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

[BC1836]

When will you be heading out? We are going in two weeks as well.

We drove to WDW back in 2004 and left at 4pm (just outside Phila) so yes we hit..Philly....Baltimore and DC rush hour and if I am not mistaken a little in Virginia. What can I say we were excited!!!

Now we are planning on still leaving around 8pm and driving straight thru just to WDW.
So....what should we do? I am trying to figure out what is going to be best for my nerves and the sanity of my DH and DS (9). I am afraid that if we drive during the day the urge to stop will be more frequent whereas we are more likely to stay on track driving overnight. Now we are not afraid to pull over at a rest area (well lit) if we need to shut our eyes for a little bit.

Thanks for any suggestions!!!

Our depature from the Jersey Shore usually takes place as early as possible on a weekend day, and no later than 4 a.m. (although we have left at various other a.m. times). We get onto I-295 at Cherry Hill within an hour of our departure. This allows us to get across the Wilson Bridge (over the Potomac) within 4 hours. The key thing is avoiding the southern MD-greater DC/northern VA traffic, especially at rush hour. Friday is particularly brutal. Clearing historic Fredericksburg is always a goal. After that, things improve no matter what time of day.

We maintain a detailed travel log so we can compare and contrast state border crossing times, gas prices, etc. with previous trips. Its a useful reference for those in the 2,000+ mile round-trip drivers' association!

All the best.

 

[MinMouse]

We are leaving on the 9th the day before good friday around 12:00- 1:00 pm from south jersey(cherry hill), picking the kids up from school for a surprise visit to the Kingdom.... They thought we could never surprise them again... Ha...does anyone think i"ll have trouble getting thru ... Balt-DC- Richmond ....at that time..? should we leave earlier/later?

DC will be getting very busy by that time. I figure you'd be there around 3/4p.m. At that time the day before a holiday could be very congested. We like to leave around 4 a.m. and drive through DC before the traffic starts. It seems like any other time of day we go through there is a lot of traffic. I would wake the kids up early and get on the road. We did that Easter 2005 and it was one of our best trips ever. Our girls thought we were joking! We've driven 7 times . . . have fun on your first drive!

 

[dvcfamily41801]

Our depature from the Jersey Shore usually takes place as early as possible on a weekend day, and no later than 4 a.m. (although we have left at various other a.m. times). We get onto I-295 at Cherry Hill within an hour of our departure. This allows us to get across the Wilson Bridge (over the Potomac) within 4 hours. The key thing is avoiding the southern MD-greater DC/northern VA traffic, especially at rush hour. Friday is particularly brutal. Clearing historic Fredericksburg is always a goal. After that, things improve no matter what time of day.

We maintain a detailed travel log so we can compare and contrast state border crossing times, gas prices, etc. with previous trips. Its a useful reference for those in the 2,000+ mile round-trip drivers' association!

All the best.

I saw in previous posts that you have the detailed travel log and that is pretty amazing. What time would you guess DC/Northern VA rush hour traffic starts to funnel out in the morning? I think that is where my most worry is.

Can you please share any tips for once you are getting off 95 in Florida? I thought somewhere I read about people not taking I-4 as it can be very slow moving??

 

[nappingbeauty]

BC1836 ... I think I could be your new best friend!!! We live about a half hour outside of Philadelphia so we pretty much travel the same route... How about sharing some wonderful information with me???? My travel time is going to be on a saturday morning in august also around 4am and I am hoping to get to the end of ga or beginning of florida that evening before getting some shut eye. Catch a few hours sleep and head off to OKW. Dont want to show up and start my day overly exhausted...

Where do you all usually spend the night?

Laura

 

[patclairesmom]

Our trip is way off (May 2010), but I just love to plan. Has anyone from the Jersey area taken the 301 rt thru deleware and maryland, hooking back up to 95 north of Richmond? Doesn't seem to add more more time according to AAA triptiks. Just wondering if there are a bunch of lights and local traffic.

 

[rotlex]

BC1836 ... I think I could be your new best friend!!! We live about a half hour outside of Philadelphia so we pretty much travel the same route... How about sharing some wonderful information with me???? My travel time is going to be on a saturday morning in august also around 4am and I am hoping to get to the end of ga or beginning of florida that evening before getting some shut eye. Catch a few hours sleep and head off to OKW. Dont want to show up and start my day overly exhausted...

Where do you all usually spend the night?

Laura

Interested here too. Been followig this thread for quite some time, and am still a bit confused as to the best route down there from here. (Allentown area\just above Philly).

We will be doing our first driving trip this June, and while I'm good with I95 for most of the trip, I'm really confused as to the best route to get us to the other side of DC.

We are leaving around 4am on Monday the 15th of June, and I was hoping to hit maybe Savanah Georgia and stay the night by late evening. (Looking into a Holiday Inn Express down there). Problem is, as I said, this is our first driving excursion to the world, and I really have no idea how long it is going to take us to get there, with an 8 month old, as well as a 6 year old in tow.

Here's looking forward to more input!

 

[shafke]

Interested here too. Been followig this thread for quite some time, and am still a bit confused as to the best route down there from here. (Allentown area\just above Philly).

We will be doing our first driving trip this June, and while I'm good with I95 for most of the trip, I'm really confused as to the best route to get us to the other side of DC.

We are leaving around 4am on Monday the 15th of June, and I was hoping to hit maybe Savanah Georgia and stay the night by late evening. (Looking into a Holiday Inn Express down there). Problem is, as I said, this is our first driving excursion to the world, and I really have no idea how long it is going to take us to get there, with an 8 month old, as well as a 6 year old in tow.

Here's looking forward to more input!

From Allentown I would seriously consider going west on I78 and picking up I81 south through Harrisburg and then following some of the suggested routes from there to bypass DC entirely. Driving time will probably be about 16 hours or so.

 

[MinMouse]

Interested here too. Been followig this thread for quite some time, and am still a bit confused as to the best route down there from here. (Allentown area\just above Philly).

We will be doing our first driving trip this June, and while I'm good with I95 for most of the trip, I'm really confused as to the best route to get us to the other side of DC.

We are leaving around 4am on Monday the 15th of June, and I was hoping to hit maybe Savanah Georgia and stay the night by late evening. (Looking into a Holiday Inn Express down there). Problem is, as I said, this is our first driving excursion to the world, and I really have no idea how long it is going to take us to get there, with an 8 month old, as well as a 6 year old in tow.

Here's looking forward to more input!

We travel to WDW from just south of Philly and leave just around the time you are suggesting. Our first driving trip we stopped in Savannah and arrived there around 5:30 p.m. We are probably about an hour or so south of your location. You may want to leave a tad earlier to beat the rush in DC.

 

[BC1836]

rDear rotlex, dvcfamily41801 and nappingbeauty:

Since we live closer to the Atlantic Ocean than the Delaware River, we cannot offer experienced advice about the drive for Pennsylvania folks, especially those who live considerably west of the Delaware River. The advice that good folks like shafke offers is similar to other Pennsylvanians who have suggested the I-81 connection.

That being said, we repeat our two-part Golden Rule (based upon 13 round-trip drives to WDW since 2002): 1) leave very, very early in the morning, and 2) leave on a weekend. To be sure, that isn't always possible. But adhering to those two rules has provided us with relatively smooth sailing, er, driving since 2002.

Here's a sample from our travel logs:

12/08 3 a.m. departure/VA border 6:44 a.m./NC border 9:47 a.m./SC border 12:41 p.m./GA border 3:46 p.m./FL border 5:25 p.m.

10/08 4:35 a.m. departure/VA 8:15 a.m./NC 11:05 a.m./SC 1:37 p.m./GA 4:45 p.m./FL 6:28 p.m.

On seven of our drives where we reached Fl, the time from the VA/NC border to the FL border averaged a 7 1/2 hour drive. Once we drove straight through; however, most of the time we book a Holiday Inn Express in St. Augustine or Palm Coast. [Note: Palm Coast to Exit #67 on I-4 is only an hour and 20 minute drive. Be careful, however, of Orlando rush hour traffic!]

All of the familar hotel/motel chains are satisfactory; we use Holiday Inn Express as Priority Club members which nets a few benefits.

So consider our Golden Rule of Driving to WDW. And then, in words of frontier hero Davy Crockett: "Be sure you're right, then go ahead."

All the best.

 

[S0nic01]

Driving From Omaha Ne to Orlando in May,1400 miles each way last time we drove that is when we moved from La,California to omaha,Ne. One thing Im Looking forward to is eating jack in the box in St Louis.There is no jack in the box in omaha.I have been craving a ultimate double cheesburger for 3 years since I moved From California.

 

[dvcfamily41801]

rDear rotlex, dvcfamily41801 and nappingbeauty:

Since we live closer to the Atlantic Ocean than the Delaware River, we cannot offer experienced advice about the drive for Pennsylvania folks, especially those who live considerably west of the Delaware River. The advice that good folks like shafke offers is similar to other Pennsylvanians who have suggested the I-81 connection.

That being said, we repeat our two-part Golden Rule (based upon 13 round-trip drives to WDW since 2002): 1) leave very, very early in the morning, and 2) leave on a weekend. To be sure, that isn't always possible. But adhering to those two rules has provided us with relatively smooth sailing, er, driving since 2002.

Here's a sample from our travel logs:

12/08 3 a.m. departure/VA border 6:44 a.m./NC border 9:47 a.m./SC border 12:41 p.m./GA border 3:46 p.m./FL border 5:25 p.m.

10/08 4:35 a.m. departure/VA 8:15 a.m./NC 11:05 a.m./SC 1:37 p.m./GA 4:45 p.m./FL 6:28 p.m.

On seven of our drives where we reached Fl, the time from the VA/NC border to the FL border averaged a 7 1/2 hour drive. Once we drove straight through; however, most of the time we book a Holiday Inn Express in St. Augustine or Palm Coast. [Note: Palm Coast to Exit #67 on I-4 is only an hour and 20 minute drive. Be careful, however, of Orlando rush hour traffic!]

All of the familar hotel/motel chains are satisfactory; we use Holiday Inn Express as Priority Club members which nets a few benefits.

So consider our Golden Rule of Driving to WDW. And then, in words of frontier hero Davy Crockett: "Be sure you're right, then go ahead."

All the best.

Thanks again for the info. I think we will be better off leaving around 8pm Friday and driving the overnight route. I was thinking of Brunswick, GA as a stopping point but its about 12 1/2 hours from our house (not including stops). If we left our house at 4am, I am afraid that would put us smack in the middle of the Baltimore/DC/VA rush so that does not make sense. Then again, if we leave around 8am we would have a little bit of a congestion in Philly but we can deal with that, but I know we would then be pulling in to a hotel for the night around 10pm.

AAHHHH!! What to do!! Decisions decisions!!!

 

[rotlex]

Thanks for those quick replies folks. Going to look into heading to Harrisburg, and pickup up 81 as an alternate route to heading down through Philly. (Just seems kind of odd to go west, toward Harrisburg, to go south, LOL). Makes sense though from a traffic stand point I guess.

Time to start researching further........

 

[angelat]

Thanks for those quick replies folks. Going to look into heading to Harrisburg, and pickup up 81 as an alternate route to heading down through Philly. (Just seems kind of odd to go west, toward Harrisburg, to go south, LOL). Makes sense though from a traffic stand point I guess.

Time to start researching further........

I was considering looking into the 81 route too. I'm in the Poconos, so I'm wondering if it'd be easier to take Rt. 80 to 81 and follow that route. Anyone done this? Is it way out of the way??

 

[sharadoc]

BC1836 ... I think I could be your new best friend!!! We live about a half hour outside of Philadelphia so we pretty much travel the same route... How about sharing some wonderful information with me???? My travel time is going to be on a saturday morning in august also around 4am and I am hoping to get to the end of ga or beginning of florida that evening before getting some shut eye. Catch a few hours sleep and head off to OKW. Dont want to show up and start my day overly exhausted...

Where do you all usually spend the night?

Laura

Hi nappingbeauty. We drive from Limerick to WDW, we'll be going again this year - leaving August 15, arriving August 16. Our "early" stopover is Florence SC, and our late one is Walterboro, SC. We have left at 6 am and it has taken us around 10 hours to Florence. We think we can go a couple more hours, so that's why we're going to stop at the end of SC. There doesn't seem to be anything reasonable in Georgia, along 95. Then the next stop is Jacksonville area, and we think that's a little too far for us.

That should put us into WDW around 3:00 if we get up, have breakfast at the hotel, and drive straight for 7 hours or so.

Do you go down the turnpike to Blue Route? We go 202 to 95.

Have a great trip.

 

[shafke]

Thanks for those quick replies folks. Going to look into heading to Harrisburg, and pickup up 81 as an alternate route to heading down through Philly. (Just seems kind of odd to go west, toward Harrisburg, to go south, LOL). Makes sense though from a traffic stand point I guess.

Time to start researching further........

If you look at a map, Harrisburg is between Baltimore and DC in terms of travelling east/west. Also if you look at the overall trip south you travel west quite a bit.
I think the most common route for those traveling via I81 is to take I81 - I77 - I26. This brings you into I95 somewhere in SC. At this point Pittsburg is more or less directly norhth of you.

I did a quick check on google maps from Allentown... the difference in travel time between going through Harrisburg and Philadelphia is 30 minutes. Depending on the time of day you can easily lose 30 minutes through Baltimore/DC/Richmond.

 

[Mysteria]

Our trip is way off (May 2010), but I just love to plan. Has anyone from the Jersey area taken the 301 rt thru deleware and maryland, hooking back up to 95 north of Richmond? Doesn't seem to add more more time according to AAA triptiks. Just wondering if there are a bunch of lights and local traffic.

I have never gone that way but since DH and his family have driven far more times I'll ask him/them if they have and let you know.

 

[rotlex]

If you look at a map, Harrisburg is between Baltimore and DC in terms of travelling east/west. Also if you look at the overall trip south you travel west quite a bit.
I think the most common route for those traveling via I81 is to take I81 - I77 - I26. This brings you into I95 somewhere in SC. At this point Pittsburg is more or less directly norhth of you.

I did a quick check on google maps from Allentown... the difference in travel time between going through Harrisburg and Philadelphia is 30 minutes. Depending on the time of day you can easily lose 30 minutes through Baltimore/DC/Richmond.

Thanks for the heads up on that! Been playing around with Google maps for this route, and it looks like it might take all the headache out of the drive as far as Philly, DC, Richmond etc. goes!

The funny thing is, when you actually LOOK at it on a map, the route looks much farther from my start location, however, it is maybe 30 minutes, and 50 or so miles farther. That is well worth it to me to avoid the super high traffic areas and all that.

I think I actually have a plan with this route now; Plus, it takes me right near Savanah, which is where we plan to stop for one evening, and then 3-4 hours to Orlando the next morning, putting us at DW LONG before we can even officially check in. I'm feeling much better about this drive already.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I was just wondering how many of you make reservations for hotels no matter what Interstate route you drive before you leave and how many of you just wing it and stop at any random location once you feel tired?

My family and I always make reservations a few months in advance for two Hampton Inn locations when you drive south on I-75 in Cleveland, Tennessee and Valdosta, Georgia and for two Hampton Inn locations when we drive back home going north on I-75 in Dalton, Georgia and Lima, Ohio. We like doing that because we have stayed in those cities before and we know all Hampton Inn locations are very clean, plus we don't want to take a chance and have them sell out. I once overheard an employee at the front desk at the location in Cleveland say they are sold out for that night to someone on the phone, so we would not want to end up a location that might not be the greatest location.

We just got back from our first +2000 mile trip today. On the way down, we had booked our room about 1 week before we left. On the return trip, we decided to just wing it and I can safely say that we will never do that again. We drove around to several hotels last night in Clarksville, TN trying to find a hotel with an available room. Most hotels were fully booked. I had my AAA guidebook and just kept cold-calling hotels until I found one with it's last available room! We quickly booked it over the phone and headed over there. So, lesson learned. In the future, I will book hotels in advance.

 

[Fwd Facing Tentacles]

We live in north central NJ at a point where we're pretty indifferent time wise between taking 95 and 81/77/26. We took 95 the first time just because it looked shorter on the map and decided to try 81/77/26 the next time just for comparison and have stuck with it since. Unless you're addicted to Pedro signs I think it would take a huge distance advantage to go 95. First I would say the traffic differential is worth about 100 miles. Second, to me at least, the scenery is worth at least another 100 miles. Shenandoah mountains vs. DC beltway. Hmmm, which would you pick. We leave around 7am, have a late breakfast at IHOP in Hagerstown MD, have dinner at Olive Garden in Rock Hill SC, and stay at H I Express in Blythewood SC. All 3 are just off the highway. The next morning we have breakfast at the hotel, maybe stop for fast food in northern FL if we're hungry, and arrive at WDW around check in time. So if you're reluctant to take the western route because it looks a little longer, give it a try. You may find it's just as fast and you'll certainly find it more relaxing.

 

[pwdebbie]

We live near I-81 and so it just makes sense for us to go this way. We've only made the trip once but I must say that the ride was a lot easier than I expected. Don't get me wrong, no matter which way you go it is a LONG ride, but I-81 had a lot less traffic than I expected. 77 and 26 were great roads. And, having lived many years in the Baltimore area, I was actually shocked when we hit I-95. It was empty in the middle of the day! Not at all the I-95 I know. All our snow bunny friends told us to take the I-81 route and we were glad we followed their suggestion.

Editing to add that I-81 and 77 and 26 and even 95 (once we got on it) are very scenic. It was a very pretty ride for us in the Fall of 2007. I'm looking forward to our next drive this April.