For those folks driving!

[bjschil]

Anyone here stop in Valdosta, GA when they drive down? Any hotel suggestions? We are coming down from Indianapolis, though not until the end of September. It'll be a 12 hour drive so we should get there about 6PM.

We have stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Valdosta. Because we travel with our fifth wheel, and are still winterized, we don’t camp until we get Fort Wilderness. It is clean, and dozens of restaurants (chain) close. I believe there is also a Dury Inn across the street, Safe travels.

 

[Glenn&Sharon]

We'll be driving our motor home down to FW in a few weeks. From I-95 would it be better to take I-4 or continue south on 95 to Titusville and take 528 across? We expect to be arriving in mid afternoon.

 

[jimmytammy]

We'll be driving our motor home down to FW in a few weeks. From I-95 would it be better to take I-4 or continue south on 95 to Titusville and take 528 across? We expect to be arriving in mid afternoon.

We take I-4 but we then take the toll road 417 to exit 3. It may take you 10 minutes out of the way but its a better drive than I-4 at that point, especially driving or pulling a camper. There is tons of road construction on I-4 shortly past the 417 exit. And afternoon on 4 can be the pits. It will cost you about $8 on 417 but well worth the sanity to me. Exit 3 will put you a little further south on property but less congested and it will take you about the same amount of time, but less traffic than exit 6

 

[bobbie68]

Hi everyone so glad I found this thread ....I could use a little help with my trip. This is our first time driving from CT to Florida. However, I have decided to take advantage of driving and stopping at a couple of Cedar Fair Parks. We will be leaving on June 18th or June 19th ( Monday or Tuesday) in the morning after rush hour and heading for Ashland VA.We will stay here while visiting Kings Dominion. W will be about 20 minutes north of Richmond. We will be departing on either the 20th or 21st to head to Orlando. I have only driven 95 and ...I know of the I-81 into Virginia it looks like I can make it to get there but wasn't sure if anyone else has?

Coming home we were going to leave Orlando on a Friday about 6:00-6:30 and drive to Yemassee South Carolina by 95 stay the night then head to Charlotte to Carowinds on Saturday for a few hours. We would leave Charlotte about 2:00pm and stop in Springfield VA for the night. Once again driving 95 We were going to get up on Sunday morning and leave about 8:00 am. We are about 10 minutes outside DC and was going to take 95N that morning to CT. Has anybody traveled these times of day on the weekend? Any suggestions?

We do need to have overnights some people going can't do long car rides at a clip. I want to get home by early afternoon on Sunday to unpack and clean

I appreciate any help

 

[RJB97]

Drive as long as you can! Good luck! Driving at 3AM from VA was super easy! No one on the roads until 8am!

 

[bobbie68]

Hi so thanks to our lovely snow days in the northeast.. I had to move my trip up a week and traveling on different days of the week. MY questions are I am leaving on Sunday morning about 8:00 am to head to Ashland VA (20 minutes north of Richmond) Do you think Sunday is okay on 95 or should I take the I-81 then back track up to Ashaland?

I am leaving for Orlando on a Tuesday morning from Ashland. I was thinking about leaving after rush hour about 8:30am. Does this sound good or should I do something else? I have to be in Orlando Tuesday night. Should I do 95?

Coming home I am leaving Florida on a Friday morning and driving to Charlotte we will stay there over night. Later in the afternoon we were going to leave (about 2:00 pm) and drive to right outside DC staying in VA. Then Sunday morning get up and leave by; 8:00 to CT on 95. Any ideas or suggestions wold be helpful.

 

[Nancy O]

I will post here first. There may even be a response already. We are driving from the Midwest. I need tips for getting through Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta. I always wonder if it is worth it to take the by-pass. I know in St. Louis it is not unless there is a something major happening downtown.

 

[Euby]

I will post here first. There may even be a response already. We are driving from the Midwest. I need tips for getting through Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta. I always wonder if it is worth it to take the by-pass. I know in St. Louis it is not unless there is a something major happening downtown.

I live in Nashville. There really isn't a true "bypass". It may look like it on the maps, but it doesn't go all the way around the city. Plus, it starts as a highway and then turns into a 4 lane street. Just go through downtown. Follow your GPS and you should be ok. Commuting traffic has usually died down after 7pm, if that helps any. Unless there is a sporting event downtown, then just stay away from an exit lane.

I've driven through Chattanooga several times. Once again, not really a bypass there, unless you take some backroads.

Atlanta is a different story all together. I've done both the bypass and going straight through downtown. It may have been the time of day or just luck, but using the HOV lane through downtown helped a lot. The bypass really takes a wide swing around the city. So even though it may not save time, it feels like it because you are at least moving.

Hope that helps some.

 

[Nancy O]

I live in Nashville. There really isn't a true "bypass". It may look like it on the maps, but it doesn't go all the way around the city. Plus, it starts as a highway and then turns into a 4 lane street. Just go through downtown. Follow your GPS and you should be ok. Commuting traffic has usually died down after 7pm, if that helps any. Unless there is a sporting event downtown, then just stay away from an exit lane.

I've driven through Chattanooga several times. Once again, not really a bypass there, unless you take some backroads.

Atlanta is a different story all together. I've done both the bypass and going straight through downtown. It may have been the time of day or just luck, but using the HOV lane through downtown helped a lot. The bypass really takes a wide swing around the city. So even though it may not save time, it feels like it because you are at least moving.

Hope that helps some.

Thanks for the tips. I have often wondered about the by-passes and how much time they actually save. I usually go straight through. Atlanta is the worst. Nashville has been hit or miss.

 

[SL6827]

Chattanooga is not bad. Atlanta is a totally different story.

 

[mrsap]

Hey guys!! We have been driving to Disney since 2004! I do not like flying, so thankfully I have a wonderful husband who doesn’t mind doing it!! We have approximately a 15-16 hour drive, with stops/traffic. Typically take I-95, but have also tried 81. My kids are great in the car, with exception of car sickness every now and then. We try to be creative to keep them busy both ways. We have gone straight through before, but also make stops over night, depending on what time we leave. Typically stop in GA somewhere.

Looking forward to chatting with you guys about our upcoming trips!

 

[Cotillard]

Driving soon from SC. I take I-95 to I-4. My last two or three trips, my navigation system takes me on a small detour in Jacksonville, through a neighborhood and right back onto 95 South. Does anyone know if this detour is still in place and WHY? I can't tell if it's a necessary detour or just my nav system doing something weird. This has been a couple of years now? Thx

 

[bocaj1431]

Hi all. Love this thread!

First time driving from CT to DW. I will be doing all the driving. Not looking forward to that but will be worth it once in Disney.

I will be using my Phone as a gps but have heard that service can go out in some parts of drive to DW. Does anyone have any advice? This is all new to me.

 

[Nancy O]

Hi all. Love this thread!

First time driving from CT to DW. I will be doing all the driving. Not looking forward to that but will be worth it once in Disney.

I will be using my Phone as a gps but have heard that service can go out in some parts of drive to DW. Does anyone have any advice? This is all new to me.

I use my phone too but usually have a back-up google maps or mapquest print out available.

 

[Monykalyn]

I will post here first. There may even be a response already. We are driving from the Midwest. I need tips for getting through Nashville, Chattanooga and Atlanta. I always wonder if it is worth it to take the by-pass. I know in St. Louis it is not unless there is a something major happening downtown.

We drive from Southwest Missouri - Nashville and Chattanooga aren't bad (obviously try to avoid rush hours), but Atlanta is horrible no matter what you do. We went through at 3 am on Sunday morning once and traffic was still bad!

I use Waze app as it will give estimates of drive times both around and through, and will also usually give why it's slow (heavy traffic vs accident).
St Louis drivers are nuts, and so are Georgia drivers lol.

 

[mrsap]

Hi all. Love this thread!

First time driving from CT to DW. I will be doing all the driving. Not looking forward to that but will be worth it once in Disney.

I will be using my Phone as a gps but have heard that service can go out in some parts of drive to DW. Does anyone have any advice? This is all new to me.

The only time I recall losing my service was when we took 81 and were in the mountains, I believe in SC. It wasn’t out for too long, but it did make us nervous not knowing how long it would be out for. We did not have a back up.

 

[bocaj1431]

I use my phone too but usually have a back-up google maps or mapquest print out available.

Ok so this is probably a stupid question but if I print out directions is it like 20+ pages? I will definitely do that because even if there are numerous pages it’s better than nothing.
Thank you Nancy!

The only time I recall losing my service was when we took 81 and were in the mountains, I believe in SC. It wasn’t out for too long, but it did make us nervous not knowing how long it would be out for. We did not have a back up.

Yeah that would make me very nervous! I would start thinking of all those horror movies where someone gets lost while driving and needs to stop and get help. Definitely want to avoid that while driving at night!

 

[la79al]

Thinking about taking 81 instead of 95 for our next trip. We usually drive at night when the kiddos are asleep but this trip we are leaving in the morning and driving all day. Anything we need to stop at along 81? Any websites that show the best rest stops/ any playground type things?

 

[wdwfav]

We are driving from Wichita KS, does anyone have any advice on which route to take? It scares me to think about driving thru Atlanta. We are going the end of August.

 

[deedeew80]

Hi everyone! Joining in on driving the Disney. Everyone thinks we are crazy of course! Lol! I’m not looking forward to it but my husband refuses to fly. Anyway. We check in to All Star Music on Saturday, November 24. We plan on leaving early Friday morning (the 23rd and day after Thanksgiving) like hopefully 4am, if not earlier. I’m afraid my kids won’t go back to sleep once we wake them. They are 8 & 6. But hopefully they will. We plan on driving as far as we can before we stop. I don’t want to spend too much time driving on Saturday because we plan on going right to the parks!! But we will see how it goes I guess. Any tips on the drive, where a good place to stop is, are we crazy for trying to drive as far as we can? Thanks!