Jacksonville to Disney?

[M.I.C.]

I'm going to Jacksonville with my parents to look at colleges in May or June one weekend from Thurs-Sunday and I can't see going to Florida without going to Disney. Especially since we don't know when the next time we'll be able to afford a full vacation is. We're going to be renting a car and planning on having a hotel room all weekend anyway but visiting the 2 schools could probably be done in one day, so I'm wondering how long/difficult is the drive from Jacksonville to Orlando? And will it be horribly expensive to stay on property and get only 2 day passes for the 3 of us?

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

My grandparents always stop in JVille on their way to meet us at WDW. The drive is nothing, they say.

Price depends on where you stay. A value would be your best bet if you're trying to save money. 2-day base tickets will run you just over $150 each.

 

[stpetedisneydad]

Google maps has it at about 163 miles and 2 hours 41 minutes. South on I-95 then West on I-4.

 

[JennSaint]

We actually flew into Jacksonville for our trip this past February. The drive to disney took about 2 hrs 45 minutes.

 

[erin327]

We also flew into Jacksonville for our last trip. It took us about 3 hours and 10 minutes from the airport in Jacksonville to Pop Century. There were some road issues on I-4 that day due to a wild fire though. It still wasn't an issue at all - do it!

 

[saratogadreamin09]

The drive from Jacksonville to disney is about 3 hours

 

[JuneBugFL]

I live just south of Jax and it takes us around 2.5 hours. I imagine it would be about that directly from Jax because we have to take a pretty long route through St. Augustine to get to I95, which you could directly take from Jax by getting on 295 first.

I'm guessing you're checking out UNF and JU...good luck!

 

[Ephany]

It's really not a bad drive, the worst experience I had it took 4+ hours from Jax to the hotel, but that was a Friday night on a 3 day weekend and I-4 was miserable. I've noticed the earlier we get on the road, usually the better the drive is.

Oh, and I'm a JU grad so if that's one of the schools you're checking out and have any questions, feel free to pm me.

 

[MelanieC]

Not a bad drive at all. I know that once we hit Jacksonville we are almost there

 

[M.I.C.]

It's really not a bad drive, the worst experience I had it took 4+ hours from Jax to the hotel, but that was a Friday night on a 3 day weekend and I-4 was miserable. I've noticed the earlier we get on the road, usually the better the drive is.

Oh, and I'm a JU grad so if that's one of the schools you're checking out and have any questions, feel free to pm me.

Really? Yea JU is my number 1. Thanks for all the help, 3 hours is nothing I thought it'd be further than that.

 

[Disnsyncey]

MJD is sitting pretty now, eh? haha

Its a great drive, since everything between Jax and Daytona just runs together (by the time you realized you are done passing one "area", the next "area" starts, just enough to not be terribly boring) ........UNF/JU will give you easy access to 9A which saves a lot of time to get to 95......

 

[Donald&Tinkerbell]

I live in south Jax and it usually takes between 2.5 to 3 hours, depending on traffic. Just leave Jax before rush hour, you'll hit rush hour at Daytona but it's not bad on 95, and will arrive in the Orlando area after rush hour. If you leave around 5am, you can get there, check into your hotel (although your room won't be ready), and get to the park for a 9am opening.

 

[Golf4food]

I will caution that the drive back late at night can be rough if you plan to spend all day in a park and drive back the same night.

DW and I both went to UNF (I transferred, she's an alum) if you have any questions about that, too.

 

[topmonkeygirl]

I live in Jacksonville and depending on what time of day you leave is a good indecation of how long it will take to get there, also what day you leave. I usually leave around 3:30 - 4:00 on a Saturday morning and get to the resort around 2 1/2 hours later. The trip back is another story we usually leave on a week day and hit rush hour traffic so that's usually a 3 hour drive.

Have fun.

 

[laceemouse]

My hubby is a JU grad and we lived in Jacksonville for many years, good luck!

I wish we were still that close to WDW

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

If you'd rather not hit I-4 traffic you can always stay on I-95 & take the Beachline (528) to the Greenway (417-tolls). It actually dumps you off at Disney pretty quick. Just depends on if you have the patience for I-4 (which I don't).

My daughter graduates from Univ. of North Florida this Friday & is heading back in the fall for Grad School there. She absolutely loves it. She studied and did sports at FSU for 2 years and hated the huge college feel. The smallness of this campus and the class sizes are perfect.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Transportation board.