For those folks driving!

[corinascot]

We're driving down from Cleveland Easter week. The traffic can be terrible, especially on the drive home. Has anyone ever taken the backroads from the Orlando area to Ga.? We were thinking of going via Ocala.

Also, does anyone have any opinions on driving I-95 to 77 vs I-75 to Ohio?

Thanks!

 

[areno79]

Lori~My SIL is coming back the day we get there too...and coincidentally enough, they live in Manchester too Are you driving this time or flying?

 

[Lorix2]

areno - we are driving again. Are they driving?

 

[areno79]

Nope, they're flying...I say they have no sense of adventure
Good news, instead of having to bring my laptop, my BIL is letting us use his portable DVD player That'll be much easier to carry around, plus won't use as much battery power. All we need is an adapter and electic cooler and we should be good to go

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

Corinascot-
We drive from Cincinnati to Orlando, usually straight down 75, but last time we did the 77 to 95 trying to avoid Atlanta!

It wasn't bad, about the same time wise, but we did run into a lot of traffic in SC.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Jamesbyr]

This link does not work.

 

[localdriver]

This coming week is Race Week in Daytona. There are major races at the Speedway the 17th thru the 20th.

If your route is I-95 south to I-4, I would suggest a deviation in Jacksonville using I-10 west to I-75 south to Orlando.

The traffic backups can be massive. Unless you are going to the races, avoid the Daytona area.

Just my opinion.

 

[cmonroe]

Oh yes, the folks at AAA know me very well

I just put a hold on a room for Pop Century for May 1-May 7 directly with Disney using my AAA discount. $93 a night including tax...not too bad, but hey, at least it's not rack rate
Last time we didn't get a Triptik but my grandpa's a truck driver and had us take this route through Maryland...it wasn't a highway, but it got us from having to go around Baltimore and DC. I think this time we'll try to do 95 down, although I hear 84 is a pretty nice drive

My wife does not like bridges or tunnels so we took I-84 to I-81 to I-77 to I-26 to I-95. It was a nice scenic ride, but I believe it tacked on another 100 miles or so to our trip. I'd do it again, but I would leave during the day. Driving into New York through the mountains at night was difficult. It is very foggy, full of BST's and boring. By boring I mean, there are no lights, etc. Just woods, so if you are not a night driver you have little stimulation.

81 into VA. is very mountainous as well. You might want to keep that in mind considering the season you'll be travelling in. It was August for us, so we had to deal with some rain wasn't too bad though.

 

[areno79]

Thanks for the tip, Craig I'm hoping 95 won't be too bad at night, plus my husband isn't comfortable going any way he's "not familiar with"...he's got no sense of adventure My main concern is NYC, which is HORRIBLE during the day...I figure at 10:00 at night it shouldn't be too bad

 

[cmonroe]

areno79,

Would you mind posting your ride experience down and back when you return?
I'd be interested as you as I live about 15 minutes from Salisbury, so my ride would essentially mimic yours going down 95.

 

[areno79]

Sure, Craig...we're practically neighbors! We drove down last in Feb. 2003, so I'm sure some stuff has changed, but here's a synopsis of our drive:
-Leave Portsmouth, NH at 4:00am on Saturday.
-Stopped in CT at a rest stop for a bathroom break (won't EVER do that again if possible...gas prices were so high, and some guy was going car to car asking for money)
-Arrive NYC around 8:30am (traffic was heavy, but not stopped, so that was a plus)
-Stopped in the middle of the NJ turnpike to get gas..also expensive, but necessary.
-Took 301 from Delaware to Virginia...long and boring. It wasn't even a highway really, will NEVER go that way again, although we did get to avoid Baltimore and DC
-Jumped back on 95 in VA and cruised the rest of the way. Stopped in Fredericksburg for gas.
-Stopped in Florence, SC at about 10:30pm and stayed at a Super 8. Another lesson learned...it was nasty, next time I'll pay the extra $20 a night for clean sheets.
-Sunday morning, got up at 6 and had breakfast at Waffle House. We finally got back on the road around 8 am.
-Stopped in Savannah, GA and got gas.
-Hit Fla, stopped at first FL rest stop to take pics and wash up.
-Stopped in Ormond Beach, got some supplies at the Walmart (very clean), and ate lunch at Cracker Barrel. Also got gas.
-Got to our hotel in Downtown Disney at about 4 pm...we hit MAJOR traffic going through downtown Orlando, we were in bumper to bumper traffic for almost 45 minutes.
Going back was pretty easy. We left Orlando around 4am again, except we stayed on 95 the whole time, and ended up stopping in Maryland for the night. The next day we were stuck in traffic in NYC for 2 hours!! I'm hoping that by leaving in the late afternoon/evening this time, we can avoid the heavy traffic in NYC, Washington, and Baltimore

 

[cmonroe]

Amanda,

It's your one year anniversary(congrats by the way) so I'm not sure, but do you have any children? I have two kids 1 and 4 and was curious if you did that trip with little ones.

 

[areno79]

Thanks, I can't believe it's been 1 year already! The last trip we made was just me and DH (well, FH at the time ) We had a very uncomfortable sports car, so we had to stop every 3 hours or so just to stretch...tall people in a little car just isn't fun!
This time we're taking my cousins, 9 and 11, and we've got an SUV now, so we're hoping the ride will be more comfy. Plus, most of the driving will be at night when they're (hopefully) sleeping.

 

[ThePhantomsGirlfrien]

Hi Amanda,

I just had to say "hi" as I was born in Portsmouth, NH! Lived there until my 30's when I moved to Manchester. Now I'm in Florida (and just outside of Disney).

Any way - HELLO!

Smiles,

Holly

 

[areno79]

Hi Holly, what a small world! I went to college in Manchester, but I'd MUCH rather be in Florida!

 

[ebarj1098]

Everyone posting lately seems to be from NH! But just in case... I'm driving down from central WI and am looking for suggestions on where to stop, how many stops (with a 2 & 4 yr old), etc. This will be my first time doing the planning and driving, though I have been the passenger before. Thanks.
Jen

 

[cmonroe]

Everyone posting lately seems to be from NH! But just in case... I'm driving down from central WI and am looking for suggestions on where to stop, how many stops (with a 2 & 4 yr old), etc. This will be my first time doing the planning and driving, though I have been the passenger before. Thanks.
Jen

ebarj1098,

Last year was our first year driving to WDW, so we probably have a lot of fine tuning to do on our next trip. Having said that, we had my DS (7months at the time) , my dd (3.5 at the time), DW, MIL and FIL on the trip. I'd like to say because we had so many people in the car that it increased the amount of times we needed to stop. My first question though is your 2yr old potty trained, or wil she/he be by the trip? MY DD was, and I thought she was going to be the reason for numerous stops. But, it turned out to be the opposite. My DS was the reason for many stops because of diaper changes. Yes, we got to stretch at the same time, but it certainly increased the number.

I'm not sure what the mileage is for WI, but it looks as though it's roughly the same distance as New England. We actually used 2.5 days to get there. We left early Friday morning and stopped in VA on Saturday night and then Daytona on Sunday night. Woke up and drove an hour to WDW. It was nice, but I'd like to be able to do it in a shorter time. My wife wants to actually take longer.

The number of gas stops will actually depend on the gas mileage your car gets divided by the number of total miles to WDW. The number of food/rest stops will depend on what time you leave on a particular day, how many stops for regular meals and how many stops for "potty" breaks.

 

[cmonroe]

Thanks, I can't believe it's been 1 year already! The last trip we made was just me and DH (well, FH at the time ) We had a very uncomfortable sports car, so we had to stop every 3 hours or so just to stretch...tall people in a little car just isn't fun!
This time we're taking my cousins, 9 and 11, and we've got an SUV now, so we're hoping the ride will be more comfy. Plus, most of the driving will be at night when they're (hopefully) sleeping.

Amanda,

Do you remember if you had to pass over many bridges or go through many tunnels in the north eastern portion? My wife has a fear of bridges and tunnels, which is why we looped around through PA on the last trip.

 

[areno79]

You do have to go over a bridge in NYC, and one in NJ/PA/MD area when you're going down 95. No tunnels that I can recall, which I'm more fearful of. I guess I've seen that movie Daylight with Sylvester Stallone too many times!

I sure hope you never take a trip to VA Beach/Norfolk area...the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is like 13 miles of bridge/tunnel combo!

 

[areno79]

Oh, I found this sight, which has maps for all the different states:
http://www.mapathon.com/
Pretty good resource if you don't have an atlas/map handy