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

[monymony3471]

That is what gas is trading for on the open market. After that you add all of your taxes to it. It won't match up immediately. The gas stations lag behind that price by a week or two.

Gas here is still 2.87 in most places, but I did see it at 2.65 closer to home later in the day.

 

[BC1836]

We leave June 12th for our 1st drive to WDW!

We leave June 16th!

Leaving Wednesday around 3am.

Peer pressure is getting to us. We don't want to be left out of a such a group!

 

[loveysbydesign]

i would stay off of 95 as much as you can on a saturday. i did it twice and got on at exit 133 in vir. and crawled to south of the boarder. (we leave on tuesdays now) 78-81-77-26 is a nice ride with rest stops along the way. micro tels are a good ,clean place to hit. pending on how many stops, just guessing if your plan works out, your looking at about 17-171/2 hour trip pending on how fast you drive. got to remember once you leave pot hole pa the highways get smoother and alot wider and the speed limits go up and its alot easier to "get going" and not even realize how fast your going. wait till you come back home and drive on rt22, it will seem like your driving 60 mph on a dirt road. its a very easy way to drive down. we stop about evey two hours or so, we dont stop for long, bathroom break, gas stop and back on the road but its a good idea to stop about evey two hours. im an outside rep for a company and i drive about 50k for work evey year so driving is no big deal for me. been driving to wdw since 73. (i was a passanger till 85) generaly the only problem we have is getting past rt100 on 78, get past that and your home free.

Thank so much..I'm looking at Microtels in the Columbia, SC area. Is this a good place to stop after our 1st day of driving? It gives me a time of 10-11 hours via google maps...although I guess this doesn't include rest stops.
Do you think I should I look a little further north than Columbia, S.C. for our place to stay the night---since it is our 1st time driving so far?
I found a nice HoJo in Rock Hill, S.C for $67 a night...is that a good price???
Also where abouts do you think we'd stop on the way back? Somewhere in VA???

 

[cheerbop]

We have never taken a van trip more than 4 hours with our 4 boys (12, 6, 3, 1). We leave June 9th from Cleveland, OH for Orlando.

What are must haves for the drive, etc??

Please tell me we won't go crazy lol

 

[BC1836]

i would stay off of 95 as much as you can on a saturday. i did it twice and got on at exit 133 in vir. and crawled to south of the boarder. (we leave on tuesdays now) 78-81-77-26 is a nice ride with rest stops along the way.

Loveysbydesign: The key aspect of a Saturday drive is leaving very, very early in the morning, i.e., before 4 a.m. Saturday is our preferred day of travel; in fact, for us, there has been no better day to travel to WDW. There is no rush hour traffic because there is no rush hour.

However, as dvczerfs properly infers: daytime (particularly early afternoon) drives reaching northern VA on any day are problematic.

All the best.

 

[disneydreamer98]

We are part of the club! 1187.62 miles from our driveway to the WDW gate! That's 2375.24 miles round trip!

Growing up we made at least one trip a year from Northern Michigan (add another 250+ one way to the total up top) driving to my Grandparent's house just outside of Orlando. Those were the days when you would lay in the back window of the car with a lollipop in your mouth not even considering using a seatbelt!

When my husband and I were dating and making the trips to the World we flew. Once we had our first child...we still flew. Once the second child came along (5 1/2 years ago) we started driving. We've not flown once since then. We've made 8 trips with 2 more scheduled within the next 3 months all behind the wheel of a van! We like being able to take as much stuff with us as we like and more importantly....come home with more than we left with!

We've driven straight through and we've also made the drive with a night of sleep somewhere between Tennessee and Georgia. If we are feeling good and one of us is getting good rest while the other is driving...we keep on going!

We love being able to take a day or two at the ocean either on our way down or back. Love seeing the scenery going through Kentucky and Tennessee. Love stopping at the Welcome Center in Florida for our free cup of OJ! Love having that time in the car with my husband and boys to just talk, sing, and enjoy each other. We live such busy lives that it's nice to have that down time where we have no choice but to just enjoy the simple things!

 

[disneydreamer98]

We will be hitting the road in just 29 more days!!! The Disney Express pulls out of the driveway on June 22nd!

 

[dvczerfs]

Thank so much..I'm looking at Microtels in the Columbia, SC area. Is this a good place to stop after our 1st day of driving? It gives me a time of 10-11 hours via google maps...although I guess this doesn't include rest stops.
Do you think I should I look a little further north than Columbia, S.C. for our place to stay the night---since it is our 1st time driving so far?
I found a nice HoJo in Rock Hill, S.C for $67 a night...is that a good price???
Also where abouts do you think we'd stop on the way back? Somewhere in VA???

columbia is a good spot to stop. anything under $80 is a good price. i would hit the micro. xheck out the hotels cancellation policy, some are up to 4pm the day you check in. if you happen to see yourself getting futher than expected, just call ahead and cancell and get a room down further.

 

[dvczerfs]

columbia is a good spot to stop. anything under $80 is a good price. i would hit the micro. xheck out the hotels cancellation policy, some are up to 4pm the day you check in. if you happen to see yourself getting futher than expected, just call ahead and cancell and get a room down further.

i forgot, you should hit nothern va. on the way home. it all depends on how fast you drive and how much you stop. some people will "drag" coming home because your beat and some people like us wanna get home. we leave okw at 3:30am and pull into our driveway in nazareth by 7:30-8pm. we hit all the state welcomeing centers for about 10-15min and stop for gas and about 2 other rest stops. i stay in the left lane and follow the traffic as far as speed. dont worry about places to eat or stop, unlike our area, the exits are all well marked what is at each one, easy on and offs and most rest stops signs will tell you when the next rest stop is. when our dd was young, we would drive at night, the only problem when you get there, the kids are wide awake and your beat from driving all night. if poss, try to leave early in the am. you will get alot done becayse there will be no traffic.

 

[monymony3471]

We will be hitting the road in just 29 more days!!! The Disney Express pulls out of the driveway on June 22nd!

Nice to see someone driving along 75 like us! I am anxious to hear how your drive is next month. It's been a few years since we have driven.

 

[BC1836]

Gas prices at the pumps continue to decline while airlines plan to add fees to summer airfares!

USA Today reported today that the five big airlines have surcharges in place on most flights from June 10 through August 22. "For a family of four, the extra charges could add up to $240 to the cost of a roound trip this summer," noted the newspaper article.

 

[PrincessMom4]

Gas prices in Upstate New York (right along the US/Canada border) is $2.87Gallon. We live in Canada and our gas is $3.77Gallon (I did the conversion and exchange rate). We actually sell it here by the litre but people look at me funny when I say that so I convert...LOL

 

[My_3_Mi_Princesses]

We will be hitting the road in just 29 more days!!! The Disney Express pulls out of the driveway on June 22nd!

We are driving down 75 on June 17th for the first time! And I am loving these gas prices going down!!!!

 

[Marshay]

Gas prices at the pumps continue to decline while airlines plan to add fees to summer airfares!

USA Today reported today that the five big airlines have surcharges in place on most flights from June 10 through August 22. "For a family of four, the extra charges could add up to $240 to the cost of a roound trip this summer," noted the newspaper article.

Thanks for posting! It affirms our choice to drive down to FL!

 

[JMD1979]

Add us to the list too Roughly 1200 miles one way. Only this is our first time! We plan to drive straight thru if we can. DH and I travel very well together as do the kids so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. (I hope)

Jeana

 

[SurfinTX]

Our Disneyvan will be pulling out June 4th for our first drive all the way to Orlando from Dallas. We have made trips before to the panhandle but never all the way to Disney.

I'm starting to see some prices below $2.60 in our area!

Remember to drive safely out there everybody.

 

[taximomfor4]

anyone know where I can find toll information? Driving from NE Ohio twice this summer, it looks like (once for a quick trip for a competition in the car, once for a budget family vacation in the minivan.) Trying to decide if I should buy a Sunpass sticker for each vehicle or not. Cost of tolls is my deciding factor, I guess.

I take 77 to 95. I've googled over and over, and can't find cohesive info!

 

[BC1836]

anyone know where I can find toll information? Driving from NE Ohio twice this summer, it looks like (once for a quick trip for a competition in the car, once for a budget family vacation in the minivan.) Trying to decide if I should buy a Sunpass sticker for each vehicle or not. Cost of tolls is my deciding factor, I guess.

I take 77 to 95. I've googled over and over, and can't find cohesive info!

Although we don't know about the tolls on your proposed route, the cost of tolls should be a relatively insignificant part of drive costs.

Attn: Long Island drivers: what do you pay going through Manhattan, NJ, DE and MD? $25 or so? Provide some comparative info for taximomfor4.

 

[loveysbydesign]

Can anyone tell me if googlemaps travel times from place to place are accurate or not?

 

[blondietink]

For our trip in August we will be driving through PA, then around Baltimore and Washington DC picking up 95. We should arrive near Washington around noon or 1pm. Is this a good plan for time and traffic? It will probably be on a Thursday. If we finish going around Washington by 2 pm, how far can we get figuring another 4 - 6 hours of driving? TIA!