Has anyone ever driven a long distance just to do US/IOA?

[Mercy]

OK, now I know I'm on the US/IOA board, so this may be a dumb question here. But I was wondering if anyone has traveled a long distance just to do US/IOA and not gone to WDW as well. We live about 15 (driving) hours away. So if we decide to head south we usually do WDW (we really love WDW!) and US all in the same trip. We are planning another trip south next year and thought we would do WDW, then maybe the next year go and do US/IOA....

I guess my question is will we be able to drive all that way to go to US and somehow resist Mickey and friends??

 

[mjandz]

well we are driving from nj to fl and only going to IOA and US,then driving futher south to my parents house.

We did disney a few years ago,well go back there in a few more years.

Allison

 

[EUROPA]

We are in protest of Disney and not going until they get their act together. So this year we are driving down 8-9 hours to just go to Unversal / IOA and Sea World. Plus we won't to do a couple of smaller things that we never seem to have time for. So no its not out of the question.

 

[eazyrider]

We drove 14 hrs last year for us/ioa 4 days and had such a blast we are returning in 3 weeks for another 4 days! We have time to do both parks at our leisure with fotl and then had time to relax around pool and go shopping!!!!!

 

[The Sweetness]

I live in Miami and have just about a 4 hour trip, and DH *loves* to drive. Now if I could just stop being so paranoid about car wrecks and being car sick, I wont mind the ride at all

 

[robvia]

I live in Plantaton FL, which is 3.5 hours South. It's been over 4 years since I've been to Disney. I've been to IOA/USF/BGT/SWF countless times. One time I drove up on a Friday morning, visited IOA, and drove back that night, but that was too short.

The wife and I are driving up this weekend. Leaving at 4am Sunday morning, will arrive IOA at 8am, stay over 1 night at the Hojo, visit Monday morning, and drive home.

 

[Nan]

We've driven 12 hours three times in the past three years JUST to go to US/IOA. We've stayed onsite everytime and we always start planning our next trip on the way home!!!!

Nan

 

[Molokai Gram]

We don't drive, but last year I flew over 14 hours to go just to USO and meet others from the board and never even thought about going to Disney!

 

[pathubia]

We drove 23 hours in April to stay at Universal, didnt even miss that other park.

Patty

 

[sha_lyn]

We've made 2 trips to US/IOA. The first we did go over to WDW but only becasue we were buying our tickets at SoG. We visited the GF and DTD while there but non of the parks. We also did SW that trip.
9 months later my sis and I took the kids to US/IOA for 3 days and we didn't leave the property the entire trip. It's about a 7-8 hr drive from here.

 

[Nursetogo]

We are going to US/IOA for our first time this August. We have no plans to go to WDW. We will also be going to SW and Discovery Cove. We will be taking the Auto Train just for US/IOA. Orlando is so much more than the mouse.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

We drove from MD to Orlando in April and did not go to WDW. All was fine until the day we drove home and 5 out of the 6 of us got a stomach virus. Yuck! Of course that had nothing to do with not going to WDW. Hopefully we'll go again next April and stay healthy.

 

[ksdave]

My wife, kids and I fly from Kansas several times a year just to do UO now. We haven't been back to the mouse house in over two years. My kids got burned out (and out grew) the characters and such.
Plus, staying at PBH has us completely spoiled now. We couldn't imagine having to go back to some place like Port Orleans for the same money we pay for PBH.

 

[PattiPB]

We are going to my family reunion in Fontana Village, NC (90 miles west of Asheville). Okay, we could have flown straight to Nashville and home....but nnnnnnooooooo.

We are flying to Orlando, doing 5 days at US/IOA, changing rental cars, driving 12 hours to reunion, then a week later 4 more hours to airport to fly home.

AAANNNNNDDDD...we were just at WDW in April, and I have 3 days and 3 plus options left on our passes, and we are still bypassing WDW to go to US/IOA!

Most people would think I'm nuts, but I'm betting some of you understand! LOL!

Patti

 

[Cindy B]

Yes, for the past two years we have done non WDW trips. In 2001, we did Discovery Cove, Seaworld, US, IOA.

2002 We did USF, IOA, Seaworld, Wet N Wild, Busch Gardens


At the time, we didn't miss Disney at all. We have alternate years for Disney. We are going this year to Disney because they have had enough new attractions since our last visit to justify it.

Our last visit to WDW was 2000. (So it has been three years)


It can be done, and we have done it and loved it. And yes, we drive from the Philadelplhia PA area

 

[TINK61]

We're driving 11-12 hours just for USO and IOA. This is the first time for us to visit these two parks. Every trip to Orlando in the past, we opted to spend it entirely at WDW. I wanted to try just Universal this time. As far as resisting WDW being that close, it's going to be hard because we're actually meeting some friends at the AK Rain Forest Cafe on July 4th for dinner. Talk about temptation. I'm looking forward to our Universal experience though

 

[robbie]

Last year we drove 14 hours to get to Orlando. We chose two Disney World parks to visit (Magic Kingdom and MGM) and stayed onsite at All-Star Movies for 3 days. We then went over to HRH for 5 days and enjoyed Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We had great room rates and ticket prices. Thanks to our friends here at disboards.

 

[BarryHom]

I drive 4 hours to Universal. I thought my drive was long! It is with a lot of bathroom breaks.

 

[jalex0831]

Hello all, I'm new to this site and it's fantastic!! Our drive in is 12 hours, we haven't planned to visit WDW. We're staying at RPH and going to USF/IOA and Wet N Wild. Notice I said that our plan is not to go to WDW. I hope that we can hold out

4 weeks to go and counting down!!!!!!