Need Tips for Driving From Chicago

[famsen]

We have driven from Chicago to WDW 6 times now but it never gets any easier. We will be going this year in October. I want to know if anyone has a better driving itinerary than the one we have worked out. I like to get the bulk of the driving out of the way the first day. I also feel safe at the places we have been taking our driving breaks but if anyone has better times of day to drive or better places to stay or can tell me if we should be making more or less frequent stops to make the trip better, please let me know.
This is how our driving trips have been going down:

We leave from home Saturday at 4:00am. We make our first stop for breakfast outside Indianapolis. We drive through KY and stop at the TN border for our next break. We drive through TN until we reach the GA border and take a quick break. We arrive at Cartersville,GA at about 5:00pm and stop for the night.

We leave Cartersville Sunday at about 5:00am. We drive for about 2 hours and stop for breakfast. We drive to the FL border and take a quick break to get brochures and orange juice. We drive to Ocala and stop at the AAA welcome center. We leave Ocala and drive until we get to our WDW resort. This gets us to WDW between 1pm and 2pm. I would love to get there earlier. Any ideas on how to improve my itinerary? Does anybody drive straight through without stopping for the night?

Thanks.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

We drive to Ocala and stop at the AAA welcome center. We leave Ocala and drive until we get to our WDW resort. This gets us to WDW between 1pm and 2pm.

The Disney Information Center in Ocala closed forever on August 13, 2005, after 18 years of operation.

Have you considered flying and using Disney's Magical Express? Right now, American Airlines is offering roundtrip Chicago-Orlando fares in August for $138 plus tax. (I don't know the fares for October.)

In my opinion, flying is much better than driving. When you figure the cost of gasoline and all other costs of operating a car — such as mechanical wear-and-tear, maintenance, tires, depreciation due to higher odometer reading — it costs close to a dollar per mile to operate a car. And flying takes so much less time, which means more time to enjoy your vacation.

 

[famsen]

That is terrible news about the AAA Ocala Welcome Center!
Thanks for that info though.

I do not fly. It is not even a consideration for me. I flew one time in my life which was when I was 12 years old and no one could ever get me on a plane again.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

That is terrible news about the AAA Ocala Welcome Center!
Thanks for that info though.

See Disney sells welcome center for $2 million, The Ocala Star-Banner, Apr. 26, 2006.

 

[famsen]

Anybody else with any suggestions on my driving itinerary from Chicago?

 

[TyRy]

I'd like to know as well as we are also doing the drive down in Sept. Except we'll be leaving after work on a Thursday. We're going to try and make it at least to Carbondale if not Paducah. We're doing 57 down.

 

[alicenwonder99]

We've driven twice (we all said never again!). The first time, we drove through Indiana. The second time we drove through Illinois (down I-57). I-57 seemed the better route. There was a thread going about 18 months ago about driving from Chicago. I'll see if I can find it and post it for you.

We always had to stop about every 1 1/2 - 2 hours. The kids are in their car seats and can't move around too well. We had to let 'em loose to stretch those muscles...lol.

If you go on McDonald's webpage, they wil list all of the McD with playlands for your trip. However, we noticed that once you get to a certain point South of here (like maybe around Kent/Tenn border), all of the playlands are outdoors (yuck).

Mary

 

[alicenwonder99]

Here's the driving from Chicago thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=671442

And another:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=853086

HTH

Mary

 

[famsen]

We also have tried the I-57 route. We found it to be a little longer than I-65.
At least when you make it through Indiana and into Kentucky you feel like some progress has been made. Illinois is sooooo very long and you are headed west before you come back around east. However, if there are still reports of snipers on I-65 at the time we leave, I will do I-57.