Road Trip to WDW

[KNovacovschi]

We are driving for the first time on our next trip and am just looking for some information. I know it will be different for everyone but an approximation is what I'm looking for. We will be driving our 2015 Ford Fiesta and am wondering approx. how much it will cost for gas. Also what is the best and quickest route (don't need to know road for road directions just an idea of which hwy we should be looking for) and how long it will take approx. We want to leave on Saturday and be there on Sunday for 3pm check in. We do plan to stop for the night and any recommendations on nice but cheap places would be great. Also we will be leaving from Hamilton, ON.

Like I said this will be our first time driving to Florida and am a little nervous, lol. I appreciate any help that can be provided. And if it helps we will be driving down the end of Sept and back in Oct.

Thanks

 

[minnie mum]

For gas estimates, use the calculator at gasbuddy.com. The site can even help locate places with cheaper gas along your route.

I think your fastest route would be across the Peace Bridge then I 90/79/19/77/26/95/4 That sounds like a lot of highway changes, but its really not bad. You can get driving directions on Google Maps. Their estimated driving time is less than 19 hours, but of course does not include stops for gas, meals, bathroom, etc.

Try to figure out how far you can safely drive the first day, then plan your overnight stop there. That will help you figure out what time you will leave home. Obviously you will want to try to avoid leaving during the morning rush hour.leaving earlier is always better.

Columbia SC is less than 13 hours driving time. That might be a good place to stop for the night. Lots of chain accommodations just off the interstate. Check TripAdvisor for recommended places.

 

[KNovacovschi]

For gas estimates, use the calculator at gasbuddy.com. The site can even help locate places with cheaper gas along your route.

I think your fastest route would be across the Peace Bridge then I 90/79/19/77/26/95/4 That sounds like a lot of highway changes, but its really not bad. You can get driving directions on Google Maps. Their estimated driving time is less than 19 hours, but of course does not include stops for gas, meals, bathroom, etc.

Try to figure out how far you can safely drive the first day, then plan your overnight stop there. That will help you figure out what time you will leave home. Obviously you will want to try to avoid leaving during the morning rush hour.leaving earlier is always better.

Columbia SC is less than 13 hours driving time. That might be a good place to stop for the night. Lots of chain accommodations just off the interstate. Check TripAdvisor for recommended places.

Thanks!!!

 

[mshanson3121]

We are driving for the first time on our next trip and am just looking for some information. I know it will be different for everyone but an approximation is what I'm looking for. We will be driving our 2015 Ford Fiesta and am wondering approx. how much it will cost for gas. Also what is the best and quickest route (don't need to know road for road directions just an idea of which hwy we should be looking for) and how long it will take approx. We want to leave on Saturday and be there on Sunday for 3pm check in. We do plan to stop for the night and any recommendations on nice but cheap places would be great. Also we will be leaving from Hamilton, ON.

Like I said this will be our first time driving to Florida and am a little nervous, lol. I appreciate any help that can be provided. And if it helps we will be driving down the end of Sept and back in Oct.

Thanks

Use www.gasbuddy.com - and then add on at least $100-150. They calculate gas consumption based on a) perfect conditions b) driving the speed limit - which you won't be. You'll be going over the speed limit if you want to keep up with the flow of traffic. Also, you'll want to allow some extra for driving around Florida.

The "best" route would be what Minnie Mum suggested. Quite a bit of truck traffic and lots of route changes, but definitely less traffic and hassle than the 95, and there's lots of nice rest stops, and easy to find hotels. As she said about 19.5 hours driving time. We stayed in Walterboro, SC, which would be about an hour past Columbia. We stayed at the Microtel Inn & Suites, which was excellent. Pool, full hot continental breakfast (included), super easy to access off the highway and we used hotelcoupons.com and got the room for $60. Nice easy drive into Florida the next day.

I would recommend leaving very early in the morning on Saturday, around 4 am. Try and swing it so that you are not driving through any of the major cities (especially Columbia and Charlotte) during lunch or supper rush hour. We spent well over an hour crawling along in a rush hour grid lock at supper time there.

 

[KNovacovschi]

Use www.gasbuddy.com - and then add on at least $100-150. They calculate gas consumption based on a) perfect conditions b) driving the speed limit - which you won't be. You'll be going over the speed limit if you want to keep up with the flow of traffic. Also, you'll want to allow some extra for driving around Florida.

The "best" route would be what Minnie Mum suggested. Quite a bit of truck traffic and lots of route changes, but definitely less traffic and hassle than the 95, and there's lots of nice rest stops, and easy to find hotels. As she said about 19.5 hours driving time. We stayed in Walterboro, SC, which would be about an hour past Columbia. We stayed at the Microtel Inn & Suites, which was excellent. Pool, full hot continental breakfast (included), super easy to access off the highway and we used hotelcoupons.com and got the room for $60. Nice easy drive into Florida the next day.

I would recommend leaving very early in the morning on Saturday, around 4 am. Try and swing it so that you are not driving through any of the major cities (especially Columbia and Charlotte) during lunch or supper rush hour. We spent well over an hour crawling along in a rush hour grid lock at supper time there.

Thank you for the advice!!

 

[KNovacovschi]

One thing I forgot to ask about in that post is tolls. Are there any along the way?

 

[mort1331]

remember the tolls there are nothing like out 407. You dont mind paying theirs, and you dont have to bend over like ours

 

[minnie mum]

I can't speak to anything in the northern part of your route. We cross at Thousand Islands and take the 81 until it merges with the 77. But from there, south, there are no tolls unless you take the 417 to bypass all of the I 4 construction in Orlando. Which I heartily endorse. I think it cost us around $5, but it probably saved us an hour, since we were travelling in rush hour. I think all of the cash booths were manned, but we had a good supply of quarters in case they weren't.

 

[mshanson3121]

One thing I forgot to ask about in that post is tolls. Are there any along the way?

I think we spent $10-12 total on tolls (each way), but we also drove down from Maine, and half of our tolls were in Maine/NH. So, I'd say plan on about $6 each way for tolls. It's not bad at all, and they're all manned.

 

[dsneygirl]

We just drove from Burlington ON in Oct in a 2016 Escape. It was $200 US roundtrip for gas. I would think your Fiesta would do much better. We took the above mentioned route and left Btown at 4:45am and stopped at midnight in Jacksonville FL. DH and I drove on and off the whole way. Packed a huge cooler full of food and only stopped for gas and washroom. No traffic issues anywhere. We booked our hotel online about 9pm when we knew how much further we wanted to get. Got an awesome Holiday Inn Express for $85 Canadian (a steal) Were at Legoland by 10am the next morning. There are tolls in NY and FL. I can't remember the exact amount. I would have at least $20 in singles although most were staffed and would give change as needed.

 

[dsneygirl]

Use www.gasbuddy.com - and then add on at least $100-150. They calculate gas consumption based on a) perfect conditions b) driving the speed limit - which you won't be. You'll be going over the speed limit if you want to keep up with the flow of traffic. Also, you'll want to allow some extra for driving around Florida.


.

We actually found Gas Buddy very close. Within $20-$30. Also I would not dive more than 1-2 miles over the speed limit. If some places it's 70 and traffic flow is like 73. You do not want to get a ticket. They are steep and out of staters are very easy targets. Also there are cops everywhere. not like here where you can drive 5 hours on the 401 and not see one. In some places they are stationed every 5-10miles.

Also my tip is if you can...don't stop in Columbia stop in Rock Hill. Much nicer area.

 

[mshanson3121]

We actually found Gas Buddy very close. Within $20-$30. Also I would not dive more than 1-2 miles over the speed limit. If some places it's 70 and traffic flow is like 73. You do not want to get a ticket. They are steep and out of staters are very easy targets. Also there are cops everywhere. not like here where you can drive 5 hours on the 401 and not see one. In some places they are stationed every 5-10miles.

Also my tip is if you can...don't stop in Columbia stop in Rock Hill. Much nicer area.

Well as I said - Gas Buddy is accurate - if you're driving the speed limit. But, when we traveled if we had driven that slow we would have been run over, lol! Traffic was always at least 10 mph over, many times more than that (many places were 15-20 mph over just keeping up with the flow). We saw very few cops. But, I'm sure all of that varies too depending on when you're traveling. We were in the peak summer season (around 4th of July). Regardless, I'd still say it's far better to plan on an extra $100+, than find yourself short.

I definitely agree with Columbia, I wouldn't stop there. Better prices elsewhere, too.

 

[minnie mum]

If you want really good advice about speed traps, check out the thread For 2,000+ Mile Round Trip Drivers on the Transportation board.

 

[dsneygirl]

Well as I said - Gas Buddy is accurate - if you're driving the speed limit. But, when we traveled if we had driven that slow we would have been run over, lol! Traffic was always at least 10 mph over, many times more than that (many places were 15-20 mph over just keeping up with the flow). We saw very few cops. But, I'm sure all of that varies too depending on when you're traveling. We were in the peak summer season (around 4th of July). Regardless, I'd still say it's far better to plan on an extra $100+, than find yourself short.

I definitely agree with Columbia, I wouldn't stop there. Better prices elsewhere, too.

20 miles over or 20k? Because I definitely didn't seen anyone driving 90mph on our trip. And tonnes of cops in every state (this was a weekday in early Oct).

Gas is getting even cheaper as well. We were in Eria PA this weekend and gas was 1.94 so below $2 once you hit PA. (We paid about $2.30 in the summer).



I just punched in Gas Buddy and it gave me $154. We paid $200 roundtrip in Oct (small SUV) and gas keeps dropping so I would assume that's pretty accurate. In SC gas is now only $1.55 a gallon according to gas buddy.

 

[mshanson3121]

20 miles over or 20k? Because I definitely didn't seen anyone driving 90mph on our trip. And tonnes of cops in every state (this was a weekday in early Oct).

Gas is getting even cheaper as well. We were in Eria PA this weekend and gas was 1.94 so below $2 once you hit PA. (We paid about $2.30 in the summer).



I just punched in Gas Buddy and it gave me $154. We paid $200 roundtrip in Oct (small SUV) and gas keeps dropping so I would assume that's pretty accurate. In SC gas is now only $1.55 a gallon according to gas buddy.

MPH. And yes, there in June/July, there were times where traffic was going close to 90 mph. In the 60 zones 75 was the average. In the 70 zones, 80+ was. And then there were times where we were crawling. When you go makes a difference. The majority of speeding occurs during the summer months. Traffic in general is slower during fall/winter etc... So probably it'll be slower for OP. Regardless, it is still always better to over budget than under budget.

 

[bankr63]

MPH. And yes, there in June/July, there were times where traffic was going close to 90 mph. In the 60 zones 75 was the average. In the 70 zones, 80+ was. And then there were times where we were crawling. When you go makes a difference. The majority of speeding occurs during the summer months. Traffic in general is slower during fall/winter etc... So probably it'll be slower for OP. Regardless, it is still always better to over budget than under budget.

I would just watch the local traffic.

Driving down and back for March break, I do find there is a lot of speeding. But all of the plates speeding by are Canadian or Northern states; fastest pass I had was an Ontario plated Tahoe SUV going 75+ in a posted 55 zone. I generally follow the flow of the local state plates; these are the ones who know the traps and what is acceptable. If the locals are speeding by, I will pick up my speed. If I start passing local plates, I'll slow back down.

 

[mshanson3121]

I would just watch the local traffic.

Driving down and back for March break, I do find there is a lot of speeding. But all of the plates speeding by are Canadian or Northern states; fastest pass I had was an Ontario plated Tahoe SUV going 75+ in a posted 55 zone. I generally follow the flow of the local state plates; these are the ones who know the traps and what is acceptable. If the locals are speeding by, I will pick up my speed. If I start passing local plates, I'll slow back down.

^^This. Good advice. That's basically what we did, tried to follow the general flow of traffic. We weren't racing after those going the fastest, but we weren't in the "slow" lane, either.

 

[suse66]

We took the I75 last year and found it very, very easy to drive. As we were travelling in March, we were a bit worried about traveling through the mountains in WV. We drove straight through on the way there, coming in a 24.5 hours with a two drivers and several gas/snack stops. On the way home we stopped in Atlanta overnight. I t was a harder drive going back as we didn't have the adrenaline rush of getting to Disney to sustain us. We really enjoyed the drive and we would do it again, time permitting.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

We live on the other side of Paris, some 25 or so minutes away from you. We did this drive a few years ago in our Dodge Caliber and the return trip was around 330 dollars. It would have been less but our gps was set to avoid all toll roads and amung other things, I forgot to gas up before coming back into Canada so we were on fumes by the time we crossed the bridge back into Niagara. We basically drove until we used half a tank of gas and would fill up. There is no shortage of service stations for gas and coffee breaks. One thing I would add is I found the drive more relaxing than my daily 401 commute to Mississauga. We wold drive it again any day. Just remember when you are driving through Georgia to set your cruise control to 55.

 

[dancin Disney style]

When we drive to FL we leave home(in Oakville) around 2:30am. DH can go to bed by 9pm and get a good 5+hrs of sleep while I finish up getting ready. I sleep in the car after we leave. We like to go as far as possible on that first day and usually get to the Savannah area some where around 9pm. This gets us into a hotel early enough that we can relax and have a full nights sleep and not need to get up early. From there we are usually at our WDW resort for lunch. We pack all our food/drinks and only stop for gas/bathroom breaks.

We always drive the mentioned 77/79/95 route and many times the flow of traffic is 10-15mph over the limit. There is one known speed trap on the US19 where you will literally be pulled over for going 1mph over the limit....yes, 1mph.

The tolls are around $12 each way. Most are manned but there are 1 or 2 that require exact coins. Since you can't get US coins at the bank I start watching my change for a few months in advance and also mention to friends/family that I need a couple of dollars in US coin. If that doesn't work I get some at the first toll booth which is in PA.