from there. Traffic was wonderful the whole way, didn't hit any major cities at any rush hours, although we were a little worried about hitting Richmond at the beginning of rush hour, but we did fine. We used 95 through the city and crossed our fingers LOL.

Some of you may know that I like stopping at local restaurants rather than chains on the road. So we stopped at a place called White Swan Bar-B-Que in Benson NC. The website looked good, the menu looked good, and it's NC so we should have barbecue, right? So, we got there around 7:30 and there was one other family there. They told us we could sit down and they could come take our order. They brought us a big plate of hush puppies and we ordered dinner. I got chicken and barbecue, hubby got barbecue sandwich, Shawn got shrimp and fries and Lauren got a burger and fries. Kinda greasy, not wonderful. So I said before we leave, we should go to the ladies room. OH MY GOSH!!!! That bathroom had not been cleaned in a month! It was dirty and disgusting, I said let's get out of here.

Fast forward, we stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Santee that night, room was nice, we were tired so we went to bed fairly early. Suddenly I notice that my daughter is sitting up in bed and I ask what's wrong. She says her stomach hurts and she might throw up. So it begain, starting at 3 am, through to 8 am, many trips to the bathroom where she kept vomiting. We blame the burger. The rest of us had some distress, but nothing as bad as she did.

Moral of the story, check the bathrooms first, BEFORE you order any food. If I had seen that bathroom, I would never have let any one sit in the restaurant, or eat or drink anything. I will be putting a Yelp review online about it.

So, what does that mean?? McDonald's is the safest restaurant on the road Mike says it's pb&j from now on, made by us. Luckily, it didn't impact her trip that much, although she didn't want to eat a lot of food for a couple of days and she still hasn't eaten a burger.

Gas prices were great, I think we paid around $2.69 at the lowest. We love driving in the winter because we use about 3/4 of a tank less of gas with no a/c running. We usually use 100 gallons of gas, this time we used about 85-90.

Trip update and ride home to come.