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

[Marshay]

I don't think there's anything like a NASCAR race that will book up as many hotels. Other sporting events don't attract as many travelers. But I guess the best thing is to go online and see if any of the hotels you are looking at are booked.

Good. I did just check and we are in the clear!

 

[vroomagain]

We drove all night on New Year's Eve and had no problems with crazies or drunks... and I was watching out for them too!

Thanks for this great post.

We have been to Disney World many times but never drove there. This will be an adventure for my family. Its too expensive to fly and there are too many restrictions nowadays.

I am the experienced driver in my family having many road trips under my belt. My longest one-way was San Diego, CA to Manchester, NH in 4 days. I did have my sister with me so we swapped driving when we needed.
I plan on doing most of the driving. We will leave around 10 pm ish and I plan on driving till about 7 am when DH is ready to take over.

My question is for those of you night drivers out there have you had any problems with drunk drivers, crazy truck drivers or anything else? Most of my trips have been day time.

Any advice would be great..

 

[shafke]

we drive 1080 miles each way, drive a town and country mini van (sometimes not exactly the speed limit) and drive about 20 miles while we are there and for some reason i burn 98-100 gallons of gas each trip.

For that trip I would say you averaged just shy of 21mpg which is what I would expect from the T&C. We have a Dodge Caravan and that is what we get on highway driving.

We drove a Saturn Relay (minivan) from LI ... About 100 gallons used and averaged 25mpg.

 

[angwill]

I drove at night in May 09 and it was much nicer for me than day driving because there were less people on the road and no encounters with crazy drivers at all.

HTH

 

[BC1836]

we drive 1080 miles each way, drive a town and country mini van (sometimes not exactly the speed limit) and drive about 20 miles while we are there and for some reason i burn 98-100 gallons of gas each trip.

A couple of our drives have exactly totalled 1,080 miles one way! Now that's coincidence!

Now then: A journey to Texas in March will be done via...air travel. In addition to the airfare, we must pay for the following: US Federal Transportation Tax, US Flight Segment Tax, US Security Service Tax and US Passenger Facility Charge. Of course, there will be baggage charges. No food at all scheduled for the flight to Texas; a snack scheduled for the return. Ugh.

However, two weeks after that journey it will be time for the drive to WDW! Three full tanks of gas get us there.

All the best.

 

[dvczerfs]

For that trip I would say you averaged just shy of 21mpg which is what I would expect from the T&C. We have a Dodge Caravan and that is what we get on highway driving.

We drove a Saturn Relay (minivan) from LI ... About 100 gallons used and averaged 25mpg.

thats what i usualy get 21-22 on the highway going down south. the van sits in the garage most of the time. i have a company car and dw and dd have there own cars. i probley could get a few more mpg but without pleading guilty, when we hit the highway im in the left lane. if the guy in front of me is doing 70, im doing 70. if the guy in front of me is doing 80, im doing 80. (ill stop there )

 

[BC1836]

We average about 27-28 mpg on a 1,080 mile drive (2004 Honda Civic) to WDW.

 

[rotlex]

We average about 27-28 mpg on a 1,080 mile drive (2004 Honda Civic) to WDW.

We have an '06 Honda CRV; sort of a mini-mini van, LOL. Love the thing. Our last two trips down, we averaged nearly 30mpg on the highway, and that's at an average speed of maybe 75. Were a family of 4, two younger kids, and for now, we have plenty of room for myself, wife, two kids, and luggage for up to an 11 day trip!

I know one of these days we are going to need a larger vehicle, probably a mini-van, but I am hoping that by then there is something out there in a hybrid type thing that does better on gas, and still has some size to it.

 

[ohlas]

A new topic was posted on the Transportation board: "When flying was fun."

Another reason to join the "For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" thread.

All the best...no mattter how you travel to WDW.

you pecking over on the darkside lol

 

[ohlas]

Thanks guys for the info on Kitty Hawk... I thought it was pretty far off -- will save that for a separate vacation.

As for winging it on hotels, we planned to do this as well. Being our first time driving, we have no clue how long we'll be able to drive ( or more appropriately how long the kids will handle it).

But my plan was to scope out some hotel prices ahead of time about 8-10 hours away...just so I don't {totally} get ripped off by making same day reservations...

Hmmm, does anyone know if Priceline or hotels.com lets you make same day/last minute reservations?

you normally get the best prices about a month out for hotel rooms.
I would pick how long you want to drive? Check out area you want to stay at for the night aka do you want a pool or a spa to soak in . I also call the hotel direct to ask if they have these things. How long you want to drive the next day. Then pick a hotel to stay at.. Make sure the hotel knows you are arriving late call them directly the day before you leave home.

I like to drive till like hour or 2 after dinner around 9 pm so i can unwind in hotel for like 2 hours before bed. Then i like to get up late as possible and have short drive to disney.

If you are just about richmond, va you can make jacksonville, fl easy if not i would shoot for savannah, ga

ps who im i joking sleep the night before i get to disney hahahahaha

 

[Calle&Jakesmom]

s who im i joking sleep the night before i get to disney hahahahaha

I think that's the biggest challenge! When you come up with the plan, the idea that you're actually going to get a good night sleep the night before seems great. But then reality hits and you can't sleep a wink because you're so darn excited!! This year- partially for that reason- we are trying something new. We are leaving Friday right after school/work (in the past we always left Sat. AM around 3:00am because we thought we'd be too tired to drive Friday night). Now we finally know better and figure we'll get a bunch of driving on adrenaline & excitement out of the way on Friday. We'll see how it goes!

 

[Marshay]

you normally get the best prices about a month out for hotel rooms.
I would pick how long you want to drive? Check out area you want to stay at for the night aka do you want a pool or a spa to soak in . I also call the hotel direct to ask if they have these things. How long you want to drive the next day. Then pick a hotel to stay at.. Make sure the hotel knows you are arriving late call them directly the day before you leave home.

I like to drive till like hour or 2 after dinner around 9 pm so i can unwind in hotel for like 2 hours before bed. Then i like to get up late as possible and have short drive to disney.

If you are just about richmond, va you can make jacksonville, fl easy if not i would shoot for savannah, ga

ps who im i joking sleep the night before i get to disney hahahahaha

OK, so sounds like I need to make some hotel ressies (just in case) and make sure I can cancel.

We are west of Washington, DC so I think we'll aim for Charleston area, which mapquest shows as a 9 hour drive. Then I'll choose something about an hour prior and after, just in case we don't make that or want to go further.

Thanks!

 

[arielmomma]

Hello Everyone! We will be driving to WDW from MI (about 1300 miles one way) in six days. Hurray!

We will be traveling 1-75. I was just checking with all of you to see if there is any construction or any other crazy slow down areas down I-75 that I should know about?

Thanks for any help that you can give. We drive straight through and I do nearly all of the driving. Here's to great weather and no accidents or construction!

 

[ellenmiele]

Thanks for this great post.

We have been to Disney World many times but never drove there. This will be an adventure for my family. Its too expensive to fly and there are too many restrictions nowadays.

I am the experienced driver in my family having many road trips under my belt. My longest one-way was San Diego, CA to Manchester, NH in 4 days. I did have my sister with me so we swapped driving when we needed.
I plan on doing most of the driving. We will leave around 10 pm ish and I plan on driving till about 7 am when DH is ready to take over.

My question is for those of you night drivers out there have you had any problems with drunk drivers, crazy truck drivers or anything else? Most of my trips have been day time.

Any advice would be great..

We have driven through the night from central NJ about 6 or 7 times and never had any incidents. It's always seemed to us that the rest of the folks on 95 in the middle of the night are serious drivers just like us. And since we go to WDW over Easter break, for the most part the other cars on the road seem to be other families on their way to Florida!

 

[ellenmiele]

So we usually drive straight thru over night but last year we decided to do the drive down in 2 days. It didn't really work out for us. We got into alot of traffic in northern VA in the afternoon and we ended up driving until after midnight just so we could get farther and not have so much left for the next morning. I thought we'd arrive more refreshed but honestly I was just a tired and maybe a little more stressed than when we would do the overnight straight thru. So I swore I'd never try the 2-day drive again. Fast forward to this year....and now I am reconsidering. I think I want to try the 2 day drive down again but try to do it better this time. We're considering taking NJ tpk just to DE and then the coastal route of the chesapeake bay bridge tunnel to avoid Balt/DC/No VA traffic and at the same time make the drive more scenic. Anyone who drives from the northeast have experience with this? Does it really help to avoid traffic?

 

[ellenmiele]

Thanks guys for the info on Kitty Hawk... I thought it was pretty far off -- will save that for a separate vacation.

As for winging it on hotels, we planned to do this as well. Being our first time driving, we have no clue how long we'll be able to drive ( or more appropriately how long the kids will handle it).

But my plan was to scope out some hotel prices ahead of time about 8-10 hours away...just so I don't {totally} get ripped off by making same day reservations...

Hmmm, does anyone know if Priceline or hotels.com lets you make same day/last minute reservations?

On our trip last year we decided to wing it for the driving overnight as well and it turned out to be a bad idea. I guess it depends on what time of year and what kind of hotel you are looking for but for our exoerience it was Easter weekend and I like the Hamton Inn chain or Hilton Garden Inn. We weren't sure how far we'd got so I didn't make a reservation, I waited until about 8 pm and then starting checking on my iphone for available hotels and I was shocked to find so many placed with no vacancy. And I called as well since I didn't trust the online info I was getting and it was correct - no vacancies. Add to my stress level that night that there were also very bad storms on the way. I finally got the last room in a Hampton Inn in SC (about midway thru the state if I recall and about an hour more driving than I would have wanted but beggars can't be choosers) and we got in the door seconds before a major thunderstorm hit. Needless to say, this year I will have a reservation well in advance!

 

[soontobewed07]

I think that's the biggest challenge! When you come up with the plan, the idea that you're actually going to get a good night sleep the night before seems great. But then reality hits and you can't sleep a wink because you're so darn excited!! This year- partially for that reason- we are trying something new. We are leaving Friday right after school/work (in the past we always left Sat. AM around 3:00am because we thought we'd be too tired to drive Friday night). Now we finally know better and figure we'll get a bunch of driving on adrenaline & excitement out of the way on Friday. We'll see how it goes!

We are doing the same thing. DH gets off of a 24 hour shift so he will sleep a bit on Saturday and I have my parents taking DS for the day to wear him out LOL. We will leave around 3pm Saturday night and drive all night long we figure with people sleeping we will get farther and not have to worry about it.
I am making reservations in Savannah for the next night and will cancel if we don't need them. DH is SURE we will make it to Disney in 1 day I am Sure we will need the hotel room in Savannah. LOL

 

[disneylovin24]

So we usually drive straight thru over night but last year we decided to do the drive down in 2 days. It didn't really work out for us. We got into alot of traffic in northern VA in the afternoon and we ended up driving until after midnight just so we could get farther and not have so much left for the next morning. I thought we'd arrive more refreshed but honestly I was just a tired and maybe a little more stressed than when we would do the overnight straight thru. So I swore I'd never try the 2-day drive again. Fast forward to this year....and now I am reconsidering. I think I want to try the 2 day drive down again but try to do it better this time. We're considering taking NJ tpk just to DE and then the coastal route of the chesapeake bay bridge tunnel to avoid Balt/DC/No VA traffic and at the same time make the drive more scenic. Anyone who drives from the northeast have experience with this? Does it really help to avoid traffic?

WE drive from the NYC area and the last couple of years we've been going the inland route of I80 to I77. The only major city you go through is Charlotte and if you plan it right you shouldn't hit any traffic. We started going this way just to avoid DC/Baltimore/Richmond like you want to. It's really an easy route and while it's alittle longer (60 miles) you hit a lot less traffic.

 

[shafke]

WE drive from the NYC area and the last couple of years we've been going the inland route of I80 to I77. The only major city you go through is Charlotte and if you plan it right you shouldn't hit any traffic. We started going this way just to avoid DC/Baltimore/Richmond like you want to. It's really an easy route and while it's alittle longer (60 miles) you hit a lot less traffic.

We drive at night on the way down... leave NY around 10-10:30 pm and get through Dc by 2ish. A lot of people seem to do this since the 1st VA rest stop after DC was very busy last Feb.

On the way down I am planning on stoppnig in Savannah. We did Brunswick, GA in Feb and this was just a bit too far.

I am considering the inland route for the trip home this August. We will be travelling over the Labor Day weekend so it may be worth it. The inland route will onyl add about an hour to the trip but we easily lose at least 1/2 hour every time we go through DC.

 

[sharadoc]

Hi All. Question for you.

Leaving in a week and this time we're trying a different time strategy.

We're leaving home around 9 AM, plan to get through DC around noon, then stop for the night around 7-8 pm in Walterboro. Since it's a Friday, do you think we'll hit any major traffic leaving DC into Virginia? We are still nervous about Virginia since our August vacation, and we had to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic the entire length of Virginia.