For those who drive from Chicago

[notyetretired]

Definitely take I-57. From Chicago it's impossible to get to I-65 these days without hitting tons of construction. The Skyway, I-80, and I-94 ALL have lane closures.

 

[tinaluis]

We've made the drive many times and definitely prefer 57/24/75 over 65/24/75. There is far less congestion and traffic on I-57. We have 3 daughters (8,6,3) and we usually split the drive. We drive about 14 hours the first day, getting us just north of Atlanta, and stay overnight. The next day is about 8 hours of driving. On the way home, we stop overnight in Nashville. Every time I plan the overnight stay, I think we may not need to stop, that we can drive straight through, but I'm sure glad we planned it when we rest our weary heads.

 

[FamilyGuy]

Originally posted by BCV23
Welcome to the DIS, FamilyGuy.

If it were me, I would snag those SW tickets. When factoring in the cost, if you include wear and tear on your car, it might make you feel better.

If you do decide to drive, I would break the trip up.

Have a great first trip!

I actually found tickets on www.usa3000air.com for only $668 round trip for 5 - wow that's cheap. They fly into st petersburg only & have a limited number of flights daily. I'd rent a car and drive to Orlando from there if I did that flight. A close friend who recommended I check their prices (who previously worked for an airline) told me that all of their planes are new since they are relatively new airline.

The other thing is that I won't be driving my own car, I will have the benefit of driving a dealer owned vehicle (unless we decide to take our own car).

I can't believe how much I am waffling between flying and driving. Cost really shouldn't be an excuse. Can't get my wife to budge though. She wants to drive. She is extremly afraid of flying. I recently won an all expenses paid trip to Cancun and she wouldn't go because of flying and leaving the kids behind. Took a $1500 cash option instead of Cancun. That is helping to pay for this Disney trip.

 

[FamilyGuy]

OK, no more waffling.

The family voted 3 to 1 (I voted fly or drive, either one - so does that make it 4 to 2) to fly instead of drive.

I just booked the flight on ATA for $778 r/t for 5 of us... great deal!

We are buying annual passes for the trip and will return at least once over the next year. We may drive down on another trip. We are flying this time though.

Phew..... sigh of relief

 

[jeancbpugh]

Congrats on coming to a decision!

I looked at our plans: 16 days and 3,000 miles...and I wonder if we've lost our minds.

 

[hearts8701]

i live in chicago o'hare area and had my daughter in the college program twice in the last 2 years so i have drove many times to orlando we have always drove straight thru making it in about 18 hours taking little naps and stopping for breakfast a fast lunch and dinner so here are a few tips

for those who are going to make that drive 57 is the best compared to 65 & fastest
remember when you do reach atlanta and if your looking for a rest stop GOOD LUCK there are only a few and they are far between (of course this is when you'll get tired)
the same with illinois on the way back not many rest stops

also instead of taking floridas' turnpike all the way in we used
I-10 east towards jacksonville to avoid construction and traffic

watch the weather we had a terrible ice storm in tennesse being from chicago we thought it was no big deal alittle ice and snow yeah right!!!
well let me tell you it was terrible we where stuck in the mountains where traffic was shut down and i do mean SHUT DOWN for 18 hrs in jan.
so if you go in the winter months be careful and in the summer its just as scary with the rain going thru the mountains so try to drive thru tennesse in daylight
just listen to the radio in bad weather and remember this is not your city you don't know what the weather is like or what damage it can do
most of all you want a have a safe trip

 

[alicenwonder99]

My dh is worried about driving through Chattanooga in January, too.

We need a place to stay overnight. We are a family of 6 (4 kids) and I found a Holiday Inn in a town called Ringgold, GA. It doesn't matter there is nothing to do in the town, we just need a clean place to sleep, an indoor pool, and some food. We chose the Holiday Inn because we have points for a free nights stay. I'm sure my older 2 children will be stuck sleeping on the floor, but what other choice do we have??? That's why it has to be a clean place (no critters running across the floor at night).

Does anyone have a better choice??

Also, we drove before going down I-65 through Indianapolis. We are this time going down I-57. Hope it works out better.

Mary

 

[Becky2005]

My dh is worried about driving through Chattanooga in January, too.

We need a place to stay overnight. We are a family of 6 (4 kids) and I found a Holiday Inn in a town called Ringgold, GA.

Mary

We have 6 in our family too (4 kids) and I have researched for a hotel that would hold 6...if it's the Holiday Inn that I found, it holds 6 people so that your older ones shouldn't have to be sleeping on the floor. OK...I just looked and the Holiday Inn I was looking at is in Marietta, 2265 KINGSTON CT (FORMERLY DELK RD), guess it's a different Holiday Inn. I've looked at so many hotels trying to find one that they all run together now.

 

[hearts8701]

if you are driving straight thru to Georgia you'll be tired and looking for rest not site seeing that's for sure the kids will be looking to run they've been locked in a car for hours, so when you stop rest.. have a good dinner... let the kids run around the hotel...swimming will tire them out for the night they won't care about sleeping on the floor maybe bringing sleeping bags will make all the children want to sleep on the floor something to consider as a gift from santa if they don't already have sleeping bags... wake up refreshed and continue on your way because..............
YOUR GOING TO DISNEY WORLD

 

[jeancbpugh]

We have 6 in our family too (4 kids) and I have researched for a hotel that would hold 6...if it's the Holiday Inn that I found, it holds 6 people so that your older ones shouldn't have to be sleeping on the floor. OK...I just looked and the Holiday Inn I was looking at is in Marietta, 2265 KINGSTON CT (FORMERLY DELK RD), guess it's a different Holiday Inn. I've looked at so many hotels trying to find one that they all run together now.

We invested in an aerobed. We just have two kids, but there are times when they each need their own space to stretch out. So we bring the aerobed, a sleeping bag, and a couple of pillows on every road trip.

 

[alicenwonder99]

We have 6 in our family too (4 kids) and I have researched for a hotel that would hold 6...if it's the Holiday Inn that I found, it holds 6 people so that your older ones shouldn't have to be sleeping on the floor. OK...I just looked and the Holiday Inn I was looking at is in Marietta, 2265 KINGSTON CT (FORMERLY DELK RD), guess it's a different Holiday Inn. I've looked at so many hotels trying to find one that they all run together now.

Thanks. I'll research this hotel and see how far it is. I can't imagine dh wanting to drive much into Georgia our first day.

BTW, which resort are you staying at in WDW? We're going to stay in a FW cabin (first time there).

Mary

 

[alicenwonder99]

Well, it doesn't seem like that hotel in Mareitta GA has an indoor pool. Plus, it seems too far for the first day's drive. Instead, I booked a hotel in Chattanooga, TN that has an indoor pool, free breakfast, and a suite that sleeps 7. I got that for 10,000 points with the Priority Club so we got that room for free. The picture of the pool doesn't look that great, but it says it's heated and I'm sure the kids won't mind.

Mary

 

[Becky2005]

We are staying at the Contemporary as our littliest one is only 1, so he won't count for occupancy rates at WDW (I have no idea if regular hotels count under 3 for occupancy rates or not. LOL!! I had always assumed it was a person, therefore they counted!)

Originally we were going to do the cabins as we started planning about 2 years ago before we knew we were going to be a family of 6 instead of 5. I've heard wonderful things about the cabins and if my kids were older, I think that is where we would stay but with dealing with the internal busses with a stroller, then dealing with external busses with a stroller and all the baby stuff that goes with it...location of the Contemporary won out (walking to MK was a HUGE factor for naps & such).

I know for us, we can definitely get into Marietta the first day, we drove straight home from Griffin once which is south of Atlanta (DH had done the Richard Petty Driving at the racetrack), when we only had our oldest 2 and they were young (before any were in school)...we hadn't planned it that way, just kind of happened due to "we are so close, let's just go for it" (after not finding a vacant hotel) DH told me "Never let me do that again" when we got into the driveway (it was awful - we were both falling asleep at the wheel, so I know that is not a repeat experience we want to do!), so I know we need to stop North of Atlanta and that it's feasible (that also gets the bulk of the driving out of the way the 1st day!).

Depends on where you start in the Chicagoland area though.

Looks like we were posting at the same time. I see you already booked your hotel. Have fun (I forgot about the indoor pool part - since we are going in July, I just wanted a pool at the hotel, didn't matter if it was indoor/outdoor).

 

[alicenwonder99]

Hi Becky,

That's too funny: we had original ressies for the Contemporary!!! My 13 year old niece moved in with us last month so now we are an unexpected family of 6. I know EXACTLY what you mean about the stroller situation. Our last visit we brought our double stroller with for the little ones and it was a major pain. We won't be using our own stroller this time (little ones are 6 and 4), but that's why I wanted to stay at the Contemporary, the easy access to MK.

Have a fun trip. I'll post after our stay at the Holiday Inn in Chattanooga and let you know how it is.

Mary
(from the southwest suburbs)

 

[jeancbpugh]

(from the southwest suburbs)

We're southwest, also. 30 miles west of Chicago. I'm still debating the route. I need to make a ressie for the way down. You think Chattanooga is about 1/2 way?

 

[HappyLawyer]

well u guys are brave i am freakin out about renting a car in fl for the first time, from chicago we just fly

 

[alicenwonder99]

We're southwest, also. 30 miles west of Chicago. I'm still debating the route. I need to make a ressie for the way down. You think Chattanooga is about 1/2 way?

Yeah, that's what we figured.

Mary

 

[Jon99]

This is what we do, for us works very well...

We live in Kankakee County, take my wife to work in the morning, DD and I pick her up at school (she teaches) at 3:00 sharp, because I dropped her off we can leave right from Manteno.. Head down I-57, hitting Effingham by 5:00 and Paducah by 7:00, where we stop and eat.. Back in the Jeep by 7:45, can normally be in Nashville by midnight, Atlanta by 3:00 EST, stop in Valdosta to eat around 6:00 and into Orlando by 10:00..

 

[manning]

Use to drive Chicago to Disney many times via I-65, I-24, And I-75.

Mileage wise. Chattanooga is the half way point.

 

[jeancbpugh]

Okay, I've made two reservations for possible stopovers: one in Chattanooga, the other at Atlanta. We'll cancel depending on how we are doing that day.

Still undecided on I-65 vs. I-57!