North Charlotte or Statesville Area?

[wdisneyaholic]

Hey everyone, Driving down to the World from Pittsburgh. We usually drive and have made the trip at least 5 times. We usually drive straight thru down and back. This year we have decided to drive straight thru down and stop a little more than half way on the way back. (West Virginia is a killer on the way back home) I was looking at the Charlotte or Statesville area, seems a little more than half way home. Can anyone reccommend a hotel?

Thanks

 

[wdisneyaholic]

Anyone?

 

[tinkerbell60]

Hey everyone, Driving down to the World from Pittsburgh. We usually drive and have made the trip at least 5 times. We usually drive straight thru down and back. This year we have decided to drive straight thru down and stop a little more than half way on the way back. (West Virginia is a killer on the way back home) I was looking at the Charlotte or Statesville area, seems a little more than half way home. Can anyone reccommend a hotel?

Thanks

We are driving down from Pittsburgh next week. I totally agree - we dread West Virginia! We drove straight through one time coming home, and it nearly did us in, so we always stop now - both ways. Going down, we try to make it to I-95, twice we stayed in Walterboro - which is a nice area. The Holiday Inn Express there is great. This trip we are going to try to make it into Georgia.

Coming north, we have stayed in Mooresville twice (just north of Charlotte). You are right, it is about halfway. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and the Wingate there. Both were very nice. There are a few other hotels there too. Mooresville is one exit before Statesville and seemed to have a better selection of hotels. The last trip we made it all the way to Hillsville, VA. We stayed at a Quality Inn - which although was older, was very clean and had a great breakfast. The nice thing was we only had a 6 hour drive home the next day. We also stayed in Elkton NC one time. That is in between Charlotte and the Virginia line. They had several hotels there too that were fine. We like doing the longer first day, and shorter second day. I hope that helps! We are north of Pittsburgh, where are you?

 

[wdisneyaholic]

Hey tinkerbell60!! Thanks for the response. We live South of Pittsburgh. I can't wait to go to Disney. Your trip is closer than mine, we are the end of July. We usually just drive straight back but last year I felt like I would NEVER get out of West Virginia. Not the best state to drive through at 3:00 AM and are very tired. Its so hard to pick an area to stay, I want the bulk of the driving done the first day. Maybe I should try to book one in Mooresville and maybe one in VA. Then depending on how tired we are we can make decision at that time. What time do you usually leave to come home? We usually leave after breakfast, but may stay a little later if I just want to make it to Mooresville.

Hope you enjoy your trip

 

[wdisneyaholic]

Whoa Tinkerbell60, I just saw your countdown. Are you doing a triple stay? We are staying at the Poly, hubby hates to move once he gets settled. I would love to do a split stay.

 

[Robert P]

.....

Coming north, we have stayed in Mooresville twice (just north of Charlotte). You are right, it is about halfway. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and the Wingate there. Both were very nice. There are a few other hotels there too. Mooresville is one exit before Statesville and seemed to have a better selection of hotels. The last trip we made it all the way to Hillsville, VA. We stayed at a Quality Inn - which although was older, was very clean and had a great breakfast. The nice thing was we only had a 6 hour drive home the next day. We also stayed in Elkton NC one time. That is in between Charlotte and the Virginia line. They had several hotels there too that were fine. We like doing the longer first day, and shorter second day. .....

I have to agree. The Mooresville exit (MM 38 I believe) is easily the best of the bunch on I-77 above Charlotte. The Statesville exits (@ MM 50) don't have as much selection, and many of the hotels you'd need to jump on I-40 West for at least one mile, and take those exit(s) to reach them. There is a lot more to Statesville than what can be seen from I-77, but there are other options close to the higway (within 1-2 miles).

Elkin is probably the second best option, tied with Statesville, after Charlotte.

Whatever you decide, I would definitely try to get clear of Charlotte. That traffic is unpredictable, but once you get through there, it is very unusual to hit any delays the rest of the way to VA.

 

[tinkerbell60]

Hey tinkerbell60!! Thanks for the response. We live South of Pittsburgh. I can't wait to go to Disney. Your trip is closer than mine, we are the end of July. We usually just drive straight back but last year I felt like I would NEVER get out of West Virginia. Not the best state to drive through at 3:00 AM and are very tired. Its so hard to pick an area to stay, I want the bulk of the driving done the first day. Maybe I should try to book one in Mooresville and maybe one in VA. Then depending on how tired we are we can make decision at that time. What time do you usually leave to come home? We usually leave after breakfast, but may stay a little later if I just want to make it to Mooresville.

Hope you enjoy your trip

We usually leave by 9am if not earlier. DH always likes to get an early start. It is easy to make Mooresville with that. We never even book a hotel, we have had luck with just stopping and finding one. The only problem with that is the later you stop, the less choices. We could not get into the hotel we wanted last trip (hit traffic and it was close to 10pm) so what I plan to do is just call ahead when we are within an hour or so. I make a list of the hotels based on the internet reviews.

West Virginia is a tough drive at 3am or 3pm!!!!!

Whoa Tinkerbell60, I just saw your countdown. Are you doing a triple stay? We are staying at the Poly, hubby hates to move once he gets settled. I would love to do a split stay.

That was not the original plan. DH likes to stay put too, but he agreed to a split stay - Contemporary and AS Sports (he likes getting 2 rooms at a value over one at a deluxe) BUT, we had to move our vacation. I did not want to give up CR over July 4th, so he agree to the triple split.

I have to agree. The Mooresville exit (MM 38 I believe) is easily the best of the bunch on I-77 above Charlotte. The Statesville exits (@ MM 50) don't have as much selection, and many of the hotels you'd need to jump on I-40 West for at least one mile, and take those exit(s) to reach them. There is a lot more to Statesville than what can be seen from I-77, but there are other options close to the higway (within 1-2 miles).

Elkin is probably the second best option, tied with Statesville, after Charlotte.

Whatever you decide, I would definitely try to get clear of Charlotte. That traffic is unpredictable, but once you get through there, it is very unusual to hit any delays the rest of the way to VA.

I agree, get north of Charlotte. The traffic can get really heavy around there - especially when you hit it around 5pm on a weekday - which will happen when you leave Orlando around 9am. Keep Elkin in mind for a midpoint if you are too tired to make Virginia.