Is it possible to drive straight thru coming back from wdw to ontario

[cottontail]

Hi: Just wondering if anyone has ever driven straight through coming back to ontario from wdw. Or is it just too hard to sit for all that time.

Deb.

 

[jtdl]

I know lots of people drive straight through. We have never been able to do it though. We have tried. Starting out we figure one person will sleep while the other drives and then the other will drive. But on the way there, this year we left at 7 pm, I am way to excited to be able to sleep, plus I am so nervous about the driver falling asleep so I tend to stay awake to talk. Anyway, we ended up driving until 11 am the next morning and stopped in Georgia for the day and night - the only good thing was we drove in no traffic all the way to Georgia and the kids slept the whole drive. Actually, it was kind of nice cause we shopped, swam in the motel pool all afternoon and were well rested upon arrival at WDW the following afternoon. Another time we tried it on the way home and ended up stopping at a big, well lit, 24-hour truck stop and had a couple hours sleep in the car.

 

[hockey mom]

We have driven straight through every time we drive. I would sooner drive when the kids are asleep then awake.

 

[sunkissed212]

Where in Ontario are you returning to? I live in Michigan just minutes from the Ambassador Bridge. I've drived straight through several times.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Wow, I admire you guys. I drive as far as Kentucky (to visit a friend) and I'm already a wreck. I can't imagine driving all the way to Orlando...let alone straight through.

As a kid, we drove to Orlando once...in the summer when cars didn't have air conditioning. I'm not sure why I'm still alive. We had to stop in Tennessee and then we stopped in Georgia and then we finally arrived in Orlando. I'm not entirely sure why we stopped in Tennessee...I just remember it was the first time I had seen grits....

But I digress...my hats off to you long distance drivers.

 

[nepean]

We have driven straight home to Ottawa several times. We leave Orlando around 8 am and DH drives until 1-1:30, I then drive until about 6. He drives until 10 and I drive until 5-6 am. I like to drive late at night and the headlights bother him. He gets a couple of hours sleep during the night. When I quit I sleep for a couple of hours. I always drive the last hour home since I have better luck at a speedy customs officer.

We have driven straight down in the same sort of order but usually stop in Georgia around 4 am and have a short nap. It is too cold coming north to stop. Watch for a guarded rest area or a well lighted truck stop.

DD sleeps the night away and has since she was 2. Now as a teenager she sleeps really well all the time.

It is doable but switching drivers often and eating small amounts often really helps. We have a plug in cooler and we snack on sandwiches, breakfast bars, muffins etc. every 2 hours.

Good luck

Linda

 

[SnowWhite]

We drove straight through as well both ways on our last trip. It does take some driving endurance but as an instructor I am used to sitting in a car for 12-14 hours a day anyways.

Rob (Snowwhite's DH)

 

[mc'smommy]

We have done it many times, I believe the key is the time that you leave..
We usually leave around 2 am .. Hubby goes to bed around 7pm, I pack the car around midnight and get the cooler ready. I wake him and we get into a warm vehicle that I ahve so graciously started, and travel until we arrive which is usually around 19-20 hrs later..

I sleep right off the bat for a few hours and then I am good to go and hlp him stay awake !

safe driving !

P.S. By the way DH is the only driver...

 

[pkitty]

Good luck. I did it ONCE. The first and only time back in 1997. I drove all the way home from Orlando to Barrie Ontario. Talk about a long ride. My **** and back hurt for days after and I had that feeling you get from jet lag for a long time. I will never do it again unless I'm very desperate. In my opinion if you can spend the extra two days, one going and one back and the extra 200 bucks use it for your mental and physical well being. The ride down is always the best and boy does it feel good NOT entering your vacation already exausted. The ride back.. well the last thing you want to do is ruin all those Disney memories because you went a Km. too far and drove off the road due to fatigue.

 

[CharlesTD]

We always drive straight through coming home it makes it more enjoyable to be home rather than stopping along the way. Plus we can then get all our pics and other things organized and ready to show the family at christmas time. I couldn't imagine stopping for the night on the way home after we leave we just want to get home. In May we drove straight both ways we leave at 7 PM and I drive till we hit the Georgia welcome centre then Dw takes over till the Macon bypass then I drive again for pretty much the rest of the drive. I sleep from the Welcome centre till about Atlanta then I am up for the day and we have no problems doing it this way DW isn't a night time drive so I take all teh night shifts and the longer day stints also.

 

[dsneygirl]

We did this last May and it was hell. We finally stopped at a W. Virginia rest station at like 3 am and slept for a couple hours in the car. By the time we got home I have never wanted a hot shower so bad in all my life. I told DH never again. Dh found himself nodding off several times and IMHO our safety is not worth $60 or a few hours time.

 

[Manon]

We are from Montreal, and in june we did it!! Left at 3h00 pm on a thursday and arrive at Disney on the friday night!! With 3 kids

We are doing it again in 18 days, but this time we will be leaving at 3h00 am and drive until late the same day/night and stop for the night, because its winter so don't want to take chances!!!

 

[Mortlives]

We drove straight through from St. Augustine last August. We had been going to stop, but this was right after Katrina and the price of gas was going up every minute, and some of the stations we stopped at were limiting how much gas you could buy. We figured it would be better to head on home, than take a chance of not being able to get gas at all by the time we got to Pennsylvania.

On thing we discovered that was really nice is that a lot of the highway rest stops have nighttime "safety stops" where a local service group (we saw boy scouts and shriners) provide free coffee all night long. It really helps to take a break now and again. Of course, we wouldn't have tried it at all if we didn't both drive.

 

[Janice B]

Yes, We drove straight throw this past August with 2 teenage boys.. Personally we found leaving at 10am. Going down we stopped for lunch, supper, breakfast and a 2hr nap at a rest stop (gas stops as well, both ways), we got to disney around 12.30pm. It gave us time to relax and get well rested for the next day. Coming back home. We would sleep, in then have breakfast. When we finished, we would pack the up. Then we go for a swim, have lunch and leave around 2.00pm Stopping for supper, 2hr rest stop, breakfast and lunch we would got home around 5.00p.m the next day. We live in Waterloo. I wouldn't do it any other way.

 

[DutchsMommy]

For the price we can get flying SWA (last Feb we snagged $235 for the 3 of us - total - BUF to MCO) I can't justify driving. I think the cost of gas alone would be more. I was so shocked when I first learned of the deals to be had from SWA (or just flying out of the states instead of Canada in general) that I thought it must be just too good to be true - but it's not!! So, for me we will never drive, it's just too easy to fly. In any case - with driving straight through if you are going to do it just be careful - it's easy to get into that "just one more hour" mentality and you are really too tired to be driving safely.

 

[MamaLema]

On our last trip, our kids were 12 months, 5, and 7 and we drove straight home. It was hard at times and took about 25 hours because we hit horrible traffic about 1 hour from home. We were so tired by then, and couldn't wait to get home.

But we're going to do it all again soon

 

[CharlesTD]

For the price we can get flying SWA (last Feb we snagged $235 for the 3 of us - total - BUF to MCO) I can't justify driving. I think the cost of gas alone would be more. I was so shocked when I first learned of the deals to be had from SWA (or just flying out of the states instead of Canada in general) that I thought it must be just too good to be true - but it's not!! So, for me we will never drive, it's just too easy to fly. In any case - with driving straight through if you are going to do it just be careful - it's easy to get into that "just one more hour" mentality and you are really too tired to be driving safely.

Even with the deals on SWA out of Buffalo it was still a much cheaper option for our family of 5 to drive plus we had our vehicle to go to the grocery store for food as we are DVC members and cook almost all of our meals in our room. Plus we go to the coast for day trips that we would have to rent a car for and that would be an additional cost so driving for us is much much cheaper.

 

[kellyla]

My DH drove all the way home in Dec of 2003.But we didnt time it very well and ended up going through the Blue Ridge Mountains in the dead of night.They look way different then than in daylight,LOL.It took him 22 hours straight(stopping a few times for food)He said he would do it again.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

We drove straight home this past trip - 23 hours (and it was only that long because we hit some not so great weather). We left at 12:30pm Saturday December 3rd and got home around 11:30 Sunday morning.

My 11 year old god daughter slept most of the way home (poor thing, we tired her out through the week).

 

[laura001]

We have driven several times and usually leave around 2 or 3 in the morning and stop in Georgia for the night. This past year we decided to drive straight down and it was working great, until hubby took the wrong turn while I was sleeping.. Imagine if I had done that! Anyway, we left in the afternoon, he got lost around 1:00 in the morning and it took us 3 hours to get back on track. Barring that complication we made great time, after we were back on track I talked him into pulling over at a truck stop for a couple of hours, figured we could both settle down a little. We still pulled into WDW by 2:00 the next day, threw our bags into the room, went for a swim and had a bite to eat at the pool bar. We were back in our room and tucked in by about 7:00, everyone tired, ready for a great nights sleep. Woke up by 7:00 the next morning well rested!!!! and off to the parks! I would do it again this way if I had the choice.