Tell me ALL about driving to WDW?

[SandraC]

Hi All ~ Gimme all the gory details about driving to WDW from Mississauga with two kids in a small car from Dec 26-Jan 6. Thanks! S

 

[Bea]

We have never driven from Ontario but have driven a few times from the Maritimes, which is quite a bit further. We love the drive . It is part of the "adventure" and the kids really look forward to it. I have tons of suggestions to keep the kids happy, just say the word if you want suggestions. .

The drive involves planning, which I love to do. So when we drive, I get to plan the WDW part as well as the driving part!

 

[SandraC]

Please give me suggestions!!!!! THANKS!

How do you find the drive home? I would like it's a little sad and boring? S

 

[digskat]

Driving to Disney is not gorrie at all. DH hates to fly so this is the way for us.The kids ages 6 and 8 do not seem to mind the drive either. We take the DVD and some movies that I buy and set away for the trip. Make sure you borrow or buy Dave Hunter's ALONG I-75, it is your bible. The drive is part of the trip! This year we are taking two nights to drive down from Southwestern Ont. We have done the all night, yes you make great time but you are exhausted at least we were, I reccomend if you do it in two days that you leave really earlier ie 0400 or 0330. You will not regret it, you'll save like $700 than if you flew. We have driven a van and an SUV (Escape) and haveonly paid $300-350 in gas, mind you the tank never went dry if we stopped to use bathroom or eat we filled it up. Take Care and have fun!

 

[digskat]

Please give me suggestions!!!!! THANKS!

How do you find the drive home? I would like it's a little sad and boring? S

The drive home isn't near as fun as the ride there. But it is still nice to get home and share pictures with family and friends. And to see our furry babies!

 

[F4disneyfan]

For our family driving is the only way to go. WE love the drive even the 3 kids love it. They always have lots of stuff to do in the car they play games and colour and read and look at the scenery listen to music. There really isn't anything bad about the drive that I can think of. The wife went and bought a new tent trailer this June so we are hauling that down with us in 07 we will be at FW for a week then over to SSR for a week I hate camping but I will do it at Disney to humour the family.

 

[OntFamily]

I've driven a few times from Mississauga to WDW, taking the below route:

http://www.mapquest.com/directions/...enter+drive&2c=lake+buena+vista&2s=fl&2z=&r=f

It's a pretty easy drive, with lots of hotels, rest stops and places to eat (and not many trucks until you get 4 - 5 hours from Orlando). If you've never driven much in the USA, you'll find most of the rest stops a big improvement over the ones along the 401.

Beckley, W VA is a good halfway point (with lots of hotels - the Country Inn and Suites is a personal favorite).

As always, when driving in winter, be mindful of the weather.

Personally, the last few WDW visits, we've flown out of Buffalo. With DME, our need for a car at WDW is limited, so flying from Buffalo to Orlando became an option (and with inexpensive airfare the costs can be similar).

Teh most inexpensive fare now is $402 USD per person, but if a seat sale arises you should be able to get half that (if you left on Dec 25, the cost drops to $265 USD per person)

On the plus side, flying gives you a couple of extra days in the World !

 

[striker3636]

We have done the drive with our kids, now 4 and 7 twice from Waterloo, Ont through Windsor to the I75. We leave at night, around 7:30 and go until mid afternoon the next day. This gets us pretty far into Georgia and then we stop at a hotel with a pool to stretch out and such for the night. My dh can drive for long periods so the 18 hour stretch doesn't bug him. The kids sleep a fair bit of it (hopefully 9pm to 6ish). We always have a stop for breakie etc around 7, then keep going. We take off day 2 by 7 so we are at WDW early in the afternoon. In the past we have taken down our camper and used the afternoon on arrival day to set up at Fort Wilderness, then explore and catch the campfire and outdoor movie.

The ride down has always gone smoothly for us. I have a ton of things for the kids to do, always new activity books, toys, colouring etc etc. (yeah, dollar store!) I also have a goodie bag of new things I can dip into when the DVD player loses its novelty. We are all so excited to go that the drive down is good. We have had bad storms both times the way home, so my advice from experience is make sure you have given yourself a bit of extra drive time figured in (both ways), so that if you have to stop for a while due to fatigue or weather you can. Nothing worse than having to push on because you have to be at work in a few hours!!!

I also second Dave Hunter's book, Along the I75! It is great to not only pass the time and know where you are/are going, but also to look ahead for gas stations, restaurants, 24hr Walmarts, etc etc. We like to stop at the Flying J chain of gas stations, the prices are competitive, and they always have decent coffee (nothing like Timmies, I'm afraid) that is fresh even at 3am.

If you let us know your kids ages, I can give you some more specific keep-busy suggestions that have worked for us if you are interested.

 

[F4disneyfan]

We have done the drive with our kids, now 4 and 7 twice from Waterloo, Ont through Windsor to the I75. We leave at night, around 7:30 and go until mid afternoon the next day. This gets us pretty far into Georgia and then we stop at a hotel with a pool to stretch out and such for the night. My dh can drive for long periods so the 18 hour stretch doesn't bug him. The kids sleep a fair bit of it (hopefully 9pm to 6ish). We always have a stop for breakie etc around 7, then keep going. We take off day 2 by 7 so we are at WDW early in the afternoon. In the past we have taken down our camper and used the afternoon on arrival day to set up at Fort Wilderness, then explore and catch the campfire and outdoor movie.

The ride down has always gone smoothly for us. I have a ton of things for the kids to do, always new activity books, toys, colouring etc etc. (yeah, dollar store!) I also have a goodie bag of new things I can dip into when the DVD player loses its novelty. We are all so excited to go that the drive down is good. We have had bad storms both times the way home, so my advice from experience is make sure you have given yourself a bit of extra drive time figured in (both ways), so that if you have to stop for a while due to fatigue or weather you can. Nothing worse than having to push on because you have to be at work in a few hours!!!

I also second Dave Hunter's book, Along the I75! It is great to not only pass the time and know where you are/are going, but also to look ahead for gas stations, restaurants, 24hr Walmarts, etc etc. We like to stop at the Flying J chain of gas stations, the prices are competitive, and they always have decent coffee (nothing like Timmies, I'm afraid) that is fresh even at 3am.

If you let us know your kids ages, I can give you some more specific keep-busy suggestions that have worked for us if you are interested.

This sounds much like our drive we usually drive till about 3 or 4 in the afternoon and that gets us to Valdosta GA and we stay there for the night it makes the drive easy. Especially when the rest of teh drive the next day is only about 3 hours long so you get to Disney rested and with the better part of the day to spend wandering around DTD or swiming etc.

 

[Bea]

One of the things I do for the kids is I made them each pocket organizers that are strapped on the backs of the seats in front of them. Used colourful felt in different sizes for the pockets. When they wake up that first morning I have put things in each pocket (alot of dollar store stuff). It is stuff they haven't seen before. Pens/pencils would be disney themed, writing paper, books, travel games . Also in the pockets (this is the really important part) I have "snacks". The kids are responsible for their own snacks that day so they can eat them all at once or slowly through out the day. It is up to them. This is key to not hearing "I am hungry" The snacks cannot be anything that can melts; maybe pretzels, licorice, bubble gum. The next day I put more things in their pockets but mostly just restock on the munchies.

The way back is alittle quieter in the car, and yeah, alittle depressing cuz you are going home, but the upside is the way back always seems faster than the way there. Driving doesn't have to be a negative, it is all in the presentation...

Happy planning!!

 

[digskat]

For our family driving is the only way to go. WE love the drive even the 3 kids love it. They always have lots of stuff to do in the car they play games and colour and read and look at the scenery listen to music. There really isn't anything bad about the drive that I can think of. The wife went and bought a new tent trailer this June so we are hauling that down with us in 07 we will be at FW for a week then over to SSR for a week I hate camping but I will do it at Disney to humour the family.

You'll have to let us know how the hauling of the Trailer goes we'd like to haul our trailer some time to FW. BYW camping in a trailer is no comparison to tenting, I do not tent! I lovemy trailer though!

 

[digskat]

One of the things I do for the kids is I made them each pocket organizers that are strapped on the backs of the seats in front of them. Used colourful felt in different sizes for the pockets. When they wake up that first morning I have put things in each pocket (alot of dollar store stuff). It is stuff they haven't seen before. Pens/pencils would be disney themed, writing paper, books, travel games . Also in the pockets (this is the really important part) I have "snacks". The kids are responsible for their own snacks that day so they can eat them all at once or slowly through out the day. It is up to them. This is key to not hearing "I am hungry" The snacks cannot be anything that can melts; maybe pretzels, licorice, bubble gum. The next day I put more things in their pockets but mostly just restock on the munchies.

The way back is alittle quieter in the car, and yeah, alittle depressing cuz you are going home, but the upside is the way back always seems faster than the way there. Driving doesn't have to be a negative, it is all in the presentation...

Happy planning!!

Nicely put about the way home this is exactly how we feel. It does go faster I think it's because you do GA first! Great Idea with the snacks I'm gonna try this in Nov when we drive down. I have Winnie the Pooh back of the seat organizers, with tons of pockets. Take Care Kathy

 

[F4disneyfan]

You'll have to let us know how the hauling of the Trailer goes we'd like to haul our trailer some time to FW. BYW camping in a trailer is no comparison to tenting, I do not tent! I lovemy trailer though!

I will be sure to let everyone know how hauling the trailer to Florida went and I do know that rather than stopping in Valdosta we will be stopping in Jennings Florida for teh night at the RV park there.

 

[striker3636]

digskat: Hauling our trailer was fine, other than we tended to drive a bit slower than we might normally so the drive was slightly longer. We had great weather on the drive down, but on the drive back we hit some stormy weather both drives. The first drive we hit a storm in Ohio, and were very glad we had a big heavy Suburban at the time. It was pretty tough going by the time we got to Windsor. If we had tried it with our 4Runner, we would have been staying the night in Ohio. The second trip we hit a nasty snow storm coming through the TN mountains driving a Ford F350, diesel. That was scary! There were some lanes closed due to construction and there was nowhere to pull to the side if you were having trouble. I remember vividly one mighty hill and feeling the trailer slip behind us, having the snow clear for a few brief seconds, and looking over down the side of the mountain, not that far away with nothing in between to stop us in a slide....Lessons learned: make sure you have lots of extra drive time factored in for bad weather, and make sure your tow vehicle is more than what you need to pull your trailer (you don't want to be hauling with a borderline overweight tow vehicle and encounter trouble in the mountains!).

 

[milkabum]

1. Because you are going in the winter, make sre to wear a t-shirt under your sweater or zip-up in case it gets hot or uncomfortable. sure you're comfy too because you may want to take a nap during the drive.

2. Keep a couple of blankets and pillows out for napping.

3. If your kids are interested, get them a disposible camera so they could take pictures during the drive!

4. Get a couple of CD's you'll like to listen to. The stations change while driving through different states.

5. If your kids decide to grab a colouring book or too, be sure to take crayons and crayons only! Pencil crayons will eventually need to be sharpened and make a mess, and markers can easily leave a stain on clothing, seats, and blankets.

6. Before you leave, grab some bubble gum and candy that doesn't melt for the drive. (jolly ranchers, sour straws, lollipops - nothing that can melt!) Make sure to buy drinks in plastic bottles. Glass can break, juice boxes spill, and pop cans make a mess.

7. Keep a backpack with everything they'll need out so they don't have to go through the hassle of going through their luggage.

8. Set times of the day for rest stops where you can go to the rest room, grab a bite to eat, and stretch a bit. Before you leave make sure everyone is done what they need to do. Also make sure that if you get some fast food, finish everything outside of the car to reduce the risk of spilling drinks or leaving crumbs behind.

9. Borrow a friends personal DVD player or rent one. It'll really keep you entertained, and with Disney films, get you into the spirit!

10. Keep some snacks out for everyone. Pringles are great because they won't break in their can, fruit roll-ups are conveinient, and gatorade comes in a nice plastic bottle that you can fill up again.

Have a great trip, hugs from Mississauga!

 

[SnowWhite]

We have only flown once, we always drive, cheaper and I REALLY hate flying. Last year I took the kids and let them pick out their own snacks for the car trip down and I had been picking up all sorts of activity books and things all year long for the trip. We took our portable DVD player and the kids ended up watching Finding Nemo (DS's favourite at the time) about a hundred times!! We left when DD was out of school at 3 so the kids were not in the car that long before they went to sleep for the night and surprisingly they slept most of the night only waking up a couple times and only for a minute or two. By the time they woke up they were in Georgia and seeing palm trees!! That made it real for them and made the rest of the drive that much easier. We arrived at the POP at 3 the next day and still had time for the kids to run around the resort to stretch their legs and have a swim. We all had a great nights sleep and were ready to head to the parks first thing in the morning!!!! We are following the same plan this year!!! Good Luck!!

 

[digskat]

digskat: Hauling our trailer was fine, other than we tended to drive a bit slower than we might normally so the drive was slightly longer. We had great weather on the drive down, but on the drive back we hit some stormy weather both drives. The first drive we hit a storm in Ohio, and were very glad we had a big heavy Suburban at the time. It was pretty tough going by the time we got to Windsor. If we had tried it with our 4Runner, we would have been staying the night in Ohio. The second trip we hit a nasty snow storm coming through the TN mountains driving a Ford F350, diesel. That was scary! There were some lanes closed due to construction and there was nowhere to pull to the side if you were having trouble. I remember vividly one mighty hill and feeling the trailer slip behind us, having the snow clear for a few brief seconds, and looking over down the side of the mountain, not that far away with nothing in between to stop us in a slide....Lessons learned: make sure you have lots of extra drive time factored in for bad weather, and make sure your tow vehicle is more than what you need to pull your trailer (you don't want to be hauling with a borderline overweight tow vehicle and encounter trouble in the mountains!).

We have the tow capacity covered, Ford Explorer or Ford Escape, both have double the capacity. Although hearing the 4Runner comment reduces my confidence. By the time we take the tent trailer, we will probably have replaced the Escape with a Nissan Xterra.

 

[striker3636]

My dh is the expert by far in the topic of towing, capacities and all that stuff. But, I can say we use our 4Runner for trips within Ontario when we don't have to worry about mountains and such. It is more economical to drive than the Chev Suburban. Even though it is rated for more than we are pulling, it is a little on the close side once the trailer is loaded and you take heavy snow, mountains and all those other factors into consideration. We would never use the 4Runner with the trailer on the trek to WDW.We also do the shoe organizer on the seat back for each child. there are always a few surprises I hide in the pouches for them to discover on the way down. We keep a rubbermaid container between the car seats filled with toys and magnetic games and such. In my bag up front I will have some other new items and even simple things like a bunch of neat chenille stems for the kids to make shapes and animals with. We have used see through window clings to hand back as another distraction....

 

[Fabooliss]

Where did you get the back of the seat organizers. I've seen other people with them, and I would LOVE to have some for my kids.

 

[Mortlives]

We've driven down the last several trips. We really enjoy the drive, especially going through the mountains. We go along the I-79/I-95, etc. route. One important thing, can't stress enough, if you are going to take the US-19 shortcut through Summersville, do not speed at all. Relax, enjoy the drive, it's beautiful country, but the speed limit is rigidly enforced.

One other thing, we find it's easier to have overnight bags with just jammies, toiletries and a couple of days worth of clothes packed just for stops on the way, so we can leave the bulk of the luggage in the car.