For those folks driving!

[Flyerfan]

Right as I said this some little older 70 or so year old lady passes me.(She can just see of the wheel.) I look down and was going 90. Keeping up with traffic.

 

[Twingle]

Yippiee! I'm so glad that I've found this thread!

We've decided to drive to WDW for a little pixie dust break! We're leaving Virginia June 7th and leaving WDW on June 12th. It'll be myself, my mother, my DS6, and my twin DD's 2. We're leaving from the Richmond, Virginia area, and right now I'm planning on driving it straight through. From what I can gather, it's about a fourteen hour drive, depending on potty breaks and such. My mother and I are both used to driving long distances at night (we used to drive from NYC to South Dakota STRAIGHT THROUGH!), so I don't think VA to WDW will be too bad.

Our plan right now is to leave after dinner with the kiddos in their p.j.'s, let them watch a DVD for a while and then have them sleep, mom and I can stop and switch when we need to and we'll arrive in Orlando the next morning ready for breakfast and some Disney magic!

Thanks for all the posts and tips - I'm sure I'll have some questions as the trip gets closer!

 

[stahshee]

has anyone ever driven from syracuse? how ;ong was the trip. what is half way. should i drive to see how far I get and just pick a hotel or should I plan. I would like to know other peoples experence!

 

[debster]

Anyone from the Midwest (specifically Northern Illinois) that have driven this?

What is the best route? We were thinking of doing most of the driving the first day and stay south of Atlanta, any suggestions?

 

[TooBoyz4us]

Wow,after reading this thread through I feel like a wuss!
So many of you are doing 10+ hour drives!!

I have begun to seriously consider driving to WDW for our next trip.We live in NW Georgia and mapquest says it is about 7.5 hours.
Driving would save us $800 in airfare, plus airport parking and towncar rental. So probably about $1000.
We are really money crunching to make this years Disney trip, so not driving to save that amount of money is silly.

I'd love to hear from you Georgia drivers! Do you just drive the 7 hours straight or do you break it up?

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Wow,after reading this thread through I feel like a wuss!
So many of you are doing 10+ hour drives!!

I have begun to seriously consider driving to WDW for our next trip.We live in NW Georgia and mapquest says it is about 7.5 hours.
Driving would save us $800 in airfare, plus airport parking and towncar rental. So probably about $1000.
We are really money crunching to make this years Disney trip, so not driving to save that amount of money is silly.

I'd love to hear from you Georgia drivers! Do you just drive the 7 hours straight or do you break it up?

Where in NW GA are you? I grew up in Calhoun.

I live in Richmond, VA, now, but several years ago DW and I made the drive from Calhoun to WDW straight through. Once we got past Atlanta, it was pretty smooth sailing. Of course, it's that whole "getting past Atlanta" part that's the fun part. I'd definitely advise taking the HOV lanes through downtown over the Perimeter.

 

[TooBoyz4us]

Where in NW GA are you? I grew up in Calhoun.

We live about 60 miles southwest of Calhoun! We are west of Atlanta down I20, actually very close to the AL line.

Of course, it's that whole "getting past Atlanta" part that's the fun part. I'd definitely advise taking the HOV lanes through downtown over the Perimeter.

I so agree
I will let DH drive us through that part.....then I can take over once we get on I75. That doesn't seem to hard to mess up......just keep driving south for 300+ miles ;-)

 

[kimmy kay]

We stayed there last year I don't think there is a pool. It is in a nice location right off of I 95 there also is a Cracker Barrell right across the street. (my favorite)

 

[OhMickey]

We live in Peoria and have driven to Orlando several times. We like to start driving after my husband gets home from work and stop in Paducah, KY (We really like the Holiday Inn there). From Paducah we drive to Valdosta and stay over night there. (Last time we stayed at Country Inn and Suites - it was very noisy.) The next morning we arrive in Orlando.

We have 4 kids and breaking up the trip seems the way to go. We arrive at each hotel at a decent time and the kids can swim. We get something to eat and then its an early night. When we arrive in Orlando we are not tired from the long drive.

 

[java]

Yippiee! I'm so glad that I've found this thread!

We've decided to drive to WDW for a little pixie dust break! We're leaving Virginia June 7th and leaving WDW on June 12th. It'll be myself, my mother, my DS6, and my twin DD's 2. We're leaving from the Richmond, Virginia area, and right now I'm planning on driving it straight through. From what I can gather, it's about a fourteen hour drive, depending on potty breaks and such. My mother and I are both used to driving long distances at night (we used to drive from NYC to South Dakota STRAIGHT THROUGH!), so I don't think VA to WDW will be too bad.

Our plan right now is to leave after dinner with the kiddos in their p.j.'s, let them watch a DVD for a while and then have them sleep, mom and I can stop and switch when we need to and we'll arrive in Orlando the next morning ready for breakfast and some Disney magic!

Thanks for all the posts and tips - I'm sure I'll have some questions as the trip gets closer!

Hi
My brother lives in Richmond and we go to visit him often- from where we live it is about a 4-5 hour trip to Richmond(we are north) and then from our house to WDW is only about 16 hours- so I would say your trip should be closer to 10-11 hours depending on breaks.

 

[Jon99]

Anyone from the Midwest (specifically Northern Illinois) that have driven this?

What is the best route? We were thinking of doing most of the driving the first day and stay south of Atlanta, any suggestions?

We drive it often from Kankakee County, takes us about 17 hours. For us, the ONLY way to go is leave in the afternoon and drive straight thru, arriving the next morning. Can't imagine taking 2 or 3 days to make the trip like others do..

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

We are in VA as well, Northern. We drove two years ago and it took us 14 hours each way. This was with a 3 month old and 3 year old. We stopped a few times for a solid hour each time. From Richmond, it should only be a 12 hour drive tops!

I have a question that I can't get answered, so thought I would ask here since you are all drivers.

We will leave here around 12:30pm and should arrive at 1:30-2:30 AM! Has anyone else done this, arrived in the middle of the night?

I would like to make a reseravation for All Star Music for that night, but worry something might hold us up and we won't make it there, so will end up stopping in GA or north Florida.

Do you know if you can just show up at a Disney hotel to see if they have vacancy? I would call actually as we got closer. If not, we would just find a HOliday Inn or something.

 

[cmonroe]

We drive it often from Kankakee County, takes us about 17 hours. For us, the ONLY way to go is leave in the afternoon and drive straight thru, arriving the next morning. Can't imagine taking 2 or 3 days to make the trip like others do..

Jon99,

We live in Massachusetts, and we drove down in 04. We left Friday night and arrived on Monday morning. I am in total agreement with you. I would never do that again. The problem is my wife would actually like to take longer for the drive. I was like, "No way! We need to make it shorter!"

Unfortunately, I'm not a great night driver, so I have to rely on her to do a shift as well.

The result: We are flying next year for our trip. In fact, we might never drive again, if it needs to be that long.

 

[Ct_TiggerFan]

Jon99,


The result: We are flying next year for our trip. In fact, we might never drive again, if it needs to be that long.

You could try this
Drive down to lofton VA and board the autotrain.
Wake up the next morning in Fl, rested and you still have you car with you.

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

My friend did the autotrain last year and said it was horrible and no way they could have rested on that train from the movement. Not to mention the fact it costs more than airfare! They paid close to $1000 ONE way.

 

[Ct_TiggerFan]

The Autotrain is fine, depending on when you book and what type of accomedations you get.

For the three of us, the cost was almost the same as flying and renting a car for the three weeks we were in FL.

But we had a faimly bedroom, arrived rested and had a great time.
If we had problems sleeping in coach with a faimly of 5 or more, I would feel differantly. It all depends on your situation and when you book. The eailier you book the cheaper it is.

Right now they have a deal Kids travel free with paying Adults.

 

[mom2boys0310]

Hi I am planning our next Disney trip for Dec.06 and just wanted to know if anyone could tell me a nice,clean,safe place to stay in Georgia? We drove last December and stopped in Savannah and stayed at a La Quinta..it was clean and I felt safe but the beds were terrible...they were so hard and really low to the floor. I'd really appreciate any help you guys could give me. We're driving from NJ so we'd like to probably go no further than Brunswick. Thank you! Barbara

 

[maciec]

Hi I am planning our next Disney trip for Dec.06 and just wanted to know if anyone could tell me a nice,clean,safe place to stay in Georgia? We drove last December and stopped in Savannah and stayed at a La Quinta..it was clean and I felt safe but the beds were terrible...they were so hard and really low to the floor. I'd really appreciate any help you guys could give me. We're driving from NJ so we'd like to probably go no further than Brunswick. Thank you! Barbara

My parents recommended the Courtyard in Brunswick. They stayed there a couple of weeks ago and they said that it was very nice. We are driving down in October and we booked there for the night down. On the way back we are staying in Florence, SC at a Suburban Extended Stay (never heard of them) but I got a really good AAA rate.

By the way, we are driving down from the eastern shore of Maryland.

 

[cranbiz]

Well, it's time for another trip. I'm leaving in about an hour.

This time it's myself, DW and BIL's 2 kiddo's 2 and 4. This will be an interesting trip. I'll report on conditions, etc when I get there.

I'll be leaving from his house in Wareham and doing the I95 route.

 

[Selket]

cranbiz:
Just wondering if you had any problems on your way down on I-95...like constructions issues and the like.

We're driving down from the Washington, DC area on in a couple of weeks - thanks!