How far is your drive to WDW, Florida

[AshClan]

We live 23 miles north of Boston, and are doing the drive for the first time next April. Jay-nee, your info is very helpful to me! According to AAA trip tix, we're a little under 1400 miles away. We will be doing it over two days, to NC on Friday nite and to Daytona Beach on Saturday, checking in at the BWV on Sunday morning!!

For those of you that do stop on the way, do you make motel reservations or just play it by ear? I was going to make reservations, but then was thinking it might be better to give us some flexibility. What do you think?

Susan

 

[Queen Quinnella]

1024 miles! 17 hours. We ususally stop in Talahassee going and then La Fayette coming. Can't wait!!!:thewave:

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by AshClan
For those of you that do stop on the way, do you make motel reservations or just play it by ear? I was going to make reservations, but then was thinking it might be better to give us some flexibility. What do you think?

Susan

The very first time we drove, I made reservations in advance. Seemed like the thing to do. By late afternoon, we realized we would be way farther South by stopping time than I had estimated. So we called and cancelled. Then when we were ready to stop, we just found a motel and had no problem getting a room.

As long as you are not going during a peak time like Christmas week, you don't need to book in advance. When you enter the state in which you will be stopping, go to the welcome center and get the discount hotel book. That lists the hotels at each exit and has coupons for discounted rates. When you know where you will be stopping, call the hotel you want and book a room then.

We did that a few weeks ago and it worked fine. Both times, we made a reservation within an hour of our arrival. One time, we got the discounted rate. The other time we didn't but still got a good deal.

 

[deerh]

It's about 8 hours from Atlanta. Maybe a little less, and about 425 miles from us..
DeerH

 

[OhMari]

I just found out I live 1150 from WDW. It would take us 22 hours.

 

[NotSoMini]

Straight from a travel website:

Total Est. Time: 34 hours, 41 minutes Total Est. Distance: 1966.75 miles

For us, this translates into 2 1/2 long days - we have two overnights on the way to Florida and on way home.

But I'd be off tomorrow in a flash, if I could!!

 

[Kuzco]

Mine is about 17.5 to 21 hours...depending on who is driving and how often we stop! We usually do it in 2 days.

 

[LovePug]

We drive about 1100 miles each time. We stop more often than most people, I think, at rest stops, but eat on the fly. We stop over on the way. It takes us 19-20 hours (not including the layover). I wish we could .

 

[Pinboys]

It is right at 19 hours. Got family that live in Atlanta, so get free lodging and get to visit coming and going.

 

[AshClan]

I was leaning in that direction, but was a little concerned about availability. We'll be heading down 3rd week in April, so it shouldn't be too bad, although all of New England is on break. Hopefully, we won't have a problem. I like the idea of having a general idea where we'll stop, but not feeling obligated if we get waylayed or if we're making better than anticipated time.

Can't wait!

 

[Baloo]

Almost exactly 8 hours from my door to Mickey's! Around 525 miles.

 

[loribell]

21 very long hours! When we drive I have DH leave work a couple of hours early and we get about 6 hours of it out of the way. The next day we usually drive to where we are about 3 -4 hours out of Orlando. Once we get checked in we spend that afternoon and evening relaxing at the pool and have dinner at Chef Mickey's.

In fact when we fly we normally spend the first afternoon and evening the same way. Our trips just seem to go so much smoother this way.

You can bet that if I was only 10 hours away I would be there more than once a year!

Lori

 

[sm4987]

It's 1100 miles. We are driving for our next trip coming up. We are drving straight through. We leave at 3:00 in the morning and make it thereby 7:00 that night. Can't wait, I am so excited. We haven't driven since our very first trip.

 

[welovemickey]

About 24 hours from here ~ but I don't care because we'll be going to the Most Magical Place on Earth!

 

[Lizzydoll73]

It's about 1000 miles and takes us 18- 20 hours to drive. We usually leave at night and get there the next afternoon with my DH and I sharing the driving.

 

[jay-nee]

We didn't make reservations the 1st trip down and had trouble getting a hotel in Fredricksburg, VA, found one after stopping at 3. Then, coming back home, we had no trouble but hotel was not clean... Problem is, you're too tired to complain.

Now, we make reservations. We are staying in Selma, NC on the way down and always Petersburg, VA (I-95 Exit 45 - S Crater Rd) on the way home. We stay in Hampton Inns as we have had consistantly good luck with them. They are about $70-95 a nite including tax and fees. We always stop at the Petersburg Hampton Inn on the way home because it is 700 miles from WDW and that's about 1/2 way for us. It also is right before the "real" traffic starts when you are heading North again. We used to stop there on the way down but we've found that we like to put a few more miles on when heading down. That way our second day is shorter!

We're leaving in 53 days... Hoping for warm temps and low crowds -- the keys to a great WDW vacation!

 

[bdcp]

We last drove this route in '89 from Columbia, MD. (we've flown since) It's about 850 miles and takes us 14 hours. We stopped in a visitor's center as we entered SC and they made hotel reservations for us. I can't remember exactly where, but it took us less than 6 hours the next day to get to CBR. It was very far south into SC. We're driving it again in Nov 05. We'll be leaving from Norfolk, VA and expect to make it in less than 11 hours. But out return will be to Northern VA where we currently live so that'll take closer to 14 total. We'll be stopping in Savannah for a couple of nights so that will break up the trip.

Suggestion for anyone wanting to stop on I-95 in VA south of DC, try other areas than Fredericksburg if it's holiday time of any kind. I have family there and it's very crowded. That area has grown tremendously in the last few years. There are plenty of other hotels a couple of exits north and south of Fredericksburg that aren't as crowded.

 

[LuvN~Travel]

I think our trip was just over 460 miles. We took about 9.5 hours driving down last week (1 hour 45 minutes for lunch and breakfast) and right at 9 hours yesterday coming home (1 hour for lunch). With the exception of the rain along I-10 the trips up and down were fine. BTW, does it ever NOT rain on the I-10 stretch from Hyw231 and I-75?
Kim

 

[Horizons16]

Well before we started to fly, my father would drive 26 or 27 hours straight through stopping only for gas. Yes he is crazy.

 

[bigbabyblues]

The one time we drove it took us about 17 hours over two days.....DH said never again! The last trip we flew, it took 2 hours to the airport and about two hours to fly......much better!

Steph