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

[Gr8t Fan]

Good morning fellow Midwesterners. -- Nice winter so far!! Little cold today, but it looks like no snow for your departures. We are leaving sw Wisconsin, for Fort Wilderness, pulling our Fifth Wheel bright and very early on the 26th. We are hoping to make it just beyond Nashville, staying in Manchester, TN, and continuing on the next day to Gainesville, fl, making our arrival for the 29th. Our daughter, son in law, and grandchildren following behind in their fifth wheel as well, so needed to find hotels with large parking areas for rv parking. We will still be winterized, so no camping till Fort Wilderness. I have been following the extensive road repairs just south of Atlanta, so will keep a heads up on our timing for that. We wish you all safe travels, a magical vacation. And, no snow or ice either way of traveling.

Hope you all made it to WDW safely. Our drive, both there and back, was long, but uneventful (thank goodness). We usually catch I-57 off of I-24 but decided to take I-65 because of flooding in downstate Illinois on the way home. Not sure if you're home yet, but you may want to check on that if you take I-57.

 

[BC1836]

After dropping 10-cents a gallon two days ago, our local WaWa station increased it's price 6-cents today to $1.79.
Go figure.

All the best!

 

[OKW Lover]

After dropping 10-cents a gallon two days ago, our local WaWa station increased it's price 6-cents today to $1.79.
Go figure.

Gas at the Speedway stations on WDW property is $1.86. No change over the past few days.

 

[BC1836]

Round Trip Drive #40 (or Drive #41 via an extended Naples, FL stay) begins in about 90 minutes.

All the best!

 

[amcnj]

After dropping 10-cents a gallon two days ago, our local WaWa station increased it's price 6-cents today to $1.79.
Go figure.

All the best!

You should have plotted your trip route to take you through Bordentown. There are four stations I saw there that still have $1.61 cash price!

Safe travels!!!

 

[BC1836]

We departed the Jersey Shore at 7:50 a.m. and made it to Santee, SC at 8 p.m.(we've got an older passenger and can't do our usual Fl stop before WDW).
Best gas price: $1.67 in Cherry Hill, NJ.
Biggest headache: A 30-mile stop and go from northern VA to Fredricksburg, VA.
All the best!

 

[disneysteve]

We departed the Jersey Shore at 7:50 a.m. and made it to Santee, SC at 8 p.m.(we've got an older passenger and can't do our usual Fl stop before WDW).
Best gas price: $1.67 in Cherry Hill, NJ.
Biggest headache: A 30-mile stop and go from northern VA to Fredricksburg, VA.
All the best!

You should have stopped in. I could have told you where in Cherry Hill gas was $1.65. We hit the road in the morning.

 

[disneysteve]

We left Cherry Hill, NJ at 8am today. We stopped for lunch at Potomac Mills Mall. Dinner in Lumberton, NC. Stopped for the night in Savannah at exit 94 about 9:15. No traffic at all. First few hours of the trip were very hazy/foggy and misty but no actual rain. It was actually kind of nice not having the bright sun to contend with.

 

[Goofygirl17]

So excited! I just booked our resort for our summer trip. We skipped Disney last summer and really missed it. Our last 4 trips were with annual passes (getting 2-2week summer trips on one pass) but the price has just gone up to a ridiculous amount so we're going for 2 weeks with 10 days water park and more passes. I can't wait!

 

[ThreeKMom]

Hitting the road on Saturday around 5:00pm, any overnight construction to be aware of?
For those of you that left NJ Wawa gas went back down to $1.73 over the weekend.
And it's freezing here! 28 degrees this morning! Possible half inch of snow tomorrow!

 

[msp2mco]

I forgot to post this earlier, but our family of 5 did a quick driving trip from Minnesota to Orlando from December 18-23. We rented a Yukon, so we had plenty of room. We left in the afternoon and drove non-stop, except for gas and to change drivers, and arrived at 5 the next afternoon. The kids immediately headed over to MK while DH and I took a shower before joining them and using our FP+. On the 22nd, we left the Poly about 4 PM and arrived home at 3PM on the 23rd. We had originally planned to spend the night somewhere on our way back, but we realized that even if we got 500 miles, we'd still go to bed knowing we had another 1000 miles to drive the next day.

We were fortunate to have good driving conditions almost the entire way and found ways to stay alert.

 

[BC1836]

Hitting the road on Saturday around 5:00pm, any overnight construction to be aware of?
For those of you that left NJ Wawa gas went back down to $1.73 over the weekend.
And it's freezing here! 28 degrees this morning! Possible half inch of snow tomorrow!

I-95 in Jacksonville: once you get past the Daily Billboard, things improve for a while but more portions of I-95 are getting asphalt facelifts. And then there's I-4...Ugh! And watch out for construction around Disney Springs.

All the best!

 

[sharadoc]

I-95 in Jacksonville: once you get past the Daily Billboard, things improve for a while but more portions of I-95 are getting asphalt facelifts. And then there's I-4...Ugh! And watch out for construction around Disney Springs.

All the best!

Perpetual construction around Jacksonville lol.

Did you stay on I-4 or jump onto 417? Where does the construction actually start?

 

[BC1836]

Perpetual construction around Jacksonville lol.

Did you stay on I-4 or jump onto 417? Where does the construction actually start?

The major construction on I-4 starts as you exit 260B from I-95 and continues (on and off depending on lane closure times) through Orlando. We've never taken 417 but we'll consider it in April. [We're in Naples now and will return to the Jersey Shore via the Grand Floridian for a few days in Feb.]

All the best!

 

[Liisa1965]

We left Cherry Hill, NJ at 8am today. We stopped for lunch at Potomac Mills Mall. Dinner in Lumberton, NC. Stopped for the night in Savannah at exit 94 about 9:15. No traffic at all. First few hours of the trip were very hazy/foggy and misty but no actual rain. It was actually kind of nice not having the bright sun to contend with.

Can you recommend a good hotel at this exit? We're in the Philly suburbs, and we'll have two drivers, so it seems it might be reasonable to try to make it to the Savannah area before stopping for the night.

 

[disneysteve]

Can you recommend a good hotel at this exit? We're in the Philly suburbs, and we'll have two drivers, so it seems it might be reasonable to try to make it to the Savannah area before stopping for the night.

We went a few miles off 95 and stayed at the SpringHill Suites Savannah Midtown. There is also one right at the 95 exit but I was able to get the farther one on points for a lower value.

 

[Liisa1965]

We went a few miles off 95 and stayed at the SpringHill Suites Savannah Midtown. There is also one right at the 95 exit but I was able to get the farther one on points for a lower value.

Thanks! How many hours did you drive to get to WDW the next day?

 

[OKW Lover]

Thanks! How many hours did you drive to get to WDW the next day?

We've driven from Savannah to WDW several times and its less than 5 hours. 4.5 is probably more like it. The only concern is the construction in Jacksonville (we take the east bypass) and the I-4 construction from Daytona through Orlando.

 

[disneysteve]

How many hours did you drive to get to WDW the next day?

We've driven from Savannah to WDW several times and its less than 5 hours. 4.5 is probably more like it. The only concern is the construction in Jacksonville (we take the east bypass) and the I-4 construction from Daytona through Orlando.

We left Savannah at 8:35am and pulled into the Disney Springs parking garage at 1:28pm, so just under 5 hours. We did make an extended stop at the Florida Welcome Center where we purchased a SunPass transponder and spent a little time sitting in the car getting our account set up.

Jeff, maybe we just got lucky but we didn't hit any traffic at all through Jacksonville. We stayed on 95 and did not take the 295 bypass.

We also really didn't have any trouble on I-4 but we did get on 417 at Sanford and took that the rest of the way (which is why I wanted the SunPass).

 

[disneysteve]

Gas at Speedway on property dropped to $1.79 today.

We head for home in the morning. Happy trails to all.