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

[Shaft41]

Well, tomorrow the journey begins. From west-central Illinois to Cincinnati for the Cubs-Reds game, then hopefully down around Knoxville, TN for the night, then on to Florida on Sunday. Thanks for all the info we've gleaned from this thread. Loving gas prices right now; hoping for limited construction.

 

[nono]

Well, tomorrow the journey begins. From west-central Illinois to Cincinnati for the Cubs-Reds game, then hopefully down around Knoxville, TN for the night, then on to Florida on Sunday. Thanks for all the info we've gleaned from this thread. Loving gas prices right now; hoping for limited construction.

Have a safe trip. Hope the Cubs win!

 

[chepic]

We love Typhoon Lagoon! but I heard they closed the shark pool. Do you know anything about that?

A co-worker of mine just told me that too. I wasn't aware. That is a cool thing to do there so maybe they are just sprucing it up.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

A co-worker of mine just told me that too. I wasn't aware. That is a cool thing to do there so maybe they are just sprucing it up.

I hope so. It is really cool.

 

[LadyBeBop]

Well, tomorrow the journey begins. From west-central Illinois to Cincinnati for the Cubs-Reds game, then hopefully down around Knoxville, TN for the night, then on to Florida on Sunday. Thanks for all the info we've gleaned from this thread. Loving gas prices right now; hoping for limited construction.

How did it go today? Sorry about the game (actually not really), but at least my home team won.

We actually made the trip from Northern Kentucky to the Smokies. There is a slowdown around Mt Vernon, but it didn't cost us too much time. Maybe about 20 minutes.

 

[WillandJennB]

Well, tomorrow the journey begins. From west-central Illinois to Cincinnati for the Cubs-Reds game, then hopefully down around Knoxville, TN for the night, then on to Florida on Sunday. Thanks for all the info we've gleaned from this thread. Loving gas prices right now; hoping for limited construction.

Good luck on the drive!!! Please let us know how the drive is. We are taking I-75 in August so I'm curious how it is. Thanks!!!

 

[Shaft41]

How did it go today? Sorry about the game (actually not really), but at least my home team won.

We actually made the trip from Northern Kentucky to the Smokies. There is a slowdown around Mt Vernon, but it didn't cost us too much time. Maybe about 20 minutes.

We left Cincinnati about 8:30 and drove e to our hotel West of Knoxville, TN. Got in about midnight. Heading out for the remaining 9-10 hours. Traffic on 75 was good. A few spots of construction, but no lane closures, which we seem to have lots of in Illinois.

 

[Goofygirl17]

10 days!!!

 

[BC1836]

10 days!!!

29 days!

 

[WillandJennB]

37 days till we leave

 

[chepic]

31

 

[chepic]

29 days!

We will be down there the same time. We will be at OKW

 

[BC1836]

We will be down there the same time. We will be at OKW

Split stay for us: Poly - GFR.

All the best!

 

[capegirl]

7 days till we hit the road from SE Mass; have stops in VA, and SC. We're traveling with extended family this time around; we wanted shorter hours on the road for the little ones. So 9 days until we hit Disney property. Big packing weekend for us, in addition to gathering our favorite road snacks. We're super excited to get this show on the road!

 

[Goofygirl17]

7 days till we hit the road from SE Mass; have stops in VA, and SC. We're traveling with extended family this time around; we wanted shorter hours on the road for the little ones. So 9 days until we hit Disney property. Big packing weekend for us, in addition to gathering our favorite road snacks. We're super excited to get this show on the road!

We're leaving Thursday morning around 3 am from southern CT checking in on Friday! I can't wait!!

 

[patclairesmom]

Just got back from our trip to Disney. We left at 12:15 am on Sat June 24th from what I'll call the Northeastern part of Central Jersey which will explain why it takes about 45 to 60 minute to get to the turnpike. It was smooth sailing. Del Memorial Bridge at 1:45, Baltimore at 2:45, DC 3:30, stopped for gas in Petersburg Va at 5:45, then my notes get fuzzy. We did hit traffic in SC around mile marker 65 to about mile marker 50. We arrived at POR @ 4:30. So with the stops for Gas and once at Dunkin Donuts, I think we made great time. We also drove back straight thru where we left POR at 7:30 am and got back home @1am. We hit a terrible rain storm in NC which slowed us down and then another one on the NJ Turnpike.

My thoughts on driving straight through. I'm not sure I would do it again. My son drove some of the way down but I'll put it this way, when we were on Test Track, I made the decision that I was going to drive home only since it reminded me of his driving I didn't mind driving home because after walking so much on our trip, it was nice to sit down for awhile.

 

[capegirl]

Just got back from our trip to Disney. We left at 12:15 am on Sat June 24th from what I'll call the Northeastern part of Central Jersey which will explain why it takes about 45 to 60 minute to get to the turnpike. It was smooth sailing. Del Memorial Bridge at 1:45, Baltimore at 2:45, DC 3:30, stopped for gas in Petersburg Va at 5:45, then my notes get fuzzy. We did hit traffic in SC around mile marker 65 to about mile marker 50. We arrived at POR @ 4:30. So with the stops for Gas and once at Dunkin Donuts, I think we made great time. We also drove back straight thru where we left POR at 7:30 am and got back home @1am. We hit a terrible rain storm in NC which slowed us down and then another one on the NJ Turnpike.

My thoughts on driving straight through. I'm not sure I would do it again. My son drove some of the way down but I'll put it this way, when we were on Test Track, I made the decision that I was going to drive home only since it reminded me of his driving I didn't mind driving home because after walking so much on our trip, it was nice to sit down for awhile.

Happy you made it home safe and sound. I would need to be blindfolded if my son ever drove. I'm hoping we don't run into any torrential downpours on our trip, not fun. Wish we could drive straight through, but we'd never make it.

 

[BigMommaMouse]

Just got back from our trip to Disney. We left at 12:15 am on Sat June 24th from what I'll call the Northeastern part of Central Jersey which will explain why it takes about 45 to 60 minute to get to the turnpike. It was smooth sailing. Del Memorial Bridge at 1:45, Baltimore at 2:45, DC 3:30, stopped for gas in Petersburg Va at 5:45, then my notes get fuzzy. We did hit traffic in SC around mile marker 65 to about mile marker 50. We arrived at POR @ 4:30. So with the stops for Gas and once at Dunkin Donuts, I think we made great time. We also drove back straight thru where we left POR at 7:30 am and got back home @1am. We hit a terrible rain storm in NC which slowed us down and then another one on the NJ Turnpike.

My thoughts on driving straight through. I'm not sure I would do it again. My son drove some of the way down but I'll put it this way, when we were on Test Track, I made the decision that I was going to drive home only since it reminded me of his driving I didn't mind driving home because after walking so much on our trip, it was nice to sit down for awhile.

Thanks for the report we are driving from Sussex County NJ for the first time in August. Looking forward to it, but still nervous.

 

[nono]

FWIW, we always drive straight down from NJ, but stay over on the way back. We find hanging out at a hotel, and discussing the highlights of our Disney trip to be an enjoyable part of the returning home ritual. We aren't slammed back into reality too fast.

 

[Dean1953]

We just got back from driving Kansas City to Orlando and back. I did all the driving. Driving down May 20, we stopped in the Smokey Mountains and went through Atlanta Monday afternoon in a breeze. The return was a different story. We left last Saturday. I 75 was clogged from Orlando to where we got off in Chattanooga. South of Atlanta through to the intersection of I 85 was stop and go traffic, which I didn't expect on a Saturday afternoon, and Georgia, in general, was a pain to drive through. The rest of the trip home was uneventful. I was driving in Florida for 7 weeks and noticed that drivers like to pass on your right, speed up and cut in at the last possible second as far in front as possible. There were many times that I didn't think that there was enough space to cut in but they managed to do it anyway. The other observation was the many toll booths that I saw. Or, in two instances that I didn't see but am sure that I will be getting a bill shortly. This system wasn't set up with the tourist in mind, as Florida residents can buy a SunPass decal and pre pay and zip by the toll booths. I bought a SunPass decal at the Florida Welcome Center on the way to Orlando for $25 and when I was setting it up, there turned out to be no money on the Pass. for the rest of the trip, I paid the tolls. If I lived in Florida, I could get used to the SunPass system but probably not the aggressive drivers on the highways.