Talk to me about the drive from Ontario

[DISNEY180]

We drove down this past holiday season from Ontario and the trip down was uneventful. Starting driving back New Years Day, stopped in Daytona to show my neice the ocean and the guess what the car wouldn't start.. We had been having problens off and on before this but had it checked many times and no one could find the problem. THANK GOSH for having CAA, got a tow to a repair shop BUT it took 2 days for the part to get in so had to rent another car, hotel, food plus the repair and because my god daughter was with us I had to change flights for her as she is New Brunswick..more money IT was the shifter cable that went and appartently those never goo, right...

Anywoo... but this also allowed us to see the Daytona Racetrack, hotel right across the street, plus went to the Space Centre which is really cool and way bigger then I thought it would be.


SO spent way more money then budgeted for but hey it was an experience none of us will ever forgot and had to drive 30 hours straight back to make sure god daughter made her flight from Toronto as had to drive neice to north of Barrie then us back to way north of Ottawa.

So a few thing we learned, make sure you have some sort of car emergency plan, get the car checked out before you go so no surprises, and have a budget that includes repairs on the road.

Very soon getting back we had more issues and decided to BUY a NEW car so we are good to go with both CAA( for other vehicle) and dealer emergency plan...

 

[Ken_Breadbox]

While the I77/79 is around 90 km shorter and according to mapquest over 1 hour faster than the I75, it all depends on driving styles. Personally the I77/79 is faster for me but my parents who live close to me always have a faster time on the I75.

I can't really explain it. Everybody told me the eastern route was faster. From Waterloo to the border we were well above the speed limit (it was, after all, 3:00 a.m. when we left); the border was trifling, less than a minute's wait all told; we only stopped for quick lunches and one fuel-up each day (2003 Toyota Echo, great on gas). It was still about 24 hours of drive time (and we didn't hit any serious traffic until Orlando itself, which was brutal).

What's more, it *felt* even longer than it was, without the drive-by commentary Hunter so helpfully provides for I-75, and without any real idea of what lay ahead.

 

[RatherDrive]

I can't really explain it. Everybody told me the eastern route was faster. From Waterloo to the border we were well above the speed limit (it was, after all, 3:00 a.m. when we left); the border was trifling, less than a minute's wait all told; we only stopped for quick lunches and one fuel-up each day (2003 Toyota Echo, great on gas). It was still about 24 hours of drive time (and we didn't hit any serious traffic until Orlando itself, which was brutal).

What's more, it *felt* even longer than it was, without the drive-by commentary Hunter so helpfully provides for I-75, and without any real idea of what lay ahead.

I can't explain it either. We are from just east of Toronto and can make it down to Orlando in 20 hours of drive time on the I77/79. I set my cruise control at 5 over and only take breaks usually when we stop for gas and lunch. It is nearly 24 hours going through Windsor. Like I said my parents always get faster drive times going the I75. I do prefer the border crossing in Fort Erie, we have never been delayed crossing over in either direction.

 

[lizzyb]

When taking the 77/79 route where do you usually stop? We are going to hit the road at 4am and hope the make majority of the drive the first day. Any recommendations?

 

[RatherDrive]

When taking the 77/79 route where do you usually stop? We are going to hit the road at 4am and hope the make majority of the drive the first day. Any recommendations?

I see you guys are travelling at exactly the same time we are!

We normally try to make for Columbia, SC the first day. From Toronto it is around 14 hours driving time. From Columbia it is around 6 hours to WDW.

We used to try and leave right after work and get past Pittsburgh for our stop, then spend all day driving the second day to arrive late in the day. We found we were arriving completely exhausted and would sleep in the next day. Not a good start to the trip. So we started to leave early in the morning and drive to Columbia and then have a "short" six hour drive and arrive in the early afternoon. This way would get our room and then it was off to the parks almost as soon as we arrived.

 

[Disneyhabs]

I can't explain it either. We are from just east of Toronto and can make it down to Orlando in 20 hours of drive time on the I77/79. I set my cruise control at 5 over and only take breaks usually when we stop for gas and lunch. It is nearly 24 hours going through Windsor. Like I said my parents always get faster drive times going the I75. I do prefer the border crossing in Fort Erie, we have never been delayed crossing over in either direction.

My dad and I driving I75 made the trek in just under 20 hours of driving. I am thinking of driving the east coast way home after we head back on Sept 6th but we shall see.

 

[lizzyb]

I see you guys are travelling at exactly the same time we are!

We normally try to make for Columbia, SC the first day. From Toronto it is around 14 hours driving time. From Columbia it is around 6 hours to WDW.

We used to try and leave right after work and get past Pittsburgh for our stop, then spend all day driving the second day to arrive late in the day. We found we were arriving completely exhausted and would sleep in the next day. Not a good start to the trip. So we started to leave early in the morning and drive to Columbia and then have a "short" six hour drive and arrive in the early afternoon. This way would get our room and then it was off to the parks almost as soon as we arrived.

Awesome! We plan to start our drive on the Saturday morning. We live in Cambridge.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

We're not far from you. Whatever you do make sure your GPS has the right settings. My parents had it before our last trip and it was set to avoid all major interstates and toll roads and we never noticed until we crossed the border. Just watch the 19 from 79 to 77 or you might detour through Charleston. No a big deal. Took us closer to 27 hours to drive there.
The drive home was some 6 hours shorter

 

[lizzyb]

We're not far from you. Whatever you do make sure your GPS has the right settings. My parents had it before our last trip and it was set to avoid all major interstates and toll roads and we never noticed until we crossed the border. Just watch the 19 from 79 to 77 or you might detour through Charleston. No a big deal. Took us closer to 27 hours to drive there.
The drive home was some 6 hours shorter

Thanks! We will have our gps and the noting out mapquest directions.

 

[RatherDrive]

We're not far from you. Whatever you do make sure your GPS has the right settings. My parents had it before our last trip and it was set to avoid all major interstates and toll roads and we never noticed until we crossed the border. Just watch the 19 from 79 to 77 or you might detour through Charleston. No a big deal. Took us closer to 27 hours to drive there.
The drive home was some 6 hours shorter

Good One!! We did that coming home. While driving around Orlando I had the GPS avoid all tolls. So the drive home told us it was 26-27 hours home. I was confused for a bit but felt better once I figured it out.

Awesome! We plan to start our drive on the Saturday morning. We live in Cambridge.

Thanks for the tip!

We are planning on leaving the Saturday before 5am to get across the border before 7am. We are coming from the east end of Toronto. We hit the 401 to the 403 then onto the QEW through Fort Erie!

Thanks! We will have our gps and the noting out mapquest directions.

A word of advice is if you decide on the US 19 in WV through Summersville, WATCH your speed! They will nail you doing one mile per hour over. Two years back we counted over 10 speed traps on the US 19. They do like to get the out of state drivers. We had one Ontario car pass us doing no more than 1-2 over the limit. About 15 minutes after he passed us he got pulled over.

 

[lizzyb]

Good One!! We did that coming home. While driving around Orlando I had the GPS avoid all tolls. So the drive home told us it was 26-27 hours home. I was confused for a bit but felt better once I figured it out.



We are planning on leaving the Saturday before 5am to get across the border before 7am. We are coming from the east end of Toronto. We hit the 401 to the 403 then onto the QEW through Fort Erie!

A word of advice is if you decide on the US 19 in WV through Summersville, WATCH your speed! They will nail you doing one mile per hour over. Two years back we counted over 10 speed traps on the US 19. They do like to get the out of state drivers. We had one Ontario car pass us doing no more than 1-2 over the limit. About 15 minutes after he passed us he got pulled over.

I'll have to show my hubby this. If I tell him I will just be the nagging wife

 

[Skjhjb]

Awesome! We plan to start our drive on the Saturday morning. We live in Cambridge. Thanks for the tip!

Small world! I'm in Fergus!

We've decided to do I75 this trip...bought the I75 book and everything. We plan to leave around midnight (hubby is going to snooze all evening while the rest of us are at DD#2's school musical). The plan is to hit just north of Atlanta by dinner time, stop for dinner and hopefully avoid all Atlanta traffic after dinner. It will be a Sunday when we go through, so we should be ok.

Hopefully we can manage another hour or so after dinner, which means day two will only be 5 hours or so until Orlando! Then we can chill out, go to Señor Frogs for dinner and then have an early night so we can get up early and check in at Disney and make rope drop for 9am.

Thank God my kids are teens and can stand the long drive!

 

[PrincessKimmy]

Small world! I'm in Fergus!

Just visiting this thread since there is no way we are driving until the kids are older.... but I am from Guelph!!

 

[RatherDrive]

Just visiting this thread since there is no way we are driving until the kids are older.... but I am from Guelph!!

Don't need to wait until the kids get older to drive down! We have been driving with my youngest since he was 6 months old. He is 10 this year and has 8 drives under his belt! My oldest, who is 15, told me the other day that he would rather drive down and doesn't want to fly down anymore on the account that he hates travelling through Orlando airport. He did accept the idea that we are flying down for our Christmas cruise on the Fantasy, but wants me to say that is it for flying for a while.

 

[lizzyb]

Don't need to wait until the kids get older to drive down! We have been driving with my youngest since he was 6 months old. He is 10 this year and has 8 drives under his belt! My oldest, who is 15, told me the other day that he would rather drive down and doesn't want to fly down anymore on the account that he hates travelling through Orlando airport. He did accept the idea that we are flying down for our Christmas cruise on the Fantasy, but wants me to say that is it for flying for a while.

I would rather fly but am looking forward to the drive this time. Just need to come up with activities to keep the kids entertained.

 

[PrincessKimmy]

I think I would rather fly too. We use to alway drive as kids and would stop at least 2 nights both ways. I dont think I would want to drive stright through, and i would want those extra days as Disney days.

But of course if it was drive or dont go at all I would totally be on board lol.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

I'll have to show my hubby this. If I tell him I will just be the nagging wife

By the way not just summerville but also Georgia. I don't have any issues with Georgia I just am not a fan of that many radar's pointed at me to see if I'm going 55 or 56. You shouldn't have any issues if you set your cruise control to the speed on your gps. You'll be through Georgia in a few hours when you use the 95

 

[RatherDrive]

I would rather fly but am looking forward to the drive this time. Just need to come up with activities to keep the kids entertained.

The drive is what you make of it. We tend to want to get down there quickly but take our time coming home, so we see more things on the way home. Our boys have been great travellers since they were babies so I guess we have been spoiled by them. We use an in car DVD system and give each of us the chance to pick a movie to watch. We are able to put the sound over the car's radio so I, as the driver, can enjoy the movie as well. We let the boys pick what games, books or other things that they want to take along. The drive today is so much better than the drives of even just a few years ago with all the entertainment choices there are out there.

I think I would rather fly too. We use to alway drive as kids and would stop at least 2 nights both ways. I dont think I would want to drive stright through, and i would want those extra days as Disney days.

But of course if it was drive or dont go at all I would totally be on board lol.

Same here with the two night stops as a kid. What is it with our parents?!? I agree with you on the drive straight through, too exhausting IMHO. We try to make sure that we are going for longer stays when we drive for the reasons you stated about Disney days. Hence the reason most of our trips are for two weeks at a time to minimize the travel days to park days ratio. Don't get me wrong, we do fly for shorter trips. We just include the drive as part of our vacation and we all look forward to it as much as the visit to Disney.

The main reasons that we drive down is we want to be in control of how we move around Disney and prefer to have our own vehicle. Rental cars have just simply become way to expensive in the last few years.

 

[PrincessKimmy]

Same here with the two night stops as a kid. What is it with our parents?!? I agree with you on the drive straight through, too exhausting IMHO. We try to make sure that we are going for longer stays when we drive for the reasons you stated about Disney days. Hence the reason most of our trips are for two weeks at a time to minimize the travel days to park days ratio. Don't get me wrong, we do fly for shorter trips. We just include the drive as part of our vacation and we all look forward to it as much as the visit to Disney.

The main reasons that we drive down is we want to be in control of how we move around Disney and prefer to have our own vehicle. Rental cars have just simply become way to expensive in the last few years.

If we had more time off work I would do it for sure and make it part of the trip, I did always love staying in Savannah. We can only manage 8 or 9 day trips right now, so flying works best right now. lol Plus The drive home is always so sad after having so much Disney fun.

 

[lizzyb]

I wanted to stay in savannah just not sure if we can do such a long drive the first day.