Our WDW Roadtrip Adventure

[SueM in MN]

We are on the last part of our trip home after our first driving trip to WDW.
We normally fly to WDW for 2 long trips a year. Because of COVID, we had to cancel and reschedule our 2020 trips. We had one scheduled for February 2021, but rescheduled that for June 4-22.
My husband had driven to WDW with friends when he was a teenager, but we had never driven as adults. We got a new accessible mini van last fall and hardly had any miles on it.
We were not sure how air travel would be and couldn’t really reschedule again. Then we thought how nice it would be to have our own van so we wouldn’t have to transfer our daughter out of her wheelchair. That part was really nice, The getting there was more of a challenge than we thought.
Our cast of characters for this trip were me, my husband and our younger daughter. Our vehicle was a Chrysler Pacifica accessible ramp van. Our travel days were June 1-4 and June 22-25.
Our destination was Old Key Resort and our stay was June 4 -22, 2021.

 

[cellomom]

Safe travels. Already home?

 

[SueM in MN]

About 7 more miles

 

[Randy Miller]

We just got a Chrysler Pacifica ( will plan to have it adapted when we need in a few years) I love it! I love the middle stow and go seats! It has been the best van for our two little dudes and their needs!

 

[Groot]

Is the van side or rear entry?

 

[SueM in MN]

Is the van side or rear entry?

Our van is side entry.
We had looked at rear entry ones a couple years ago and were really unsure how that would work for us. They are nice for getting out when shopping, etc. because you don’t have to find a van accessible spot.
But, it didn’t feel like a good fit if we needed anything in the back space because things would need to be removed to drive the wheelchair in and out. We live in Minnesota and have family in Wisconsin who we visited fairly often (before COVID).
A couple years ago, we took an accessible taxi back to the airport because the first DME bus had a broken lift and the next one didn’t have a lift. It was a tight fit with 3 of us plus the driver and our luggage.
Our van came with an entertainment system, which sounded good, but we had some issues with using. DVDs need to be put in from the front seat and I was sitting in the rear. You would think the HTML and USB connections on the seat backs were for connecting things to play on the screens, but they were just for charging. We had tried everything out before we started our trip, but the remote for controlling the screens was not as easy to use as it looked like it would be and my DD did not like the headphones that came with the van.

 

[mamabunny]

ok, enquiring minds want to know... what happened next? LOL please tell me this is going to be a full trip report!

(also, congrats on the van - even with the entertainment issues, it sounds great!)

 

[SueM in MN]

ok, enquiring minds want to know... what happened next? LOL please tell me this is going to be a full trip report!

(also, congrats on the van - even with the entertainment issues, it sounds great!)

Yes. It is - full trip from preplanning, thru drive there, stay at OKW and drive back

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Can’t wait to hear more! My DH and I are planning our first trip driving to Port Canaveral next year. We said we would try it once because the airports, and everything involved with flying, has gotten stressful for me.

 

[mamabunny]

Can’t wait to hear more! My DH and I are planning our first trip driving to Port Canaveral next year. We said we would try it once because the airports, and everything involved with flying, has gotten stressful for me.

(not to hijack @SueM in MN's thread... while we are waiting for the next part of the trip report...) but we actually *love* to drive now.

Once upon a time, it felt like a chore - we drove one trip, because we couldn't get the flights we wanted/needed from our local airport to DFW, so we thought "OK, we'll have this adventure, this one time, and that will be the end of that"

Fast forward about ?7 years I think? and we drive every trip now. It's become a family tradition. My husband just bought a new car for our next trip, specifically outfitted with all the features and luxuries he has wanted!

Probably the thing that is the most striking difference (to our family, at least) is that when you drive, on the way there you have the anticipation - you can mark off the miles and hours until you arrive in real time, (I *love love love* Apple Maps/Navigation for this reason) and you get to have that moment when you drive through that archway...



...priceless. (photo from Western Way, Jan 2020)

When the trip is over, and that last precious moment of WDW vacation time is gone, and it's time to go, the beautiful thing about driving home is that now you have time to decompress. It's a more gentle return to reality; rather than spending a couple of stressful hours dealing with MCO, and then X many hours in flight to get home, you have time to talk about your favorite parts of your stay. You can ease back in to the "real" world, and without the added stress of decompressing around strangers.

It's deeply ironic that our family has become such fans of the road trip... because my husband is an FAA-certified mechanic who works for a major American airline (<--there's a hint right there, get it? LOL)

We aren't afraid to fly; far from it - I *know* the planes are safe, and well-maintained. But driving gives us this time as a family that we don't really get in any other way. 1201 miles from my front door to POFQ; 1207 to WL. I know the way blindfolded, and we stay at the same hotels every time, and we know where the gas stations are, and the best burger, bbq & ice cream cones along the way too. And of course, the exact location of *every* Starbucks! LOL

I can't recommend it highly enough. Everyone should drive at least once, if they have the luxury. We have had our share of "mis-adventures" (like the time our hotel was sold out on Labor Day weekend, and an inexperienced front desk clerk gave away my roll-in shower room to an able-bodied person who pitched a fit - right in front of us in line to check in, no less!) but even with driving to Disney through hurricane's (looking at *you* Hurricane Gaston!) and driving home through ice storms (Jan 2020) it's all just part of our family's memories now.

I hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Thank you @mamabunny! I appreciate your feedback! I’ve always wanted to try the drive and make it an adventure for me and my husband. The only thing I feel bad about is having to leave all the driving to my DH. Luckily(?) we only live about 1000 miles from the port - could be better but could be worse. Hopefully the rental prices come down by next year! I think we are going to try for a minivan or full size SUV so my mobility scooter will fit with all the luggage, cooler, etc. Thanks again for sharing your experience!

 

[DisneyOma]

We have driven more times to WDW than have flown down there - one time I did all the driving 3 times in one year (2500 miles round trip) and I agree with mamabunny! The anticipation is fun, the ability to bring more stuff is a huge perk for us, and the flexibility of driving to a park or taking resort transportation is also great. I'm not so thrilled with the ride home though

 

[SueM in MN]

Pre-planning
June would not be our first choice for a WDW trip, but we didn’t have a lot of choices. We had planned and rescheduled 2 trips in 2020 and had pushed one out to February 2021, but ultimately rescheduled that to June 2021.
We are DVC (Disney Vacation Club) members at OKW (Old Key West) and had some points we needed to use by the beginning of July. My husband, daughter and I were fully vaccinated for COVID (we would not have been if we went in February)
We had been to WDW in the summer in the (way) past and knew it would be hot and likely rain every day at some point, so we prepared for that.
Because things were changing fast, we didn’t know for sure what air travel or buses at WDW would be like when we went.
We assumed the cost of driving and staying at hotels along the way would probably be a ‘wash’ compared to going by air and renting a car.

Pros of driving
- we live in Minnesota and have traveled multiple times over the years to visit relatives in Wisconsin about 375 miles away, so do have experience driving more than just around home
- new van with less than 2000 miles on it and some nice features like rear entertainment system and 2 zone climate control
- wheelchair accessible ramp van with tiedowns; no need to transfer DD out of wheelchair into vehicle seat or take wheelchair apart to fit in rented vehicle
- DD’s wheelchair is less than 1 year old, is comfortable for her and W19 certified for occupancy in a vehicle.
- can use our van to go to parks, etc, so we don’t need to rely on WDW transportation
- can use our van to get groceries/anything we need
- avoid airport security; because DD can’t stand by herself, she gets ‘pat down’ security. Her wheelchair gets swabbed and she has medical liquids that get hand checked and tested.
- no worry regarding wheelchair getting damaged by airline
- avoid paying for airport parking or having someone take us to airport and pick us up when we returned (few non-stop flights to Orlando from our airport; early departure times means getting someone to take us early)
- avoid the ‘normal’ issues with Disney Magical Express buses; waiting for lift bus at airport and hope bus for return trip had a working lift and gets us to the airport in time to check in and preboard for our return flight.
- we can be in control of leaving and coming back times; don’t need to be on airline or bus schedule
- can carry whatever fits into our van; not constrained by suitcase size or weight
- normally have one Medical Bag, which can contain only medical supplies. Because we are driving, we can have whatever we want in that bag
- can carry bulky medical supplies; no need to mail or ship
- can bring a cooler packed with food in the van


Our van - wheelchair ramp is on passenger side.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Pre-planning
June would not be our first choice for a WDW trip, but we didn’t have a lot of choices. We had planned and rescheduled 2 trips in 2020 and had pushed one out to February 2021, but ultimately rescheduled that to June 2021.
We are DVC (Disney Vacation Club) members at OKW (Old Key West) and had some points we needed to use by the beginning of July. My husband, daughter and I were fully vaccinated for COVID (we would not have been if we went in February)
We had been to WDW in the summer in the (way) past and knew it would be hot and likely rain every day at some point, so we prepared for that.
Because things were changing fast, we didn’t know for sure what air travel or buses at WDW would be like when we went.
We assumed the cost of driving and staying at hotels along the way would probably be a ‘wash’ compared to going by air and renting a car.

Pros of driving
- we live in Minnesota and have traveled multiple times over the years to visit relatives in Wisconsin about 375 miles away, so do have experience driving more than just around home
- new van with less than 2000 miles on it and some nice features like rear entertainment system and 2 zone climate control
- wheelchair accessible ramp van with tiedowns; no need to transfer DD out of wheelchair into vehicle seat or take wheelchair apart to fit in rented vehicle
- DD’s wheelchair is less than 1 year old, is comfortable for her and W19 certified for occupancy in a vehicle.
- can use our van to go to parks, etc, so we don’t need to rely on WDW transportation
- can use our van to get groceries/anything we need
- avoid airport security; because DD can’t stand by herself, she gets ‘pat down’ security. Her wheelchair gets swabbed and she has medical liquids that get hand checked and tested.
- no worry regarding wheelchair getting damaged by airline
- avoid paying for airport parking or having someone take us to airport and pick us up when we returned (few non-stop flights to Orlando from our airport; early departure times means getting someone to take us early)
- avoid the ‘normal’ issues with Disney Magical Express buses; waiting for lift bus at airport and hope bus for return trip had a working lift and gets us to the airport in time to check in and preboard for our return flight.
- we can be in control of leaving and coming back times; don’t need to be on airline or bus schedule
- can carry whatever fits into our van; not constrained by suitcase size or weight
- normally have one Medical Bag, which can contain only medical supplies. Because we are driving, we can have whatever we want in that bag
- can carry bulky medical supplies; no need to mail or ship
- can bring a cooler packed with food in the van

View attachment 585266
Our van - wheelchair ramp is on passenger side.

looks very nice

 

[SueM in MN]

Cons for driving
- approximately 1,600 miles each way; longest drive we‘ve ever taken
- approximate total driving time of 23 hours (not counting stops)
- driving on unfamiliar roads after first day
- route includes driving in mountains
- route includes navigating several large metropolitan areas
- what if van breaks down?
- hurricane season officially begins June 1; our drive to Florida begin June 1. Trip home begins June 22.
- likely driving in rain at some point(s)
- not sure how DD will react to long drive each day for so many days in a row

The Pros won out, so we started Planning
Planning the Route:
We are members of AAA, so we decided to take advantage of their AAA Triptik Planning Service
AAA came up with a route for us, which we were able to access and modify online. They also sent us a printed and spiral bound Triptik, which included our entire route with the highways and mileage on each part of the route, each turn, and maps of the areas we would be driving thru. It also included tables for Driving Regulations in all states, detailed route information which included known construction and any known issues, and detail maps.
AAA also sent a large folded map fo each state we would be driving in and books for the different sections of the country we would be driving thru which included hotel listings and points of interest.
NOTE: they are actually on lighter paper than it looks from my pictures



We originally planned to drive for 3 days, with 2 overnight hotel stays . After thinking about the drive time for each day, we elected to take 4 days for the drive with 3 overnight hotel stays. We chose to make our first day the longest drive since most of that route was familiar to us. The last drive before arriving at WDW was our shortest day, since we knew we could check in at 4pm (and had actually requested 3pm check in time).

Hotels:
We planned our stops partly around trying to ‘hit’ the bigger metropolitan areas during non-rush hours. The places we stayed during our trip to WDW were Bloomington, Illinois; Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Tipton, Georgia
We chose hotels with free breakfast and planned for my husband to go down and get breakfast while I got ready and did some of DD’s morning care. Then I ate while he finished her medications.
We tried to get hotels with one bed and one sofa bed; that would give her the opportunity to get out of her wheelchair and sit on the couch for a while.
Each hotel also had a refrigerator and microwave.

Eating:
We didn’t know what would be open for eating inside, so we chose to get lunch from fast food drive thrus and eat in the car.
For supper, my husband went out to get food and brought it back to the hotel room. Each of our hotels had a desk and a small table at the couch, which worked out well for us.
We had a large cooler in the van with food stable at room temperature, like fruit, temperature stable chocolate milk, instant oatmeal and Mac & cheese for DD, which we used the hotel microwave to cook. We also stored paper cups and plates and plastic eating utensils in the cooler.
It was heavy duty enough for me to sit on to feed DD when we ate in the van - there is no middle row of seats in our van since it could accommodate 2 wheelchairs.
We also had a small cooler that we kept cold with 2 freezer packs and 2 bags of ice that we replenished each night at the hotel. We brought the small cooler into our room each night and moved everything into the refrigerator - everything kept really well.

 

[DisneyOma]

Don't you love Triptik? We've got one for our trips that my daughter (the navigator) updates with notes each trip.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I love the Triptik idea! I didn’t realize they still did this with all of the electronic navigation out there. I’m putting that on my to-do/planning list!!

 

[Disneylvr]

Following this trip report!