MASS. to FW

[rkukl]

Hi to All
I am planning a trip from Western Massachusetts to Fort Wilderness in December. My arrival date is Sunday December 19th.
My thoughts are as follows:

I81 and make my first stop in Salem VA, That is a long trip approx 12 hrs. I think if I leave at 9:00 PM on Thursday the 16th I arrive in VA Friday late morning.

Then from VA to Statesboro GA approx 8 hrs, Leave VA early (5:00) Sat morning I arrive in GA mid afternoon.


Finally on to Disney which is 6 hrs. From Statesboro
Leave GA Sunday AM (6:00) I arrive at FW Sunday early afternoon.

Am I crazy??

Opinions?

 

[rapriebe]

Well crazy - - - - I don't know if thats the right word. We use to drive from Northern Maryland (Frederick) to WDW and it was 17 hours. We didn't do that too often because it was just too long a drive for a one week stay. We have transplanted to southern NC and we now have a 10 hour drive which we do in one day. Needless to say, we go alot more now. If you don't mind driving, I say go for it. Personally, I would be absolutely crazy if I had to spend that much time in a vehicle but that's just me.

 

[welovemickey]

We make the trip every year from Massachusetts to FW. We usually leave at around 3pm and drive until about 1am. We stop, sleep for a few hours and then finish the trip. We're usually at Trails End having dinner by 6pm.

We'll be going again this year. Leaving Mass on Thursday the 16th and arriving at FW early evening on the 17th of December.

Have a safe trip and enjoy!

 

[rkukl]

I was thinking of I81 to avoid going on 95. A couple of my co-workers go down to Bike Week in Daytona yearly. They tow an enclosed trailer with several bikes and tell me they feel I81 is a better route. I looked a bit closer at the map I think staying in the Savannah area will work. I didn’t realize that Statesboro was so far off. I want to take the best route and don’t want to drive too crazy (at least on the way down) that why I was thinking of setting up some stops and making the trip over a couple of days.

Thanks for the input any other suggestions are appreciated.

 

[rkukl]

Welovemickey
Where do you stop for a few hours of sleep?

 

[tim5055]

Originally posted by rkukl
I was thinking of I81 to avoid going on 95. A couple of my co-workers go down to Bike Week in Daytona yearly. They tow an enclosed trailer with several bikes and tell me they feel I81 is a better route.

I'm sorry, I just can't buy the I-81 route. I-81 travels to the south west rather than I-95 which goes due south.

I-81 ends in Knoxville, TN then you would get on I-75/FL Turnpike to Disney.

The I-81 route would be arund 1600 miles while the I-95 route is around 1300 miles.

Having camped in the western Virginia/Tenn. area a lot, I used I-81, and let me tell you it gets a lot of truck traffic; even more so than I-95 IMHO.

Just time your trip to avoid rush hour in the major cities:

NY area
Washington, DC area
Richmond
Jacksonville, FL
Orlando, FL


So, not knowing MA that well I picked Springfield, MA as a starting point.

Day 1 Springfield to Richmond, VA
Distance: 481.3 miles Approximate Travel Time: 7 hours 24 mins
Stop at Pocahontas State Park

Day 2 Richmond, VA to Santee, SC
Distance: 359.8 miles Approximate Travel Time: 7 hours 10 mins
Stop at SANTEE STATE PARK

Day 3 Santee, SC to FW
400.5 miles Approximate Travel Time: 6 hours 9 mins

 

[welovemickey]

Rkukl, we usually stop either in Delaware or Virginia to sleep. When we made the drive with our pop-up, we would drive straight thru. We have an RV now so we stop either at a Flying-J or truck rest stop.

 

[dgaston]

We are veterans of several driving trips to WDW from NE CT (near Worcester, MA). Over time we like the 84-81-77-26-95 route. We have been stopped too many times in DC traffic (even once at 3 am) and prefer 81. It's about a 100 miles longer than 95 but well worth it. Our last two trips had us leaving about 5 to 6 pm. We arrived in WDW about 23 hours later. We share driving (non-driver sleeps in the van) and stop for a nice breakfast or dinner. This has left us feeling great when we arrive in Orlando. If we were going to stop overnight, I'd look at southern VA or NC. Check out the Transportation Board and Trekker's excellent suggestions. Now we always stop at GA exit # 3.

HTH

 

[rkukl]

Dgaston
Thanks for your reply. The “84-81-77-26-95 route” was exactly what my friends suggested. What do you think about my thoughts of traveling to VA the first day? I was planning on leaving Thursday evening around 7-9PM and driving on & off all night to arrive in VA late morning or early afternoon.

Thanks
Rich

 

[LovePug]

We drive down from NEPA and tried a different route this past June. Instead of jumping onto 95, we stayed on 81 until we got to 17. 17 crosses over onto 95 but this route has us miss Baltimore and DC. Those are the 2 worst areas, I think. When 17 crosses over you come out a bit above Richmond. From there on it's been smooth sailing for us.

 

[dgaston]

Yes rkukl So VA should be ok. I'd probably push into NC just cuz they have the nicest rest areas and I love thinking i'm that much closer to WDW.