For those folks driving!

[scottb8888]

We will be traveling from Ohio and would like a place to stay for the night after driving for the day before continuing to DW in the AM. We would like to stay close to the Florida border.

Any suggestions?

We stayed just past Savahanna (sp) off the road in a shopping mall at aEmbassy Suites that was great. We drove from Columbus... left at 5:00 am and arrived at the hotel around6:30. The next morning was only 3-4 hous away.

 

[DaisyD]

I'm so excited! I just booked our hotels for the way down to Disney for our trip in June. We always try to get the Hampton Inns that have those new heavenly bed set ups. We love the Hampton Inn in Kingsland and always stay there. I found one in Roanoke Rapids that also has the nice new beds and linens. Only 3 months to go before the trip~!

 

[dopeyprincesses]

We just got back from our trip, drove I-95 from SE PA to FL and back, if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to answer.

Hi mochabean! Where did you guys stay? We are going to FW.
Did you make a trip report at DIS?

We're driving down in November from Central Jersey and would love to know:

What time did you leave?

Did you have kids with you? we have 5&9 yo

Did you stop for the night? Where?

If so, how much time did it take you to arrive at WDW the next day?

 

[Captain Hook]

Anyone driving from CT? I was thinking of leaving on a Friday early afternoon. Wondering if I could be out of the DC area by the time the heavy rush hour traffic hits. I sualy leave Saturday morning at 3am and sleep in Santee, SC. That puts me in Disney by 2pm the next day. I am thinking of leaving Friday and getting an extra day on our vacaction.

 

[mochabean]

Hi mochabean! Where did you guys stay? We are going to FW.
Did you make a trip report at DIS?

We're driving down in November from Central Jersey and would love to know:

What time did you leave?

Did you have kids with you? we have 5&9 yo

Did you stop for the night? Where?

If so, how much time did it take you to arrive at WDW the next day?

We stayed at OKW, haven't done a trip report though.
There were 3 adults, no kids. We left Friday morning at 2 am, drove straight through to my grandmother's in Daytona, arrived at her house at 8 pm. Took the bypass around Richmond at 6:30 am, and drive 95 through Jacksonville at about 6pm with no problems. We figured it was 15 hours of drive time and 3 hours of scattered stops. Then another 80 minutes or so to WDW.
On the way back, we left my grandmother's at about 1:15 pm, but hit traffie (an accident) in SC. Stopped for the night at the Holiday Inn in Rocky Mount, NC, got it on Priceline for $55, it was fine. Made it the rest of the way the next day with just a little delay south of DC but the beltway at midafternoon on a Sunday was fine.

With kids it would be tougher, depending on if you would want to drive through the night while they are sleeping. I will say that my favorite part of the drive was the 2am-6am segment, the road was vacant so it was not stressful.

Hope this helps, any other q's just ask.

 

[dmaz]

We've driven straight through from central NJ many times often with only 2 drivers.
We usually leave about 5 or 6pm and we're down in Orlando by 11am. You should be able to do it easily with 4 drivers. It's about a 17 hour trip from here. That's with stops.
We have more of a problem finding clean inexpensive places to stay than driving straight through.
BTW we have 3 kids 7, 3 and 1 and we've gone for the past few years - so they've gone a lot!
It's the best because they sleep most of the trip.

 

[java]

Anyone driving from CT? I was thinking of leaving on a Friday early afternoon. Wondering if I could be out of the DC area by the time the heavy rush hour traffic hits. I sualy leave Saturday morning at 3am and sleep in Santee, SC. That puts me in Disney by 2pm the next day. I am thinking of leaving Friday and getting an extra day on our vacaction.

Um I95? On a friday? no way no how friday afternoon- You will spend all your time in traffic. Unless you leave EARLY friday. I am with you on the DC area(Richmond is another one to avoid during rush hour) One little trick we have is that the beltway seems to be better if you head west instead of east- (miles wise the East is shorter by a little bit. but you always hit the dc traffic and that BRIDGE!! UGH!) we have had good luck going the other way. We also do the loop around Richmond on that 2something road...
But add me to the group again. Here we go. Heading down on GOOD FRIDAY! So the plan is up and out by 3:30AM! We are trying to get to GA- Savanah to be exact. We did this last year(in july though) and it worked nicely ...)
Oh and We are in Central NJ- we skip I 95 until we get to Delaware.

 

[mochabean]

Um I95? On a friday? no way no how friday afternoon- You will spend all your time in traffic. Unless you leave EARLY friday. I am with you on the DC area(Richmond is another one to avoid during rush hour) One little trick we have is that the beltway seems to be better if you head west instead of east- (miles wise the East is shorter by a little bit. but you always hit the dc traffic and that BRIDGE!! UGH!) we have had good luck going the other way. We also do the loop around Richmond on that 2something road...
But add me to the group again. Here we go. Heading down on GOOD FRIDAY! So the plan is up and out by 3:30AM! We are trying to get to GA- Savanah to be exact. We did this last year(in july though) and it worked nicely ...)
Oh and We are in Central NJ- we skip I 95 until we get to Delaware.

We had no problems with the eastern half of the beltway, but we were through it by 5:30 am. The new Wilson Bridge is nice, but if you can't get past there and back onto 95 by 6 am, I'd probably do the western half, although I think it's like 15-20 miles longer. 295 around Richmond is definitely the way to go. It's only about 3 miles longer I think.

We left at 2 am and were at the Georgia Welcome center at about 5 pm, we could have made it earlier but we stopped for a while at SOTB. So you should be able to make it to Savannah without much of a problem.

 

[BettyCv]

We drove from Columbus... left at 5:00 am and arrived at the hotel around6:30. The next morning was only 3-4 hous away.

Scott, may I ask how many stops you made? We are driving with kids from Cleveland and are thinking Savannah might be a good place to stop.

Also, do you have a link for that hotel? Do you remember what you paid? I looked on the website, but it didn't show any Embassy Suites within 40 miles of Savannah....?

Betty

 

[scottb8888]

Scott, may I ask how many stops you made? We are driving with kids from Cleveland and are thinking Savannah might be a good place to stop.

Also, do you have a link for that hotel? Do you remember what you paid? I looked on the website, but it didn't show any Embassy Suites within 40 miles of Savannah....?

Betty

The hotel was EMBASSY SUITES BRUNSWICK GA

With tax it was $130.00. But worth it. Freee happy hour for the adults and free breakfast for the family.

Since it was the first time to take the kids I decided to stop when they needed to and I just fueled up at most stops. We left Columbus around 4:30 - 5:00 am nd ended up in Brunswick around 6 ( If I remember)

 

[BettyCv]

Scott, thanks for the info. I found the hotel. It looks really nice. My dh stays at Hiltons when he travels and we might even have a free night coming.

Thanks again!

Betty

 

[java]

I just booked the Staybridge Suites(we are 6!) near the savannah airport for the night. I got a rate of $107 by booking online and no changes allowed - so we ARE GETTING TO GA on the 6th. When I told dh that he said - eh just $100 if we don't. Where is that man when I am shopping?

 

[tmccullough]

We just got back from our trip, drove I-95 from SE PA to FL and back, if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to answer.

We're planning on driving I-95 in May from Western MD. How long did it take you? Also, is it shorter or longer than the way that Mapquest and every other driving directions on the web gives where you avoid I-95 until somewhere around S. Carolina? Did you drive at night or during the day? Much traffic?

 

[mwehttam]

Just got done reading through the whole thread! Had a lot of time as I rip DW and my CD library for the new mp3 player I got for our drive down. Here is what we have decided on:

DW, DS and I are going down in July for 10 days. We check into SSR on Sunday 7/15 and check out on Wed 7/25. DS will be just shy of 9 months old at the time of the trip. At first I was planning on leaving early Saturday and drive straight down to Savannah, GA. We would be staying in the Fairfield Inn right off of I95 south. From where we are in NY (right above the NJ border) it looked to be about 13-14 hours.

After reading halfway through the thread I made the smart decision that that plan was a little too ambitious with a baby. So I added a stop and we will be leaving on Friday the 13th and driving to Stafford, VA (right below DC) and staying at the Holiday Inn Express. Now the drive is 4.5 hours on Friday night (dependent on Friday night traffic), about 9 hours on Saturday, and finally about 4.5 hours on Sunday. In time to relax and be rested for our ADR at Le'Cellier!

Now to plan the drive home We have friends in Raleigh that we might try to visit on the way home so not sure if we will use the same hotels. Thinking of stopping in Florence, SC on Wed night and on to Raleigh the next day. I think that is about 7.5 hours on Wed. Might be too much, dependent on what time we leave WDW.

Thanks everyone for the great thread.

-Matthew

 

[CPT Tripss]

Just got done reading through the whole thread! Had a lot of time as I rip DW and my CD library for the new mp3 player I got for our drive down. Here is what we have decided on:

DW, DS and I are going down in July for 10 days. We check into SSR on Sunday 7/15 and check out on Wed 7/25. DS will be just shy of 9 months old at the time of the trip. At first I was planning on leaving early Saturday and drive straight down to Savannah, GA. We would be staying in the Fairfield Inn right off of I95 south. From where we are in NY (right above the NJ border) it looked to be about 13-14 hours.

After reading halfway through the thread I made the smart decision that that plan was a little too ambitious with a baby. So I added a stop and we will be leaving on Friday the 13th and driving to Stafford, VA (right below DC) and staying at the Holiday Inn Express. Now the drive is 4.5 hours on Friday night (dependent on Friday night traffic), about 9 hours on Saturday, and finally about 4.5 hours on Sunday. In time to relax and be rested for our ADR at Le'Cellier!

Now to plan the drive home We have friends in Raleigh that we might try to visit on the way home so not sure if we will use the same hotels. Thinking of stopping in Florence, SC on Wed night and on to Raleigh the next day. I think that is about 7.5 hours on Wed. Might be too much, dependent on what time we leave WDW.

Thanks everyone for the great thread.

-Matthew

Just an FYI. You will probably run into a lot of "shore" traffic Sat morning from north of Richmond until the Interstate that heads over to VA beach.

 

[mwehttam]

Just an FYI. You will probably run into a lot of "shore" traffic Sat morning from north of Richmond until the Interstate that heads over to VA beach.

Thanks for the heads up. Though I guess there will be no avoiding any of this possible traffic. Another good reason to drive a bit on Friday to make Saturday a bit more manageable.

-Matthew

 

[dopeyprincesses]

restaurant in Savannah while en route to WDW? My DD-9 and I just love her and would love to make it part of our trip. Is it far off the path of travel? We will be on I-95 S from Jersey.

 

[DaisyD]

restaurant in Savannah while en route to WDW? My DD-9 and I just love her and would love to make it part of our trip. Is it far off the path of travel? We will be on I-95 S from Jersey.

I thought of that too but looked at her website and am not going to do it. She has on the site that to get to eat lunch there the line starts forming at 9:30am! They take your name and you get called in order when lunch starts later. I think you have to be in line at 1pm to get your name in for dinner. We don't have the time to waste for that so we are skipping it.

 

[candleonwater]

We actually stopped there on our way BACK from Miami last spring break. I just don't have the time needed to wait around in that line! We opted instead to head over to Uncle Bubba's (owned by Paula and her brother) and had a WONDERFUL meal.

It wasn't all that convenient to 95 though (neither restaurant is)

restaurant in Savannah while en route to WDW? My DD-9 and I just love her and would love to make it part of our trip. Is it far off the path of travel? We will be on I-95 S from Jersey.

 

[java]

Hey Candle!! We are going at the same time! Driving down on Friday and were thinking of stopping for the restaurant too! I reserved a room in Savannah for the night- If we get to the restaurant? that is up in the air- But boy would I like to!