For those folks driving!

[Flamingomo]

Hi, we are driving from DE right on the PA border in Dec, first week, and want to know why ia cna't just take I95 all the way down? I have read I need to get off of 95 and cut through here and there and I also mapped this on the Rand McNally site and it said the same thing. For those who are close to me or in Philly, how long did it take you drive there. We are planning on leaving at 4am an driving straight through and hoping to get there by 8pm or amybe even a little earlier. is this doable? Also, will we be heading through South of the Border on the way? it seems like a fun place to stop especially for my kiddos. Thanks!

 

[Katmat75]

Hi, we are driving from DE right on the PA border in Dec, first week, and want to know why ia cna't just take I95 all the way down? I have read I need to get off of 95 and cut through here and there and I also mapped this on the Rand McNally site and it said the same thing. For those who are close to me or in Philly, how long did it take you drive there. We are planning on leaving at 4am an driving straight through and hoping to get there by 8pm or amybe even a little earlier. is this doable? Also, will we be heading through South of the Border on the way? it seems like a fun place to stop especially for my kiddos. Thanks!

We just drove down in August. It takes about 16 hours. We did not drive straight through. We stopped in St. Augustine and spent the night. Then it only took us about an hour and half to get to WDW. We drove from South Jersey, right across the bridge from Philly. It takes me about 40 minutes to get to the Delaware Memorial Bridge from my house. We took 95 all the way there. Had no problems. On the way back we stopped at South of the Border because I have heard so much about it. I was very disappointed. It was very dirty and I would not stop there at night time. It's pretty scarry.
We left from our house at 9:00AM on a Sunday and traffic was fine all the way down. We were going to stop for the night in Georgia but I wanted to get past Jacksonville's Monday morning rush hour which they say is horrible. That's why we drove to St. Augustine.

Hope this helps. Have a safe trip. I've been back for not quite 2 weeks and am missing WDW like crazy.

 

[4 DZNY NUTZ]

We just drove down in August. It takes about 16 hours. We did not drive straight through. We stopped in St. Augustine and spent the night. Then it only took us about an hour and half to get to WDW. We drove from South Jersey, right across the bridge from Philly. It takes me about 40 minutes to get to the Delaware Memorial Bridge from my house. We took 95 all the way there. Had no problems. On the way back we stopped at South of the Border because I have heard so much about it. I was very disappointed. It was very dirty and I would not stop there at night time. It's pretty scarry.
We left from our house at 9:00AM on a Sunday and traffic was fine all the way down. We were going to stop for the night in Georgia but I wanted to get past Jacksonville's Monday morning rush hour which they say is horrible. That's why we drove to St. Augustine.

Hope this helps. Have a safe trip. I've been back for not quite 2 weeks and am missing WDW like crazy.

Hi Neighbor,

We are in Stratford NJ - sounds like we are pretty close to each other!!

 

[MinMouse]

Hi, we are driving from DE right on the PA border in Dec, first week, and want to know why ia cna't just take I95 all the way down? I have read I need to get off of 95 and cut through here and there and I also mapped this on the Rand McNally site and it said the same thing. For those who are close to me or in Philly, how long did it take you drive there. We are planning on leaving at 4am an driving straight through and hoping to get there by 8pm or amybe even a little earlier. is this doable? Also, will we be heading through South of the Border on the way? it seems like a fun place to stop especially for my kiddos. Thanks!

We must be neighbors! We're in Wilmington, DE and we have driven to WDW 7 times. You are correct that you can just take I95 the entire way. Your plan to leave at 4 a.m. is great (we usually shoot for between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.). The drive with stops takes us about 18 hours. We usually stop for breakfast at a restaurant and have lunch packed and picnic in South Carolina. The rest stops right on I 95 there have nice picnic tables and we stretch a little bit. You will certainly see So of the Border. It's fun to read the signs on the way down. I must admit that we have never stopped. We have traveled down several different ways. . . overnight --- not for us; over two days --- when the kids were younger but the method you have chosen is what we found works best for us at this point. Any other questions?

 

[Flamingomo]

We must be neighbors! We're in Wilmington, DE and we have driven to WDW 7 times. You are correct that you can just take I95 the entire way. Your plan to leave at 4 a.m. is great (we usually shoot for between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.). The drive with stops takes us about 18 hours. We usually stop for breakfast at a restaurant and have lunch packed and picnic in South Carolina. The rest stops right on I 95 there have nice picnic tables and we stretch a little bit. You will certainly see So of the Border. It's fun to read the signs on the way down. I must admit that we have never stopped. We have traveled down several different ways. . . overnight --- not for us; over two days --- when the kids were younger but the method you have chosen is what we found works best for us at this point. Any other questions?

18HOURS????!!!! OMG!!! I mapped this out on a few different sites and they all say 14.5 - 15 hours. I was hoping to ge to our hotel by 8pm, which would give us 16 hours. We are not stopping except for bathroom breaks as we are bringing lunch in the car and will more than likely pack a quick breakfast for the car too such as cereal, pop tarts and fruit for the kids and bagels for my DH and I and we are bringing our coffee with us from home as well. We don't plan to stop other than for the bathroom runs and gassing up. That is why I added the extra hour. If we do stop South of the Border, it will really only be to take some silly pictures and move on. We aren't stopping for lunch or breakfst as you plan to do so do you really think it will still take 18 hours? UGH... if thats the case, I want to cry.

 

[MinMouse]

My feeling is that it's a solid 16 hours driving. It's about 1,000 miles so if you average 60 MPH that's over 16 hours. We pretty much travel the speed limit. . . . which is quite high in the Carolinas (70 & 75mph in some areas). That's fast enough for me! DC seems to be the most troublesome area but you should be fine leaving early in the a.m. But we have had hold ups with accidents, construction areas and heavy traffic (mainly a problem traveling near Easter/Christmas). We don't dilly dally on our stops. Our girls have been doing it long enough to know the longer we stop the longer our day in the van! They look forward to stopping for a quick breakfast and lunch is no more than 20-30 minutes at the rest stop. This is what works for us but certainly everyone has their own preferences. When is your trip?

 

[pilferk]

Hi, we are driving from DE right on the PA border in Dec, first week, and want to know why ia cna't just take I95 all the way down? I have read I need to get off of 95 and cut through here and there and I also mapped this on the Rand McNally site and it said the same thing. For those who are close to me or in Philly, how long did it take you drive there. We are planning on leaving at 4am an driving straight through and hoping to get there by 8pm or amybe even a little earlier. is this doable? Also, will we be heading through South of the Border on the way? it seems like a fun place to stop especially for my kiddos. Thanks!

You can stick right on 95. My only suggestion on deviation would be to take 295 around Richmond, rather than 95 straight through it. Used to be you'd want to take the "detour" in Jacksonville, too..but I've heard the construction is just about finished and the delays are non-existent to minor...so you don't need to hop off anymore. Just stay on 95 til you hit 4.

We come from CT, and it takes us 18 - 19 hours in a straight shot with bathroom and gas breaks only. With meals, about 20 - 21. We drive a mini-van and stick strictly to the speed limit, but have done it overnight so we don't get hung up much.

I think from the time we hit DE, we're about 3 to 4 hours into the drive....so I'd think you're looking at between 15 and 16 hours with no stops, no traffic, and no delays.

 

[Flamingomo]

My feeling is that it's a solid 16 hours driving. It's about 1,000 miles so if you average 60 MPH that's over 16 hours. We pretty much travel the speed limit. . . . which is quite high in the Carolinas (70 & 75mph in some areas). That's fast enough for me! DC seems to be the most troublesome area but you should be fine leaving early in the a.m. But we have had hold ups with accidents, construction areas and heavy traffic (mainly a problem traveling near Easter/Christmas). We don't dilly dally on our stops. Our girls have been doing it long enough to know the longer we stop the longer our day in the van! They look forward to stopping for a quick breakfast and lunch is no more than 20-30 minutes at the rest stop. This is what works for us but certainly everyone has their own preferences. When is your trip?

Wheew! Now I feel better We are leaving at 4 am on November 30th and coming home on December 8th, whihc we will more than like take a bit more time as we won't be so rushed to get home Thanks again for the reply. Hopefully we won't be stuck in too much traffic or accidents. My boys are 6 and 3, so we may be a little crazy, but I will ahve them stocked and no doubt they will sleep for a few hours in there as well.

 

[MinMouse]

Wheew! Now I feel better We are leaving at 4 am on November 30th and coming home on December 8th, whihc we will more than like take a bit more time as we won't be so rushed to get home Thanks again for the reply. Hopefully we won't be stuck in too much traffic or accidents. My boys are 6 and 3, so we may be a little crazy, but I will ahve them stocked and no doubt they will sleep for a few hours in there as well.

Since it is a Friday (ie a workday) be sure to leave by 4a.m. You'll still see a lot of traffic in DC but it will most likely be headed north on I 95 at that time. Yeah the trip always takes longer going home. We always find it hard to leave (can't imagine why!!!). Have you done long distance driving with the boys before? We kind of worked our way up to the Disney drive (we have good friends in western PA (5+ hour drive) and my bro lives in Northwest Ohio (He's almost to Indiana and it's about a 10 hour drive). So the girls had some long trips under their belt. When they were younger we had the DVD (actually a vcr/tv combo strapped to one of our van seats at that time!), plenty of books, new toys, small electronic games, gameboys, those felt posters that you use the markers on, books on tape, license plate game, etc. My girls are still usually excited right when we leave but are asleep again by the time we get to Baltimore and then wakeup sometime in Virginia somewhere (hopefully after DC if traffic is flowing there!). Can't wait to hear about your trip! Be sure to post when you're back!

 

[Flamingomo]

No, not too long of a car ride for these guys. The longest was about 3 hours, and they were fine and that was pre-dvd and I hadn't really packed anything for them to do since it kind of spur of the moment thing. I figure they will sleep for at least 3 hours on and off and I have purchased alot of activities, books, etc, etc...and a couple new Game Boy Games for my 6 year old. I know the DVD player will help us immensely and since it plays two different movies at the same time it will keep both of them happy and me and DH too My younger son is 3 1/2 and he is really a great little guy, so I'm hoping he will make me proud as usual. Its the 6 year old that I am more worried about. he gets antsy, but I think once he knows where we are going, he will be fine....I hope. Thanks for all the tips and well wishes. I will let you all know how we do.

 

[Luvamouse]

Flamingomo,

We have been making 1200 miles trips to the midwest (among many other drive vacations)with my girls for 5 years or so and I find that it is tempting to want to push the limit on not stopping, but they just need to get out of the car seats and run or stretch sometimes. We started the 1200 miles trips when DD-7 was 3 and she finally flipped out about 9 hours into our first trip and we needed to get a room for the night.They are 7 and 13 now and when we go to WDW this Nov. we will leave RI @ 5 a.m. and drive 730 miles to VA (about 12 hours- we make 1 -1 hour Cracker Barrel stop 4 hours from home and probably 2-3 more for bathroom/food/gas all in one place to cut down on on/off highway time wasted), then go to Daytona the next day. We'll hit Disney on the 3rd day of our journey.

Going home, we may very well drive straight through if we can do it, but it is nearly 1400 miles for us. The best we have managed is 1150 straight through with 4 bathroom breaks. When the kids go to sleep at night we won't stop unless one of us is about to pop!

We do not go Rte 95 except for leaving home and when we take 26 into 95 in SC. We have hit NY city at 2 a.m. and still been stopped in traffic so we detour. We will take 95 (RI/CT)-9-691-84-81-77-26-95 (SC to FL). We have learned from probably 25-30,000 miles of travel with kids scared1: OMG that is scary to do the math...), that our kids sleep very well when we move, but a traffic jam or construction will wake them up quickly. I'd rather go 100 miles out of our way (as we are) to avoid all the big cities. To us, the time spent driving a bit farther west at first saves us time sitting in traffic. I do not sit still well...

You have all the right stuff with you-- I couldn't do it without my Yukon and DVD player. Snacks are great and don't forget an empty bottle with 2 boys! We traveled with a potty in the third seat up until last year!

Best advice--Hope for the best...expect the worst. Your trip will still be fine if you arrive later than you hope. But remember, anything can happen and while it can (and probably will) go smoothly, kids can be kids. Then again, moms and dads can be kids too when it comes to being locked in a car with the same people for 16...18...24 hours!

Have fun!! I love to see the country we live in, that is why we don't fly. It is so beautiful to drive. Enjoy it!

 

[candleonwater]

We're in Northern Virginia (inside the beltway) - and door to door (NO TRAFFIC, only stopping for gas - and getting food at the gas station) it is 13 hours.

18HOURS????!!!! OMG!!! I mapped this out on a few different sites and they all say 14.5 - 15 hours. I was hoping to ge to our hotel by 8pm, which would give us 16 hours. We are not stopping except for bathroom breaks as we are bringing lunch in the car and will more than likely pack a quick breakfast for the car too such as cereal, pop tarts and fruit for the kids and bagels for my DH and I and we are bringing our coffee with us from home as well. We don't plan to stop other than for the bathroom runs and gassing up. That is why I added the extra hour. If we do stop South of the Border, it will really only be to take some silly pictures and move on. We aren't stopping for lunch or breakfst as you plan to do so do you really think it will still take 18 hours? UGH... if thats the case, I want to cry.

 

[duffy]

We're in Northern Virginia (inside the beltway) - and door to door (NO TRAFFIC, only stopping for gas - and getting food at the gas station) it is 13 hours.

Thank you, I am glad to have you confirm what I'd estimated as well. We're planning on leaving our western Pa. home and driving to our daughter's home just outside the beltway in Maryland in the evening. We'll stay overnight at her place, and thought leaving very early-say 4 or 5 am-would put us at the Wilderness Lodge in time to check in and have supper! So, your post makes me think that it's certainly possible.

 

[carissanboys]

Thank you, I am glad to have you confirm what I'd estimated as well. We're planning on leaving our western Pa. home and driving to our daughter's home just outside the beltway in Maryland in the evening. We'll stay overnight at her place, and thought leaving very early-say 4 or 5 am-would put us at the Wilderness Lodge in time to check in and have supper! So, your post makes me think that it's certainly possible.

We drove down from Maryland (we live outside of Baltimore) last March and I can't really give a total driving time. The first day we left at 4 am and got to Santee, South Carolina around 1 pm (9 hours). We stopped for a quick lunch and some pee breaks, but had no traffic issues on this part of the trip.

We stayed overnight in Santee (pre-planned) and left around 6 am the next morning. We ended up getting to Shades of Green around 3 pm. BUT, we had major traffic issues once we hit Florida (construction on 95) and rain (I4 was bad) AND we kept getting lost trying to get to SOG. We probably stopped quite a bit on the way for short breaks (although we did stop at Denny's at one point and I think that took a while). I know it took a lot longer than I'd anticipated (I drive about 80 on I95). I'd say you could easily knock off 2 hours from our driving time for traffic issues.

 

[carissanboys]

Since it is a Friday (ie a workday) be sure to leave by 4a.m.

I strongly agree. There's a big difference in traffic during the week between 4 am and 5 am.

 

[carissanboys]

No, not too long of a car ride for these guys. The longest was about 3 hours, and they were fine and that was pre-dvd and I hadn't really packed anything for them to do since it kind of spur of the moment thing. I figure they will sleep for at least 3 hours on and off and I have purchased alot of activities, books, etc, etc...and a couple new Game Boy Games for my 6 year old. I know the DVD player will help us immensely and since it plays two different movies at the same time it will keep both of them happy and me and DH too My younger son is 3 1/2 and he is really a great little guy, so I'm hoping he will make me proud as usual. Its the 6 year old that I am more worried about. he gets antsy, but I think once he knows where we are going, he will be fine....I hope. Thanks for all the tips and well wishes. I will let you all know how we do.

The DVD player is truly the best thing since sliced bread. The drive down was so easy. We just kept putting in movies and they were happy. Every once in a while they'd do something else (leapsters or activity books), but mainly they were content to watch movies.

This year they're getting Gameboys for Christmas so I'm sure that'll help keep them busy on the ride down in January

 

[Disneynutbsv]

Possibly driving from nh next april. I was wondering what the most common gas stores were?? I'd like to get a gas card to use...but would like to get one that you see most often. What kind of gas at the rest stops in NJ? And all the way down to florida? Thanks!!

 

[kerry34]

Possibly driving from nh next april. I was wondering what the most common gas stores were?? I'd like to get a gas card to use...but would like to get one that you see most often. What kind of gas at the rest stops in NJ? And all the way down to florida? Thanks!!

The majority of the gas stations on NJ Tpk are Sunoco stations. You will also find many others as well. I usually get a combination of shell, exxon-mobil, bp cards. Check out this site and it will give you some exit info for different states. http://www.usastar.com/i95/restarea.htm

 

[Disneynutbsv]

The majority of the gas stations on NJ Tpk are Sunoco stations. You will also find many others as well. I usually get a combination of shell, exxon-mobil, bp cards. Check out this site and it will give you some exit info for different states. http://www.usastar.com/i95/restarea.htm

Thanks I appreciate it!

 

[sticker231]

nice to see the different strategies, we are driving down next week. We are debating when to leave. We will probably do the early morning departure and see how far we can go.