Help! Driving from Syracuse to WDW

[hapandpam]

To make a long story short, we put off buying our airline tickets too long, the prices increased. Rather than cancel our trip, we have decided to drive to WDW from the Utica, NY area. I have done a search of this forum, and found a thread from 2005 but I was wondering if the advice there was still valid. If anyone could share their experiences/routes, I would appreciate it.

Traveling- myself and dds, 20 and 22. We have never driven a long trip w/o dh who has no interest in returning to the world in the summer.

Plan to leave Sunday, June 24 and arrive on 25. Not sure if we will drive straight through. We may but if we feel too tired, we will stop. (Any suggestions what time to leave?) We will be leaving WDW on Tuesday July 3 and arriving home on July 4.

Routes? I know I travel south on 81 but where should I cut over to 95? Or is there a better route? I would like to avoid major metropolitan areas, esp. DC, based on other threads I have read.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

 

[kamik86]

For timing when to leave I would recommend you pick a route first then try to time it to miss rush hour for at least the first major metro area.

 

[Robert P]

To make a long story short, we put off buying our airline tickets too long, the prices increased. Rather than cancel our trip, we have decided to drive to WDW from the Utica, NY area. I have done a search of this forum, and found a thread from 2005 but I was wondering if the advice there was still valid. If anyone could share their experiences/routes, I would appreciate it.

Traveling- myself and dds, 20 and 22. We have never driven a long trip w/o dh who has no interest in returning to the world in the summer.

Plan to leave Sunday, June 24 and arrive on 25. Not sure if we will drive straight through. We may but if we feel too tired, we will stop. (Any suggestions what time to leave?) We will be leaving WDW on Tuesday July 3 and arriving home on July 4.

Routes? I know I travel south on 81 but where should I cut over to 95? Or is there a better route? I would like to avoid major metropolitan areas, esp. DC, based on other threads I have read.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

IMHO:
If already on 81, I would stay on that all the way to Wytheville, VA, then pick up 77 to Columbia, SC, and cut across I-26 to get to 95. It's Summer, so no weather concerns like snow and ice that route. After you get past Harrisburg, PA on I-81, the traffic issues will be only Charlotte, NC on I-77 (that's around rush hours), and then Jacksonville, FL on I-95 (similar, rush hour based). You'll avoid alot of the city traffic on I-95, and coming from 81 already, I don't believe it would be that many more miles. If you don't like that route coming down, you can always take 95 farther North on the return trip.

PM me if you want, and I'll give you the segments and miles from mid NC to WDW, going the inland route. That may be helpful if you try to schedule a stop for overnight.

Travel Safe!

 

[Nagle]

IMHO:
If already on 81, I would stay on that all the way to Wytheville, VA, then pick up 77 to Columbia, SC, and cut across I-26 to get to 95. It's Summer, so no weather concerns like snow and ice that route. After you get past Harrisburg, PA on I-81, the traffic issues will be only Charlotte, NC on I-77 (that's around rush hours), and then Jacksonville, FL on I-95 (similar, rush hour based). You'll avoid alot of the city traffic on I-95, and coming from 81 already, I don't believe it would be that many more miles. If you don't like that route coming down, you can always take 95 farther North on the return trip.

PM me if you want, and I'll give you the segments and miles from mid NC to WDW, going the inland route. That may be helpful if you try to schedule a stop for overnight.

Travel Safe!

This is the route we have taken for the last 5 years or so. We avoid cutting over to I95 as long as possible. We are 2 hours north of Syracuse and approx. 14 hours driving puts us just past Charlotte. We have stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rock Hill.

John

 

[strmtroopr96]

We haven't done the drive to WDW (well unless you count the one time when I was 3), but I just wanted to say hello from down the road. I am in Ilion and just saw Utica pop up on here. LOL

Not sure if we have chatted in the past (I know I have found a few from the Utica area on here in the past) but hope you have a good drive and a great trip! My DH has always wanted to try driving but I just don't know if I could handle being in the car for that long with him and the 2 girls. LOL I almost thought about this year with airfare being so high but there is no way would ever make it at this point. Maybe one day.