Staying offsite the night before....driving from VA...

[Parrotheadgoofy]

We will be driving down I95 on Sat Aug 4 from southern VA, stopping in Greenville NC to pick up older DD22, and hopping back on I95 in Wilson. Current plan is to hit Wilson NC by 11 am to noon on Saturday. Would like to make approx one hour or less from WDW and spend night, get some drinks, groceries, wine, etc.... Then leave early Sunday morning and have less than one hour to go. I am considering Orange City Fl to spend the night. Is this a good place? How long on a Sunday morning to WDW? Want to check in early (?) and heading to Epcot on day 1.

 

[nono]

If you want to do shopping and such the night before, you may want to look at the local stores in the area to see how late they are open. If you leave Wilson at Noon, you would be pulling into Orange City, FL around 9 pm at night (figuring for a quick rest break/gas break every 3 hours and perfect travel conditions).

I haven't stayed in the Orange City area, so I can't help you with that. But, I have landed in towns where the sidewalks get rolled up around 8 p.m., so I just wanted to throw that out there to consider.

 

[Parrotheadgoofy]

That is a good consideration. Thanks. There is really no reason not to leave earlier. (except getting the 22-yo up), so we (DH, DD18, and me) could easily pick her up before 930 and leave Wilson around 10 am. This would allow for travel interruptions, and/or extra time in FL. If we get to the hotel earlier, we can always watch the Olympics.

 

[stacy6552]

Jacksonville. Stop and spend the night there, no matter how early it is when you hit FL. We drove from VA once and made such good time, we booked a room at WDW and drove straight through. But the second full day there jetlag set in and we were wiped out. Someone had recommended Jacksonville and I passed it along to a neighbor and they said it is perfect and stop there everytime (we are flyers).

 

[nono]

If we get to the hotel earlier, we can always watch the Olympics.

I like your thinking. I just noticed you are from Suffolk. We usually drive and come over the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and then the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. We've broken up our driving several ways, but our favorite is to leave late afternoon and overnight in Suffolk. We leave early the next day (around 4-5 a.m.) and arrive about 12-13 hours later in WDW!

 

[FaerieFire]

Nono,
We're planning on driving from south coastal Delaware, and I'm wondering about a 11-12 hour drive at some point during the trip. Are you switching off drivers? We've got only one driver (me) and I'm not sure whether to plan for two 8~hour drives (which I did without trouble when I was in college 20 yeas ago) or if I might be able to pull off a longer drive one day. We may have to move up our arrival date by a day to get FD, and we can't leave any earlier, so I'd have to make up the time driving if we do have to get there earlier.
Any thoughts?

 

[nono]

Nono,
We're planning on driving from south coastal Delaware, and I'm wondering about a 11-12 hour drive at some point during the trip. Are you switching off drivers? We've got only one driver (me) and I'm not sure whether to plan for two 8~hour drives (which I did without trouble when I was in college 20 yeas ago) or if I might be able to pull off a longer drive one day. We may have to move up our arrival date by a day to get FD, and we can't leave any earlier, so I'd have to make up the time driving if we do have to get there earlier.
Any thoughts?

We have two drivers, both my dh and me. I take about 75% of the driving, because he's good at sleeping in the car. I'm not. That said, I would have a hard time doing a 12 hour day. Even moreso on the return. But two eight hours? Yeah. I could do that!

Figure from Lewes, DE to Florence, SC would be about 8 hrs. I'd plan to stop for an hour for lunch, including some shut eye time (not necessarily sleeping, but simply resting my eyes!). We sometimes plan a meal off the road, but lately usually take a cooler and have something like an antipasto to graze on for lunch. We find all of us (kids are under 10) really enjoy just chilling at the rest areas.

Good luck with deciding how to break it up!

 

[Parrotheadgoofy]

We have 4 drivers: me, DH, Dd22, and DD18, so we each only drive about 2.5 hours from Wilson NC to Somewhere on I-4. Easy-peasy. So glad to have good drivers in the family. NOW, how to fit everything in a Prius???????

 

[nono]

NOW, how to fit everything in a Prius???????