St. Louis... 1050 miles... 16 hours?

[HFC1969]

I just finished reading the "How far do you drive?" thread and am amazed... to all the folks who drive much further then us, that is if we do drive it someday.

16 hours or at least thats what Yahoo says... scares the crap out of me... but with SWA prices not seeming to get any better the thought of driving keeps crossing my mind.

What time of the day do you leave? Do you drive it straight through?

Just curious.....

 

[LadyBeBop]

Our trip from Cincinnati is about 100 miles shorter (I justify posting in the 2000 Mile RT thread, because we drive a couple hundred miles around Orlando in a week). We never have any problems driving.

We don't drive straight through, however, we've driven within a couple hundred miles of Orlando before stopping. It's doable in a day, but we've always taken two days. Remember, you have to add in stops for breaks, so that 16 hours is probably closer to 18 hours.

We'd leave early enough so that your second day isn't more than about five hours. We also make sure that we avoid Atlanta during rush hour. And in your case, I'd make sure you'd avoid Nashville during rush hour. We don't go through Nashville to get to Orlando; however we go through Nashville to visit my daughter in Louisiana. I actually prefer driving through Atlanta than Nashville.


I'd leave anytime between 5 and 6 AM. Leaving much earlier than 5, and you may hit the tail end of Nashville rush hour traffic. Leaving much later than 6, and you might hit the beginning of Atlanta rush hour traffic. Going down, I'd get past Atlanta before stopping, and coming home, I'd get past Nashville before stopping.

Of course, all this is moot is you're traveling during the weekend. We've had no problems going through Atlanta at 8 AM on the Fourth of July.

 

[Mkebound]

How far you drive with out stopping is greatly determined by the ages and number of people in the car.

Kids? Ages?

FWIW I just drove my family, 2 adults, 7yo & 4 yo from CT to WI - 1,100 miles. We left at 2pm, drove 500 miles by 11pm, stopped for the night, drove 300 miles the next day (stopped at a national park for 4 hours) stopped for the night and drove 300 miles the following morning.

We spent 17 hours actually driving and averaged exactly 65mph while in the car.

We did the same drive last winter by leaving early one morning, driving 650 miles the first day, stopping for the night and finishing the last 450 miles the 2nd day. With the cold temps we drove a little slower, only averaged 61 mph and it took us 18.5 hours of driving over the two days

 

[MOmousefan]

Hey fellow Missourian - We drive from Camdenton and it is 18 hours of driving. The last two driving trips were with adult children so stops were minimal. Have fun.

 

[kerri0616]

St. Louisan here!

For us, it all centers around avoiding Atlanta during rush hour. Last year, we had to leave St. L on a Friday, so the thought of Friday night rush hour traffic in Atl gave me anxiety. I forced my family to get up at a very indecent hour...I took a picture of the clock in our vehicle and we left our driveway at 4:21 am. We still encountered Atl traffic (did we get there around 3pm?) but it had to be better than, say, 5pm. We typically spend the night somewhere south of Macon. Then we have about a 5 hour drive into The World.

Last month for our Universal trip, we wisely left St.L on a Sunday. No Atlanta traffic! Stayed in Perry, GA. We were kind of leisurely about waking up, eating breakfast, then lunch, and we arrived at Portofino around 3 pm.

So, we do about 12 hours on day 1 and 5 hours on day 2. Perhaps we stop too frequently!

If anyone has a magic route that would avoid Atlanta, I'd love to hear about it.

Kerri

 

[HFC1969]

We are me 41, DW 30 something DS 11 and DD5...

The only problem with drving is that our trips are usually short.. 4 day type things... DW is a very respected D.C. and has to be at her office 4 days a week most weeks..

I am defiantley thinking, but 18 hours is scary still to me..

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Remember that is could be more like 19 - 20 if you hit Atlanta traffic!

I am also in the STL area. We like to leave our driveway at 4am. DH prefers to drive straight through (I prefer southwest) and we pull in about 11pm. It is a really really long day! We ONLY do it if Southwest is over $300. That has not happened in a few years but the price keeps getting closer!

 

[jm-mom]

Hey I'm a disney mom in St. Louis too! We go to WDW once a year and have never driven it from here. We don't need the car once we get there so we usually just wait for SWA rates to become somewhat reasonable and do it that way. While driving the cost of gas and other expenses comes out less than flying, we also factor in the cost of taking an extra day off of work at both ends otherwise we'd have to shorten our time in orlando. We'd rather use those extra two days another time of the year rather than in a car driving. We always pull the kids out of school so flying allows us to have a great vacay and not increase their days of missed school. FWIW I'm not sure I could handle that long of a drive. I drive from St. Louis to Cape G. and by the time I'm nearing St. Gen I want to know if we're there yet! My kids are even worse.

 

[MadiWI]

We used to drive this with our young children, and it wasn't bad at all. We'd leave on Friday morning around 8 am and stop for the night just after Macon, GA. We usually made one big stop during the day - like at the Nashville Zoo or something - so that the kids weren't cooped up in the car all day, and it made the drive a bigger part of the vacation. We always hit Atlanta after rush hour and never had a problem in Nashville. The next day, we'd drive the last bit, and be in our hotel by early afternoon.

On the way home, we have stopped at the Atlanta Zoo, which is a fun stop, too. We would leave WDW on Saturday after late breakfast or lunch, then we'd be home by Sunday. As crowded as it gets at the parks on Saturdays, I really don't miss being there when we drove, and it is really handy to have your car from home and to be able to pack everything you want!

Good luck!

 

[DVC-Don]

We drive about 1300 miles and actual driving time is about 25 hours. (11 the first day, 8 the second and 6 the third on the way down.) But we leave our car there for the winter and fly back and forth until spring when we drive back north.

 

[JB2K]

What time of the day do you leave? Do you drive it straight through?

Another St. Louisan, here (Metro East) -- 16 hours of straight-up driving (unless you have another driver in the car) can be a real "buster" -- did it once, probbably won't do it again, as I have made the Knoxville, TN area my "overnight stop".

To make that happen, I usually leave the STL area around mid-afternoon and arrive in TN, that evening for rest. Set-out early in the morning (around 6) and arrive @ WDW in time for dinner.

Since I leave town on a Friday, Saturday in Atlanta is usually not a big worry...

Other incentives - Walmart offering 10 cents off per gallon, and Kroger (which is on the entire route from Mt. Vernon, IL to the GA/FL state line) offering potential discounts up to a dollar per gallon -- much better than airfare, IMO...

 

[JB2K]

If anyone has a magic route that would avoid Atlanta, I'd love to hear about it.

There is such a thing (my dad takes it on his trips to FL) -- it adds a few extra miles, but definitely gets you away from Atlanta.

• Drive from St. Louis to Nashville, as normal
• Instead of taking I-40E to Knoxville, take I-65S to Montgomery, Alabama
• From Montgomery, take US 231 to/through Troy and Dothan, AL and past the Florida state line
• Once in FL, take I-10E to/through Tallahassee
• Connect with I-75S at Lake City, FL and continue to WDW via I-75 and the tollways

 

[kerri0616]

thanks! I'll have to check it out on my atlas!

K

 

[HFC1969]

Funny story:

Driving from Chesterfield MO to Troy MO this weeked,, (abouut 25 miles) Our kids looked up around Moscow Mills MO (20 miles into trip) They looked up and said are we there yet...

My wife and I looked at each other and


Thanks to my beautiful DW... she watches SWA prices like an eagle... and got our Sept tickets for $1100

 

[Brer Shay]

We're also at 1050 miles, but instead of Atlanta traffic, we have to avoid Washington DC traffic. There are five of us, two drivers and three kids, and we've never driven it straight through. We usually drive 10/11 hours the first day, then take the other 5/6 a second day. Our first day includes breakfast at home, a packed lunch in the van, and only occasional bathroom stops until we make a 7 pm dinner/hotel stop for the night. Next day includes the hotel breakfast, heavy snacks in the van, a few bathroom breaks, and we make it to the resort/townhouse by 4 pm. Same plan in reverse on the way home.

Tips for success traveling with kids - bring "new" toys or travel games. I'll pick up a lego kit for DS and new dolls for DDs along with a two or three travel games. Car bingo kits are helpful. Lots of snacks. Electronics - DVDs, DS games, MP3 (with Disney music, of course) are helpful too. We'll have sing alongs, play guessing games, and read as well.

It is long, but it wasn't as scary/bad as I thought it would be the first time.