Give me the truth about driving from Ontario ;)

[suse66]

We are a little north east of Newmarket and will be making the drive down in 24 days time! Our plan right now is to leave Thursday right after school (I'm a teacher), go about 8 hours which will bring us in to Florence, Kentucky just after midnight. We plan on sleeping 5-6 hours and then being on the road again by about 6:30 am. Hopefully we'll arrive in DTD early Friday evening, then check into our Disney resort on Sat. Does this sound realistic? Do you think we should just go straight through instead? We have 3 boys (14, 12,12) who are all good road trippers as we drive 18 hours every summer to PEI.

All thought/advice appreciated!

 

[mort1331]

We are just south of you in Aurora, if you can drive straight to PEI, then drive straight to WDW. We drive straight to Windsor,Nova Scotia, so go for it. I would rather leave at dinner time, arrive around dinner time, get a full nights rest in WDW and hit the ground running after a great rest.

Seeing your dates after, we might as well drive together,lol, we will be at Beach |Club at the same time, but leaving a few days before you. See you at the pool.

 

[TH0MAS]

Hi there! We are trying to decide exactly the same thing. We're leaving from near Trenton and going as far as Hagerstown the first night. Will probably leave on Friday. But right now its looking like a wintery mix of snow , freezing rain and ice all the way to Statesville on Sat. So we're considering leaving I77 at Staunton and cutting over to the I95 at Richmond instead of going all the way down the 77 to the 26. What route will you be taking?

I believe we'll be taking the I-81 and then the I-95 all the way down. I think that's what we did last time. I usually refer to the CAA Triptik maps while driving and put the resort address in the GPS. We may try taking a detour around Washington which we planned to do last time and didn't and were stuck in traffic for hours although it shouldn't be bad for traffic this time as it's the weekend. It looks really cruddy all weekend for weather and I think we'll leave the winter tires on for this trip as once we get to the resort, we use the Disney transportation the entire stay and don't touch our car.

 

[minnie mum]

There's no way we'd take our winter tires off for the drive at this time of year. Not when we'll have winter conditions for 2/3 of the trip. And like you, our car will just sit in the resort parking lot for our whole stay. DH is still considering picking up he 95 at Washington. It will depend on what the forecast is looking like tomorrow.

 

[TH0MAS]

Haha, thanks for reinforcing our decision to leave the winter tires on! It was those or all-seasons but because of the winter weather projected for this weekend, the prudent decision is to leave the winter tires on for the drive.

 

[cisco911]

There's no way we'd take our winter tires off for the drive at this time of year. Not when we'll have winter conditions for 2/3 of the trip. And like you, our car will just sit in the resort parking lot for our whole stay. DH is still considering picking up he 95 at Washington. It will depend on what the forecast is looking like tomorrow.

You will destroy your winter tires the second half of the trip. BY the time you come back you won't be riding on winter tires anymore. They will most likely be destroyed.

 

[minnie mum]

You will destroy your winter tires the second half of the trip. BY the time you come back you won't be riding on winter tires anymore. They will most likely be destroyed.

So you would recommend driving through snow and freezing rain and ice on regular tires? Because that is what is forecast for our route this weekend. Or perhaps you would recommend that we load the summer tires in the back seat and have them changed once we hit S. Carolina? What is your solution?

 

[mshanson3121]

You will destroy your winter tires the second half of the trip. BY the time you come back you won't be riding on winter tires anymore. They will most likely be destroyed.

She's only looking at about 2000 km on the tires in warmer weather, and only about 500-600 or so of that in any real warm temps, especially when you remember that currently South Carolina is in a cold snap, the high there today is 2-3C. Not exactly a concern to tires. Even if they do warm up to normal temps, average temps through the Carolinas/Virginia for this time of year are only 50-60s anyways. So, that will in no way, destroy her winter tires. Were she to run them for several months down in Florida, yes. But a 2-3 week vacation, not even close. Further more, you are not allowed to import tires into the United States for installation.

 

[mshanson3121]

So you would recommend driving through snow and freezing rain and ice on regular tires? Because that is what is forecast for our route this weekend. Or perhaps you would recommend that we load the summer tires in the back seat and have them changed once we hit S. Carolina? What is your solution?

Leave the winter tires on. They'll be fine. You'll be at risk of snow for at least 50% of your trip, both ways. If it wears them out faster, so be it. You can replace tires, if for some reason they do mysteriously wear out. However, you can't replace a life that might have been saved by those tires. Just make sure they're not studded (which I'm asuming they're not), as studded tires will not be allowed.

 

[cisco911]

The problem is not the time but the straight highway time. Once you get to the southern states, you will be driving in 20+ degree weather for hours on end at a high rate of speed. Winter tires only perform well below 7 degrees celsius and when you add in that you will be doing straight highway driving, you are doing damage to the tires and can actually cause a tire failure. Also, a winter tire will require 15 to 20 feet more space to stop in the dry warm weather than an summer tire. I'm not saying that you should slap on your summer tires. What I am saying is that it is dangerous in both respects and you will significantly reduce the life of your winter tires. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[minnie mum]

Oh, I'm leaving them on, never fear. Just had an oil change and fluids topped up and had the guys take a torque wrench to the lug nuts (just in case) this morning. My previous post was with my tongue firmly imbedded in my cheek. I would never endanger our lives by driving that route in winter with summer tires, even if it means we end up with a bit more wear on them (the winter ones). We've done this several times before with no obvious damage to the tires.

We will only have 2 days of driving in warm temperatures, and are fully aware that stopping times will be increased and well need to check tire pressure a couple of times. They are not dangerous for the period of time we are talking about. Weeks or months of use? Yes. Days? No.

 

[hockeygirl14]

We've driven down from the Toronto area and it takes about 20 hours or so to get to Orlando. We usually stop in South Carolina for the night and try to group together our stops (ie. gas, washroom and food together when we can). Lucky for us we have 4 drivers so we have the ability to drive longer if need be. Last time I left around 3am, and we stopped around midnight in Florence SC. Keep in mind we detoured through Richmond VA to have dinner with friends which was about a 2hr stop (during rush hour thank god). We were in Orlando by dinner time the next day, after leaving at around 9-9:30am.

We drive down I-95 because crossing the border in Buffalo just makes more sense for us(given we live about an hour and a half from the border)

I will say the drive is much more pleasant in the summer than the winter - in January you don't really know what you're going to get.

 

[bankr63]

The problem is not the time but the straight highway time. Once you get to the southern states, you will be driving in 20+ degree weather for hours on end at a high rate of speed. Winter tires only perform well below 7 degrees celsius and when you add in that you will be doing straight highway driving, you are doing damage to the tires and can actually cause a tire failure. Also, a winter tire will require 15 to 20 feet more space to stop in the dry warm weather than an summer tire. I'm not saying that you should slap on your summer tires. What I am saying is that it is dangerous in both respects and you will significantly reduce the life of your winter tires. Just something to keep in mind.

Probably true of winter tires 20-30 years ago, but most modern winter radials have taken care of these issues and performance is only slightly reduced at warmer temperatures over standard ASR's. The only real issue now is that the softer rubber compounds wear quicker in warm weather, but a few days of added wear is worth the trade-off for better performance driving through the snow belt. We keep our winter tires on for our southern sojourns. I actually find my Blizzaks provide better cornering and traction in the warm compared to the OEM Low Resistance tires due to the soft compound, they become very sticky like race tires, but aggressive driving will shred them up pretty quick (also like race tires). As long as you stay within the operating parameters of the tires posted on the sidewall (speed and load range) and keep them fully inflated (check your TPMS reading if you have one), you should not experience any issues.

 

[PeaMuff]

Hi PeaMuff,

Any hotel recommendations for Wilson? We also drive from Ottawa, but will stay on I-81 to I-77 and stop at Charlotte NC, UNLESS there is inland weather in which case we will slip over to 1-95 earlier. Wilson looks to be about the same distance as Charlotte on the Eastern route. Also, have you considered I-66-SR17 to avoid all of the DC traffic - you don't really need to worry about time of day then. It is far enough away that traffic is manageable, but it does have a good stretch of 2-lane.

Hi there! For the past two years, we've stayed at the Country Inn & Suites in Wilson. It's not far off of the highway, the rates are really decent, as we get the 1-room suite (so we can put the girls to bed early enough and my husband and I can relax in the "living room" area and watch a little TV) - I think we pay around $95 for the 1-bedroom suite. There's a free hot breakfast included, free coffee and cookies, and you can request a snack bag to go per person (if I remember correctly, it's a bottle of water, a granola bar and an apple - perfect snack for later in the car!). No complaints at all about this place (in fact, we've already booked this place again for this coming Sept.!) - very nice people, clean rooms.
Hope this helps!

We haven't tried the 1-66 SR17 route... hmm, we'll have to look into it. Do you run into any tolls on that route?

 

[bankr63]

Hi there! For the past two years, we've stayed at the Country Inn & Suites in Wilson. It's not far off of the highway, the rates are really decent, as we get the 1-room suite (so we can put the girls to bed early enough and my husband and I can relax in the "living room" area and watch a little TV) - I think we pay around $95 for the 1-bedroom suite. There's a free hot breakfast included, free coffee and cookies, and you can request a snack bag to go per person (if I remember correctly, it's a bottle of water, a granola bar and an apple - perfect snack for later in the car!). No complaints at all about this place (in fact, we've already booked this place again for this coming Sept.!) - very nice people, clean rooms.
Hope this helps!

We haven't tried the 1-66 SR17 route... hmm, we'll have to look into it. Do you run into any tolls on that route?

No tolls at all. It is actually the route the CAA suggests for their TripTiks, but we still prefer staying inland longer if weather is cooperating.

 

[Frozen2014]

Driving sure would save a lot as flights are so much these days. Unfrotunately I can't sit for long so it's not an option for us. Let us know if you end up doign the drive.

 

[TH0MAS]

Thanks for all the replies about the tires. We've also decided to leave our winter tires on for this trip. The forecast is quite poor for this weekend and once we get to the resort, the car stays parked so I'd rather have some premature tire wear for the one day of driving in the Southern states but ensure that we arrive safely.

Conversely when we drove two years ago, we switched to our all-season tires but the weather was clear the entire way.

 

[vacation_junkie]

We are looking at going in January. We would normally fly out of buffalo but this time we would be renting a house off property with my parents and siblings. There would be 3 cars leaving from Barrie area. How long would the trip really take and what is the drive like? We would have to stop along the way several times for washroom breaks, etc. My husband is going to fight tooth and nail not to drive....lol. But with being off sight and with everyone else driving I think we can do it . Saves us renting a car too

This is my dilemma .. Dh says he wants to drive once. We always fly.
We just had a crazy weather experience with flying .delays..cancellations etc. So were thinking of changing our January vacation to April next year.
He thinks the scenery will be nice. I am impatient and just wanna get there...lol

I am wondering if it is really...that bad as well. LOL

 

[MystikaFaith]

We drove in December 2009 from Kingston, Ont.

It was hubby and I and our two kids (4 and 8) packed into a two door 1994 Buick Regal Grand sport. Fun times! We were eloping and I'm pretty sure my wedding dress took up 2/3rds of the trunk lol

Not including hotel stops, but including pee breaks (there were many pee breaks) and meals the drive took 28 hours each way. Once you get out of Canada there are LOTS of rest stops along the way. More than we even needed. After each pee break, I'd make the kids and myself do a few jumping jacks and run around the vehicle a few times to wear off some energy (them) and reduce the chances of a DVT (family history - me). If American's didn't think Canadians were crazy before we drove down, they do now!

That was the first time we ever drove into the states (aside from a few just over the border outings), so it was quite the adventure. It was actually quite neat to see the climate, vegetation and wildlife change as we ventured from state to state and closer to the equator. Clothes peeling off as we went. Boots turning into runners into flip flops. When you leave here in the winter the changes are incredible to witness and experience. Hitting Georgia was like hitting a wall of heat. It was then that we realized our car was truly Canadian. The poor girl would over heat every time we'd drive more than 70. Yes, we were those tourists.

The kids did well. No fighting (they try to kill each other on a daily basis) and no whining "Are we there yet". They were just TOO excited I think. We had a portable DVD player and movies, video games, crayons, travel games and loads of snacks. Well, as many as we could fit into our little Buick.

Going there went really quickly.

Driving back wasn't near as exciting. It wasn't tortourous by any means, but it wasn't "fun". It's hard to feel pumped about the drive when "home" is your destination. We slept two nights in a hotel on the way back.

I would certainly do it again. We saved a ton of cash and by doing so we were able to have more Disney spending money and prolong the fun. Unlike what seems to be the majority on here, our lives are dictated more by finances than time so finding ways to save money is key to achieving the best possible Disney experience. If we had to pay more for airfare, we would have had to drop time and extras from Disney, and that's just not cool.

 

[mikeyblueeyes]

Haha, thanks for reinforcing our decision to leave the winter tires on! It was those or all-seasons but because of the winter weather projected for this weekend, the prudent decision is to leave the winter tires on for the drive.

Good call, leave the winters on. It will only get a bit harder on them when the temperature rises above 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit). You will probable only encounter those temps on the last leg of the drive heading into FL, but then again if may be near the end of the day so the temps will be dropping off then too.