For those folks driving!

[DJFan88]

cmmonroe:

Thanks, you actually have made me feel better about the ride. I guess the key will be the day of sleep ahead of time (that and lots of cassette tapes to keep us busy!!)

The 2 year old is not potty trained and I don't know if he will be starting at that time as he will be 2 1/2 then, right around the age, that is a good point, if he is learning, it will be a little harder as we will have to have more places to stop.

Thanks for the advice, will have more questions later for sure!

(My DH does not even want to think about it yet! LOL --and I haven't even begun to think the trip home yet, a whole different set of circumstances, as the big cities are now on the far hours instead of the beginning ones)

 

[cranbiz]

I highly recommend the GPS unit. I have a Garmin Streetpilot Colormap and just absolutly love it. I downloaded the entire route to FL and it was of great use in finding exits with gas, food and lodging (although I did not use the lodging part. )

There are parts of 95 that have crappy signage for gas, etc. and being able to look for an alternate route around congestion is a timesaver.

It is also good once you get to the World, if you plan on shopping off site.

cmonroe: I agree about the LaQuinta in Daytona, but have to disagree about the "seedy bar"next to it. It's a Wing House, which is a Hooters knockoff. It is actually a rather clean place with very good food. While it may not be for everyone, the scenery is great.

We are driving down again in 10 days to start the big "family" stay at Disney. We are going to stay in Deltona Sat and Sun and start at AKL on Mon morning.

Anyone just come back with an update on the I95 route?

 

[cmonroe]

Cranbiz,

I'm not trying to split hairs, but in my original post I wrote, 'a "seedy" looking bar'. I didn't go inside, so I couldn't tell if it indeed was seedy.
What made me apprehensive about it was that it was right next door to the hotel with plenty of younger kids drinking outside. I thought it was necessary to inform people who have young children and didn't want to expose them to that type of scene. I myself in younger days partook in similar activities, but would prefer to avoid exposing my DD(3.5) to it.

Hope that clears things up.

P.S. You've given me more of a reason to purchase a GPS before our next trip. How do you program in alternate routes to intersect with your original though?

 

[Mickey's Sister]

DJFan88, we always stay in South Carolina on our drives to Florida. We've stayed at hotels in both Dillon(I95 SC Exit 193 - Comfort Inn) & Florence (I95 SC Exit 164 Sleep Inn) and both areas off of I95 were clean & safe, with many other family travelers. (There have been some exits that were downright scary!) We are also very conscious of safety since we are 2 women & 2 children (I'm a widow & my sister's husband hates to travel). We stay at one of the Choice hotels because I'm a member plus they all have fridges which I need for my insulin. We've never had a problem & have always felt safe. Many of our fellow travelers have been either families or retirees. The Choice hotels offer the free continental breakfasts & we've always struck up conversations with lovely people who, for the most part, were also on their way to Florida. My brother & his family have also stayed at The Florence Courtyard Inn (SC Exit 160) and liked it.

There is an excellent travel guide 'I95 Exit Information Guide' that lists all exit services from Maine through Florida. For each exit, it lists restaurants, gas stations, hotels, shopping, medical, attractions etc. It even provides radio stations with call #'s & the type of broadcast. It lists basic driving rules for each state. It even mentions which exits are to limited access highways, which have difficult re-entry, etc. Each of the beltway/loops are also listed. There is a separate section included for Florida's I4. This guide has been invaluable for us in our travels. It is available on the I95 website. All of the information in the guide is also available on the website plus they include road construction information. We always check this website right before leaving.

Hope this helps! Have fun planning your trip!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Jessica

 

[cranbiz]

cmonroe: Depending on the GPS unit, you can either program in the route that you wish to take along with preferences for the type of roads that you like or bring up a map of the area that you are in.

On my unit, I will download a preferred route and use a scale of 1 mile when on the interstate. I will normally get about a 7.5 mile radius of the area. This way I can "see" the area I'm in and if there is trouble, plot what exit may have the best route around the trouble. I then can scale in or out depending on how much detail I need at that point.

Other units, you just input that address into the unit and it will plot a course based upon your preferences.

I understand your concern with young children at a place like the Wing House. I too, would not bring a young child there. Having eaten there in the past (my DS(18) will be attending the motorcycle school 1 mi away from there), I just wanted to point out that it's not necessarly what it may have appeared to be. You will find a lot of places in FL with outdoor tables which serve liquor and unfortunatly, where there is booze, you will find idiots.

 

[cmonroe]

Cranbiz,

Great Info! Thanks

 

[Tsi2quick]

We did the night driving for our trip in October from NC. It wasn't too bad but I definitely would have loved to gotten some sleep before heading out.

Basically that day we packed some and were very excited about our first trip together to Disney. We actually stayed up very late (2am) the night before and got up early that morning (8am) to make ourselves a little tired so we could sleep during the day before heading out that night (10pm). Well, I couldn't sleep PLUS my college team was playing on ESPN that night so of course I had to turn it on at which time I had andrenaline going and couldn't sleep. To make matters worse, her family that were driving down with us called at 7:30pm and asked if we were ready to go and came on over. We ended up leaving at 8:30pm to head out. I was already sleep BEFORE I got in the car! Not a good thing! lol

The drive down we made the decision to stop every 1.5 hours to get out and stretch and wake up a bit. That REALLY helped a lot. When we did get sleepy the wife and I would put in various CD's that we had not listened to prior to this trip to keep us "aware" and get the brainwaves moving again. One tip with CD's, get a few good comedy CD's, they are the best and kept me very awake for a good portion of the trip. The next time we are going on a long road trip I plan on having a few of these comedy cds or XM/Sirius which have the comedy channels.

We got down to Florida is pretty decent time although we were in no hurry at all but the lack of traffic with night driving really made a difference. They stayed off-site at a Comfort Inn in Orlando and were able to get their room first thing that morning (8am or so). We went in with them and just crashed for a while and got a little bit of sleep before heading over to OKW for our reservation. It worked out pretty well I guess but I probably wouldn't do it with just me and the wife. I think if we just go down there this year by ourselves we will be flying. The 1.5 hour flight sounds very good as compared to the 9.5 hr drive. lol

 

[LovePug]

I found out on our last trip that it is a waste for me to attempt to drive very early in the AM. Normally, we leave from NEPA around 7 AM and I haven't had any trouble staying awake. I had the bright idea on the last trip to be on the road at 4AM. I had a terrible time staying awake. I normally go to bed at around 2AM, but tried sleeping earlier. My body simply refused to adjust. Getting up at 3AM for the drive, when I'm normally just falling into a deep sleep, didn't work for me. It took us hours longer than normal to make the drive because I had to stop so often to wake up. Won't be doing that again!

I take 81 down into VA and hop on 17 to cross over to 95. I love this route . It allows me to miss Baltimore and DC. I absolutely hate driving around DC. It doesn't really add much, if any, time to the drive because I miss all the traffic that I'd hit if I took 81 to 83 to 95.

 

[bdcp]

We always get up by 4 and leave around 5 am. I've been doing that since I was a kid. My parents do it and now my DH and I have done it too with our kids. We've driven to AL, TX, FL from VA and MD. It works great for us. We're gonna do it next Nov.

Be very careful about not getting any sleep before you hit the road late at night. I just read an article about how at least one state has a law on the books now that if you are involved in any accident and it can be shown that you've been up for like 24 hours straight you can be charged with a more serious crime. The accident is not seen as just an "accident". It's treated more like driving under the influence. It's something that's in your control.

 

[airforcewife]

We will leave in a few days from Prattville/Montgomery Alabama. We have never been to WDW before. Is there anything on the way we should be aware of? Any places to avoid things like that? We have never driven to Fl.
(Although we criss cross the country every 2-3 years!)

Thanks Robyn

 

[bdcp]

Avoid things like what? The law? Avoid it by getting enough sleep.

 

[airforcewife]

Avoid things like what? The law? Avoid it by getting enough sleep.

Excuse me, but what do you mean by that? It makes no sense. I didn't ask how to break the law! And I don't know what law breaking has to do with sleep anyway. I simply was asking if there were roads/places to stop to avoid if they are in bad areas, have bad traffic, pot holes..etc...

Why would you think I want to break the law and how did you even get to that?

 

[Tsi2quick]

They posted something about lack of sleep being illegal earlier in the thread and I suppose they were thinking you were going to be a bad bad person and drive tired. lol

I understood your question but coming from a different area of the country I can't really help you out any.

 

[cranbiz]

We drove down on Dec 3/4 and returned on Dec 13/14. Cast of Characters were Myself, DS(18) and DD (23) DW and DD(16) flew down and we picked them up at MCO on Sunday.

Left Duxbury MA at 7pm Friday evening(DD had to work) arrived in Deltona FL at 3pm
Drove Rte 95 the whole way. There was absolutly no problems this trip, little traffic both going and coming (and we were in NYC at 5am coming home)

Going down we just stopped for gas/potty/driver change and about an hour at SOB for breakfast. I know it's a cheesey tourist trap, but you can get a decent breakfast for about $5.

Would have made it in 19 hours if not for breakfast. We made decent time, little or no police activity on this ride.

Coming back, we left Longwood at 1pm Monday afternoon.
(had to go to Petty's for meat and free beer. If you stay in a vacation home or staying in a Villa and are on the north side of Orlando, this place is a must. It's a gourmet butcher shop, they allow you to drink free beer while shopping, have a great selection of speciality meats etc, a full selection of wine. They also have heat and serve foods, try the marinated London Broil - YUM Take I4 to SR 434W twards Altamonte and go about 1/2 mile. It's just past the Melting Pot another of my favorite restaurants)

We arrived in Carver at 10am. again no traffic or problems (except the 4 lanes to one in NYC - New England Ext. We were thru that in about 15 minutes)

We stopped in GA for Wendy's on the run and then in RI at Tim Hortons for doughnuts/coffee. Other than that just the gas/potty/driver switch.
Gas prices were best in GA as usual, the best was $1.57. The NJ Pike was the highest at $1.89. Many places in the NC/SC area in the 1.60's.

Total Mileage down 1301 back was just about the same.

 

[cmonroe]

Wow!

If you don't mind me asking, what was the average speed for your trip?

That sounds like a great way to go if you have multipe driver switches.
With DS (7months), DD(3.5) I would never be able to do that.
It took us a little over 2 days to arrive in Orlando from the north shore.

I'm envious! But will have to grin and bear longer drives until the kids get a little older.

 

[trampslady]

Anyone driven from Dallas to WDW? How long does it take...what route should we consider?

 

[cranbiz]

CMonroe:

Most of the time we had the cruise control set for about 73 in the 64mph areas and 78 in the 70mph areas. If we could settle in behind a truck, we would do so and adjust speed to match.

For all intents and purposes, we stopped every 4-6 hours for a short break.

We could have pushed harder, but why take the chances on getting a ticket?

 

[cmonroe]

CMonroe:

....We could have pushed harder, but why take the chances on getting a ticket?.....

I agree 100%

 

[candleonwater]

I ask this question every year, for some reason I can't find my link...

I'm looking for the site that lists the hotels/restaurants/gas stations down the I-95 corridor - virginia down to florida....

 

[Sandy22]

Is it this site: http://www.usastar.com/i95/homepage.htm