Has Anyone Driven from the D.C. area to Disney?

[Christine]

How long did it take? I think Mapquest is putting the time at 12 hours 40 minutes.

I'm considering a last minute trip. I've never driven. I hate interstate hotels so I won't do a stop. Just wondering what the real deal is driving straight through.

I plan on leaving at about 3AM to avoid any types of rush hours through Richmond. I am a bit south of DC myself so I don't have to get through DC.

 

[brownielq]

I'm in Virginia beach and it takes me 12 hours... I have to drive 2 hours west to get to 95 to go south and from there is literally road, trees and billboards. It's not a very scenic drive I always drive straight through and overnight. We're leaving around 2 or 3am so we should get there around 2 or 3pm only stopping for gas and food twice, usually. We'll hopefully have a room ready so we can hang out and check out the resort before O'hana's reservation at 8:00

Have fun!

 

[Christine]

I'm in Virginia beach and it takes me 12 hours... I have to drive 2 hours west to get to 95 to go south and from there is literally road, trees and billboards. It's not a very scenic drive I always drive straight through and overnight. We're leaving around 2 or 3am so we should get there around 2 or 3pm only stopping for gas and food twice, usually. We'll hopefully have a room ready so we can hang out and check out the resort before O'hana's reservation at 8:00

Have fun!

Thanks. I live about 5 minutes off of interstate 95, so that's probably a timesaver for me. I've driven as far south as Hilton Head. Just never as far as Disney. Yes, 95 can be mindnumbingly boring. I was just hoping that the times given were "true" barring an catastrophes. I'd like to get to my hotel by 4PM-ish.

 

[Dizisfun]

We live in Cecil County Maryland, which is about an hour north of Baltimore City. We drive all the time to disney. It usually takes us close to 18 hours. But we stop a lot....never letting our gas gauge read under half a tank of gas. We use these breaks to stretch our legs, get something to drink, eat a snack, etc.... Have fun and be safe....

 

[Tink's Pixieduster]

How long did it take? I think Mapquest is putting the time at 12 hours 40 minutes.

I'm considering a last minute trip. I've never driven. I hate interstate hotels so I won't do a stop. Just wondering what the real deal is driving straight through.

I plan on leaving at about 3AM to avoid any types of rush hours through Richmond. I am a bit south of DC myself so I don't have to get through DC.

OP, I live about 5 minutes from the Lorton Auto Train station so I'm probably not too far from you.

I've driven this trip at least twice, non-stop, and 13 hours is about right. Our last driving trip we left about 3:30 AM and by 4 PM we were sitting in rush hour traffic on I-4 right at downtown Orlando. Rush hour alone would have slowed us down some, but at the time there was also road construction going on and one of those classic Florida afternoon, blinding, afternoon thunderstorms poured down just as we got there, so traffic crawled for a while.

During the trip I tried to maintain a speed that was no more than 5 MPH over the posted speed limits (some state police officers can be very strict), although I did find myself going 10 MPH over the limit a few times when I was going with the flow of traffic.

The only stops we made along the way were in NC for a quick breakfast at a McD's and to top of the gas tank, and gas/bathroom stops in north GA and central FL. I had packed a cooler with sandwiches, fruit and other snacks and cold drinks, so we didn't need to stop for lunch. Joining me on that trip were my two sons about 16 and 20.

One thing I will recommend that will slow you down some if you have younger children, is to stop somewhere for at least 15-30 minutes perhaps halfway through your trip. Adults wearing seat belts can shift in their seats to get more comfortable while on a long road trip, but kids in car seats can't shift their position and can get very uncomfortable. They need to get out and stretch their legs to get the kinks out and to get their circulation moving again.

 

[Christine]

OP, I live about 5 minutes from the Lorton Auto Train station so I'm probably not too far from you.


One thing I will recommend that will slow you down some if you have younger children, is to stop somewhere for at least 15-30 minutes perhaps halfway through your trip. Adults wearing seat belts can shift in their seats to get more comfortable while on a long road trip, but kids in car seats can't shift their position and can get very uncomfortable. They need to get out and stretch their legs to get the kinks out and to get their circulation moving again.

Yes, we are VERY close!!!

Fortunately, I will have no young children with me. My *baby* is 17. It will be my parents, my son and myself. My DD and her boyfriend will be going in a separate car and we won't be traveling together.

The sandwiches/cooler idea is good although not sure I can manage it. If I do this, I will be working the day of my departure. It will probably be all I can do to get the suitcase packed properly but maybe I can coerce my parents into doing it. My digestive system doesn't like a lot of junk/fast food and being at Disney for a week is hard enough so a "good start" is a great idea. I know I've packed food prior to driving to Myrtle Beach but I've had the time to do so. But that's a really good idea.

 

[Tink's Pixieduster]

The sandwiches/cooler idea is good although not sure I can manage it. If I do this, I will be working the day of my departure. It will probably be all I can do to get the suitcase packed properly but maybe I can coerce my parents into doing it. My digestive system doesn't like a lot of junk/fast food and being at Disney for a week is hard enough so a "good start" is a great idea. I know I've packed food prior to driving to Myrtle Beach but I've had the time to do so. But that's a really good idea.

We usually pick up sandwiches at the local Giant deli section (good) or from Wegman's (better!). The sandwiches from Giant will still need to be opened so condiments can be put on before they go in the cooler, but Wegmans will make your sandwiches to order.

 

[girls]

We've driven twice (with young kids.) Last time we didn't mean to drive it in 1 day, but that's what we ended up doing. We are about hour north of DC. We left at 2am. Lunch & rest was at a state park in south carolina (forget the name but it's at that huge lake.) We planned to eat dinner in Savannah, but it was only 3 when we got there & the kids were asleep so we kept driving. We ate dinner at Jacksonville (5:30-ish.) Then changed our reservations to stay that night in Orlando. It was shortly before 9 when got in. That trip was a 2 y.o., 4 y.o. and 8mo pregnant lady.

 

[GranddadTom]

We just drove down from Rockville on July 5th (a Thursday) and it took us 13 hours. The trip back yesterday was 13 1/2 hours because we got stuck in heavy traffic between milepost 121 and 134 on Rt. 95 in Virginia. If you take Rt. 295 around Richmond (speed limit 70 the whole way) you will experience no traffic (at any hour) in Richmond. Also, for the first time, I took the ring road (to the East) around Jacksonville and it worked fine for me. We also had no extended stops. If you leave at 3:00 am, you will be able to get gas with no problems (pumps are on for credit card use but buildings and restrooms may be closed) so plan on stopping at welcome centers as you enter each state. Gas prices are lowest in South Carolina ($3.05) and around $3.25 in Orlando.

 

[Christine]

We just drove down from Rockville on July 5th (a Thursday) and it took us 13 hours. The trip back yesterday was 13 1/2 hours because we got stuck in heavy traffic between milepost 121 and 134 on Rt. 95 in Virginia. If you take Rt. 295 around Richmond (speed limit 70 the whole way) you will experience no traffic (at any hour) in Richmond. Also, for the first time, I took the ring road (to the East) around Jacksonville and it worked fine for me. We also had no extended stops. If you leave at 3:00 am, you will be able to get gas with no problems (pumps are on for credit card use but buildings and restrooms may be closed) so plan on stopping at welcome centers as you enter each state. Gas prices are lowest in South Carolina ($3.05) and around $3.25 in Orlando.

GranddadTom,

How many stops did you make? You said no extended stops so I just assume gas and restroom breaks. Any food?

 

[Cmbar]

We just drove down from Rockville on July 5th (a Thursday) and it took us 13 hours. The trip back yesterday was 13 1/2 hours because we got stuck in heavy traffic between milepost 121 and 134 on Rt. 95 in Virginia. If you take Rt. 295 around Richmond (speed limit 70 the whole way) you will experience no traffic (at any hour) in Richmond. Also, for the first time, I took the ring road (to the East) around Jacksonville and it worked fine for me. We also had no extended stops. If you leave at 3:00 am, you will be able to get gas with no problems (pumps are on for credit card use but buildings and restrooms may be closed) so plan on stopping at welcome centers as you enter each state. Gas prices are lowest in South Carolina ($3.05) and around $3.25 in Orlando.

I agree with most of this post. We just drove from just north of DC to Cape Canaveral two weeks ago and had no problems (no construction along I95) the whole way both coming and going. (We envy anyone who doesn't have to get around DC!) The only traffic we had was around Jacksonville and I mean we hit Jacksonville at 5pm on Friday afternoon, so there was nothing we could do about that.

The swing around Richmond I would only do if you are approaching Richmond at a time when you think Richmond could be busy. If you are hitting it in the late evening or early AM I would go straight through. We didn't on the way down only because they happened to be doing bridge work that evening when we traveled down. It definitely felt like the long way to go around Richmond on the 295 branch. Coming home there was no construction so it was no problem.

Check this out if you have any internet access while driving. I checked it multimple times and it did show that they were doing bridge work on the I95 for Richmond that night. Was very accurate as we passed through the cities.
www.i95highway.com

S.C. had the chepeast gas.

 

[GranddadTom]

We stop after every two hours of driving - sometimes just for bathroom breaks, sometimes for gas and bathroom and once for lunch and once for dinner (McDonalds style!)