For those folks driving!

[cksmm5]

What is the best route from northern New Jersey to WDW and....does anyone know if TomTom gives accurate directions?

 

[PrincessMom4]

I left this morning at 7:30am from Monmouth county,NJ. It turned out to be the perfect time for us, no traffic whatsoever. 195 to 95 south (took the western 495 loop around DC). We were eating lunch in Virginia around 12:30, dinner in South Carolina just south of Dillon. Stopped in Manning, SC at 7:30 for the night. It is just me with my 3 boys (5,7,& 10), no way I could do this drive straight through with them!

Florida tomorrow!

wow....I tip my hat to you driving with 3 boys and no help. I am a mom of 4 and I could not do the drive without the hubby.

We are driving from Canada to Georgia straight through. Usually we take a few days to drive.

 

[alexensmom]

We did I81 in July and really it wasn't anywhere near the truck traffic on I95. We did not hit a stitch of traffic the whole way down. (well I take that back we were in like 4 minutes of traffic once we got on I 95 in SC.

I 81 is our new go to route- the bathrooms along I 81 were ok- it's once you get off(like on 77) where it's a bit few and far between. but we knew that going in and stopped before we got off I 81. It was a shorter trip timewise for us and really so much less stressful. Beautiful scenery and mostly open road. Try it you'll like it!

I lived in Roanoke, Va (on I81) most of my life and will curse it until the day I die. I can say my experiences on I95 are maybe 2 dozen times so I am not as familiar with it. My family is from Blacksburg and Tennessee so my experience with I81 is in the thousands. I am glad you have had good luck without traffic on 81. We are able to feed into my aversion since we drive down to Roanoke to stay with my parents and then head down 220S.

 

[mskermit]

What is the best route from northern New Jersey to WDW and....does anyone know if TomTom gives accurate directions?

straight down 95

 

[05MM08MM]

Hey everyone, a couple questions about our Nov/Dec trip.

We will be coming from West of FL, heading in on I-10. Current route per Google maps is I-10 east, I-75 south, FL Turnpike, I-4 South.

We will be leaving late Sat night driving straight through and look to arrive sometime mid-late Sunday afternoon.

1.) Based on the timing. I would guess we would be at the I-10/I-75 interchange around noon time on Sunday. How is I-75 south from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday? Should we take an alternate rounte?

2.) arriving in the Orlando/Lake Buena Vista/Kissimmee area on Sunday mid-late afternoon, should we take an alternate route and avoid I-4?

We are staying at the Sheraton Vistana Resort, which is just on the other side (east) of I-4 from WDW.

TIA

No one has any advice for me

 

[mskermit]

What is the best route from northern New Jersey to WDW and....does anyone know if TomTom gives accurate directions?

it is a straight run down 95 and once in florida take I4 take the exit for your resort. i think you are on I4 for about an hour or so before coming close to the resort exits.

 

[mskermit]

is all of that road work still being done around jacksonville?? when we last drove in 2008 it was a mess around there

 

[csharpwv]

We are taking the Auto Train this November - (Day after Thanksgiving!)
Has anyone taken the Auto Train before???

What was your experience like?

 

[jasko5990]

What is the best route from northern New Jersey to WDW and....does anyone know if TomTom gives accurate directions?

We drive practically every trip. You definitely want I-95. If you pick it up in Pennsylvania make sure you take I-495 around Wilmington, DE. Stay on I-95 until Jacksonville where you have to choose to stay on I-95 (shortest route but usually heavy traffic in rush hours) or I-295 which is a beltway around Jacksonville (longer, generally not as much traffic but still heavy in rush hours). We took I-295 once and now stick with I-95. Then continue to I-4 in Orlando which will take you to all of the marked WDW exits. Since you're leaving north of Washington DC the trick is to get through that area before the morning rush (6am) or after the evening rush (6-7pm). QWe're about 30 minutes NW of Philadelphia and we always leave around midnight and drive straight through. We're through DC around 3am, in southern NC between 7-8am, and on WDW property between 3-4pm. We never hit any rush hour traffic, however it soes start to pick up on I-4 in & around Orlando when we'er going through there. I don;t know about Tom Tom, but my Garmin has always been accurate.

 

[jasko5990]

We are taking the Auto Train this November - (Day after Thanksgiving!)
Has anyone taken the Auto Train before???

What was your experience like?

We took the Auto Train round trip in 2008. We had a bedroom which gave us some privacy, and also a bathroom with shower. The shower was great for the morning since it allowed us to be fresh after we woke up. The breakfast & dinner meals were good & I had no complaints about them. Due to the rocking type motion of the train, along with it's loud horn, I kept waking up on the way down, but had no problem sleeping on the way back after a week in WDW in July. I found that the advantages of taking it down did not outweigh driving down, but they definitely outweighed driving for the trip home. I would do it again, but only for the return trip.

 

[ibcnu]

I left this morning at 7:30am from Monmouth county,NJ. It turned out to be the perfect time for us, no traffic whatsoever. 195 to 95 south (took the western 495 loop around DC). We were eating lunch in Virginia around 12:30, dinner in South Carolina just south of Dillon. Stopped in Manning, SC at 7:30 for the night. It is just me with my 3 boys (5,7,& 10), no way I could do this drive straight through with them!

Florida tomorrow!

We drove down to Florida last Thursday (last minute decision when a cargo derailment caused the autotrain - which we were already loaded and waiting to go - stopped service for 2 days), also left at about 8:00am but took the eastern side of 495 Loop around DC. We checked the traffic and there were delays on the west side. It was an easy drive. Once you pass Richmond, it's smooth sailing until you reach Jacksonville. No way would I do it direct either!

 

[csharpwv]

We are taking the Auto-Train as I said - the day after thanksgiving - we figured traffic would be really horrible on the interstates, and since the drive from our home in WV, to my wife's family in Northeastern PA is around 5.5-6 hours - (and we are making that trip on Wednesday night) We weren't too interested in making an 18 hour drive 36 hours later

So we decided on the train. I love riding trains and we thought it would be a great experience - BUT we decided to drive back. We will be at WDW for a week and then on the Disney Magic for a week - so I think we will be well rested for the drive back!

The bad news? We disembark the ship on Saturday and have to be back to work on Monday morning

The trip home won't be bad, but the rude awakening of going from a tropical paradise back to a WV winter - will NOT be fun!

 

[kathymu501]

We are planning to drive in March 2011 with six kids 4yr and under and 8 adlits. Planning to drive straight through , stay first night off property to rest then to Disney next day for a week. Anyone have suggestions to make this work, or are we plan crazy to do this.

 

[mskermit]

We are planning to drive in March 2011 with six kids 4yr and under and 8 adlits. Planning to drive straight through , stay first night off property to rest then to Disney next day for a week. Anyone have suggestions to make this work, or are we plan crazy to do this.

you should have no problem if everyone shares the driving. we did it in 2008 bbut i did all the driving with no sleep. i cant sit still in the car and i cant
sleep in the car! we are in South jersey- gloucestecr county. we left around 9pm and made it to fort wilderness at 3:30 in the afternoon. we stopped for gas and bathroom breaks which took total in all about 2 hours of time. i was tired when we got there, but you get your second wind quick. by wednesday i was tired since i missed a nights sleep. you will be fine if you leave at night and all of the kiddies are asleep . i had 3 teenagers that was probably worse than having a car full of little ones!! all they did was make a huge mess in the back and complian it was hot!! then they started ... aare we there yet??? are we alomos there?? how much longer?? its hot, we're starving!!!!!! i just kept right on driving and turned up the radio to drown them out!! i enjoy the drive down

 

[PrincessMom4]

My hubby and I are going to share the driving down to Georgia from Canada overnight. Second we have a sleep in Georgia, 3rd day we are in Florida.

 

[diznee25]

On previous road trips we have driven straight through from MD to WDW. This time around we want to take things slow. So we'll leave Saturday morning and drive 9 or 10 hours, & get a hotel for the night. That should put us in Savannah, GA. Then Sunday morning we'll finish the drive. That should put us arriving to AKL around 11am on Sunday.

Can't wait...only 3 more months to go!


diznee25

 

[100AcreWood]

My 2 year old loses his mind driving 10 minutes home from the grocery store. Any tips here for driving with little ones? I have a DVD player. I'm guessing we'll be stopping a lot to let him run around. My other two are 8 and almost 4 and have more patience for longer stretches in the car.

Thanks! I'm just wondering what we're going to do if ds starts screaming "out, out! I want out!" We can't stop every 20 minutes!

 

[PrincessMom4]

My 21month at the time (now almost 4) screamed through most of NC...It really doesn't phase either my hubby or I. We gave him some age-approperiate toys. He loves his word building text and learn. We have a kids laptop of Handy Manny. Not sure what your son likes or can related to and I am not sure where he is developmental (ie some kids are average and some kids are beyond the average age range for that group). Magnadoodles were popular with my kids at age.

 

[alexensmom]

My 2 year old loses his mind driving 10 minutes home from the grocery store. Any tips here for driving with little ones? I have a DVD player. I'm guessing we'll be stopping a lot to let him run around. My other two are 8 and almost 4 and have more patience for longer stretches in the car.

Thanks! I'm just wondering what we're going to do if ds starts screaming "out, out! I want out!" We can't stop every 20 minutes!

Our DS is pretty good in the car as long as he has DVDs, books and snacks. We stop about every two hours at rest stops for bathroom breaks so he has a chance to walk around. I found headphones for kids that keeps the volume under a certain level at walmart and he loves them. I like not hearing his movies for hours. Its nice having DD in the backseat with him so she can help with changing movies, etc. A couple weeks before a trip, I put aside his favorite movies so he is excited to watch them on the trip. Our longest trip this summer was 6 hours and he did pretty well.

Bathroom breaks were the trickiest. DS decided one day he was not wearing diapers anymore so potty training began whether I was ready to deal with it or not. But I figured if I dont do it when he thinks he's ready, he'll be 5 before he's potty trained. Im hoping by November we can stretch our bathroom breaks out alittle further.

 

[mskermit]

On previous road trips we have driven straight through from MD to WDW. This time around we want to take things slow. So we'll leave Saturday morning and drive 9 or 10 hours, & get a hotel for the night. That should put us in Savannah, GA. Then Sunday morning we'll finish the drive. That should put us arriving to AKL around 11am on Sunday.

Can't wait...only 3 more months to go!


diznee25

we stop in brunswick, which is only about 1/2 hour away from FL border in the morning. It is the comfort inn on new jessup highway, nice hotel and reasonable. free internet and breakfast too, and a restraunt on location too