Pulling travel trailer from Minnesota!?!?!?!?

[dudspizza]

We have kicked around the idea of pulling our 2006 29' Jayco travel trailer to WDW. While sitting around the fire at the cabin last night, my brother-in-law stated we should do it while our kids are still young. We would love to take a month or so camping our way to WDW, staying 10-14 days and then heading back home.

Questions.

1. How is the drive from MN to FL? I am worried about mountain driving as I am not sure my 1/2 ton truck can handle it. It does fine for 3 hours into Wisconsin, but I would hate to get to mountains in Tennessee or something and have towing issues.

2. How long would it take? A week.... less/more?

3. Is it even smart to do it with the gas prices where they are at. Right now, I have to stop about every 3-3.5 hours to fill up at $70 a shot.... makes flying look a hell of a lot better. BUT, not the same experience. PLUS, this would allow us to bring our beagle, Minnie, along for the trip.

So, any thoughts on pulling our travel trailer to WDW?

Thanks.

Duds

 

[becky1960]

I will try to answer some of your question. As for driving from Minn., we come from Texas which is mostly flat. My son is in Colorado and he has pulled a TT over the Rocky Mt. with a Surburban with no problems so I think you would have a problem.

As to time and distance, it varies per person. We drive from Texas to Fla the first day, but some people do not. We take two days to get there.

As to cost, you will have to decide that based on your resources. I might add that it is a lot cheaper to stay at FW and have all the enjoyment of WDW than staying at the Resorts. We have stayed at most of the resorts but we enjoy FW and now stay a longer time.

I would like to add one thing, you cant take away the memories that your kids will have. We all need to put more of the memories into the memory bank. Time passes very fast and cant be reversed.

 

[kmccain]

We just pulled our TT from PA to Florida. Your trip is longer but here is the trip planner I use from Good Sams: http://www.goodsamclub.com/trip.cfm it gives you a more realistic idea of how long it will take you and keeps you off roads that you shouldn't be on. It also give you the gas prices along the way and an estimate for the total of your trip. You can split out your days easier because it give you an hourly and a mileage report.

We left on a Friday night to get a good start and spent that night in a truckstop. It was too hot so we got a campground for the next night.

We spent 12 days at the Fort. It was really nice having everything you need right there. I feel we saved enough money on food to counter the fuel we spent.

Hope this helps!

 

[Rhonda]

We used to drive down every year from Minnesota! The drive is mostly flat--24 hours! We would go straight through most of the time, but the halfway point is Peducah, Kentucky.

Sometimes we would go about 2/3 of the way and spend the night in Chatanooga, before hitting the mountains, so we wouldn't drive through them in the dark.

The only mountains we would go through were in Tennessee, around Chatanooga, and they only lasted a little while. Nothing too big. You won't have a problem.

 

[snocrossmechanic]

Dudspizza,

Pack up and head down. We live just south of the Twin Cities and did the trip just this past January. If you book a trip the last two weeks of December 07 or January 09 we can caravan.

As for the trip....We (my wife, 19 month old son, and myself) are going to load up in December and head down. It takes 2-3 days if you like to sleep. We did it straight through last time and I decided never again. We will leave about 8 PM and I drive through the night while everyone else sleeps. We will stop somewhere (flying J or Walmart) for a few winks of sleep for me then we will head out again. Hopefully getting to the Fort on day 2. We don't have set stops we just drive until we dont feel like driving. I simply have the Wal marts and Flying J's in my GPS and we stop whenever.

If you go during the value season the cost should be less than flying, hotel, and rental car. Staying at the fort is the best as far as we are concerned.
We drive down even with relatives with a house 30 min from Disney that we can use anytime. For us camping is the only way to go.

Good luck and feel free to contact me for any maps or routes we use.

Mark

 

[bradisgoofy]

Duds - I answered your post on the "how far" thread this way -

DON'T GO THROUGH ATLANTA. I'm not sure how you will make your way down but once you get to I-65 take it all the way south to Montgomery, AL. Take I-85 east about 6 miles to US-231 south and take it all the way south to I-10. US-231 is a four lane 65mph road that goes by only two big towns ( other then Montgomery ). It is very scenic and going this way ( I-65 and US-231) there are absolutely NO mountains. This is the way we go to FW with our 39' motorhome pulling our 7x10 enclosed trailer with the golf cart inside. For us, using this route and not going through Atlanta only adds 100 miles to the trip and staying away from Atlanta is worth the extra 2 hours. You can also take another scenic route down to Ocala by getting of I-10 at US-19 ( exit 225 off I-10 ) taking that to ALT-US-27 at Chiefland, FL over to I-75. This too is a four lane 65MPH road that has little or no traffic most any time of day. Don't forget to jump on the Turnpike and then take the Western Way ( Route 429 ) toll road into the west side of WDW. Once again, a road with little traffic. ( Unless everyone has finally discovered the secret. )

As far as time goes, we plan on 500 miles per day, that gets us into our campground before it gets dark. At 1290 miles total, we get into FW mid-afternoon.

I speak from experience about Atlanta, in 2005 we took our 36' fifth wheel pulled by a one ton Dodge, through Atlanta. That was the year of the record rainfall the day we went though.

 

[We4mickey]

We drive down from Wisconsin and it usually takes 20-22 hours depending on traffic. Usually leave around 3am and drive until we get to around Calhoun or Cartersville, Georgia. Get up early again the next day and we are to the Fort by noon. We are through Atlanta before there is any traffic and I do mean any.We do go out to Rockford Illinois and head down that way. It is much less stressful than going through Chicago. Go for it!

 

[Escape Artist]

You didn't mention how old your kids are, but IMHO, if you only get to do this once or twice (and don't get too addicted and start doing it annually!), I think the best time to do it is when your youngest is just ready to start Kindergarten. If your kids have to miss any school time, try to do the trip before any of them get to middle school, when problems for missing classroom time get a lot tougher.

Have a great trip! You'll all remember it forever.

Sue in TX
...coming back again in August!

 

[kimluvswdw]

The fort is so wonderful that I would pull a trailer from just about anywhere to stay there.

 

[Rhonda]

I agree with taking the Rockford way, and skipping Chicago!

We usually tried to hit Atlanta during non-rush hour times. So, then we would go straight through the city, instead of around it. Stay in the left lane, which is an HOA lane, just for cars with 2 or more people. We usually flied right through there.

If it's rush-hour time, then take the circle around the city instead.