Hotel recommendation in Watertown, NY

[Bea]

We are driving down to WDW in March (from Ottawa) . Originally going to leave really early on Friday and get all the way to Virginia but then realized that that would put us in DC on a Friday afternoon which isn't good (we used to live there) . So I think we will leave Thursday after work and drive just as far as Watertown, and this will put us in DC three hours earlier. Does anyone have hotel recommendations for Watertown? Doesn't even have to be Watertown but something close to it would be okay as well.

 

[DisFan2]

HI Bea,

We left early on a Friday from Ottawa too. For the first time, we bypassed the Baltimore/Washington area staying on I81, all the way through Pennsylvania, part of West Virginia and then into Virginia itself. We cut over to 95 at I66. We then used a combination of US17 and US15 to hook up with I95 about an hour north of Richmond.

Even with two kids under 8, we made pretty good time. We left at 8 a.m. and arrived in Chester, VA (a little south of Richmond) at 7.35 p.m. 17 and 15 weren't as fast as I'd hoped, but we did avoid all the Balt/Wash. traffic and it was far less stressful.

 

[Nagle]

Have to agree with DisFan2. Avoid DC altogether. We used to use the route suggested but now we stay on I81 until we get to I77. Then I26 over to I95. We have had made better time going 81, 77, 26. Either way cut over to 95 below DC and Baltimore.

John

 

[snowy76]

You might have more options driving a little further south into the Syracuse area (about another hour/hour and a half). Unfortunately, since I've almost always lived in Syracuse I don't have too solid of an idea of what to recommend. Some that come to mind are several in the Liverpool area right off 81 (addresses would say 7th North Street or Buckley Road if you're doing an internet search). If you want a clean place to crash, something like the Hampton Inn or the Doubletree might be fine for you. I would guess they'd run about $100 a night.

Closer to downtown and the university area there are the Genesee Grande and the Marx, both close to 81 as well. These are pricier but since I'm not sure what you're looking for, I thought I'd mention them.

I know there are folks here who drive into Syracuse to fly to Orlando. They might have ideas of a good overnight place to stay.

 

[highland3]

I agree that maybe you should aim a little farther. You'll be in Watertown before you know it. Even Syracuse is only about 3 hours from you.

There's a nice and inexpensive Red Roof Inn near the Syracuse Airport. We stayed there before flying to WDW last year.

 

[Bea]

Thanks for the responses . I think we will consider changing our route and hooking up to the I-95 south of DC. The extra night at a hotel in NY wasn't really in the budget so that was another "thing" I would have to budget for.

DisFan2, how long did it take you to get from Chester, VA to Orlando? I was thinking of driving to Emporia (right on the VA/NC border) the first day but if it took you 12 hours to Chester, Emporia may be alittle too far. We would like a longer first day but not too painful. We have a 1 yr old and 2 older children.

 

[DisFan2]

Mornin' Bea,

We didn't drive straight through from Chester, we stop in Savannah, GA for a couple of days when we drive down (see this post for more on Savannah ). We do record our start/stop times, so I can tell you we left Chester at 9 a.m. and factoring in stops it took us just under 6 hrs. to get to Savannah. From Savannah to Orlando is another 4 hrs.

Totally possible to make it from Virginia to Florida on day II and the drive is a little less stressful (i.e. flat, straight). Having said that, it feels like it takes FOREVER to get through SC. Our kids were good as gold though - it was our first long trip with our then 2.5 yr. old DD, but both kids hung in there. We've got a small portable DVD player with two headphone jacks; between sleep, DVDs, outlet shopping, and my son's Gameboy we had no problems with the kids. If you'd like to borrow the DVD player, I'd be more than happy to have it head back to WDW (since I won't be until 2007!).

BTW - we paid $54.54 US to stay at the Courtyard hotel in Chester by using Priceline.

 

[Bea]

Thanks for the info DisFan2. I think we will consider staying in Chester as opposed to Emporia. I keep records of everything during our drive to. Nice to see I am not the only one. ...how long we stopped at rest stops, where they were, how much for gas, if we bought snacks and where .

I was considering priceline for hotels and have always done it for our drive down (from Halifax ) but this is our first trip with 3 kids (and first trip from Ottawa) and am worried we wont get a room with 2 double beds. I can't believe how much hotel rooms are without the help of priceline . I have heard nightmare stories about hotels along I-95 so I am not opposed to paying alittle more for peace of mind .

Santa brought our (then) 4 month old a portable DVD player for Christmas. The older kids were a little baffled and wondered why they didn't get one and were convinced that Santa mixed their presents up . I am sure between that, gameboys and video now we will be totally prepared!

 

[DisFan2]

Mornin' again!

Here's a list of all the known Priceline hotels in the Richmond area. IIRC, I actually bid in some of the Richmond zones before Chester. I called ahead to all of our reservations to make sure we got non-smoking rooms and made bed requests which were all honored.

edit: We thought about pushing on to Emporia when we were planning. I'm glad we didn't - my wife is a fairly new driver, so I do the majority of the driving. Chester was far enough for me, and the kids were able to go for a swim and unwind a bit before going to bed. Another hour or so on the road just wasn't worth it IMO, because it would only cut an hour or so off the next day's drive to Savannah which I didn't consider to be particularly arduous anyway.

edit II: Hang on, link difficulties are temporary... please bear with us.

edit III: Okay, it keeps xxx'ing out ************. Why? The link is over at http://p070.************/fpricelineandexpediabiddingfrm94.showMessage?topicID=137.topic

edit IV: Okay. This isn't funny anymore. Where the * appear, include ezboard"dot"com. Why it won't allow the regular format I have no idea.