HELP: Driving from New Jersey in August?!?!?

[spano1019]

We are driving from North Jersey in August with our 3 year old and 18 month old. Any suggestions about what time to leave?? Should we drive straight through or stop?? Where to stop???
Thanks for any and all suggestions!

 

[badblackpug]

We are right outside of Philadelphia and it is an 18 hour drive from here, straight through, so depending on where you are you are looking at about 20 hours of straight driving. We never drive, so the only advice I can give you is time your commute so that you are NOWHERE near Washington D.C. during rush hour.

 

[Fantasmic23]

We are driving from North Jersey in August with our 3 year old and 18 month old. Any suggestions about what time to leave?? Should we drive straight through or stop?? Where to stop???
Thanks for any and all suggestions!

If this helps you any, we drive from Connecticut ... But we once made an overnight stop at my in-laws in New Jersey (Toms River). We left CT around 10:00 p.m. (on a Friday night) and we arrived in Toms River at 12:00 a.m. DH wanted to get an early start the next morning, but he lingered over coffee with his parents. We finally left Jersey at 10:30 a.m. and we arrived at my BIL's house in North Carolina (near Charlotte) around 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night. On Sunday we hung out with BIL but we were on the road again Monday morning at 6:30 a.m. If memory serves, we hit Florida (the state line) around 3:00 p.m. We didn't reach Kissimmee until 5:00 p.m. or so.

I used to live in Old Bridge, NJ and neighbors of ours would leave at 3:00 a.m. for their drive to Disney. They would drive straight through to Georgia, spend the night, and continue on the next morning.

 

[ban26ana]

We plan on doing this in March. I'm in south jersey. With road trips, we try to travel when the kids will be sleeping. So for Disney, we're going to try it straight through. (Both of us are no strangers to the graveyard shift, so nighttime stuff is no big deal to us.) From our house, it is 17 hours to Disney. We'll probably leave around 5pm. We'll eat before we leave and then do heavy snacking in the car for dinner. The kids will probably fall asleep around 9pm. We'll probably get to Disney around 11 or 12. We're going to have someone watch the kids for us the day we leave so that we can sleep, and then we'll drive in shifts.

 

[imthatgirl]

Last week we drove from Ma. For us it was a 22 hour drive down and 24 home.
We didn't stop, and I wouldn't recommend stopping. We left at midnight. My husband drove through the night while I slept, when he got tired I drove. Then after that we switched off a few time. We arrived on international drive at 10pm. We slept that night at the Comfort Inn across the street from the entrance to DTD. We woke up, ate and were checked into a Disney resort by 8:30 and in park at 9:30 after having a full nights sleep.

Had we stopped we would have lost a whole day. We would have to wake up and drive again....and honestly the last thing I wanted to do was drive again at that point.

If we only had 17 hours to drive I would leave at 5am and drive through.

 

[mlynn]

Get this book. I drive 95.The best book.tells you every exit from Maine to FL.
Also when stopping.Let the kids run around play area if they have it before they eat.Maybe let them eat inthe car.Just so they can get some energy out.

 

[amtag]

We are driving from Northern NJ in August. We are leaving Saturday the 21st around 3am and driving to Kingsland, Georgia - right on the GA/Florida border. We expect to be there around 6 or 7pm that night. We will not rush to get up Sunday morning, have breakfast and continue our trip to Ocala - we are staying there until the 25th and heading to disney early that morning. We are also considering taking 78 - 81 and picking up 95 somewhere around S.Carolina, it is a little longer, but I think it may be a less stressful drive than 95. Good luck with your planning!

 

[mom2boys77]

We drive from around Toms River to Fl every year. We usually leave by 6 and get to Brunswick, Ga by about 7 at night, spend the night and get to Disney by lunch time the next day. We did try to drive straight through one year and will never ever do that again.

 

[Happiest mommy]

sorry bumping does anyone have any sugestions driving from NYC or would it be the same staying over in GA or driving straight thru TIA?

 

[.:allisonr:.]

When we go, we'll be driving from southern Illinois. It's a 15 hour-ish drive, according to Mapquest. We're planning on leaving early in the morning, around 2:30 a.m. or 3:00 a.m., and driving straight through, only making a few stops to go to the bathroom and stretch our legs. DH & I will share the driving responsibility.

 

[Tweevil]

Hi! We leave from SNJ around 9pm-ish on a Friday and get to WDW around 5pm on Saturday. We do the I95 route the whole way down, missing a lot of traffic. We also stop a bunch because the driver needs smoke breaks (me!) and coffee.

It's a pretty easy ride. My son watches movies, sleeps, plays video games or listens with me to CD's of my favorite comedians. It's a fun (but long) drive.

If we do stop (usually on the way home) I stay at a Hampton's Inn in SC. They may cost a few bucks more but I love them and their waffles in the morning.

Easy Peasy ride - I highly recommend leaving either really late at night or in the wee hours of the morning to miss all the traffic around the MD/DC mixing bowl.

Hope this helps and have a great trip!

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

I'd leave close to the kids bedtime that way they can sleep a good bit of the way.

 

[crazybones27]

My husband and I drove to Disney for the first time with our then 8 month old daughter leaving from South Jersey. We left around 3pm because that was when she was due for her nap. We decided it would be good to start out around her nap time because she's an excellent napper so we knew we could get at least 3 hrs in before she woke up. We were right, but what we didn't take into account was we were leaving the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So literally all the traffic was heading home. We stopped around 6pm for dinner which was good because we all needed to stretch our legs. Once that was done we only stopped at rest stops for pee breaks until about I'd say 7am. By that time we were somewhere in Georgia I think. We stopped at a Perkins for breakfast and then made our way. I think we finally got to the hotel around 1pm. I think that's what it was. It may have been earlier. Needless to say we drove straight through. By the time our room was ready and we got in it all 3 of us passed out on the bed for a few hours lol.

We're planning on driving again this September with our daughter who will now be 2 1/2 and our son who will be 1. Most likely we will do the samething or leave a little later closer to their bedtimes. I like the idea of driving through the night while the kids are sleeping. It makes for an easier drive for mom and dad.

I hope this helps a little. Good luck and have a wonderful time!

 

[spano1019]

Thank you for all the suggestions! I hope the ride goes well! I am glad to see we are not the only family who is driving to Disney with little kids!

 

[mousebymarriage]

We are driving from North Jersey in August with our 3 year old and 18 month old. Any suggestions about what time to leave?? Should we drive straight through or stop?? Where to stop???
Thanks for any and all suggestions!

We have driven from northern NJ (Bergen County) a few times but, my kids are older than yours DD is 13 and DS is 8. The first time we drove DS was 5. Anyway, we have left a few different times including very early morning, late night and late afternoon. I prefer late night so that the kids sleep most of the way and the second driver (usually DH also gets to sleep). Late night works for us because I usually make sure to sleep as much as possible during the day that we are leaving so that I can drive at night and DH can sleep while I am driving because he was working all day. When the kids wake up it's time for breakfast and you have logged alot of miles so there isn't so much "are we there yet?"

We have stopped over for the night in Santee, SC approx 12 hours from our house. The stop over might be a good idea since you have little ones. We only stop over if we leave in the morning and drive all day.

If we leave in the evening or late night we just drive straight through(which I prefer).

If you don't have a portable DVD player/TV for the car I would highly recommmend that you get one because they are a life saver. I make the kids take turns picking the movies.

If you choose to drive straight through on the way down I would definately consider stopping over on the way back because it is a looooonggg ride home after a week of walking around the parks in the Florida heat and humidity.

***The book Drive I-95 (that someone recommended earlier) is great, we have it and use it everytime. It tells you what is at the exits (hotel, restaurants, shopping, etc.)

 

[vroomagain]

My kids were 2 and 3 when we drove from ny to disney in January. My plan was to leave in the early AM but a snow storm was coming through so we left about 5 pm. It was the best thing we did! No traffic and the kids slept through the whole first half of the trip.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

I didn't read all the replies, but I saw your thread and thought I posted it hahahaha.
We too are leaving in Aug (check in is the 20th, check out the 27th) and are driving from NJ (Spring Lake, right next to Belmar). We are trying to figure out what is best for us and of course it turns into a fight.
Fiance will be doing the driving he wants to leave @ 10pm on the 18th and drive straight through and we'd end up getting to disney early. I said we should just get up @ 5am on the 19th stop here and there and take little breaks and hopefully by 8-9pm we will be in the southern part of Georgia, then get up around 8 the next day and drive again straight to Disney.

Decisions Decisions....I hope we could do this, we have never driven before.
O my aunt, uncle and 3 boys are driving 2 but in a different car. They are leaving Wed the 18th at 10am and taking their time.

 

[Dopey19]

We are in Middlesex Co. NJ and drove in December and are doing it again in August also. We left at 6:00 am and drove to Savannah, GA and stayed the night (we arrived in GA at 8:00 p.m). We arrived in Disney the following day by 11:00 and felt refreshed and ready for the day ahead. We choose not to drive straight through because we thought we would arrive and be exhausted and just sleep the day away and waste our disney day rather than just spend the night in GA. As for leaving earlier in the day; our DD is 4 and we were afraid to leave to early and throw off her whole sleep schedule (she would be awake in the car at 3:00 a.m. and then sleep most of the afternoon away). We felt when we got to the hotel she would not go to bed at a reasonable time and again this could effect our first day in Disney. We are sticking to this plan for August because everything seemed to work out for us. We did go around Washington D.C.; I believe this adds an additional 40 minutes to the trip but that is only if there is no traffic in DC which I hear can be a parking lot!! Good luck!

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

We are in Middlesex Co. NJ and drove in December and are doing it again in August also. We left at 6:00 am and drove to Savannah, GA and stayed the night (we arrived in GA at 8:00 p.m). We arrived in Disney the following day by 11:00 and felt refreshed and ready for the day ahead. We choose not to drive straight through because we thought we would arrive and be exhausted and just sleep the day away and waste our disney day rather than just spend the night in GA. As for leaving earlier in the day; our DD is 4 and we were afraid to leave to early and throw off her whole sleep schedule (she would be awake in the car at 3:00 a.m. and then sleep most of the afternoon away). We felt when we got to the hotel she would not go to bed at a reasonable time and again this could effect our first day in Disney. We are sticking to this plan for August because everything seemed to work out for us. We did go around Washington D.C.; I believe this adds an additional 40 minutes to the trip but that is only if there is no traffic in DC which I hear can be a parking lot!! Good luck!

Yes, Fiance is trying to look for an alternate route around D.C., I am hoping if we leave around 5 or 6am we would avoid the DC traffic?
What time did you leave Savannah to be in Disney by 11?
Ideally, I'd like to be @ our hotel between 12-2 pm.

 

[myDISboards]

From Cherry Hill, NJ (NJ Turnpike exit #4) to Orlando, FL is about 1,000 miles.

For the past six years, we left at 7pm (Sat) and arrived at Disney properties on Sunday before noon. This past Easter Sunday 2010, our 1-bedroom was ready at 12:45pm for Kidani Village. We stopped for breaks.


Informational only:

For 1,000 miles: NON-STOP driving (no bathroom breaks and no meal breaks) will take you 16.67 hours at an estimated driving speed of 60 mph. Sixty miles per hour is a good estimate because on some highways the limit is 70 miles per hour, some 65 miles per hour and on others only 45 miles per hour such as construction zones.