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

[BC1836]

Driving down in May. It will be myself and my husband and my 2 11year olds. Thinking of leaving @3a.m from Central NJ and making it to Palm Coast. Does anyone know approx time we would get there? Thinking about 6pm My DD says why don't we just keep driving and get to Disney World that night, but I'm not sure.

We have stayed at Palm Coast a few times. And it certainly makes your second day of driving a breeze!

Our most recent Palm Coast stop was in Dec. We left the Jersey Shore at 3 a.m. (how's that for a coincidental time?) on Thursday, Dec. 4 and crossed the following state borders at these times:

4:47 a.m. MD
6:44 a.m. VA
9:47 a.m. NC
12:41 p.m. SC
3:46 p.m. GA
5:25 p.m. FL
7:15 p.m. Palm Coast, FL

[NOTE: We ate prepared food on our drive; only stops: bathroom and gas.]

We departed Palm Coast at 9:23 a.m. the following morning and made it to the Beach Club at 10:51 a.m.

On two occasions, we drove straight through...in June when daylight dominated the day.

We hope this info helps.

All the best.

 

[patclairesmom]

Where on the Jersey Shore are you? We're in Middletown so depending upon how far south you are, we can gauge it by your times.

 

[dvczerfs]

Driving down in May. It will be myself and my husband and my 2 11year olds. Thinking of leaving @3a.m from Central NJ and making it to Palm Coast. Does anyone know approx time we would get there? Thinking about 6pm My DD says why don't we just keep driving and get to Disney World that night, but I'm not sure.

your thinking is correct i would say. thats about a 15 hour trip from middletown and your aprox 11/2 hours till wdw. we do the same thing as bc, we eat in the car. we pack sandw or hit a drive thru to eat. if it was me, i would go the rest of the way in, for us as soon as we see the palm coast water tower on i95 we know were not to far out!!!

 

[BC1836]

Where on the Jersey Shore are you? We're in Middletown so depending upon how far south you are, we can gauge it by your times.

We are at Exit #67 on the GSP (not to be confused with Exit #67 on I-4 in FL, the goal of all 2,000+ mile round trip drivers!).

You are about an hour north of us. I assume you take the GSP to 195 to 295 route to reach the DE Memorial Bridge?

[We take the Route 72 to Route 70 to 295 route to reach the DE Memorial Bridge.]

All the best.

 

[Flyerfan]

We've always thought about departing later in the day and enjoying at least part of the day in a WDW park. But a longer second-day drive is not what we would look forward to. We depart around 9 a.m. and usually make it to Emporia, VA for our overnight stay during our 1,080-mile one way trip home.

A similar departure time in the morning from southern VA gets us to the NJ shore around 4 p.m.

And then we start thinking about our next drive!

I noticed in your sig you have several trips that are within 2 or 3 months of each other. Did you drive all these? Just curious because this year we are doing two drives...Sept & Nov. This is the closest together we've taken trips to WDW, much less driven there. Wondering if it felt like too much driving or does it not bother you.

 

[disneyfan55]

I noticed in your sig you have several trips that are within 2 or 3 months of each other. Did you drive all these? Just curious because this year we are doing two drives...Sept & Nov. This is the closest together we've taken trips to WDW, much less driven there. Wondering if it felt like too much driving or does it not bother you.

We've driven all of our WDW trips except 2. We also drove the 2 DL tripss from NJ!! If you don't mind the drive, you should have no problem. We've driven cross country 7 times in all and it's a lot of fun!! Maybe, if you can, make a few side trips along the way!! We have been doing this on the last few WDW trips since I was injured on the last Cross country trip and it's hard to sit for me.

 

[BC1836]

I noticed in your sig you have several trips that are within 2 or 3 months of each other. Did you drive all these? Just curious because this year we are doing two drives...Sept & Nov. This is the closest together we've taken trips to WDW, much less driven there. Wondering if it felt like too much driving or does it not bother you.

Indeed, all of our trips since 2002 have been drives (except for the June 2008 Disneyland trip). As you have seen in our signature, our two drives so far in 2009 have been relatively close to each other. We're planning on two more before the year is out: October and December. And, no, it never feels "like too much driving." Especially driving to WDW.

Now then, disneyfan55, is a 6,000+ mile round trip driver to Disneyland! We've driven to Texas twice but never cross country. Disneyfan55, no doubt, has travel tales to tell!

All the best.

 

[mdinme]

We fly, but we've discussed driving. The return, as mentioned, sounds awful.

 

[disney*mom*82]

We drive aprox 2100 miles rt each visit to Disney. My husband says he will never fly, so I guess this is how it will always be. (of course unless I finally talk him into moving to Disney! lol) We have 3 children (12, 9, 21mo). We make the trip every March and this year we have decided to go again in Sept too. I have to say that this is something we all d not look forward to. I do not drive well espec when its more than one lane traffic! So, lets just say I rarely drive. Last time we ended up stopping in a rest area for about 1hr to take a quick cat nap then the LO woke up (it was about 5am then) so we decided to go to a Dennys for breakfast so they could all eat and dh could atleast relax some more and rest in car if needed. Luckily the kids ride pretty well, we hope Sept goes as good as the last 2 trips with LO.

I think its pretty funny to find this post, the distance we will drive for Disney World! It so worth it. Happy traveling to you all!

 

[jessd_ct]

We are taking our first drive to Disney in September from New England. It seems the majority of people agree that taking I-95 the whole way down isn't the best option but the alternate routes suggested seem to take us well out of the way before heading south. For example we would have to head north for 45 minutes just to reach I-84 and it doesn't make sense for us to do that.

We are starting from New Haven, Connecticut and I was wondering if there was anyone who has driven from our general area and could possibly point out a route we may have missed in our hours of research.

We are planning on leaving around 3:00AM on a Friday and driving straight through with no hotel stops.

Any advice in this regard would be greatly appreciated

 

[disneyfan55]

Indeed, all of our trips since 2002 have been drives (except for the June 2008 Disneyland trip). As you have seen in our signature, our two drives so far in 2009 have been relatively close to each other. We're planning on two more before the year is out: October and December. And, no, it never feels "like too much driving." Especially driving to WDW.

Now then, disneyfan55, is a 6,000+ mile round trip driver to Disneyland! We've driven to Texas twice but never cross country. Disneyfan55, no doubt, has travel tales to tell!

All the best.

Yes, the cross country trips have stories to tell!! Half the fun was planning them. The first 3 were in the late 80's so really just the map and places we had always wanted to visit. We plotted the basic course and then found other National Parks (mostly) and museums to visit as well. Now with the internet, I requested info from each state going through or actually visiting. All was free! It's a lot of fun to plan and do. I made binders with dividers for each day! Like I said a lot of fun! The last trip was when I was injured at a dude ranch so we haven't driven that far since, but someday I hope to be able to do so. Actually, one of the cross country trips was around 8,000 miles. We drove from southern CA up to Olimpia NP in northwest Washington! Any quesiton please ask. PM if you like!

 

[BC1836]

We fly, but we've discussed driving. The return, as mentioned, sounds awful.

Not as awful as you might imagine. As you drive home, just keep in mind some of these current Transportation thread topics/questions raised by the good folks who fly:

Can you take toothpaste?
Carry-on bag dimensions
Lysol in checked bags
Flying with fruit
Snowglobes on planes
Connecting flights - should I worry?
SW boardings? Think we can sit together?
Aug 14 American Airlines will raise bag charge another $5
Are there any good airlines left?

Enjoy your drive home!

 

[Donald is #1]

Not as awful as you might imagine. As you drive home, just keep in mind some of these current Transportation thread topics/questions raised by the good folks who fly:

Can you take toothpaste?
Carry-on bag dimensions
Lysol in checked bags
Flying with fruit
Snowglobes on planes
Connecting flights - should I worry?
SW boardings? Think we can sit together?
Aug 14 American Airlines will raise bag charge another $5
Are there any good airlines left?

Enjoy your drive home!

I'm sitting here laughing as I read your post because it is so true!

I love to drive but I also enjoy flying. But the hassle of flying is getting so high (plus I have more vacation now) that I can't wait to drive to Florida for the first time in September. I am seriously considering (ok after my December trip and maybe next August since my nephew is reluctant to drive for that long) to convert to driving for most if not all of my WDW trips.

Of course, the math is easier for me since I always rent a car down in FL anyways. So rental car + flight = driving even for my solo trips

 

[disneyfan55]

I'm sitting here laughing as I read your post because it is so true!

I love to drive but I also enjoy flying. But the hassle of flying is getting so high (plus I have more vacation now) that I can't wait to drive to Florida for the first time in September. I am seriously considering (ok after my December trip and maybe next August since my nephew is reluctant to drive for that long) to convert to driving for most if not all of my WDW trips.

Of course, the math is easier for me since I always rent a car down in FL anyways. So rental car + flight = driving even for my solo trips

I only flew on my first trip in 1976 as well as wilth my children's highschool band/chior in 1995. When we flew with the school, my daughter said it wasn't the same. I guess the drive was always a part of the WDW experience and all the trips 2003 and prior were straight drives with the exception of one or 2 times stopping NW of Atlanta to visit relatives!! The drive home is an adventure as well. Try it once for the experience!!

 

[mommytodarlings]

We are leaving a month from today for our drive down from southern Ontario.

It will be our 2nd drive time driving with the 4 kids. It should be an experience as the kids are 7, 6, 5 and 2

I love road trips and I'm hoping to get the kids on board too.

 

[disneyfan55]

We are leaving a month from today for our drive down from southern Ontario.

It will be our 2nd drive time driving with the 4 kids. It should be an experience as the kids are 7, 6, 5 and 2

I love road trips and I'm hoping to get the kids on board too.

We've driven to WDW since I was pregnant with my first child! She's 31 now and we did the drive just last fall with her 6 month old!! We did all the trips including 3 cross country trips when they were 6 and 8 for the first trip!! They never minded the ride and that was way before the computer/DVD age!! They each had a bag of things to do!! They looked for signs/cars etc along the way!! IF you start children early enough, they do love the ride and have fun along the way. The trip itself is part of the fun. Our longest trip was about 8500 miles in all NJ-So. CA north to WA and back to NJ with twists along the way especially out west!! Have fun. I'm sure the children will have a blast!

 

[Flyerfan]

We've driven to WDW since I was pregnant with my first child! She's 31 now and we did the drive just last fall with her 6 month old!! We did all the trips including 3 cross country trips when they were 6 and 8 for the first trip!! They never minded the ride and that was way before the computer/DVD age!! They each had a bag of things to do!! They looked for signs/cars etc along the way!! IF you start children early enough, they do love the ride and have fun along the way. The trip itself is part of the fun. Our longest trip was about 8500 miles in all NJ-So. CA north to WA and back to NJ with twists along the way especially out west!! Have fun. I'm sure the children will have a blast!

If I may ask, how long did it take you to drive cross country. I am considering a drive to California but not sure if 3 weeks is long enough.

 

[Cupmom]

Not as awful as you might imagine. As you drive home, just keep in mind some of these current Transportation thread topics/questions raised by the good folks who fly:

Can you take toothpaste?
Carry-on bag dimensions
Lysol in checked bags
Flying with fruit
Snowglobes on planes
Connecting flights - should I worry?
SW boardings? Think we can sit together?
Aug 14 American Airlines will raise bag charge another $5
Are there any good airlines left?

Enjoy your drive home!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Well this coming Saturday on August 1st my family and I will be leaving for Clearwater Beach and will be driving down Interstate 75. We plan to leave our house at 2:00 AM or maybe a bit earlier, then will be driving all the way to Cleveland, Tennessee where we will be spending the night. The next day we will be going to Valdosta, Georgia because we don't want to arrive in Clearwater Beach around 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM. So by staying in Valdosta we can arrive to Clearwater on August 3rd sometime in the mid afternoon.

 

[disneyfan55]

If I may ask, how long did it take you to drive cross country. I am considering a drive to California but not sure if 3 weeks is long enough.

Most of the trips were 3 full weeks plus on a few an extra day due to a holiday. Basically we had 2 very long driving days on the first 2 days (800 or so miles each. You gain the hour each day giving you 2 25 hour days. We would slow down in the west. Most of the extensive sightseeing for us was the mountain states to be honest. We did the CA to WA drive on a trip in 1989 as well. The drive home was not quite so long a drive each day but on the trip home from NW Washington we did do it in 3 days losing an hr. each day! We did go as far west as the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on a 2 1/2 week trip as well. Any other questions on planning etc. feel free to ask!! IT"S a lot of fun planning and going on these trips!!