Gearing up for the long drive

[dianeschlicht]

Last January we drove from the Twin Cities area of Minnesota to OKW with 6 people. I dreaded the thought, but we had a blast! Fast forward to this year, and we are again driving down this week, but this time with only 4 people in the vehicle. Not looking forward to it again, but mostly because I'm currently suffering from a concussion, and movement bothers me.

Can't wait to get down to that Florida Sunshine though! It looks like we are going to have rainy chilly weather most of the way down, so a nice sunny warm weather week next week in Orlando would please me greatly! Hoping for some pixie dust in this week's forecast!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

How long of a drive is it? Where do you stay overnight? We are contemplating driving down from Maryland for our October visit to WDW. It is about 13-14 hours to drive. The worst part of the trip is getting out of Virginia. Do you find it hard to get motivated for the drive home? We have never driven to Florida.

 

[disneymomjcs]

Best of luck for the trip and a smooth ride. We live in Pennsylvania and have never driven down it seems like a long ride, especially with an injury. Stay safe. Bring a huge pillow.

 

[Sammie]

You be very careful with that concussion.

 

[dianeschlicht]

How long of a drive is it? Where do you stay overnight? We are contemplating driving down from Maryland for our October visit to WDW. It is about 13-14 hours to drive. The worst part of the trip is getting out of Virginia. Do you find it hard to get motivated for the drive home? We have never driven to Florida.

It's 1500-1600 miles. The other couple going with us is older, so they don't want to travel more than 550 miles a day. We are leaving about 1:00 pm on Thursday and will stop somewhere in Illinois that night. Then we plan for Murfreesboro, TN, the next night and Gainsville or Ocala the night after that. That way we can try to get into OKW early on Sunday morning and have that whole day playing around.

This is a short Disney trip. We were at AKV/Kidani for a week in December (just the two of us), but this trip is just 5 nights (6 days) at OKW to celebrate DH's birthday where he turns Social Security eligible. His Birthday is Friday the 9th, and we will hang around Disney most of that day, but are heading down to Fort Myers that evening for a few days at Twins Spring Training Camp. Then that LOOOOOONG drive home again. UGH.

 

[Cyndibear]

Congrats to your Dh on his Milestone Birthday!!! Hope you have a fantastic time and take care of that concussion! Enjoy your Spring Training games, I myself can't wait for baseball season to start, Go Phillies!! Be safe driving, it can be a long trip but your stays overnight will help to break it up a little.

Have fun!!

Cyndi

 

[dvc_john]

Hey Diane...
I'm headed the other way this week. In Destin Florida Thursday, then Franklin Tn (about as far south of Nashville on I-65 as Murfreesboro is southeast on I-24) on Friday. Thought for a minute there we'd be passing each other in opposite directions somewhere on I-24 lol.

 

[disneybass]

Have a great drive down. Hope the weather is good for you!

 

[mac_tlc]

Hope you have great weather and an uneventful drive! We have done the drive from CT 10 times or so -- about 1200 miles to WDW. I actually look forward to it. Do it with one overnight in SC/GA.

BTW, say hello to that other team in Fort Myers We'll see who garners the mayor's cup this spring.

Enjoy !

mac_tlc

 

[bobbiwoz]

Have a safe and enjoyable trip! Happy birthday to your DH!

We drove to FL for the first time in December, it's shorter for us, but 500 - 600 miles a day is our limit too! We are older, this was my Medicare birthday!

Bobbi

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

How long of a drive is it? Where do you stay overnight? We are contemplating driving down from Maryland for our October visit to WDW. It is about 13-14 hours to drive. The worst part of the trip is getting out of Virginia. Do you find it hard to get motivated for the drive home? We have never driven to Florida.

Boy is that an understatement!! The traffic is Virginia is ridiculous. Can take one hour to go 3 miles!!! We used to drive from Montreal (22 hours of actual driving time at a normal speed). We loved the drive and would make it part of the trip. We tried to stay at Embassy Suite hotels that were absolutely beautiful. One of the nicest is actually in Richmond. However, the traffic through Virginia became too much and we have flown for the last several years.

Maryland would seem like nothing for us (always considered that to be about half way!!!!)

 

[vandy]

Best wishes and prayers for good weather. We drive from the Des Moines area every year so we can relate. Our older kids have made up scavanger hunt lists for weird items that really helps pass the time. Looking for items such as a biker with a ZZ Top beard, a pickup truck with a gun rack, a sign in the shape of food, an RV pulling a car with bicycles on it and so forth. Think they got these lists off the internet.

 

[rbuzzotta]

Safe travels Diane......I feel your pain...making the drive in April!!

 

[ajf1007]

Sending all of the I can for a safe and weather friendly trip! Like Sammie said, be careful with that concussion, they are definitely no fun! Happy Birthday to your DH too! Have a great time!

 

[WDWMom]

Our drive from MI is about 19 hours. Murfreesboro is about the half way point for us, plus we have free lodging there We have great friends who live there and we stay with them. We have driven once, but have also gone to Hilton Head.

We are driving down next month too. This is one of 2 trips to the World and we can't afford to fly twice, so we just book OKW for early April and that is the trip we are driving down to. Going back in late May but it is a quick trip and we are flying.

 

[DVCconvert]

Hope that concussion wasn't caused by you seeing your Jan Dues statement!
;-)

 

[supersuperwendy]

Sounds like fun Diane!

Have a safe drive down!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Hey Diane...
I'm headed the other way this week. In Destin Florida Thursday, then Franklin Tn (about as far south of Nashville on I-65 as Murfreesboro is southeast on I-24) on Friday. Thought for a minute there we'd be passing each other in opposite directions somewhere on I-24 lol.

No, it's faster for us to go through Illinois than Iowa. I hope both you and we have good traveling weather. It looks like a mixed bag of rain, freezing rain, sleet and heavy snow depending on how that latest storm tracks. It's supposed to start arriving here on Tuesday during the day. Right now it looks to be tracking so that the heavy snow is north of the cities, but the freezing rain looks to be right where we have to go!!!

It looks like mostly a wet drive down for us, but next week's forecast looks pretty good. Of course, who can tell this far out!?!? I get so spoiled with the good weather forecasting up here that I am always startled at how poor it is in other parts of the country.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Hope that concussion wasn't caused by you seeing your Jan Dues statement!
;-)

LOL! No, our dues didn't change that much, and we have ours deducted monthly, so we hardly notice. I got hit by a big old wooden clock falling off the wall. Time flies, you know! The clock took a licking but kept on ticking. I, however, didn't.

 

[vandy]

No, it's faster for us to go through Illinois than Iowa.

Have you driven the Avenue of the Saints through Iowa to St. Louis? Four lanes most of the way and much faster than taking Interstates all the way. Rand McNally also shows this to be faster than going through Illinois.