For those folks driving!

[curiouser]

We are driving from Cleveland too! This will be our first time driving down. We plan to drive straight through.

Its do-able but exhausting! A few friends and I did it once. We left between 3-3:30am and arrived in orlando around 1am. That included stops for gas and stopping for breakfast and dinner.

 

[curiouser]

What is my best bet for getting directions from Cleveland? We don't have a AAA membership, but we're thinking about getting one. I know how to read maps (stepfather was a trucker), but I don't know what roads are going to more congested, etc... We're marathon drivers, but if we drive, we'll want to stop I suppose. Our typical trips are sixteen hours including stops so this is going to be just a bit longer. I calculated it at about 1100 miles or so. We could probably leave here at noon on Thursday. I would like to get the majority of the trip in before stopping, but I don't want to stop too late either. I also don't want to have twelve hours of driving left for Friday. Any thoughts?

We take I-77S all the way down to I-26E in Charleston, SC and take that across the state to I-95 south. From there we head into Florida and jump on I-4W. You can get these directions off of Yahoo! Maps. It seems to be the fastest and most direct route and it offers a lot of places to stop. We break the trip up so we stop the way down in Savannah,GA and on the way back in Beckley, WV.

 

[Littlemotherhaywood]

Thanks!!!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBarb]

We will be driving down from Illinois in July. My questions have to do with Atlanta. Should we take the bypass or go through downtown? What is the best time of day to try and go through this city? Any pointers will be helpful. Also after you pass through Atlanta is it about 5-6 more hours to Disney?

 

[kaw1218]

I am not sure who is putting together that particular information, and I have posted this before, but I think it is worth repeating. There is a playground just off I-95 in N. MD. It is a GODSEND if you are coming from further north and need a break. Lots of food places nearby and bathrooms. Here are the directions.



Route 24 in Bel Air, head west about 4 miles to a left on Ring Factory Road, there is a large (HUGE) wooden playground on the corner and a few miles down the road is a large selection of food and/or gas stations.

Thank you! This will be our 5th time driving, and we are always looking for a nice place to rest for a few minutes.

 

[halld6479]

I don't think there is a good time to hit atlanta. my dad lives in fort myers and he says to hit it late at night and not to take bypass it is worst then straight through. we made mistake last year getting into atlanta on a friday night at 3 we set in stop and go traffic for three hours from south side till we cleared north side never again, we are going to hit it in May around 8 on a Friday night.

 

[mjkaferle5]

We will be driving down from Illinois in July. My questions have to do with Atlanta. Should we take the bypass or go through downtown? What is the best time of day to try and go through this city? Any pointers will be helpful. Also after you pass through Atlanta is it about 5-6 more hours to Disney?

We are leaving on a Sunday so hopefully Atlanta should be no problem! I think it is more like 7 plus hours to Disney once you get through Atlanta. It is approx. 4 hours to Disney from Valdosta, GA (near the Florida border). I haven't actually done this though, these times are just from the info I have gathered here on the DIS!!

 

[ksumn1]

I live about 60 miles form Atlanta and I hate Atlanta traffic. Traffic is usually pretty bad from arpund 7 or 8 am to 10 or 11 depending on wrecks, accidents etc. And then bad again from around 4 to 6 pm. If you're traveling at off times, weekends not during the day, you should be OK. We live on the south side and so we always take I 20 and then hop on 285 (the perimeter) and then I 75 south, again depends on the time and if there are any accidents or stalls. We're leaving at 4:00 am so we can be out of Atlnata traffic by 6 am at the latest. I included a link that you might want to check the day before you leave that included current road construction, where it is, and what hours, Alot of road construction is done either on weekend or at night and at least 1 lane is affected.

http://www.georgia-navigator.com/construction

If the link doen't work, just search by Atlanta GA road construction. Should be one of the 1st few links. And local radio station that give good traffic coverage when you're in the area are Star 94.9 (pop) Kicks 101.5 (country) 96 Rock 96.1 (rock, the morning guys are pretty abrasive so keep in mind if the kids are listening) and Peach 94.9 (easy listening, but mostly music not many commercials or interruptions) Hope this helps!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBarb]

Thanks for all the help so far! I am trying to figure out what time we will be hitting Atlanta. It seem to be somewhere between 5-7 p.m. If we are going to arrive during a rush hour perhaps we will stop and eat outside of Atlanta first. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[SplashMom]

We are driving from Nova Scotia for the first time and I am kind of looking forward to it! It will take approximately 3-4 days and we are looking at possible places to stay on the way. We thought we would probably stop around Bangor, Maine; Richmond, Virginia; and Savannah, Georgia. That will give us 3 days of 10 hour drives and we have a short day from Georgia to Orlando. Does this sound logical? Does anyone know good places to stay that aren't too far off the highway but offer clean, comfortable rooms? I was thinking of Holiday Inn Express type of hotels, which are quite nice around here, but I read that they may not be so great. Any helpful advice would be appreciated!

 

[jmhkd]

Why pay for a room 4 hours from your destination? Seems to me like paying for an extra night! Maybe stretch the other 2 days an hour or two more and it will eliminate that last days driving altogether.

 

[SplashMom]

We figured that we would be quite tired and didn't want to arrive too late at Disney (we are hoping that an early arrival may get a better room!). However, we may do exactly as you have said--it just depends on how often we stop.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Thanks for all the help so far! I am trying to figure out what time we will be hitting Atlanta. It seem to be somewhere between 5-7 p.m. If we are going to arrive during a rush hour perhaps we will stop and eat outside of Atlanta first. Any ideas? Thanks.

The Town Center at Cobb area -- Barrett Parkway exit (don't remember the exit number; they've changed since I moved to VA) off of I-75 just before the merge with I-575 -- has a ton of options. It's also a very busy intersection, but it's probably the best option IMO.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

We are driving from Nova Scotia for the first time and I am kind of looking forward to it! It will take approximately 3-4 days and we are looking at possible places to stay on the way. We thought we would probably stop around Bangor, Maine; Richmond, Virginia; and Savannah, Georgia. That will give us 3 days of 10 hour drives and we have a short day from Georgia to Orlando. Does this sound logical? Does anyone know good places to stay that aren't too far off the highway but offer clean, comfortable rooms? I was thinking of Holiday Inn Express type of hotels, which are quite nice around here, but I read that they may not be so great. Any helpful advice would be appreciated!

Depending on traffic, Richmond to WDW is about a 12-13 hour drive.

If you stop in this area, I'd recommend taking the I-295 bypass and either exit 37 (Mechanicsville / US 360) or exit 15 (Route 10). Both are decent areas with hotels and dining. I know there's a Hampton Inn at exit 37, and there may be a Holiday Inn Express as well. I've only been through exit 15 sporadically and I don't remember exactly what's there, but I do remember a couple of HIE-type hotels down there.

You could also drive a little farther past Richmond. Emporia would be about an hour to 1:30 past Richmond, Rocky Mount, NC about another hour past that. I'd probably go for Rocky Mount, though; Emporia's never impressed me and (apologies to anyone reading this from Emporia) seems a bit on the trashy side.

 

[halld6479]

we should be hitting atlanta saturday after 5, we will be traveling 75 all the way how is the road construction along that area heading South? would it be better to hit the bypass around?

 

[SplashMom]

We were planning to drive the I95 the entire way. Our kids (16 and 19) like the idea of driving through the cities, and since we are from an area that is full of beautiful scenery, that isn't so important to us. We would like a change! However, after reading some of the comments on this board, I am a bit nervous about the I95. Has anyone driven through using this route? We will be leaving on a Friday, hopefully arriving in Florida by Monday. Is traffic better on the weekend? It will be in mid August--no holidays but regular summer traffic. Any suggestions?

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

OK, what would you do??

We were going to have to leave here on Friday afternoon, after DD got off the bus (about 12:30). We were going to just drive the 14 hours there, getting in very late. But now, she isn't going the last day, so we are going to leave Thursday night.

SO, we can either leave here around DDs bedtime and drive the 5 hours to Fayetteville, NC and stop for 6 hours for some sleep. Get up Friday morning and finish the last 9 hours, getting in mid afternoon.

OR, we can just drive the whole thing, arriving EXHAUSTED late morning. While we have done this many times in the past on other long trips, the only issue here is whether or not we can even get into our hotel room that early. It would suck to get there around 10am and not have a place to go..kwim?? We will be tired, no shower in over 24 hours, etc. If I knew we could get into our room when we arrived, I would go for it for sure.

Which one do you think is better, those that have done both? And anyone know Fayetteville, NC, any hotels good, is it a good area?

 

[kerry34]

If I were in your shoes and I were planning on leaving at your daughters bedtime then I would stop somewhere and sleep. I personally would not want to start my vacation sleep deprived from being up all night long. If you were leaving early in the morning and driving the 14 hours it would be easier to make the whole trip. We stop in Fayetteville when we drive down. We have stayed at a Ramada Inn right off exit 49 (I-95). The hotel has always been clean and there are interior corridors which is important to me. They also have free continental breakfast in the morning. We have stayed here around 4 times in the past and have never had trouble.

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

We had planned to leave in the Morning, on Friday, around 4-5 am. Putting us into Orlando around 6-7pm. Then we decided this was a bad idea on a Friday, at the beginning of summer for many places. We would hit Richmond at morning rush hour and the Jacksonville, Orlando areas in the evening.

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

Ok, yet another question. Would you stop at a decent hour, say 1am or drive until you got tired (for us we could go until 3-4 easily), then stop? Figuring the kids would sleep pretty much the whole time we were driving at night, so driving further that night would be better on them I think.