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

[BC1836]

After driving 1,000+ miles to WDW, to what extent do you continue to rely on your own transportation between your resort and the parks? Are some drives "necessary" or does WDW transportation serve you well?

All the best.

 

[disneysteve]

After driving 1,000+ miles to WDW, to what extent do you continue to rely on your own transportation between your resort and the parks? Are some drives "necessary" or does WDW transportation serve you well?

We drive almost everywhere in our car. The exceptions are the monorail and occasionally a boat. We never use Disney buses for anything, anytime, anywhere. I would rather stay home than have to depend on Disney buses to get around.

 

[minnie mum]

After driving 1,000+ miles to WDW, to what extent do you continue to rely on your own transportation between your resort and the parks? Are some drives "necessary" or does WDW transportation serve you well?

All the best.

Unless it is necessary for us to go somewhere off site, our car stays parked at the resort until we leave. Disney transport is all we need. Although we will occasionally use a taxi back to our resort if we are dining late at another resort. But since late dining inevitably includes adult beverages, not driving is the only option anyway.

 

[pwdebbie]

Once we pull into our resort, the van doesn't move until we head home. Disney buses are part of the experience for us. Hubby is very social and loves talking to everyone, especially the kids. And I love the little flip flop in my heart when the park music kicks in, you don't get that in a car.

BC, I just saw your reply to me about crossing Main Street USA about the same time. I'd wave if I knew what you looked like!

 

[chepic]

After driving 1,000+ miles to WDW, to what extent do you continue to rely on your own transportation between your resort and the parks? Are some drives "necessary" or does WDW transportation serve you well?

All the best.

We use the buses to get to the parks but use the car to get to DTD because I dislike using the buses for that. We will also use the car to get to other resorts if we are eating there, or pool hopping to there.

 

[patclairesmom]

Once we get there our car generally stays put unless we're going to another resort where bus transportation wouldn't be the best means of transportation.

 

[BC1836]

[QUOTE="pwdebbie, post: 53246073, member: 153364"}

BC, I just saw your reply to me about crossing Main Street USA about the same time. I'd wave if I knew what you looked like![/QUOTE]

We'll provide the necessary ID info to you prior to our April drive.

All the best.

 

[nono]

We drive a lot even to MK. I am one of those old-heads who remember before the busses stopped so close to the MK. I liked Walt's idea of "coming to" the MK, which he couldn't control in Anaheim. So when we drive to the MK, we still get that approach. Plus, many of the tramcar drivers can give the Jungle Cruise captains a run for their money with their patter...I enjoy that! Then a monorail ride or boat ride...and ahhhhh....I'm "in the mood" before I even hit Main Street.

 

[BC1836]

We drive a lot even to MK. I am one of those old-heads who remember before the busses stopped so close to the MK. I liked Walt's idea of "coming to" the MK, which he couldn't control in Anaheim. So when we drive to the MK, we still get that approach. Plus, many of the tramcar drivers can give the Jungle Cruise captains a run for their money with their patter...I enjoy that! Then a monorail ride or boat ride...and ahhhhh....I'm "in the mood" before I even hit Main Street.

For us, the ultimate part of the drive is getting on World Drive. Every highway sign, every sight of a distant resort and every passing mile generates the "magic." The MK entrance, of course, is particularly special.

All the best!

 

[karalecia26]

We will be drivng around 1500 miles one way from Iowa in 2016 (thinking week after Thanksgiving) with our 3 kids. We are drivers and have drove to Boston and will be going to the OBX this summer. This will be our first time driving in the winter time, so a little nervous about this, but don't want to take the chance of weather delaying flights and still can't spend almost $2000 on flights for 5. Good thing our kids are good riders!

 

[deannaf87]

Who has driven from DC area? We drove from TX in 2013. It was about 16 hours and we did it in 2 days.

We are contemplating trying to drive from DC to WDW in one day. Can it be done? My kids are road trip warriors, it's usually the adults that get tired first.

 

[amcnj]

Who has driven from DC area? We drove from TX in 2013. It was about 16 hours and we did it in 2 days.

We are contemplating trying to drive from DC to WDW in one day. Can it be done? My kids are road trip warriors, it's usually the adults that get tired first.

I am in NJ, and leave early morning. I am passing DC around 5:30 AM and am in the WDW area around 6:30 PM - 7:30PM, depending on traffic/weather/stops/etc, if that is any help to you.

 

[deannaf87]

I am in NJ, and leave early morning. I am passing DC around 5:30 AM and am in the WDW area around 6:30 PM - 7:30PM, depending on traffic/weather/stops/etc, if that is any help to you.

Quite helpful. I figure if we leave by 4:30 (our usual long road trip departure time), we should be able to swing it in one day with both of us driving.

 

[sharadoc]

After driving 1,000+ miles to WDW, to what extent do you continue to rely on your own transportation between your resort and the parks? Are some drives "necessary" or does WDW transportation serve you well?

All the best.

We drive everywhere, even MK. Exception is using the boat to MK when we stay at Fort Wilderness, and occasional bus when we stay at OKW because we think the bus service there is great. And we will take the boat to DTD, but drive up to the front Hospitality House to hop on the boat. But only on off hours, we never take Disney transportation during major open and closing hours.

 

[theyoungs07]

I'm preparing for our 4th drive from IL (around 1200 miles one way) this spring. Now I'm spreadsheeting hours between places to time my way through Atlanta. Our current plan is to leave early in the AM, which has been our plan in the past and it didn't happen. We'll be travelling down with 8 kids in back, but they do travel well. We do bleed time though, but I suppose that's better than going crazy.

I'm about 11:20 from the north edge of Atlanta and I'm hoping to get through on the first day. Last time we didn't get out until noon because we and our travelling companions had water in our basements due to a freak storm, and we made it to Chattanooga...so I think we can get through ATL pretty easily if we don't have any start-off delays. Our last trip down was about 70% in torrential (to us) rains, which really wasn't pleasant. We were blessed that we did have a reprieve when going through TN, Monteagle...etc.

We'll stop overnight, too much precious cargo to risk overnight with sleepy drivers and myself/my wife getting tired.

I'd love to pull into WDW at a reasonable hour for once .

 

[C&G'sMama]

After driving 1,000+ miles to WDW, to what extent do you continue to rely on your own transportation between your resort and the parks? Are some drives "necessary" or does WDW transportation serve you well?

All the best.

We use our car for 90% of our driving to the parks. Though my son and I especially on this last trip will sometimes take the bus back to the resort when the other 2 get tired and are ready to leave. We have never had much luck with the buses (it's us) and my other half hates being in the passenger seat of any vehicle.

 

[amcnj]

Quite helpful. I figure if we leave by 4:30 (our usual long road trip departure time), we should be able to swing it in one day with both of us driving.

I just checked and the latest times I ever arrived in the WDW area were 8:30 PM and 8:45 PM. Both those trips involved about 3.5-4 hours of stops and traffic issues. Most trips were in that 6:30-7:30 PM range previously mentioned, with the earlier time occurring when stops were 2 hours or less in total.

 

[LadyBeBop]

I'm preparing for our 4th drive from IL (around 1200 miles one way) this spring. Now I'm spreadsheeting hours between places to time my way through Atlanta. Our current plan is to leave early in the AM, which has been our plan in the past and it didn't happen. We'll be travelling down with 8 kids in back, but they do travel well. We do bleed time though, but I suppose that's better than going crazy.

I'm about 11:20 from the north edge of Atlanta and I'm hoping to get through on the first day. Last time we didn't get out until noon because we and our travelling companions had water in our basements due to a freak storm, and we made it to Chattanooga...so I think we can get through ATL pretty easily if we don't have any start-off delays. Our last trip down was about 70% in torrential (to us) rains, which really wasn't pleasant. We were blessed that we did have a reprieve when going through TN, Monteagle...etc.

We'll stop overnight, too much precious cargo to risk overnight with sleepy drivers and myself/my wife getting tired.

I'd love to pull into WDW at a reasonable hour for once .

1) I'm assuming your drive time from Chicago to Atlanta is with minimal stops (short rest periods, but not for meals). It takes us just under eight hours to get from Cincinnati to Atlanta, and you're about four hours north of us.
2) How early do you want to get on the road? If we're talking 6 AM, you know you'll hit Atlanta in rush hour. Even leaving at 4 AM means, if you hit any traffic along the way, you'll probably hit Atlanta in early rush hour. Of course, I'm assuming you're not travelling during the weekend.

 

[BC1836]

Due to the fact that members of the "2000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only" thread take different routes from home to WDW, it is practically impossible (except if you have driven every major highway to WDW from every major urban area) to determine which greater metro area has the worst rush hour traffic; however, our nominees are: greater NYC and northern VA (greater DC).

Any other nominees? [The mere mention of the geographic location at rush hour should generate an uncomfortable feeling.]
These nominations should help alert first timer marathon drivers to prepare and beware.

All the best!

 

[minnie mum]

BC why not make a poll? Select a few of the usual suspects and we can rate them from to