OK, Fayetteville is 1/2way point...

[kimmar067]

...now where do we stay overnight, since we are driving....??? (Off I-95 of course) Reasonable rate and CLEAN!!?!?!?!

 

[4nana]

I would suggest you do a search for that area. Fayetteville
has many nice motels/hotels . We stayed at the Holiday Inn
Express once - reasonable, clean, w/cont brk on Bragg Blvd.
I have had good luck w/ http://roomsavers.com/roomsaver/.
They have coupons for several listed in that area w/maps.
I hope this helps

 

[kimmar067]

...thank you for your reply. I think I will try your suggestion....!!

 

[Coldpony]

Fayetteville is a college town and some of the rooms can be a little run down.

I would suggest going a few minutes further south into the Bentonville area (which is the Headquarters of Wal-Mart). With mostly business people frequenting these hotels, the rooms are generally a little better kept up.

I usually stay at the Courtyard by Marriott and have never had a problem there.

 

[bigs1923t]

Not sure what time in the am you will leave or what route you will take. Leaving Lodi I would think it would be GSP to Turnpike & over Delaware Memorial Bridge. We are about 1 1/4 hrs from the Del Mem Bridge and we try to leave no later than 2 am if its a weekday. This puts us through Washington by 6am. We usually stay somewhere in SC. This time we left at 4am on a Saturday and stopped about 30 miles north of the Ga border. There are loads of places to stay along the route. We stopped at Ramada Limited that I think was in Manning SC, about a year old and VERY clean. Rate was about $45.00 with 2 beds and a free cont breakfast. But even if ya get a dud its only one night and you are on to WDW !!! From the Ga / SC border you are only about 5 hrs from Orlando

 

[Bob NC]

Uh...Fayetteville is in NC, Bentonville is in Arkansas.

You might find better accomodations looking in Lumberton, NC. It is maybe an hour south of Fayetteville and it has an entire compliment of hotel/motels. They have a lot of the chains, a lot of them are new properties. There is a Comfort Inn there I have stayed at A LOT, and right down the street is a Cracker Barrel, (Love their breakfasts!!!). There's a Ramada Inn I stayed at many times too, it is a little older but they have a restaurant/bar onsite. There are newer Holiday Inn, Hampton Inn, Quality Inn, etc type places too.

 

[GeorgeG]

I agree with Bob about Lumberton. It's a good half-way point and there'a also an Outback Steakhouse. From there you can easily be at WDW my mid-afternoon the next day. One year, we did make it to about 30 miles north of the Georgia line and were in WDW by noon the next day.

A lot depends on how you drive (stay safe) and how tired you get the first day. It is helpful to stop and rest for lunch to break up the first day of driving.

Once you get to the Carolinas there are billboards advertising all the hotels and motels at just about every exit. Lumberton does have a lot of options, though.

 

[karyn]

I think you replied to my posts about flying out of LGA and postcards for the Willowbrook Disney Store. Anyway, i see you are taking to the road. Our friends usually stop in Lumberton and stay at the Hampton Inn. They like the Crackerbarrel. On the way back they stop in Florence. We did the drive a few years back and made it to Hilton Head by dinner.That was leaving at 2am. It was a killer to say the least. The next day we were in Disney in about 5 hours. My husband is talking about doing this again. This time I think we will only do 8 1/2 hours each day.

 

[kimmar067]

...you said that you left at 2AM? Our arrival date is for Fri, July 26, so we were going to leave Lodi by 4PM (beat 5PM rush hour traffic coming out of NYC). Last year (Feb) we left on Fri. nite around 7:10 PM, and arrived at WDW around 2:45PM the next day, driving straight thru. We vowed NEVER to do that again, so on the way back we ate at Lumberton, but kept driving to Va where we stayed overnite. This time, we will be driving in a conversion van, but we will have 4 adults...so, we may drive straight thru again. I would definitely stay in Lumberton, though, if we DO stop overnight.....thanks to all that replied(especially with the 411 on Fayetteville!!!!Yukkk!!!)

 

[karyn]

Oh, a conversion van sounds great! We have a Nissan Pathfinder. I didn't want to be a van mom anymore once my older 2 began driving. My younger sons will be with us so we only have 2 drivers . Yes we left at 2am but we were getting really tired before we reached Hilton Head . We took a longgggggggggggggg lunch at a shaded rest stop. We are trying to do this vacation on the somewhat cheap as this will be out third visit to WDW in a year. I want to stay onsite and have reservation for All Movies. Got a great deal as we are going at the end of August and have an AP.

 

[kimmar067]

...my sister & her family will be driving there the end of July with a Pathfinder. They are stopping in Savannah, Ga (not sure coming or going) We drove to Williamsburg, Va last summer in this van. Very comforable, roomy; it has a tv, DVD and VCR players, stereo system, and a bench seat in the rear that unfolds to a queen-size bed!!! Are you a pin trader. if so, check out Disney Store at Paramus Park on Tuesday nights....

 

[bigs1923t]

Guess we should change the name of this thread to "Driving to WDW from New Jersey" I used to live in Paramus but now have retreated to Ocean City NJ (the good part of NJ LOL) We also have a conversion van but only one driver ( I feel lousy if I ride in pass seat) so we usually dont go much more than 12 hrs on the first day and run with the traffic flow. The long first day doesnt seem bad to me, I guess I'm so keyed up it keeps me awake. I did the non stop a few years back. Had coolers with beverages & sandwiches, plenty of snacks and a porta potty for the kids. I told wife we are cruzin till I need gas or have to stop myself. The ride went so great. We left home at 1:30 am on a Friday. The van has 2 fuel tanks and we were pulling into South of the Border at 10:30 am to get fuel. This stop was 20 minutes long, our first & only stop till we hit Orlando. We rolled right along & I figured we would stop in the late afternoon. By 3pm we were in Jacksonville (stuck in traffic from a wreck for over an hour). After we started moving again we were in Daytona by dinnertime and decided why stop now. We were eating dinner in Orlando at 7:30 that night after checking a hotel. Needless to say I slept well that night and vowed to never do it again LOL !

 

[kimmar067]

bigs1923t-
I read you LOUD AND CLEAR!!!!!
(yippee for NJ!!!)

 

[robinb]

I stayed in Fayetteville at the Ramada via Priceline in December and it was a DUMP. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I would recommend that you go a little farther as the other towns looked nicer.

 

[kimmar067]

...another testimonial for a "thumbs down" on Fayetteville.....

 

[erick10520]

We will be driving from next door (Wallington) in Nov 2002, hopefully planning to go straight thru, but we will see!!!! Any suggestions for route through Washington DC?? I see 295, 495, etc...which one??

 

[karyn]

On my recent trip to WDW a couple, from Toms River, told me the Walmart in Orlando (?)sells cheaper pins and then you can trade at Disney for better ones. Does this make sense???No, i'm not into pin trading but it sounds like a good time at Paramus Park. Do you go there to trade?

 

[karyn]

Last week i was just reading about which is the best way around Washington as we will be driving in August. I should have jotted it down. I'll look around the boards and get back to you once i find it.

 

[Bob NC]

To the locals, Fayetteville is known as Fayette Nam.....For good reason

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Karyn, Disney pins at a WalMart in Orlando is a new one on me, and I moderate the Collectors Board. I'm not saying they don't, though; you can post a question over there and I'm sure you'll find an answer.

Erick, what day of the week and time of day will you be going through DC? Traffic on the beltway can be murder during the week, especially at the Springfield interchange, in VA where 95, 395 and 495 all meet. On the weekends might be better, but it's been a while since I've been up there.

Going up to Baltimore one time I took US 301 across the Potomac into MD to Bowie, then Route 3 to I-97. Traffic wasn't too bad, but it's been about 3 years since I drove that. The downside is that 301 and route 3 are not limited-access highways and you do hit traffic signals. It's a way to get avoid the hassle of traffic, but not necessarily a faster route.