Suggestions for possible major NY-Disney road trip (August) with kids (long)

[olive]

We have a few Disney trips under our belts but have always flown down. We were planning a trip for August for ages and then found out about a family wedding in NC less than a week before we were planning to be in Florida. Skipping the wedding is out of the question, so we initially considered flying into Charlotte (where the wedding is) and then renting a car to drive to Orlando, and flying back to NY from MCO. Since we like having a car during our trips, we planned to keep that rental car throughout the stay. The four plane tickets and the rental car for over three weeks with different pick up and drop off locations was not inexpensive. I started to think about a road trip and my husband (who would be the driver) warmed to the idea of driving there and back, making the journey as much a part of the vacation as what was originally supposed to be the ultimate destination. When I was younger my family used to drive to Disney from NYC all the time, but never like this. I think the only time we stopped overnight back then was when my little sister got food poisoning from dinner at a Rodeway Inn (sp?). Anyway, we love taking the kids to Disney and Universal, but we also love exploring with them, hiking, kayaking, zoos and nature centers, the beach. We wanted to incorporate some of that on our trip.

We have dates in NC and Orlando (5 nights in Universal, 12 at Disney) that are set in stone. The rest is sort of up in the air, but I have worked out a loose itinerary. I would love some feedback, including on routes and suggestions for things to see/do along the way and at the destinations. I read some of the longer threads about driving and have some good notes, and I think we can be relatively comfortable in our minivan (an Odyssey, so three rows of seats). The kids will be 3 and 8 on the trip. Thank you so much in advance for suggestions on what is likely to be a one-time-only sort of trip.

Rough itinerary:

Leave NYC for DC (on a Monday or Tuesday after rush hr) - national zoo, Smithsonians (esp Air & Space, natural history), paddle boats by Jefferson Memorial, possibly postal or building museum, see White House, possibly drive out to see Mount Vernon (3 or 4 nights, likely splitting stay among Capitol Hill area airbnb and friends in Northern Virginia metro area)

leave Friday after rush hour for Charlotte (4 nights Charlotte, generally with family)

Leave Charlotte on a Tuesday, also after rush hour, for Amelia Island (beach, kayaking, possibly see wild horses on neighboring island)

Leave Amelia Island on a Thursday (time? 930 ish?) for Universal

Leave Disney on a Sunday for Asheville area (time for leaving? Should we stop somewhere maybe 3/4 of the way or so to Asheville area, and if so, any suggestions?) (planned 3 nights Asheville area to see town, hiking, kayaking, arboretum, probably will skip Biltmore this trip)

Leave Asheville area for Shenandoah/Luray Caverns area on a Wednesday (two night stay planned, include Blue Ridge Parkway if possible for travel to Virginia, Skyline Drive, too; ranger programs, hiking, caverns)

Leave on a Friday after breakfast for NYC

Again, thanks for any feedback. We have the Disney and Universal hotels booked, of course, and a place on Amelia Island. I haven't cancelled our rental car booking yet, just in case.

 

[sharona]

That sounds like an awesome trip. I'm envious of your ability to take so much time off at once - are you teachers? Of the places you're stopping other than Orlando, I've only been to DC. My one suggestion is to do the Monuments at Night tour. We really enjoyed it and the monuments are beautiful at night. Also, it's a nice break from all the time on your feet walking and touring the museums in DC.

 

[jec6613]

Well, here's my input, as I've made the NYC (well, Connecticut side) to DC trip dozens of times, and the trip all the way to Orlando 4 or 5 times:

Expect leaving NYC for DC to be held up in traffic in NJ for at least 90 minutes, all the way through departing at midnight. About the only time of the day it's okay is around noon, and I know that leaving from CT around 6 PM would get me to DC around midnight (not sure where you're leaving from, it may differ). Once in DC, all of the Smithsonian museums are free (as in your tax dollars already paid admission), and the Smithsonian postal museum is actually much better than you'd think. The International Spy Museum (paid admission required) is also a great one to see, if you have time. Mount Vernon should only take about a day, and there's also the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy center at IAD airport (parking is paid, admission is free). My suggestion would be to do DC proper, the Uvdar-Hazy Center, then Mount Vernon, and then out. As Mount Vernon is beyond most of the rush hour traffic, being outside the beltway near Fort Belvoir, it's a great place to leave from and drive to Charlotte.

A few other places you can pick up along the way, depending on your interests, include: most of the major eastern theatre Civil War battlefields (Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Sharpsburg ...), as this year is the 150th of the end of the Civil War; Philadelphia state house and liberty bell and Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown.

I'd plan on bringing food and drinks in the car as much as possible. If you have a minivan or similar, you can hopefully stow one of the seats and even put a small refrigerator in it - when I was younger and my family used to do long car trips, we'd remove the driver's side middle row seat (sliding door was only on the passenger side), and put a refrigerated cooler in its place. It also gave us lots of room in the back to do whatever so long as we stayed buckled in.

 

[olive]

These are great suggestions! I actually am attorney but I have some time off in my new role - yay - and my husband will be just finishing his PhD and have time before his post doc starts. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the school break for our 8 year old, without the headache of camp. Now I just need to figure out the AAA app to create personalized trip tiks for all of the trip legs...

 

[PlutoPony]

The Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive are S L O W driving. Speed limit is 45 and at times you'll be lucky to do that. I'd plan on using it only for brief stretches, look for places where it's easy to get on and off to other routes that move more quickly. Asheville to Luray Caverns is maybe 6 hrs+ stops via interstate so you may want to figure how far you want to go first day and then see which driving day gives you the most time to detour over to the Parkway.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Sounds like a nice trip. Your plans for DC are too ambitious. In August it is going to be really, really hot and there's a good chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Mt. Vernon is great, but may not be that interesting for an 8 year old and not at all for a 3 year old. The postal and building museums may not interest your older child either. Plan on a whole day for the National Zoo; even if you don't spend the entire day there, that's a lot of walking for the kids. Then a day on the Mall to see the various museums.

If your older child is into history, you can detour a bit and stop at the Gettysburg Battlefield in PA; you'll also be passing close to Antietam. I live in MD and when we drive to NYC, we like to avoid the NJ Turnpike as much as possible. We take 15 North through Frederick, MD to Hamburg, PA and stop for lunch at the Cabela's in Hamburg. Then we take 78E to NYC. Much nicer drive than sticking to I95.

Just be prepared for lots of road construction and traffic during summer travel.

 

[olive]

Thanks for the further feedback! I made a note on the route suggestions.

On the DC itinerary, we should have three full days not counting the day we arrive and the day we leave. I am going to assume that even if we leave pretty early in the day to get there, our first day will be wasted and that we will want to get a pretty early start heading south when we leave.

On the day we would go to the zoo, we would likely only be there for the morning. Possibly we would hit air and space or another museum in the afternoon.

The second full day we could hit natural history and maybe another museum. For any museum, we would not plan to see everything, but select exhibits. We take the kids to museums in NYC all the time, but we usually try to keep things manageable for them, with visits of maybe two hours or less. The lack of an entrance fee for Smithsonians makes this more doable. We can walk past the monument and White House.

The third day perhaps we could do postal or building museum, or both. Paddle boats later in the day.

I actually lived in the DC area for years and though I do not specifically miss the August swamp-like weather, I can't possibly forget it. Luckily our friends have a pool so the kids can cool off a bit!

 

[mshanson3121]

Since you're headed in that direction, if I were you I would continue into Tennessee and take in some of the attractions in Chattanooga: from what I've heard the Tennessee Aquarium is NOT to be missed, one of the top ones in the US (we're going on our way home), there are some other really beautiful attractions. From there it's very easy to hit on the 81 that will take you right through to VA for Luray Caverns etc... (which we are also planning on doing). There are also some beautiful caverns in TN.

We have a similar trip planned, though ours isn't quite as long, and we won't be detouring on the way down. We're driving straight down to Savannah (we're leaving from ME, so driving to PA the first night then getting to GA the next), then spending an extra day/night there, before going into Florida for 10 nights. Then on the way home we're stopping in TN for a couple nights, Luray for the Caverns and then we'll see from there. I would love to go into MA and spend a night or two on the Cape.

 

[Iamthequeen]

I highly second the Rte. 15/81/78 into NYC. I would recommend the Museum of American History, its been recently refurbished. The Natural History Museum is currently undergoing refurbishment and some exhibits are not available. Other than that, I think you have a doable plan. Sounds like a wonderful trip!

 

[Mainemama]

I am bookmarking this, as we are looking at a a likely drive to FL this summer (not to WDW, beach trip), while we get some renovations done. The only thing I have to add (never done a car trip!) is say that your 3 and 8 year old would likely love the postal museum! I took my 2 and 7 year old this year, and it was very engaging, for me, too! I also liked that it was a much more manageable size that most of the museums! I think the zoo in August would be torture, personally. We went on a hot April day, and the hills did my kids in. It is a walk from the Metro, too. They did much better with walking around the basin, the mall, and museum visits.

 

[olive]

I'm revisiting this thread now that our itinerary is pretty set - some changes have been made because we had to change when we leave (leading to too few days in DC to make it count, so we will save that for a separate trip) and a second stop in Charlotte added on the way back instead of Asheville for more family time. We will have to do Western NC another time - the mountains look amazing.

Leaving midweek after a.m. rush for Shenandoah area (2 nights for park - hiking and Skyline Drive - and Luray Caverns)

Leave Friday a.m. for Charlotte, including Blue Ridge Parkway for part of drive (maybe to Roanoke and then switch off), 4 nights

Leave Tuesday a.m. (Early or mid-morning?) for Amelia Island (Fort Clinch, boat tour, beach), 2 nights

Leave Thursday a.m. after breakfast for Universal

Post-Universal/Disney, leave on a Sunday around noon for Charleston, 2 nights

Leave Tuesday mid morning for Charlotte, 1 night

Leave after lunch for Lewisburg, WV (caverns, hiking)

Leave late morning for Langhorne (we have season passes for Sesame Place), 2 nights

Leave after breakfast Saturday for NYC, apologize to cat as soon as we see her.

 

[olive]

We are back after 3200+ miles. We survived and even had a good time I'll post a trip report in the appropriate section but we haven't even been home a day yet and are still unpacking. The itinerary ended up being fluid right up to the end nearly because of changes over the course of the trip, but I think it all went well. It was sort of scary going into it but we would do it again. Just not right away