Ontario people who drive to WDW...

[A&CsMom]

What is your preferred route to Florida, and why? I know this should probably be on the Transportation board, but I wanted to target those who live in Ontario, and I don't know how many of you visit the Transportation board.

 

[hematite153]

We have generally ended up on I-95 for most of the trip. It's a boring road but seems to be fastest. We drove through the Blue-Ridge Pkwy once for the view but you need to add a couple of days to your vacation if you are really going to appreciate the drive.

How you best get to I-95 depends on where in Ontario you are starting from. Have fun planning a route.

 

[digskat]

We have driven down the last three years. We cross over at Port Huron and the take I-75 straight on down to FLA. We have Dave Hunter's Along I-75 and I highly recommend it. It has made our trip super smooth. I also print off the directions off of Mapquest so I have the directions to the resort once we reach FLA. Good luck on your decision and have a great trip! Cheers Kathy
Here's the website www.i75online.com

 

[LdnCpl]

We've done the drive down in '03 and '05 and both times we used the 'Travelling the I75 book'. I too would highly recommend it as it takes any uncertainties out of the trip. The book tells you restaurant,gas stations, hotels/motels and cool points of interest. Well worth the money you pay for it. It's a pretty easy drive down as the I75 isn't much different then the 401. Busiest place is Atlanta as it is an Interstate hub but if you've driven through TO then you won't notice much difference. Once you get into KY it's actually quite scenic

 

[A&CsMom]

We usually cross at Queenston-Lewiston. Has anyone tried I90, I79, US19, I77, I26, I95, I4?

By the way, I can't believe how many people fly, and how few drive!

 

[disyady]

We usually cross at Queenston-Lewiston. Has anyone tried I90, I79, US19, I77, I26, I95, I4?

By the way, I can't believe how many people fly, and how few drive!

Yes, we have driven that route 5 times, including 04, 05 & 06. We've never driven any other route so we have nothing to compare it to, though. It takes us a total of 24 driving hours, which we divide into 2.5 days. This year we left Friday around 1 pm and stayed in Pittsburgh; night #2 was Columbia SC and we arrived on day 3 at Disney around 11 am. Next year we are flying out of Buffalo for the first time ever because it will cost us the same (or less) for 5 of us to fly from there than to drive and the past 2 years my DH has been sick (as were one of my DD's and myself) which makes for a miserable trip home. I'm kind of looking forward to not spending almost 6 days of DH's precious little vacation time sitting in a van. My DD's aren't as happy - they love the drive and hate flying!

 

[Questforthemouse]

Hi A&CsMom...My wife is a teacher so we have the Xmas season, March break and summer available for travel. When we head to WDW during Xmas or March break we fly. In the summer we tend to drive as we do enjoy the road trip. In the summer we will take the 90/79/77/26/95/4 crossing at Fort Erie (Peace Bridge). This route is about 3+ hours shorter each way than I-75 and is more scenic. On the other hand, if you have children travelling with you there are definitely more rest/washroom/food stops along I-75 and more sites for the kids to see. Many with younger children will argue it is worth the extra 3 hours drive just to keep the kids more interested. I would also suggest taking I-75 during the winter months as there are fewer montainous areas to deal with and far more opportunities to pull off the road if the weather gets rough (either way, definitely invest in the Along I-75 book).

The reason you are seeing so many people flying is the low cost of flying out of Buffalo and even Detroit. When my wife and I drive down in the summer we like to stop for two nights each way (usually leave Burlington on Friday afternoon and arrive in WDW noonish on Sunday). At the same time, we can get return flights with Southwest out of Buffalo plus rent a car in WDW for less than the total cost of accomodations, food, gas and wear and tear on the car when driving. To drive a family of four is almost always cheaper than flying a family of four and renting a car but some of Southwest's fares are so cheap many will say it is worth it to fly.

 

[nosnobunny2006]

We usually cross at Queenston-Lewiston. Has anyone tried I90, I79, US19, I77, I26, I95, I4?

By the way, I can't believe how many people fly, and how few drive!

Having a daughter who lives in S Florida, I've driven down many many times using every route you can imagine. The car knows the way. My husband and I have been known to drive down Friday for our granddaughter's birthday party on Saturday and turn around and come back home on Sunday. I wouldn't recommend that. I much prefer to drive over fly, but sometimes you can't beat the airfares.

A lot depends on where you're starting from. I live in SW Ontario so the only two options are I-79, 77, 26, 95, Fla Turnpike or I-75. In the winter, we tend to stick with I-75. It's a straight shot once you get to Detroit (you don't even need a roadmap) and although there are mountains, they're further south and less affected by snow or ice. I-79 on the other hand goes right through ski country in W Virginia not to mention the lake-effect snow around Lake Erie. Hotels, restaurants and other services are less frequent if you do happen to run into a problem. Distance-wise, I-79 is a bit shorter but no quicker.

If I can answer any questions regarding hotels, restaurants, etc please feel free to ask.

Beth

 

[hematite153]

By the way, I can't believe how many people fly, and how few drive!

I have driven many times and spent the money to fly directly from home once. Yet, we will probably fly from either Syracuse or Rochester in the future.

At the end of our last drive, we calculated the cost of gas and depreciation of our vehicle for the drive and discovered that it is cheaper to fly and rent than it is to drive the whole way. Plus, once we fly down we are likely to just use disney transportation thus saving even more.

Plus, since we can fly non-stop from Syr or Roc, driving there and then flying ends up not taking much more time than flying from home with a transfer.

If you can enjoy the drive as part of your vacation then it is worthwhile but, given the availability of discount airlines, I have actually reached a point where I am surprised by how many people still drive. That said, I will probably still drive again, someday, for the sake of the drive.

 

[hematite153]

Has anyone tried I90, I79, US19, I77, I26, I95, I4?

I have not used that precise route but I have done the bottom half of it--when we added time to drive the Blue Ridge Pkwy. It was a pretty drive.

 

[A&CsMom]

My husband doesn't fly, so that is why we will be driving. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences. We will keep it in mind when deciding our route! It seems like there are really 3 - I75, I95 or the one I listed above, which is what I get when I put in my address as the starting point, and Kissimmee, FL as the ending point, in MapQuest, as the quickest route.

Hi Questforthemouse - we live in Waterdown.

 

[A&CsMom]

By the way nosnobunny2006, do you drive straight through when you go for one day? If so, how do you do it (share the driving)?

 

[Disneyof3]

Driving is for us with a family of 5. We need the room to bring stuff back and it is way cheaper than to fly. The first 2 years we drove the I75 route and we leave here at about 4pm in the afternoon and by 6pm the next day we are in Kissimee. We stop for lunch and we stop about 3 other times for the bathroom. We found it nice and especially in Jan/Feb. Last year we went in March and took the mountains down and it was beautiful and we left again at 4pm but hit the N.Carolina border and stopped and slept for 4 hrs and then headed to Nascar country for the day and then stayed near the airport for the night and then headed to Clearwater to the in-laws and BG(yuck )
This year 2007 we are taking the same route but driving straight to WDW and am trying to get to Daytona by the next day at noon. That I found was the longest to get through. The road was packed and the heat started to rise in the van.

 

[cslittle999]

We usually cross at Queenston-Lewiston. Has anyone tried I90, I79, US19, I77, I26, I95, I4?

This is the route we take but we cross at Fort Erie. We leave Orangeville around 5 am and reach Charlotte, NC by dinner time. We stay overnight and the next day we're in Orlando late afternoon. Excluding the overnight stay, but including meals and pit stops, it is 21 hours door to door for us. It may even be a little shorter than that since the last time we spent four hours driving through lake effect snow.

 

[Questforthemouse]

My husband doesn't fly, so that is why we will be driving. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences. We will keep it in mind when deciding our route! It seems like there are really 3 - I75, I95 or the one I listed above, which is what I get when I put in my address as the starting point, and Kissimmee, FL as the ending point, in MapQuest, as the quickest route.

Hi Questforthemouse - we live in Waterdown.

Waterdown, a great town! A couple other things you should know if you decide to go the 79/77/95 route. 1) When you hit US19 heading through Summersville MAKE SURE YOU OBEY THE POSTED SPEED LIMITS AT ALL TIMES!!! The folks in this area don't pay taxes but instead live off the money captured through speeding tickets! Some folks will stay on I-79 to I-77 and bypass US19 but this adds about 40 minutes to your drive. Obey the speed limit and you'll be fine. 2) Between Beckley WVA and the NC border you will drive through some beautiful mountains and a couple of great tunnels but you can also run the risk of some fairly heavy fog early in the morning during non-winter seasons and late night driving requires you to be on the look-out for animals (deer) near the road. This isn't to scare you, just to make you aware. I would always drive this route in non-winter months. It is roughly 21 hours door to door and about 12 hours from Burlington/Waterdown to just north of Charlotte NC (Statesville to be exact - NASCAR coutnry). Are you a CAA member? If so, they have a great website you can create Triptiks and Maps on and look for accomodations and restaurants along your route. Let me know if I can be of any other help!

Cheers

 

[nosnobunny2006]

By the way nosnobunny2006, do you drive straight through when you go for one day? If so, how do you do it (share the driving)?

It's been a number of years since we've done it. My DD was living in S Miami at the time, so it was a 26-27 hour drive non-stop. My husband and I have devised a system that works really well for us. Each of us drives for 2 hours, not a minute more. Then we switch drivers or stop for a meal or coffee. Getting out of the car for a bit of a stretch and a whiff of fresh air does wonders, plus driving for 2 hours doesn't seem endless. You'd be surprized how far you can travel this way. The one rule we had was that no one drove when tired.

Beth

 

[hematite153]

My husband doesn't fly, so that is why we will be driving.

That's a good reason for driving--you wouldn't want to leave someone behind.

It seems like there are really 3 - I75, I95 or the one I listed above, which is what I get when I put in my address as the starting point, and Kissimmee, FL as the ending point, in MapQuest, as the quickest route.

Try checking mapblast as well. I often find that I get different routes by using different programs. However, if I get the same route from them both then I get more convinced that it is truly the best route from my home.

I agree with cslittle999 though, crossing at Ft. Erie looks slightly faster.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[MamaLema]

We always do the 79/77 route and love it

If we took the 75, it would be 2-3 more hours and I feel the drive is long enough as it is

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

We usually cross at Queenston-Lewiston. Has anyone tried I90, I79, US19, I77, I26, I95, I4?

By the way, I can't believe how many people fly, and how few drive!

This looks the same as us with one exception. We cross at the Peace Bridge not Queenston. Peace Bridge is way faster. This is the route were taking May 2007

 

[A&CsMom]

Thanks everyone. I will be putting this info. to use planning our trip next spring. We will definitely cross at the Peace Bridge this time.