Road travel from Northeast

[rheffelf]

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to stop for an overnight break traveling from the Northeast to Disney? I am in CT and pondering a road trip to Disney with my DW and DS4 DS2. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to break up the trip with a family? Thanks...

 

[mybabesuz]

I remember driving down as a kid in 1976...

We stopped in Virginia and Georgia...

not sure exactly where...

 

[tiggger1]

We have driven it twice, once just for our honeymoon and once with my dd. We are driving again in Oct with both kids.The first trip we left at 2pm we stopped in Maryland at around 9 ish..we left at 8ish and then drove straight to International drive the second. we didnt get into the room at midnight...the second time we took the camper so it took us 2 1/2 days to get there but it really wasnt that bad.. this time we are planning on leaving early early Friday morning and driving as long as we can. then we are going to stop somewhere for the night and hopefully get to a non disney hotel at a decent time Sat night...we check into Disney on Sun

 

[kerry34]

We drive down for all of our trips since we have a large family. Firstly check out the transportation board, there is a thread there specifically for driving and has lots of good tips for driving with kids. Also if you go on the dis home page there is link that has all sorts of info on driving distances and exit information. This should get you going in the right direction. We usually drive as far as Fayetteville, North Carolina. We are in Mass so that usually puts us in the car around 13 hours or so. From there it is about a 9 hour drive to Orlando. As far as driving with kids goes, the key is keeping them entertained in the car, video games, movies, coloring, reading, music, snacks. Also taking breaks so they can get out and stretch their legs for a bit.

 

[Sheaboys]

Well half way point would be just South of the Border. However, if you want to drive farther, then stop in Georgia some where.

We drive from Mass. and drive straight through. We begin at around or after supper time. Put the boys in jammies at bed time, like normal. They sleep through the night (ages 10 months, 9, 7 and 4 at the time). Wake at 7am or so. So it works for us.

 

[Princess-in-Training]

When we moved from FL to VA, we tried to find fast food play places for DS to play in and get energy out.

There's a wonderful Chik-Fil-A with an indoor play area right off I-95 here in VA -- the Prince William Parkway exit. Not much of a help, but maybe a start?

 

[Liljam]

We drive and have been since I was born! We're in MD so it takes us roughly 16 hours and IF we stop, it is our half way point at South of the Border. I thought I had read above that this would be a half way mark for someone from CT, but I don't see how Nonetheless, some places I can think of that are safe and clean areas to stop and stay (if they are in your direct path) at would be as follows:

My own home town of Cumberland, MD - we have a Holiday Inn that is decent priced, it's a small town so nothing is overly expensive and we are right off of I68 if you would be traveling that route. We have an extremely low crime rate too and most people don't even lock their houses at night lol! If you're heading more in the direction of DC and bypassing I68 all together, Frederick, Gaithersburg and Silver Spring are all pretty nice areas to stay over night.

Winchester VA area is nice, clean and safe as well. I would bypass Richmond VA as it is large and IMO parts are scary at night if you're in the wrong area - no offense to anyone from Richmond as I know parts of it are great too!

Fayetteville NC is a pretty nice area too. We took the rural route back home just to check out the town.

We did stay about 20 miles SOTB last year in a Holiday Inn but I don't know which one it was - It was nice and clean as well, and it was right off of I95.

After SOTB, we really have never stayed except when going to multiple locations in FL. It's about 8 hours to WDW from there so we just always drove on down the coast.

Hope this helps some!

 

[HolidayRoad]

We drive from Massachusetts every year and there are a couple of things that I consider musts! First, and what I consider most important you must have a DVD player for the car, I have no idea how people traveled before the advent of these wonderful little devices. Like a lot of others that have posted on this thread I agree Fayetteville is a good place to stop on the way down there is a Holiday Inn Express there right off 95 with a pretty good breakfast. We leave around 7:00 am and get into Fayetteville around 8:00 to 9:00 at night. Day one trip is a little more hectic because of the large cities but that also breaks up the drive a little. Day two, we also leave at about 7:00am, if the trip goes smooth we make it into WDW around check in time which is nice. On the way home we always try to stop and sleep in Ashland Virginia, we found a nice little Holiday Inn express we like there, and are generally home by 5:00pm or so. We always try to bring a little craft bag that sits in between the twp kids with coloring books crayons etc. We will also wrap up small toys (cheap little toys) and every couple of hours or when we feel the kids are getting a little antsy we pop back a couple of "presents" that will kill some time. Then of course there is counting the "South of The Border" signs in North Carolina. It's also funny that we always go during school spring vacation week and the whole way down you see Massachusetts licence plates on the back of packed mini vans and SUVs going the same place as you!

 

[mac3013]

We drove once from the Philadelphia area and stopped in Santee, South Carolina. Continued our trip the next day.

 

[rheffelf]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is South of the Border...

 

[goofygal531]

"South of the Border" is a dump! Do not stop or get out of the car! It's a tourist trap selling fireworks and other junk but it's just icky!

We drove to the DVC in Hilton Head, SC from NYC and AAA said the official middle of I-95 from Maine to Florida is Fredricksburg, VA. It's a HUGE rest area. Tons of motels, gas stations, restaurants, etc... Very busy at all hours of the night. We stayed there. It's not exactly halfway from CT (or NY) but we felt safe. We didn't want to stop at some Bates Motel in the middle of nowhere.

Mare

 

[rheffelf]

Thanks for the input...

 

[HolidayRoad]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is South of the Border...

I agree with goofygal531 completely, I should have mentioned it in my post. Although the signs are kind of funny and break up North Carolina a bit but it is not only icky but also a little freaky and scary. I work in a prison and feel safer at work than the time I decided to stop in use the rest room and see exactly what "Pedro" has been trying to sell me for the past couple hundred miles. Oh I'm sorry I forgot, Pedro is their mascot, most of the signs have "Pedro Says..." on them. When we go, in April, there is pretty much nobody around there. You may see the gnomes or small trolls that live under the buildings dart out between the buildings if you look quickly. Don't make eye contact. So yes count the signs but you may not want to stop.

 

[rheffelf]

Wow! I just googled South of the Border and found their web site. They even have an amusement park... Why am I traveling all the way to Disney?

Looks like a pretty seedy place to me. I would like to stay in one of their 20 honeymoon suites Reminds me of beautiful Mount Airy Lodge in the Pocono's with their 2 story champaigne glass spa in their honeymoon suites. I didn't know that these places even existed anymore. I thought that they were a thing of the 80's

Looks like I would definitely speed up going past this place...

 

[jtopp]

we travel twice a year, and vary our start time when possible. each exit on I-95 has a listing of hotels, and we try to stick to the major chain hotels, as the services and rooms are usually good. We never stop at South of the Border, too seedy, yet we heard it is the unofficial halfway point between NYC and Miami. We usually stop in SC, leaving a 4 or 5 hour drive to WDW the following day.

 

[mwmuntz]

This site has a listing of all of the hotels, restaurants and rest areas along I-95. Not sure if how often it gets updated, but I printed it out before my last trip and found it to be quite helpful.

http://www.i95exitguide.com/index.php

 

[Liljam]

I happen to love SOTB (maybe because it is a little seedy or off the wall!) We've stopped there since I was little to buy goofy hats and other tourist-y things. I also hope to travel Rt 66 someday so maybe it's just one of those things. I would NEVER sleep there though

 

[rheffelf]

This site has a listing of all of the hotels, restaurants and rest areas along I-95. Not sure if how often it gets updated, but I printed it out before my last trip and found it to be quite helpful.

http://www.i95exitguide.com/index.php

Thanks. Very informative....

 

[chip007]

Reminds me of beautiful Mount Airy Lodge

Arghhhhh . . . now I've got their jingle stuck in my head.

 

[rheffelf]

Beau-ti-ful Mount AIR-Y Lodge....

Ha ha...