Looking for advice! First time driving to Disney :)

[Disneymom77]

We are seriously considering driving to Disney this time to save some $$$. I'm just looking for some good advice from all you experienced Dissers out there. We will break it up into 2 days. How far do you usually drive in a day? We live about 2 hrs north of Philly and have a 9 and 5 yr old. I was hoping to make it to one of the Carolinas the first day. Is that too far? DO you make hotel reservations in advance or just wing it? What are some nice(clean)hotels along 95? Aside from the usual "are we there yet?" and "I have to go pee!" my girls are good travelers. But, we've never taken a road trip this long before I plan on getting little surprises to give them along the way to keep them occupied. And watching movies still keeps them pretty content. Any advice you all have would be great!

 

[Missytara]

As an alternative, go through DE and take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel; avoids the whole DE/MD/DC/VA stuff.

NC is a perfect place to stop. My DSB and DSIL live in Wilmington and they made it to WDW a few years ago in about 7-1/2 hours from their house. Wilmington is a wonderful place to stop; everything is brand new and wonderful places to stay.

GA is also a good place to stop; my parents enjoy that more when they make their annual trek to Venice, FL. They enjoy Jekyll's Island and Savannah.

Either way, you can't go wrong.

Enjoy!

 

[Pembo]

We live about 17 hours away. We go as far as we can the first day...12-14 hours...that way the second day is short. We find a hotel by stopping at the state welcome centers and getting the Roomsavers coupon books. We've had some nice hotels for excellent prices.

My kids were 2, 6, and 9 our first drive. I had lots of snacks, new toys (from the Dollar store), and we put away their gameboys for a few weeks before our trip. We didn't have a tv and they didn't need it.

Our rule is if you say "are we there yet" you owe me a .25 out of your souvenir money. The only person saying it was me!

My biggest suggestion - take stuff to do at the rest stop. My kids had more fun chasing bubbles or balloons for 15 mins and then we got back in the car. Another suggestion, buy pipe cleaners and let them create things. I have a great picture of my son in a pipe cleaner hockey mask.

My kids do better on a long drive to FL than a short drive to Target. It's an adventure....

My big suggestion

 

[Disneymom77]

As an alternative, go through DE and take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel; avoids the whole DE/MD/DC/VA stuff.

NC is a perfect place to stop. My DSB and DSIL live in Wilmington and they made it to WDW a few years ago in about 7-1/2 hours from their house. Wilmington is a wonderful place to stop; everything is brand new and wonderful places to stay.

GA is also a good place to stop; my parents enjoy that more when they make their annual trek to Venice, FL. They enjoy Jekyll's Island and Savannah.

Either way, you can't go wrong.

Enjoy!

It would be great to aviod DC/VA!! I will definatly check out Wilmington My hope is that the first day is a looooong driving day, so the second day we can arrive in Disney and still have a good part of the day to enjoy our resort or a park. We loved Savannah when we visited last year! Might be a good excuse to visit again. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Disneymom77]

We live about 17 hours away. We go as far as we can the first day...12-14 hours...that way the second day is short. We find a hotel by stopping at the state welcome centers and getting the Roomsavers coupon books. We've had some nice hotels for excellent prices.

My kids were 2, 6, and 9 our first drive. I had lots of snacks, new toys (from the Dollar store), and we put away their gameboys for a few weeks before our trip. We didn't have a tv and they didn't need it.

Our rule is if you say "are we there yet" you owe me a .25 out of your souvenir money. The only person saying it was me!

My biggest suggestion - take stuff to do at the rest stop. My kids had more fun chasing bubbles or balloons for 15 mins and then we got back in the car. Another suggestion, buy pipe cleaners and let them create things. I have a great picture of my son in a pipe cleaner hockey mask.

My kids do better on a long drive to FL than a short drive to Target. It's an adventure....

My big suggestion

I'm hoping the first day will be the long day! I'd like to be able to get to Disney so that we have a good part of the day to enjoy our resort or go to a park. Great idea about the "are we there yet" rule!! We will be enforcing that Pipe cleaners are also an awesome idea, i'm sure they will not only keep the kiddos busy, but give me or my DH something to do too Thanks!

 

[minnierocks]

We regularly make the drive from Ohio...and my kids have always done great! Sometimes we leave after work/school and drive 5-6 hours, stopping overnight and then drive the rest of the way on Saturday. Other times, we have driven one long day (11-12 hours), stopped overnight and then on the second day been at WDW by lunch! Either way, we always have a hotel reserved along the way. It gives you a destination/goal for the day and we don't get stuck having to find a place to stay and/or paying high rates because it was the first place we saw after deciding to stop. We did this once and everywhere we stopped was either full or a ridiculous rate and it ended up taking over an hour of stopping to find a place. At that point, tensions were running high in the car!
One thing that we always did when the kids were younger was buy a few surprise toys/games/cd's that were given to them once we were on the road. Both had their own bags full of things to do, but giving them something new seemed to make it more exciting. We always had lots of snacks and juice boxes.
Pooler, GA and Brunswick, GA have been good stopping points for us. They were safe and clean and had reasonably priced hotels with free continental breakfast. Last time, we stayed at a Sleep Inn (Brunswick, GA) for less than $70/night. Microtel Inn is an inexpensive, clean place to stay but it is definitely no frills...for us, it's a good choice because we are just looking for a clean place to sleep and have a quick breakfast before taking off again. Happy travels!

 

[Disneymom77]

We regularly make the drive from Ohio...and my kids have always done great! Sometimes we leave after work/school and drive 5-6 hours, stopping overnight and then drive the rest of the way on Saturday. Other times, we have driven one long day (11-12 hours), stopped overnight and then on the second day been at WDW by lunch! Either way, we always have a hotel reserved along the way. It gives you a destination/goal for the day and we don't get stuck having to find a place to stay and/or paying high rates because it was the first place we saw after deciding to stop. We did this once and everywhere we stopped was either full or a ridiculous rate and it ended up taking over an hour of stopping to find a place. At that point, tensions were running high in the car!
One thing that we always did when the kids were younger was buy a few surprise toys/games/cd's that were given to them once we were on the road. Both had their own bags full of things to do, but giving them something new seemed to make it more exciting. We always had lots of snacks and juice boxes.
Pooler, GA and Brunswick, GA have been good stopping points for us. They were safe and clean and had reasonably priced hotels with free continental breakfast. Last time, we stayed at a Sleep Inn (Brunswick, GA) for less than $70/night. Microtel Inn is an inexpensive, clean place to stay but it is definitely no frills...for us, it's a good choice because we are just looking for a clean place to sleep and have a quick breakfast before taking off again. Happy travels!

Getting to Disney by lunch would be fantastic! We're not looking for frills, just clean rooms and beds without bugs The goody bags sound like a must. I will be visiting the Dollar Store, Dollar Tree and Targets Dollar Spot between now and then for sure. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[pipervali]

NC is a perfect place to stop. My DSB and DSIL live in Wilmington and they made it to WDW a few years ago in about 7-1/2 hours from their house. Wilmington is a wonderful place to stop; everything is brand new and wonderful places to stay.

We live about an hour north of Philly, and have driven to Wilmington. I'll echo the sentiment, it's a wonderful town, with a great southern hospitality feel to it. And affordable hotels and even quite a few bed and breakfasts. It was about a 8 hour drive for us, so probably closer to 10 for you, which I think is very doable on your first day of travel.

 

[Disneymom77]

We live about an hour north of Philly, and have driven to Wilmington. I'll echo the sentiment, it's a wonderful town, with a great southern hospitality feel to it. And affordable hotels and even quite a few bed and breakfasts. It was about a 8 hour drive for us, so probably closer to 10 for you, which I think is very doable on your first day of travel.

Is Wilmington right off of 95? If not how far away from 95 is it? It seems like a popular place to stop

 

[bd2010]

We live in Central PA and have found that the best route for us is to take I-81 to I-77 to I-26 and then get on I-95 in South Carolina. For us, it adds about 30 miles to the trip, but it more than makes up for having to deal with the traffic on I-95 around D.C. and Richmond.

Based on your location, you may want to look into this route. It's very scenic (some would say boring), as it cuts through a lot of mountains in Virginia. Also, the only traffic you may hit (before getting on I-95) is around Charlotte. It's a cakewalk compared to the stuff around D.C. and Richmond.

If you go to Google Maps and map your drive, you should see this route as one of your options on the left, if you want to compare.

You can easily make it to the Carolinas using this route. When we've drove it in the past, we'd make it to I-95 in South Carolina and then look for a place to stop. We'll be taking this route later this year and are going to try and make it to Georgia this time. That may be pushing it, though, as we'll be driving with a 10 month old.

We don't make hotel reservations, as we don't want to limit ourselves as to how far we can drive. We also don't want to force ourselves to drive farther if we're tired. This has worked for us in the past. One time, we had to check a few hotels before we found availability, but it worked out.

As far as nice hotels, that's a tough call since there are so many hotels. For us, we just take a look at the surroundings and the outside of the hotel itself, and cross our fingers.

 

[nytimez]

We have a thread for 2,000+ mile drivers here -- it's usually on the front page of the transportation board. If you're planning on driving, read through it -- lots of great tips, and lots of great drivers to answer your questions.

 

[hubb1972]

I love Wilmington too and I would love to live there. However, it is not that close to 95. Depending on where you cut at to go it would be a little over an hour to 1 1/2 hours from 95. Probably I would take I40 in Benson, NC and get to Wilmington there. If you have the time go for it, but this is not "on the way" in my opinion.

We have driven from NC with 3 kids twice and all are under 6 now so I can understand even though our drive is shorter than yours. Movies work for my kids as well as activities like coloring books, leapster portable video game, etc.....

We still split the drive up since our youngest has the most issues riding. He was 6 months old first trip and 2 the second time and he can't make it in the car like the other 2. I like to use Priceline when I determine where to stay but that locks you in since you cannot change your mind. But usually I get best rate for hotels there for sure. We have gotten a hotel in Jacksonville, FL right off the interstate for $23. Not a 4 star, but clean and a place to sleep.

Good Luck!

 

[Disneymom77]

Thanks everyone for your input Our plans have changed yet again. My in-laws graciously offered to by our airline tickets for us as an early Christmas present. I will remember all of your great advice, as we may drive to Disney in the future. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Elmo007]

Thanks everyone for your input Our plans have changed yet again. My in-laws graciously offered to by our airline tickets for us as an early Christmas present. I will remember all of your great advice, as we may drive to Disney in the future. Thanks again everyone!

That would be my advice. I live in LI and cant even stand the drive to LGA