May 2014 Barrie to St. Petersburg. Advice is most welcomed

[Moviespeeder]

Hi,

We have reserved a vacation home rental in St. Petersburg, Florida for May 4-11 2014. We're departing from Barrie, Ontario and were going to give ourselves a 2 day drive down and 3 day maybe more drive back depending on finances. Oh and when I say "we" I mean 2 Adults, 6yr old, 11yr old, & 2 dogs. Also this is our first real family vacation other than camping and cottaging in Ontario so this is a BIG deal for us. We estimate Charlotte, NC to be our halfway point for the drive down but we need to calculate what time to leave Barrie in order to have daylight when travelling through the mountain area, we really want to have daylight travelling through this area. I'm not sure what kind of traffic we'll run into between Buffalo and Charlotte, NC. We need to be in St. Petersburg between 3-4pm on May 4th as that is our check-in time. We Google mapped this several ways and think I90, I79, I77, I95 is the best route. We're hoping to have a scenic drive down and obviously with only a 2 day drive down stops will be limited to bathroom breaks only & a quick stretch. Depending how things go we're considering to take I95 back and visit Washington but that may prove difficult logistics wise with us having the dogs with us. Not sure if we can find a hotel there that is pet friendly and even if we do most hotels won't allow you to leave your dogs when your not in the room and we're not sure how our dogs will react to noise in the hall. They're not barkers except if someone rings or knocks on our house door but being in a strange place we're not sure. So a stay overnight and sight seeing in Washington on the way home maybe a no go, I also heard it's very expensive there too. So there's most of the details of our trip what we'd like to know is if anyone has a better route to take, any must see things/places on the way down or back or while in Florida, & any must eat restaurant suggestions. Also we're thinking of going to SeaWorld during our stay, a boat tour in Tampa, and an air boat tour (alligator watch). We really enjoy a scenic drive and great places to eat. All suggestions and welcome and thank you very much in advance for any advice/input.

 

[polyhm83]

Hi, We have made the drive from Barrie to Disney about 15 to 20 times.
When the kids were little we would leave around 4:00 am so they would sleep for a while before daylight. That route is our favourite, very scenic.
Watch for speed traps around Beckley WV, it is the faster route but lots of state troopers and traffic lights. I don't know about the Washington route, we did that on a separate trip and it is very busy and confusing, it would add a lot of hours on your return trip, which always feels longer anyways. Have a great time, feel free to ask any questions.

 

[Moviespeeder]

Hi,
We have made the drive from Barrie to Disney about 15 to 20 times.
When the kids were little we would leave around 4:00 am so they would sleep for a while before daylight. That route is our favourite, very scenic.
Watch for speed traps around Beckley WV, it is the faster route but lots of state troopers and traffic lights. I don't know about the Washington route, we did that on a separate trip and it is very busy and confusing, it would add a lot of hours on your return trip, which always feels longer anyways. Have a great time, feel free to ask any questions.

Hi Polyhm83,

Wow that's a lot of Disney trips, you have very lucky kids LOL !! Great to know that it's very scenic, we heard about the speed traps through Beckley too so we'll watch for that. Great idea about the kids getting some sleep on the way before daylight, I think we'll follow that rule too. As for the Washington route we'll be scraping that idea due to the dogs. I wanted to ask did you only have a one night stay over on the way down? If so what was your half way point? We think ours will be Charlotte, NC but it'll be 12 hour drive there and then 8 hours left to our destination the next day. Is there any places you'd advise to avoid due to traffic or other reason at a specific time of day? Leaving at 4am were you able to drive through the mountain area during daylight? Any place you'd recommend a MUST see or eat at on way down or there (there meaning in Florida)? Thanks for your reply and help!

Ryan

 

[TinkandGoofy'sMom]

We live in Barrie too! We've driven three times with our kids. First time we left at 5:00am, thinking the kids would sleep the first few hours....NOT!! The next two times we left Barrie in the late afternoon because we had to wait until my husband got home from work. Those times we stopped in or near Pittsburgh for the night (about a 6 hour drive). We took the same route you're planning ( I think...LOL...my husband drives so I don't really pay attention to the highway names). We stop twice on the way to Florida and once or twice on the way home. There are plenty of hotels, gas stations and restaurants all the way. We like to eat at Olive Garden, since we don't have one here, and usually go to Cracker Barrel too. Driving isn't really too bad as long as the kids have plenty to do, and plenty of snacks! Have a great time.

 

[Moviespeeder]

We live in Barrie too! We've driven three times with our kids. First time we left at 5:00am, thinking the kids would sleep the first few hours....NOT!! The next two times we left Barrie in the late afternoon because we had to wait until my husband got home from work. Those times we stopped in or near Pittsburgh for the night (about a 6 hour drive). We took the same route you're planning ( I think...LOL...my husband drives so I don't really pay attention to the highway names). We stop twice on the way to Florida and once or twice on the way home. There are plenty of hotels, gas stations and restaurants all the way. We like to eat at Olive Garden, since we don't have one here, and usually go to Cracker Barrel too. Driving isn't really too bad as long as the kids have plenty to do, and plenty of snacks! Have a great time.

Thanks for the input TinkandGoofy'sMom. Snacks and things to do, check! I was telling my kids when I was a kid travelling on long drives, the only thing I had to do was look at the scenery out my window. Looks like we're bringing the ipads and ipods LOL. Cracker Barrel we'll give a shot been there before and like it, Olive Garden we've had some bad experiences though . We're going to try and take our time coming home, we don't have any time constraints coming home so we'll see. It depends how well behaved the dogs are going to be lol.

 

[polyhm83]

I think Charlotte is a good stopping point, we don't like to plan to much and just see how far we can make it. I second the cracker barrel, all day breakfasts and very interesting gift shops.
Fort Desoto park is near St. Petes and has kayaking, biking, and a dog beach. Lots of nice mini golfs in the area, state parks and of course busch gardens. We also love Sanibel Island but it would be a 2 hour drive south, large nature preserve with a drive through trail and pontoon boat rentals, saw lots of dolphins. It is a great island for biking, lots of trails and great shelling on the beaches. Of course Disney is also not too far, 1 1/2 to 2 hr drive. Planning is half the fun. Enjoy

 

[Moviespeeder]

I think Charlotte is a good stopping point, we don't like to plan to much and just see how far we can make it. I second the cracker barrel, all day breakfasts and very interesting gift shops.
Fort Desoto park is near St. Petes and has kayaking, biking, and a dog beach. Lots of nice mini golfs in the area, state parks and of course busch gardens. We also love Sanibel Island but it would be a 2 hour drive south, large nature preserve with a drive through trail and pontoon boat rentals, saw lots of dolphins. It is a great island for biking, lots of trails and great shelling on the beaches. Of course Disney is also not too far, 1 1/2 to 2 hr drive. Planning is half the fun. Enjoy

Yes I agree with the planning, but I like to plan to a certain point to get an idea but we don't stick like glue to it. Fort Desoto we have looked into, mini golf is a GREAT idea too, didn't know about the dog beach so that's cool. We're not sure what busch gardens really is, I'll look into it but not sure if it's worth it to see. Sanibel Island sounds awesome for the drive through trail and pontoon boat rentals. I will definitely read up on that, as for the drive through trail if you mean by car that's awesome I'm limited to how much I can walk so anything like that is a plus. Disney we are postponing until our Christmas 2014 Florida vacation. My wife heard its absolutely beautiful at Christmas so 2014 Christmas will be an all out and out dedicated trip to Dinsey, our son is going to be 11 in January but going on 18 LOL so I think after a couple more years if that he'll be to macho to want to visit Disney. Planning is half the fun, as we move a long and get peoples input like yourselves it makes it fun to plan. Lucky we have time to do so, I think if we were doing this last minute for our first trip we wouldn't have been able to do so much research on things tailored to our likes. We are very excited, this is the foremost conversation in our home from now until then LOL.