How many DVCers drive to Disney?

[deerh]

We drive to Disney as well. From Atlanta, it is about 7hrs or so, depending on stops in all the important places: Fla line to get the free OJ, and Maybe Ocala to see the mouse. If we did not do that, maybe we could get there faster. The key is to time the Atlanta traffic, and get out of town before the Rush hour in Atlanta. We also like to fly when the airfare was reasonable, I can remeber $85RT air fare from ATL a few years ago, NOW that was resonable!, But with air fare $150+, we will be driving down, and the kids are older now, 9 and 13, so it is a lot easier. With small kids, I would think flying would be a lot better, at least it was for us..
Counting down, HHI in 4.5months!
deerh

 

[nelle]

We will be driving down for the first time next dec its about a 23 hour drive from here. We plan on driving all night so the kids can sleep and we don't have to hear "are we there yet " a million times . My husband is a paramedic so sleep deprivation is part of his job and with three young kids I don't get much sleep either so driving all night should be ok for us. We have the first two nights booked at AKL so we can rest and enjoy the resort before we head over to BWV's for the rest of the trip.

Nelle

 

[QueenAnne]

We drove to HH last summer from Springfield, MO and drove 13 hours to Atlanta to stay the night and then about 3 1/2 hours to HH. I enjoy driving. We plan to drive for all of our vacations. This summer we are driving to Vero. Driving 17.5 hours to Jacksonville, FL and then continuing 5.5 hours to Vero. My DD is only 3 and is used to car rides to Grandma's so it is easy for us!

 

[msdis]

Thanks, Luv2dream, I'll check it out.

 

[loribell]

I'm glad you mentioned staying on the East side. I hadn't even thought about that and we will be there on a Thursday night. Sure wouldn't want to get stuck in rush hour traffic. Do you have suggestions for the West side on our trip home? I'm thinking we will be there on a Sunday night.

Does anyone have suggestions for the Atlanta area?

Thanks,
Lori

 

[LiLPrincess]

Lori, I'll be interested to know how the drive goes. We are going in June and I am thinking about driving. I'll have 2 teenagers with me !!!

 

[DaveH]

When we travel we like staying at either Hampton Inn or Fairfield Inn. Slightly more expensive than Quality inn/Comfort INN and those guys. I would look online at The Quality Inn group, Fairfield Inn, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express, Red Roof Inn, Super 8(I have had a couple of bad ones of these) and any other you can think of and see advertised anywhere. One of the reasons we like Hampton and Fairfield is the continental breakfast and the rooms at all of them we have stayed at have been clean and safe. I hope this helps.

 

[loribell]

LiLPrincess,
Thanks for the invite. I'll try to make it. When in June are you going? We will be there the first 2 weeks.

Thanks for the advice to everyone else.

Lori

 

[Candace]

Loribell - On your return trip heading west on I-40, I believe I would try to get on through Memphis before stopping. It won't be that much further at all. I would get on across the Mississippi River bridge on I-40 West and stop in West Memphis, Arkansas. There is a Hampton Inn on the interstate and also a Holiday Inn, I believe. Hamptons are really nice, and like DaveH, Hamptons and Fairfield Inns are my favorites of the budget line hotels.

 

[loribell]

Thanks again Candace. I'm writing all this down in my planning book and will make some reservations this week.

Now if I could just get some advice on where to stay around Atlanta I would be all set. I've never been there and would really like some input on a safe area.

Thanks again

Lori

 

[rbuzzotta]

We've driven several times from Boston. Takes between 24 and 28 hours depending on "pit" stops for the 3 DD's!!! We just drove this past December and stopped in Lorton VA at the same Comfort inn as a previous poster. Clean and appeared safe. We stopped at a Holiday Inn in Fredericksonburg MD on the way home. This was a short trip (we stayed at AKL only 4 nights) and we were pretty tired. Normally when we drive we stay for 2 weeks!!!

Have a safe drive if that's what you decide to do.

 

[LiLPrincess]

Lori, we'll be there the first week in June.

Lisa

 

[DiznEeyore]

Originally posted by loribell
Now if I could just get some advice on where to stay around Atlanta I would be all set. I've never been there and would really like some input on a safe area.

Thanks again

Lori

Lori:

Are you willing/able to drive a bit south of Atlanta? If so, we stayed at a really comfortable Rodeway Inn in Macon. It was a nice size room with a fridge and a micro, two queen beds & hair dryer. It was off I-475, exit 3. It was $40 plus tax, AAA rate. They had donuts for breakfast -- we skipped those.

 

[ShirleyKME]

24 hours driving time from central Maine.
Its a long road but have done it several times. Sometimes straight thru sometimes stopping in lower VA .
Will be doing it Feb. 14th and possibly again in April!!

 

[ZerasPride]

I've got one other question. Do you make advance reservations for the drive back home? How do you know where you'll be stopping? I know going down we'll spend the night at Hilton Head. But coming back home, I figure to want to put at least 10 hours between Disney and getting home. But who knows, we may want to drive further or stop sooner. Do you guys who drive make a ressie at a hotel going home or just "wing it"? I like the idea of the Hampton Inn chain. They are very reasonable and clean and we've stayed with them before so that is probably who we will go with. I envision just stopping when we're tired and getting a room. Does that sound reasonable or should we go ahead and make a reservation somewhere? Thanks for the further advice guys!

Now I'm going nuts waiting for the 7th month window to open!

Lisa

 

[DiznEeyore]

As far as reserving something on the way home, we've done it both ways. The first trip, we didn't reserve anything, and ended up going to 4 hotels to check rates/rooms.

On our second trip, we made a reservation for a hotel in Knoxville (where we'd stopped on the way home the first time) but ended up wishing we hadn't! We got stuck in construction just north of Dalton, GA (sat in it for 2-1/2 hours!) and had to continue on to Knoxville 'cuz we'd guaranteed with a credit card and didn't want to get charged for a room we didn't use. We pulled in at 12:30 a.m. at the not-so-Quality Inn. Turns out it was right next to train tracks that were actively used all night!

So, I think when we go next May, we're just gonna wing it on our way home and see where we end up. YMMV.

 

[loribell]

Amy,
Thanks for the response. I would consider Macon but my husband was in the air during the attacks on Sept. 11 and they basically did a nose dive when the pilots were told to land. He was stuck in Macon with no way out for 3 days (he works for our AFB and was on TDY so no rental cars were left by the time he was able to get approval to rent one) and says he would prefer not staying there so we probably won't want to try it. Although it would be a little nicer to drive a liitle farther then Atlanta.

Thanks,

Lori

 

[ZerasPride]

I just wanted to thank you Amy for the advice. I am leaning toward your suggestion of just winging it. There seem to be so many hotels off the highway that we should be able to find something. One co-worker suggested calling ahead a few hours if we can figure out where we want to stop and reserving a room at that point. That might be a good suggestion. Again, I appreciate your insight!

Llisa

 

[loribell]

ZerasPride,

You might try picking out possible locations along the way that you think would be in the right area drive time wise and an hour or two either direction of that. Then find the type of hotel in those cities that you would like to stay in. That way you could have the baaic hotel picked out and have the numbers with you so you could easily call a little ahead of time like your co-worker suggested to hold your room. My only problem with winging it is that I never seem to get them to give me a decent rate if I just walk in off the street without some type of ressie ahead of time. This would also allow you to check rates on the internet ahead of time to know what to expect.


LiLPrincess,

I have driven down twice before and it is a long drive but it is easily done in 2 - 2 1/2 days. We have always driven to Dallas, Shreveport, and Lafayette then straight East. Our van got broken into the last time we did this outside of our hotel room in Lafayette so we have not driven this way since. We came home through Jackson MS on that trip. This year we are going through Memphis. Hopefully it will be a better drive.

We are only taking three days this time because we are taking a 3 month old with us and we aren't sure how she will handle the travel. We don't plan to actually have more then 7 - 8 hours driving time on any day.

Maybe we will see you there. We'll be at OKW June 2nd - 8th and VWL June 9th - 13th.

Lori

 

[DiznEeyore]

Originally posted by ZerasPride
I just wanted to thank you Amy for the advice. I am leaning toward your suggestion of just winging it. There seem to be so many hotels off the highway that we should be able to find something. One co-worker suggested calling ahead a few hours if we can figure out where we want to stop and reserving a room at that point. That might be a good suggestion. Again, I appreciate your insight!

Llisa

My pleasure! I've always gotten so much from these boards that I'm glad I might be able to help even a little.

And Lori, I can sure understand why your dh would want to skip Macon! I hope you find something that works for you!