For 2,000+ mile round-trip drivers only!

[Amirah95]

I think this is the beginning of the end of driving to Disney World for us for a while. My 17 month old doesn't like sitting in the car anymore. She wants out of her car seat about 45 mins into our day trips. Oh gosh...I dread having to pay for airfare and a rental car for this coming October. Waaaaaaaaaaaah!

 

[robin09]

October is a long way away for a 17 month old, she'll change again! EIther way, get a DVR and play her favorite shows... Usually works like a charm! The only way we've been able to do the drive when DD was that little!

I think this is the beginning of the end of driving to Disney World for us for a while. My 17 month old doesn't like sitting in the car anymore. She wants out of her car seat about 45 mins into our day trips. Oh gosh...I dread having to pay for airfare and a rental car for this coming October. Waaaaaaaaaaaah!

 

[BC1836]

Tip: When driving to WDW, it is always best to get your last tank of gas in daylight hours before entering FL. [Or entering any other state, for that mattter.]

Stopping for gas at night in the greater Orlando area (off I-95) allows drivers to meet 'n' greet (and, unfortunately on some occasions, confront) the most motley crew of panhandlers this side of 8th Ave. in Manhattan!



Be cautious at all times.

 

[glo]

Here we go again!!! We had planned a trip for April vacation, and had to cancel because my friend's, who was the other driver, husband had to be admitted to the hospital a few days before we were supposed to leave. So we are now shooting for end of June. I know it will be crowded and I know more traffic, but hell it is WDW right? So leaving from Southwest MA...which route would be best? We can leave anytime after 1 pm on the last Thursday of June. Any suggestions? Ideas? HELP!!!!!

 

[Amirah95]

October is a long way away for a 17 month old, she'll change again! EIther way, get a DVR and play her favorite shows... Usually works like a charm! The only way we've been able to do the drive when DD was that little!

She doesn't watch TV yet...should I be concerned about that? She'd rather explore and look at books! eeeeeeeeeeeek!

I hope she changes by then because DH and I have priced out tickets so far and they range between 230-250 AND they all have connecting flights. No way!

DH says maybe if we leave after dark that it won't be so bad, but coming back from Disney World may be a problem. We may need to stay at a hotel overnight on the way back. More money!

 

[BC1836]

So leaving from Southwest MA...which route would be best? We can leave anytime after 1 pm on the last Thursday of June. Any suggestions? Ideas? HELP!!!!!

The key thing is not where you leave from but when you leave. It's important to avoid major traffic areas (northern NJ on the NJ Turnpike, greater DC, etc.) at rush hour.

Very, very early morning departures on a weekend work best!

 

[KPH500]

Here we go again!!! We had planned a trip for April vacation, and had to cancel because my friend's, who was the other driver, husband had to be admitted to the hospital a few days before we were supposed to leave. So we are now shooting for end of June. I know it will be crowded and I know more traffic, but hell it is WDW right? So leaving from Southwest MA...which route would be best? We can leave anytime after 1 pm on the last Thursday of June. Any suggestions? Ideas? HELP!!!!!

We are leaving from Central MA on the same day hopefully at around the same time! This is our third reschedule, original plan was to leave today.

 

[glo]

So, what is your route? Pike, to 81 to 95?

95 all he way?

We are leaving from Central MA on the same day hopefully at around the same time! This is our third reschedule, original plan was to leave today.

 

[pomlover]

The key thing is not where you leave from but when you leave. It's important to avoid major traffic areas (northern NJ on the NJ Turnpike, greater DC, etc.) at rush hour.

Very, very early morning departures on a weekend work best!

Weekends in general are better for driving to avoid all traffic, doesn't have to be early morning, but avoid night time since some places do construction at night.

 

[pwdebbie]

We drove down from south central PA (near Gettysburg) on 4/19, stayed overnight in Orangeburg, and arrived at POFQ at 1:40 Monday (4/20) afternoon. We took the 81-77-26-95 route. This was our second drive down there. I've decided I am just not cut out for a drive like that and I won't do it again. Since dh refuses to fly, I guess that this was our last trip to Disney. We returned home 4/27, overnight in Lake Norman, and pulled in our driveway 3:00 p.m. 4/28.

Construction south of Savannah seemed to go on forever. When they warn you that the lane narrows, they mean it. Very frightening if you are next to a truck.

 

[KPH500]

So, what is your route? Pike, to 81 to 95?

95 all he way?

I think so. DH is the navigator/map reader extraordinaire in the family. I'll take my turn driving once we're safely on 95 and it's a straight shot all the way! hahahaha

 

[sharadoc]

Always try and go well beyond your mid-point journey length if you plan an overnnight stay on your way to WDW. You will appreciate it on the second day, as shafke correctly pointed out in a previous post.

When you depart is the key to your drive (the weather notwithstanding). For us, it's an early, early morning departure. And a weekend departure.

For you, a major goal should be getting out of LI and through NJ in off-peak driving times. And avoid the same in the greater DC area at all costs!

All the best.

Yep - we try to leave 5-6AM. Last time we stopped in Florence, this time we're going to Walterboro. We figure our first day drive should be about 12 hours, and second around 6. Our first day is always very easy - the first 3-4 hours the kids are half awake but excited.

We always stay in a hotel with free breakfast so we can get up and go by 9, then get to Disney by 3-4, just in time for check-in. Works perfectly.

In January we drove Sunday/Monday (MLK Day). August will be Sat/Sun on the way down, but Tues/Wed on the way back. But Washington DC is on vacation, so we think it should be okay.

 

[LoveMyBoys]

I love reading this thread, we are driving for the first time tomorrow. There will be 6 of us (4 drivers). We are leaving from Lower Bucks, just outside of Philadelphia. The plan is to leave around 7pm and switch drivers every 3-4 hours. If we feel like we need to we can always try to stop overnight, but I would rather drive straight through and let the kids sleep in the car. I think I've seen a couple of people mention that they might be on the road same time as us, maybe we'll see you

 

[WI_DisneyFan]

We're starting to plan our first drive to WDW from Wisconsin (about an hour north of Milwaukee on the Lake Michigan shoreline). It looks like it'll be roughly 1300 miles from my driveway to the Contemporary parking lot. We've flown the past two trips, but are going to try the drive this time around if for no other reason than we want to say that we've done it. Plus, we like the flexibility of not being tied to a flight departure time, baggage limits, etc.

My first dilemma - one stop or two? Since I'll be doing 90% of the driving (my wife will only drive on straight stretches of the highway in light traffic), I'm not all that interested in driving straight through. Even though it'll cost more, I'm leaning heavily towards stopping twice on the way down -- once somewhere in Tennessee and then again in northern Florida. The last thing I'd want is to be burnt out from driving before my actual vacation even begins. But then I'm thinking, if we leave at 4:00 am we can be somewhere in Georgia by late evening. Then it's just another 5-6 hours until we reach WDW. So why not just stop once and save ourselves the ~$100 on that 2nd night in a hotel?

This has probably been discussed earlier in this thread, but not in the last 10 or so pages so hopefully someone can answer this for me. When planning to stop for the night, do you reserve a hotel ahead of time? Or do you wing it and hope to find a vacancy somewhere when you feel like you need to stop? My only concern with reserving ahead of time is that if I plan on stopping somewhere at say 6:00 pm; but I make really good time and arrive at the hotel at 4:30 pm, I'll probably be upset that I could have driven for another hour and a half before having to stop. Or even if I make it at 6:00 pm but feel like I've got another hour or two of driving in me, I'd hate to be tied down to stopping there instead of continuing on. What's the "norm" for this?

 

[tiggerplus5]

When planning to stop for the night, do you reserve a hotel ahead of time? Or do you wing it and hope to find a vacancy somewhere when you feel like you need to stop? My only concern with reserving ahead of time is that if I plan on stopping somewhere at say 6:00 pm; but I make really good time and arrive at the hotel at 4:30 pm, I'll probably be upset that I could have driven for another hour and a half before having to stop. Or even if I make it at 6:00 pm but feel like I've got another hour or two of driving in me, I'd hate to be tied down to stopping there instead of continuing on. What's the "norm" for this?

We've driven down many times from New England (1300 miles each way) and have done it both ways. We are not taking the same route as you but our experience on I-95 going down the east coast are as follows:

1) We've never made good time and arrived hours ahead of time. There's at least one major traffic jam (and I'm not talking about driving through a metro area at rush hour. More like a lane closure due to construction or an accident) There's also this phenomenon going through the southern states that drivers stay in the left hand lane and never pass the vehicles on the right. They pull out and drive along side the 18 wheelers. They don't pass and they won't get out of the way. I don't get it!
2. If you are planning on staying overnight in a hotel and you have no reservation, you need to stop EARLY-like around 5 or 6 p.m. Or try to anticipate how far you will be driving on the map and call ahead that afternoon to make a ressie. We got stuck in an icky hotel one time because it was the only room we could find at 10 p.m.
3. We usually reserve ahead of time, like weeks ahead of time, partially because I'm an OCD planner but also because we have kids and do not want to get stuck in some strange area with no place to sleep. Then again reserving ahead of time may not be a big deal coming from the midwest. But we usually leave on a Friday and Saturday at the beginning of major holidays and there's a mass exodus of New Englanders all thinking the same thing-Florida here we come!! So you also need to consider when you will be traveling. Is it a busy time of year for traveling on the routes you will be taking?

We are going again mid July this year and there's no major holiday when we leave on Friday night so we're hoping the traffic won't be so crazy

 

[Mysteria]

We start our drive in about 30 hours. Cross your fingers for me that this crazy weather calms down!

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

This has probably been discussed earlier in this thread, but not in the last 10 or so pages so hopefully someone can answer this for me. When planning to stop for the night, do you reserve a hotel ahead of time? Or do you wing it and hope to find a vacancy somewhere when you feel like you need to stop? My only concern with reserving ahead of time is that if I plan on stopping somewhere at say 6:00 pm; but I make really good time and arrive at the hotel at 4:30 pm, I'll probably be upset that I could have driven for another hour and a half before having to stop. Or even if I make it at 6:00 pm but feel like I've got another hour or two of driving in me, I'd hate to be tied down to stopping there instead of continuing on. What's the "norm" for this?

We have a similar 'commute' coming in a few weeks. I've made 2 reservations for 2 stops along the way - and we're okay with that it's built into our vacation but I did note that the hotels had a 6:00 -p.m. day of arrival no-penalty cancellation time. You could make a reservation and then make an educated guess during your travel if you want to cancel.

 

[dannysmommyval]

I left from South NJ at midnight on a Friday night. I drove to SC - about 6am and tried to get a room, unfortunately it was difficult because most wanted you to be out of the room by 11am even though you came in at 6am. I drove a bit further and then stopped for breakfast and finally was able to get a room in Florence around 1pm. That night, around 10pm we left again and got into Orlando around 10:30am - of course we stopped at South of the Border for a while and farted around a bit when we got into Orlando. Also we had to make frequent rest stop pit stops during both legs of the trip so I was delayed a bit further. I went over the DE Bridge, got on I95 south and then took I4 the rest of the way. It wasn't a bad trip at all but there is a lot of construction so take your time and keep your eyes open for construction signs. Hope this helps.

Oh and edited to say: Wanda my GPS was invaluable - I set her for shortest route and it worked wonderfully. Also, I used her when trying to find lodging - it was like a real time phone book to call ahead. It is a good investment!

 

[pwdebbie]

This has probably been discussed earlier in this thread, but not in the last 10 or so pages so hopefully someone can answer this for me. When planning to stop for the night, do you reserve a hotel ahead of time? Or do you wing it and hope to find a vacancy somewhere when you feel like you need to stop? My only concern with reserving ahead of time is that if I plan on stopping somewhere at say 6:00 pm; but I make really good time and arrive at the hotel at 4:30 pm, I'll probably be upset that I could have driven for another hour and a half before having to stop. Or even if I make it at 6:00 pm but feel like I've got another hour or two of driving in me, I'd hate to be tied down to stopping there instead of continuing on. What's the "norm" for this?

We pulled into Sleep Inns at 8:00 pm or later with no reservation and had no problem getting a room. On the way down it was a Sunday night and on the way back it was Monday night. I thought about reserving a room online before leaving home for the trip down (and we did get to the very place I was planning to reserve) but online it said there were only a few rooms available. Reality was that the hotel was practically empty, maybe 20% occupancy.

 

[WI_DisneyFan]

We've driven down many times from New England (1300 miles each way) and have done it both ways. We are not taking the same route as you but our experience on I-95 going down the east coast are as follows:

1) We've never made good time and arrived hours ahead of time. There's at least one major traffic jam (and I'm not talking about driving through a metro area at rush hour. More like a lane closure due to construction or an accident) There's also this phenomenon going through the southern states that drivers stay in the left hand lane and never pass the vehicles on the right. They pull out and drive along side the 18 wheelers. They don't pass and they won't get out of the way. I don't get it!
2. If you are planning on staying overnight in a hotel and you have no reservation, you need to stop EARLY-like around 5 or 6 p.m. Or try to anticipate how far you will be driving on the map and call ahead that afternoon to make a ressie. We got stuck in an icky hotel one time because it was the only room we could find at 10 p.m.
3. We usually reserve ahead of time, like weeks ahead of time, partially because I'm an OCD planner but also because we have kids and do not want to get stuck in some strange area with no place to sleep. Then again reserving ahead of time may not be a big deal coming from the midwest. But we usually leave on a Friday and Saturday at the beginning of major holidays and there's a mass exodus of New Englanders all thinking the same thing-Florida here we come!! So you also need to consider when you will be traveling. Is it a busy time of year for traveling on the routes you will be taking?

We are going again mid July this year and there's no major holiday when we leave on Friday night so we're hoping the traffic won't be so crazy

Thanks for the info! You certainly gave me a lot to think about.

We are leaving either the Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving (depending on if we plan on stopping one night or two), so one of my worries is that people from out of town will be visiting relatives and will be occupying all of the rooms. Or they'll be heading back home and will be staying overnight because of that. In the end, since I'm a total OCD planner too, I'll probably end up reserving ahead of time. One benefit of that would be that I'll have a set goal to reach before calling it a night. If I reach it ahead of time, that's great. But if I reach it late, that's fine too. When we get to the hotel, I'll know that I'm "X" miles from my destination. I suppose it would be wiser if I looked at mileage instead of time, since mileage doesn't fluctuate but travel time can.