Overnight driving vs. During the day

[emksmama]

If you have someone to switch off with, it's doable...and Georgia allows you to park & nap if necessary at rest areas, so that's what we'll do if need be.

Last year we drove straight through from north central Indiana to Ft Myers Beach. Picked the girls up from school at 2pm on Friday and got to our condo parking lot around 1:30/2pm on Saturday. We couldn't check in until 3, but I had swimsuits in a separate bag and we just crashed on the beach for an hour or so. Coming home, we left around 11am on Saturday and pulled into our driveway at 6:30am Sunday. DH and I shared the drive and it was fine. We got home, unloaded the van and he went to bed while I unpacked and started laundry. He did more of the drive home while I slept, and I took over around 3:30/4am.

When we go to Disney next month we are leaving around 8/9pm on Saturday, hoping to get to Shades around 2pm Sunday. Lounge poolside for a bit, check in and nap for a few hours, then hit DTD that evening. Our girls are 8 & 9 and are fabulous travelers, and that makes a BIG difference. Our oldest just wants us to wake her up when we hit Atlanta so she can see it all lit up at night.

If we just had a 12 hour drive, I would try to get up around 3:30am (I do it for Black Friday shopping, I can certainly do it for Disney!) and take off...have the car loaded the night before, and that puts you at your hotel around 4pm or so.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Driving though the night then having to possibly wait 5-7 hours for a room to open seems counterproductive. I agree with a PP that you should leave around 2-3:00 AM after a solid 5-6 hours of sleep, making arrival around checkin time. The child still sleeps half the night, but the schedule isn't too far from normal.

 

[NJFireman22]

We make the drive from South Jersey, usually 3 times a year. Door to Door is 16 Hours, we always go right through. We leave around 9 pm and drive all night ( no traffic,and little construction) we stop every 2 hours or gas.
I rather enjoy driving at night, my DW usually takes over for a few hours in SC. We have done this since the kids were very young, this year will make our 12th year. Best advice is to get rest before, and stop if you get even a little tired.

 

[nono]

It is so incredibly dangerous to drive overnight; there's no amount of kid whining that would make me take this chance.

Citation? Can you provide a link? I've actually seen some older research that says the most dangerous time for someone in my age group to travel by car is the afternoon hours. I'd love to read a more recent recommendation!

 

[edk35]

This could be an exact quote from a friend of mine that drove to Tennessee from New York.

She still talks about this trip and how she regretted even trying it.

I don't think someone can possibly imagine just how bad this feels without ever experiencing it personally.
It is the equivalent to driving drunk, as far as impairment goes.

It was horrible. I will never do that again. If my husband had gotten 6 or 7 hours of sleep and I could have slept while he drove....maybe (nahh)......... but NOPE never will we ever attempt that. It was not worth it. I prefer flying and if we ever do drive again....it will be split up at a hotel. Even going home....we left around 10 I think from Orlando....drove during the day/evening and it still STUNK!!!! We hit so much traffic and were slowed down by so much on the road.....it took forever and we were exhausted again. I guess to each their own...but I will never put my kids in a situation like that again.

 

[jdb in AZ]

When my sisters and I were little my parents preferred to drive at night so they wouldn't have to listen to us argue/whine. My dad was a doctor, used to weird hours, so he was good to go.

Fast-forward 30 years -- DH isn't much of a night-time driver; got pulled over for weaving across lanes when he was half asleep. I don't even like fly all night!

Our kids were a handful the first day of our trips, but after that they'd fall asleep as soon as they got in the van. oh durn.

 

[alice99]

Citation? Can you provide a link? I've actually seen some older research that says the most dangerous time for someone in my age group to travel by car is the afternoon hours. I'd love to read a more recent recommendation!

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.co...s/101109-Driving-Tired-is-Like-Driving-Drunk/

http://drowsydriving.org/

Here are some links that don't specifically talk about the most dangerous time of day. Just how dangerous driving tired is.

I am familiar with the research you are speaking of. If I remember correctly, the reason most accidents happen in the late afternoon is because there are many cars on the road, people are getting drowsy after working all day.

I have experienced the late afternoon drowsiness myself, while working 6 pm until 3 am. I would be falling asleep at 5 o'clock driving IN to work...... but, if you fast forward 5 or 6 hours until midnight to 4 am, I was so much more tired.

 

[jennyjinx3]

This is the only thing stopping us from trying to drive from Ontario....the sleepiness. Even during the day, when we have had a day out somewhere and DH or I are driving home, we have both had issues with feeling sleepy.

I have experienced that horrible sleepy feeling, where it actually was starting to feel alright to me to close my eyes while driving...only for a second. Very scary. For us I think we will almost always fly, unless we take our time driving and stop a lot. But who want to take your time getting to WDW??

 

[gert]

I've done it a few times. When I feel the sleepiness coming on and I can't shake it I stop at the first hotel I see. Even if it's 5AM and I'm going to have to pay full price for a crappy room that I'll only get for 6 hours, I stop. You could substitute a hotel for a quick rest stop nap in the car (where legal).

I don't know if I'd be willing to put my body through that sort of stress if I didn't have a room I could check into as soon as I arrived, though. Maybe if I could check in within an hour of arriving I would do it - just enough time to grab a bite to eat and then go to the room for a nap. Personally I know my body wouldn't take it very well, and I'd spend the first few days of my vacation in a fog.

 

[nono]

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.co...s/101109-Driving-Tired-is-Like-Driving-Drunk/

http://drowsydriving.org/

Here are some links that don't specifically talk about the most dangerous time of day. Just how dangerous driving tired is.

I am familiar with the research you are speaking of. If I remember correctly, the reason most accidents happen in the late afternoon is because there are many cars on the road, people are getting drowsy after working all day.

I have experienced the late afternoon drowsiness myself, while working 6 pm until 3 am. I would be falling asleep at 5 o'clock driving IN to work...... but, if you fast forward 5 or 6 hours until midnight to 4 am, I was so much more tired.

Thanks for the links, and we must be in a similar age range, based upon the bolded! It also had to do with some cycles in our bloodstream I think, which would explain why you felt tired going into work. I think it was based on truck driver experience. Do you recall that as being so? I thought I had the link in my travel file, but I am not seeing it right now.

Anyway, my 2 cents to the OP is this: Yes, you can do it, but it depends on if you can nap successfully before you leave, if you are willing to stop if you get tired, and if, if, your alternate driver is good at sleeping in the car.

We often go overnight because I love late night driving. It's the only time I really get to listen to comedy albums and such. But, I'm good at getting to bed early the two nights before we leave (so a full 9 hours sleep) and taking another 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon before we go.* Also, my dh is a champion sleeper in the car. Once we're underway, he reclines a little and sleeps. So, he'll get 3 hrs. We stop. I continue driving. He'll get another 3 hours sleep. We stop. He'll drive for 2 hrs. I nap some, usually about an hour total. I drive again, until about the GA/FL border. He's been sleeping soundly. At that point, he takes over and drives the morning hours.

Anyway, for us, it is simply not more dangerous than driving at other times. And, we like WDW, but we go up to 4x a year. Really, there's no rush for us to get there, so we don't ever make crazy decisions to push through if things don't feel right. We actually like finding different little places along the way. We usually stop for a late breakfast/early lunch before getting into WDW. So, we don't really land at WDW at 9 am with the potential of a full day of waiting around. Like a couple other folks mentioned, that's not all that fun. It's one of the reasons we don't take the AutoTrain southbound anymore.

Good luck deciding. If you want advice specifically from folks who regularly drive, you might want to pop on over to the For 2000+ Miles Drivers thread in this same forum.

*If for some reason my sleep doesn't work out, we book a place a few hours down the road before we head out. Easy enough to do.

 

[emksmama]

We do have a 'sleep plan' in place, as I can sleep pretty decently in the car but DH cannot. He's scheduled to work that morning (Sat) before we leave, but he can get into a lot of his scheduled stops anytime after 11pm Friday night (he works for Orkin pest control). He'll wrap up earlier than usual on Friday, come home and sleep until about 10:30/11pm or so, then head out around midnight. Work til 5 or 6am, come home for breakfast and a nap, then head out if he gets any starts or same day orders, work til noon and come home to sleep. The girls and I will go to the pool, leaving him a quiet house to sleep. Home for dinner and load the van, then head out. I'm sure I'll sleep/doze my way through KY and TN, and then take over in Georgia whenever necessary.

The DUMBEST drive we did was leaving at 5:30am one year after he'd worked all night....and that was the year that Hurricane Dennis jacked with our plans to go to Panama City. At 11pm we decided to change plans from PC to St Augustine. So there I was, trying to find a new hotel at home on the computer while he was at work on his computer...6 hours later he got home, we left, and I was exhausted. Add in two fussy toddlers (the girls were 1 & 2 at the time), and by the time we hit Atlanta at 6pm on a Friday night, we were all about done in. The benefit to driving straight through is we have more flexibility with our departure time to avoid rush hour in ATL.

Bottom line? You (general you) know yourself, your driving partner, and your kids' tolerance better than anyone else. If you start getting drowsy, STOP DRIVING. If your kids aren't good car travelers, then don't start vacation miserable and fly. There's no right or wrong answer that fits everyone.

 

[maxiesmom]

I guess what I don't understand is why you want to drive overnight if you then have to hang out waiting for your room and/or spend your first 6 or so hours in Florida sleeping.

That is what I don't get either. Why not drive during the day, or stop during the night so you arrive at WDW well rested and ready to hit the parks?

 

[emksmama]

For us, we only have 4 days so we don't want to arrive midday and 'waste' that time on the parks. We'll get to our resort mid afternoon and can use that evening to get to know the resort, go to DTD, and hang out getting comfortable, then crash early and have four full days to be at the parks.

 

[GranddadTom]

I've done the driving through the night thing several times and I do not recommend it. We did it when time was short (wife was still teaching). The toughest time for me (the only driver) was around 5:00 am. But everytime we did it, I slept from noon 'til early evening and then we left around 9:00 pm from Rockville, Maryland. Don't even think about it if you don't get sleep before you do it - it's not fair (safetywise) to you, your family, and others on the road. One piece of advise that I gain from experience - you will always be able to get gas no matter what time of the day or night it is but finding a bathroom in the dead of night can be tricky. Late at night many stations in the South have the gas pumps turned on but the buildings locked up. Plan on stopping at the welcome centers as you enter each state. Another piece of advise - don't plan on doing anything your first day there because you will be wiped out.

 

[NotUrsula]

Citation? Can you provide a link? I've actually seen some older research that says the most dangerous time for someone in my age group to travel by car is the afternoon hours. I'd love to read a more recent recommendation!

The most dangerous time for accidents is the afternoon hours because of the numbers of drivers on the road, but the most dangerous time for FATAL accidents is the wee hours of the morning; normally between midnight and 3 am.

I don't know how old you are, but the gotcha with night driving for an experienced driver is vision. As we age our night vision gets worse very quickly: a 40 yo needs roughly twice the same amount of light to see at the same level of clarity as a 20 year old with the same measured visual acuity, and after 49 it declines even faster. Here is a little article from Harvard Med School that discusses the various issues involved: http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Health_Watch/2007/June/Blinded-by-the-night

This article also has some good information about what happens to your eyes when you are driving at night: http://alerts.nationalsafetycommission.com/2009/02/night-driving-safety-tips-for-night.php

When I was in my 20's I did major overnight drives alone and felt fine about it. Now that I'm on the dark side of 45 (literally), I try not to drive on rural highways for more than 90 minutes at a stretch late at night; it creates way too much eyestrain. These days if DH and I *must* do an overnight drive we make it a point to switch driving every hour between 10 pm and dawn, and we use lubricant eyedrops VERY liberally.

 

[autismgoesdisney]

We did this on the way home last year. I have to admit, it sucked. However, we are doing it again this year but this time we are goin to do it on the way there. I'm going to have the kids go to a friends house and I will take a long nap. Then after dinner, we will leave and I will drive. Hopefully my hubby will sleep the first leg. Then when we stop for gas, he will take over. It's about 18 hours for us and we switch off every gas stop.

On the way home, I plan on leaving after lunch and I think we may stop for a few hours.

 

[LadyBeBop]

The most dangerous time for accidents is the afternoon hours because of the numbers of drivers on the road, but the most dangerous time for FATAL accidents is the wee hours of the morning; normally between midnight and 3 am.

Sadly, I think those statistics might be affected by drunk drivers leaving the bars after closing time.

However, my drive-through-the-night days are also over. Used to do it, but not anymore. Nowadays, we'll leave a couple of hours before dawn (usually about 3:00, and head out). I have to be at work by 6 AM anyway, so it's not too bad.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

We've been driving to WDW from 12 hours away for almost a dozen years now - more than thirty trips - and we find that we prefer overnight driving ! We have tried multiple scenarios and have found that this is the one that works best for us. You really have 3 choices : (1) Leave early in the morning so that you can arrive at wDW at a reasonable time, (2) Leave later in the morning and arrive late in the evening, or (3) Leave mid to late afternoon and arrive sometime the next morning. Let's break these down.

(1) Leave early in the morning. You are rushed, cranky and still somewhat tired when you start out. You are driving when everyone else is so you can count on a lot of traffic on your drive. We did this several times and encountered traffic delays each time.

(2) Leave later in the morning. You are a little more rested but you still rush to get out. Same issue with delays, and by the time you get to WDW you are trying to find something still open for supper and then you crash hard when you get to your room.

(3) Leave in the afternoon. We typically leave between 4 to 6 pm. We sleep in - no alarm ! - and then finish the last few preparations. We eat a light meal either when we leave (our local Chick-Fil-A) or one or two hours out (Cracker Barrel kids meal is the perfect size). Anything larger than this will make you sleepy an hour or so later. Also, plan your route for minimum stress, not minimum time ! On one leg of our route every gps will tell me to go a route that has numerous stops and turns, but the one i know from experience to take has no turns and only one or two stops. Every time I have tried that leg using the gps recommendation i have regretted it.

While one is driving let the alternate driver rest. There were times when the wife was driving that I would sit still with my eyes closed. Though not asleep I was still "recharging my batteries." There were times in the early morning where we were both somewhat drowsy so we simply pulled into a Florida rest stop and rested. An hour or two later we were ready to go. We then continues on to WDW and usually arrived about park opening time. We have found that we got a "second wind" from the excitement of being "home" again that often lasted till mid-afternoon. We would hit the parks, come back to the resort when our room was ready, sleep for a few hours, get up and grab a bite of supped and hit Epcot for Illuminations. Back to the room afterwards and then on our normal schedule the next day with no ill effects.

The best tips for trying to do this is to get plenty of rest beforehand, do not eat any heavy meals during the drive and stop and rest when your body tells you it needs it. We've done this dozens of time including two trips over a regular weekend (after work/school Friday and back Monday morning). It can be done, quite easily !

 

[Virginia_Native]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm sure it will all come down to how much rest I can get the day of. If I'm able to take a nice solid nap (my afternoon naps last 3 hours) we will probably hit the road about 9pm, if not I will try and get a good sleep over night and leave at 3-4 in the morning.


I have almost an hour long commute each day to work, so I spend a lot of time in the car. Ive never been able to fall asleep in a car while riding, or really ever found myself to tired to continue driving while on long trips. I will be awake while the car is in motion the entire time regardless of when we leave. Anyone else like this? My wife on the other hand has no trouble sleeping in the car, so if I do need a break at like 5-6 in the morning I'm sure she will be well rested.

 

[jimmytammy]

We have done both several times, we were younger, kids were younger, now, no more overnights. Im 47 now and its just tough to do anymore. Driving that long is like working a full day, plus putting in extra time, coming home and being exhausted. Leave early morn, say 5am, you will be there in time to maybe get in room, if not, jump in pool, relax(water is a great relaxer) and chill out.