For those folks driving!

[darnheather]

Ok, driving MA to Disney World, with a teenager and a 2 year old.

We're analyzing which route to drive, but I'm curious on opinions on how to do it.

With the 2 year old, driving straight through leaving at dinner time seems appealing - 2 year old should sleep in the car seat all night, and two of us can split up the driving every few hours. We could make it down to Disney around dinner time the next day.

Alternatively, do we stop one night (Dunn Hampton Inn sounds nice) and risk him getting annoyed in the car seat each day...

Or do we split it over three days (two hotels), leaving at dinner time the first night, stopping around 1am, then driving a shorter day day 2, stopping around Savannah, and a short day day 3?

Opinions!? Anyone do this with a toddler? What's the easiest on them?

I've driven quite a lot on the east cost with toddlers and small children. No way would I split it to 3 days. That is just asking for heartache for everyone. The longest I've driven in a day with two kids was 14 hours. That was just me driving. Kids slept a lot. In your case I'd do two days having the bulk of driving on the first day because both you and spouse will be tired day two even with the rest. So if your trip is going to be 20 hours I'd do 12 hours day one and 8 hours on the second leaving right after breakfast.

 

[SlightlyocdDisneyfan]

Ok, driving MA to Disney World, with a teenager and a 2 year old.

We're analyzing which route to drive, but I'm curious on opinions on how to do it.

With the 2 year old, driving straight through leaving at dinner time seems appealing - 2 year old should sleep in the car seat all night, and two of us can split up the driving every few hours. We could make it down to Disney around dinner time the next day.

Alternatively, do we stop one night (Dunn Hampton Inn sounds nice) and risk him getting annoyed in the car seat each day...

Or do we split it over three days (two hotels), leaving at dinner time the first night, stopping around 1am, then driving a shorter day day 2, stopping around Savannah, and a short day day 3?

Opinions!? Anyone do this with a toddler? What's the easiest on them?

I'd vote against pulling an all night drive.

We've done a lot of 8+ hour driving trips with babies, toddlers, and young kids. When they were babies, the night driving worked well, but for us, once they were toddlers it became more difficult. They really don't sleep as well in the car seat as they would in a hotel -especially when they get old enough to be excited about a trip. We've had several trips where one of the kids will wake up somewhere along the way in the middle of the night and throw up because they are so tired and can't sleep well. Not a fun time!

 

[flafan]

Help we are stuck in the New Jersey turnpike traffic is horrible trying to get to Massachusetts
Does anyone have any alternate route we are approx near Woodrow Wilson service station Trenton I think
We have been going since 4:30 am and our nerves are on edge at this point
Thank you to anyone that can help

 

[byejou]

Help we are stuck in the New Jersey turnpike traffic is horrible trying to get to Massachusetts
Does anyone have any alternate route we are approx near Woodrow Wilson service station Trenton I think
We have been going since 4:30 am and our nerves are on edge at this point
Thank you to anyone that can help

I live south of where you are. I need to know what exits you past. Try for exit 6 or 5 and get on 295 south.straight to delaware memorial bridge.

 

[byejou]

Help we are stuck in the New Jersey turnpike traffic is horrible trying to get to Massachusetts
Does anyone have any alternate route we are approx near Woodrow Wilson service station Trenton I think
We have been going since 4:30 am and our nerves are on edge at this point
Thank you to anyone that can help

Did you pass exit 7 or 7A yet? If not get off and follow signs for 295 South. Be careful in this rain. We had a lot of flooding issues in south Jersey.

 

[flafan]

Yes we passed 7a we just passed rte 33 exit 8

 

[byejou]

Yes we passed 7a we just passed rte 33 exit 8

OK your going North sorry. Going North is a problem here. Highways split in every direction. Unfortunately, I m not familiar with these roads north of New Brunswick. I always stay on turnpike. We had a similar situation and got off only to get horribly lost on small side roads I believe lead nowhere. I would stick it out. It would be more frustrating for you. Sorry.

 

[flafan]

Thank you for your response hopefully we r thru the worst of it we r now on garden state parkway and plan to get off at 87s/287e
Thanks again

 

[dizzycrazy]

We are leaving in 2 days to drive from DC to Disney! Any good spots to stop at along the way? Anything fun? A possible nice place to stay overnight? Any other tips? I would appreciate any advice. We will have 6 of us in the car (parents, grandparents, DS 10, DD 6) so any relief along the way will be awesome! I bow down to all you Disney experts! Thanks!

 

[mrstomrice]

We love to stop at the FL welcome center for free OJ! It's a great last stop before the 4 hour trek to Disney

 

[nono]

We are leaving in 2 days to drive from DC to Disney! Any good spots to stop at along the way? Anything fun? A possible nice place to stay overnight? Any other tips? I would appreciate any advice. We will have 6 of us in the car (parents, grandparents, DS 10, DD 6) so any relief along the way will be awesome! I bow down to all you Disney experts! Thanks!

Well, maybe you can leave early in the morning and make Savannah by the afternoon? Stay there and have a nice dinner and in the morning it's just a few hours to WDW... If you leave by 6 a.m., and stop for a quick break every 3 hours, you'll be in Savannah by 3 p.m....perfect check in time...and still time to walk around etc...

 

[jrsharp21]

Very cool thread here. We are looking at taking our kids for their first WDW trip this Spring Break (early March). We will be driving from the Houston area. We will probably be leaving around dinner time in hopes of missing the rush hour traffic in Baton Rouge, LA. Anyone have any tips on the drive from Houston?

 

[texasroni75]

Very cool thread here. We are looking at taking our kids for their first WDW trip this Spring Break (early March). We will be driving from the Houston area. We will probably be leaving around dinner time in hopes of missing the rush hour traffic in Baton Rouge, LA. Anyone have any tips on the drive from Houston?

Looking for similar advice!!

We are driving to WDW from the Austin area in 3 weeks. We did this same drive in 2009 and hit the ugly traffic in Baton Rouge on the way there. Slowed us to near-standstill and added 2 hours to our commute.

This time around we are leaving 1/2 day earlier so we miss the Houston evening commute traffic and stopping somewhere near Beaumont for the first overnight on the road. We are hoping to make it somewhere near Tallahassee for our second overnight. But, if anyone has any other tips, we're listening

 

[downwithwindows]

We're making the drive on Friday from San Antonio, but spending one night in Gulfport before continuing on to check into Shades of Green for two weeks on Saturday. So excited!

 

[CynJ]

So Mom and I will be driving down October 31st of 2014. Our route is from central Connecticut to Jessup, Maryland (picking up the Aunties) and then from Jessup down to WDW.

I had planned on taking 1-95 (I'm a highway lover) all the way down.

Anyone know of an inexpensive but decent hotel somewhere around Florence or Manning, SC? Or even a bit further south?

 

[BC1836]

Attention long-distance drivers: Go to the "For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" thread for answers from fellow drivers who live 1,000+ miles away fom WDW.

All the best.

 

[DJFan88]

So Mom and I will be driving down October 31st of 2014. Our route is from central Connecticut to Jessup, Maryland (picking up the Aunties) and then from Jessup down to WDW.

I had planned on taking 1-95 (I'm a highway lover) all the way down.

Anyone know of an inexpensive but decent hotel somewhere around Florence or Manning, SC? Or even a bit further south?

If you can make it to Savannah,there is a Best Western right off the highway. Can't remember which exact exit. It also has a Denny's there. From that point, I think you only have like 5 1/2 hours to go. It is just a basic drive your car up to your door type of place, but the rate was good and it came with a free breakfast from the Denny's right there. The Denny's was 24 hours, so when we arrived at 8:30 pm at night, we promptly turned it in to eat. We knew we would be leaving by 3 am to miss some traffic and get in bright and early at Dis!

 

[CynJ]

If you can make it to Savannah,there is a Best Western right off the highway. Can't remember which exact exit. It also has a Denny's there. From that point, I think you only have like 5 1/2 hours to go. It is just a basic drive your car up to your door type of place, but the rate was good and it came with a free breakfast from the Denny's right there. The Denny's was 24 hours, so when we arrived at 8:30 pm at night, we promptly turned it in to eat. We knew we would be leaving by 3 am to miss some traffic and get in bright and early at Dis!

Savannah's a little long for them but I'm thinking St. George, SC is doable. And looking at the map there is a Days Inn and a Comfort Inn right off highway (as well as a truck stop) - that should work for us.

 

[floreksa]

So Mom and I will be driving down October 31st of 2014. Our route is from central Connecticut to Jessup, Maryland (picking up the Aunties) and then from Jessup down to WDW.

I had planned on taking 1-95 (I'm a highway lover) all the way down.

Anyone know of an inexpensive but decent hotel somewhere around Florence or Manning, SC? Or even a bit further south?

We've driven 2x now from Western MA and stopped both times at the Holiday Inn in Santee, SC.

 

[dbogen]

I don't remember where we stayed each time we drove, but I know we were on the South Carolina/Georgia border. What we did was stop at a rest stop and pick up one of the vacation books they have at the doors and look through for a hotel with a great deal.

When the kids were little a hotel with an indoor pool was a necessity for them to but off energy after a long day in the car.

No pre-planning, but we always had a great hotel at a great rate.