For anyone who drives to the World from New England...

[duck_adoo]

Hi there,
We driven down one other time and will be driving again this Aug. Our first time we left at about 6:00ish & were driving to Atlanta first. We were planning on driving straight through...but that didn't happen. We ended up sleeping for a couple of hours at a rest area (near where the caught the Wash. DC sniper a couple of months later!! ). Needless to say...want to avoid that again. Are there any hotels that you normally stop at to sleep? We also had stopped at one on the way back that was suppossed to be AAA approved, but it was one of the worst rooms I've ever stayed in! It was a Quality Inn, so I was surprised. We ended up only staying there a couple of hours! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks!
Cheryl

 

[maxaroni]

Can't help ya but driving down in august as well.....we aren't sure where we'll stop so thought I'd see what suggestions you got....

 

[Snowysmom]

We drove down 2 years ago from Mass. and stayed overnight in Rocky Mount, NC. at a Comfort Inn. It was a clean, basic hotel room. There was also a Hampton Inn nearby. On the way back we stayed at the Holiday Inn there and it was not very clean. We left Mass at 4 am on a Friday and got to Rocky Mount at 6 pm. We were in a traffic jam in northern Virginia for over an hour so that slowed us down a bit.

 

[Steve Hurley]

Are there going to be two people driving? We drove twice from Mass. and left at 4:00AM and drove until 10:00PM arriving in Pleasant Hill, GA for a planned stop with a hotel reservation (Holiday Inn or HI Express). We did this with 2 people driving (me and DW) and while one drove the other slept. We got a good night sleep at the hotel and left at 8:00AM the next morning arriving at WDW around 12:30.

We liked do a bull run the first day, get a good night sleep and then arrive at WDW in time to get pretty much a whole day in.

It worked good for us twice but only because we both shared the driving.

Good Luck

 

[duck_adoo]

w/3 dd's. 2 9 yo and 1 2yo. We were thinking if we do most of the driving at night, the dd's would be asleep for a good part of it and it might be a little more 'peaceful' for us. We do share the driving, but I actually enjoy the driving better than being the passenger. Your plan sounds great. Did you do a similar plan for the way home? Did you have kids w/you too?
Thanks!

 

[magsmom]

We did the drive from 2 years ago last August, when DH and 1 has a 2.5 week vacation. We drove first from Mass to Myrtle Beach SC (we have family there and have done that drive a number of times). That is a 16-18 hour drive depending on traffic, and we do stop a couple of times. Now, if you were to stay on 95, that would put you in Florence SC area, or perhaps a little south.

We leave around 2:30 AM and share the driving. That amount of time in a car for 1 day is generally my limit.

On the way home I suggest to split the drive time in half. Around half way is Emporia VA and Roanoke Rapids NC.

Along the way there are lots of options for places to crash - Hampton Inns, Comfort Inns, etc. We normally do not make reservations for these rooms as it really depends where you want to stop and how far you want to go.

If you are a AAA member I suggest that you get the hotel books for the Southeast US and for the Virginia area. The books are free and a good source of information.The hotels are also generally advertised on the many billboards that you will see as well (along with those south of the border signs ).

Enjoy! My recent trips have been by plane. While faster, the drive is generally so much more exciting.

 

[bballdiva]

Me and my bf were gonna drive down in oct from mass. But when i started lookin at the gas prices kept rising i realized it would be more expensve to drive down than fly on southwest. Plus the wear and tear on the car. So now we are just gonna fly, thats what i usually do anyways. Good luck if u drive...seat belts always

 

[magsmom]

Yes. DH and I had this conversation this morning. My flight today on Southwest is $79 pp - $530 with taxes plus car rental = $660 total for 3 people.

Filling the gas tank on my car is $35 (premium) for roughly 350 miles. 2600 miles round trip would = $260.00 for gas, then add in hotel at $80 per night = $420. That does not include additional food or wear and tear on the car. So with 2 people it is definitely more economical to fly.

Jeez, I could skip the car today and practically break even.

With 5 people, however, it is probably more economical to drive. I would watch for the possibility of Southwest lowering some flights to $49, like they did last summer. Or watch for cheap filghts through DING.

 

[Steve Hurley]

w/3 dd's. 2 9 yo and 1 2yo. We were thinking if we do most of the driving at night, the dd's would be asleep for a good part of it and it might be a little more 'peaceful' for us. We do share the driving, but I actually enjoy the driving better than being the passenger. Your plan sounds great. Did you do a similar plan for the way home? Did you have kids w/you too?
Thanks!

Yes we have two kids. The first time they were 10 & 8 and the second time they were 12 & 10. They slept quite a bit of the ride because we had them up at 3:00AM but we also had a little TV that had a car adaptor that also kept them occupied along with games we would play when driving.

Coming back we actually stoped in Virginai Beach one time for a couple of days and the other time in So. Carolina to visit family.

We felt the benefit of our way was getting to WDW with a good nights sleep under our belt. It worked for us both times really well but everyone is different.

Good Luck

 

[duck_adoo]

Thanks for the great feedback. I'm trying to convince hubby to do that too. We also have the tv for the car. The girls also don't have any gameboys or anything like that..so we were figuring we'd pick up some used ones. I do like the idea of hitting the parks w/a good nights sleep.
Thanks again!
Cheryl