The Cost of the Drive to Disney

[scboyd]

Hi Everyone,

We just returned from driving to Disney for the third time and thought I would share this experience. We drove from Ajax to Disney and back. Our route was I90-79-19-77-95-4 both ways. What a great drive compared to I75. The only drawback was the lack of the I75 travel companion book. But with our GPS loaded with extra points of interests and rest stops we had no trouble finding gas and places to stop.

Friday May 11
2am left ajax
4pm arrived in Charlotte NC (experienced traffic coming into Charlotte about 10 min delay)

Saturday May 12th
5am left Charlotte NC
3pm Arrive at Caribbean Beach Resort

Sunday May 20th
6am left Disney
4 pm arrive at Columbia SC


Monday May 21st
6 am leave Columbia SC
4 pm arrive at Washington PA.


Tuesday May 22nd
6 am Leave Washington PA
2pm arrive home

As noted only traffic was just outside of Charlotte NC.

Once we arrived at Disney the only time we drove our vehicle was to a character breakfast at The Beach Club Resort which added about 20km total to our total KMs.


As for Gas mileage,
vehicle: 2008 Pontiac Montana (extended wheelbase)
two adults and two children (3 and 6)
total KMs: 4388
total cost of gas $405.37
average L/100 km: 9.35
cheapest gas $3.454 / gallon
most expensive gas: $4.003 / gallon

Most of the places we stopped required pre payment so we would let our gas tank get to just below 1/4 tank and then we would add $50 dollars.

If you have any questions feel free to ask away...

 

[Disney Addicted]

I'm amazed it cost so little in gas! I thought with the high prices it would have been about double that. Thanks for sharing! Every time I talk with my husband about driving to Disney, he points to the kids and I end up searching for airfare.

One day I want to drive.

 

[CindyV]

did you keep track of how long it took you? i see what time you left and got there and such.. but with stops out how long did it take?We drive i-75 and was wondering what the time difference between the two would be. Was it a nicer drive?

 

[scboyd]

CindyV,

Unfortunately, we didnt calculate our drive time just our total travel time each day. but we have done i75 twice prior to this and I would take this route again in a heart beat. It's a much more scenic and enjoyable for us, especially the kids. The kids loved the two long tunnels (walker mountain and east river mountain tunnels ) and the scenic gouge.

I would say it was a quicker drive than I75 but it could just be that it was more things to look at so the time went quicker... I would also comment that we tried to calculate our travel time so we would miss rush hour through major cities.

One of the reason we took an extra day back coming back is we didnt want to hit the border on the holiday monday and we would have been hitting it around 6 pm which historically can be a hour to two hour delay....

hopefully that helps....

Scboyd

 

[scboyd]

Disney Addicted,

The main reason why I kept good records on this drive is because I have had some debates about the cost of drive compared to flying and I knew from our two previous trips our expenses were less than flying but I really couldn't prove it because I didnt keep close track (just in my head...)

And really for us, I don't think we will ever fly to disney. My wife and I love the family time we get on the road. We talk and interact with the kids the whole way and I think after every trip either to Disney or elsewhere we are closer as a family.

 

[hockeymomNS]

Thanks for the info

 

[CindyV]

CindyV,

Unfortunately, we didnt calculate our drive time just our total travel time each day. but we have done i75 twice prior to this and I would take this route again in a heart beat. It's a much more scenic and enjoyable for us, especially the kids. The kids loved the two long tunnels (walker mountain and east river mountain tunnels ) and the scenic gouge.

I would say it was a quicker drive than I75 but it could just be that it was more things to look at so the time went quicker... I would also comment that we tried to calculate our travel time so we would miss rush hour through major cities.

One of the reason we took an extra day back coming back is we didnt want to hit the border on the holiday monday and we would have been hitting it around 6 pm which historically can be a hour to two hour delay....

hopefully that helps....

Scboyd

thanks for the info.. we just never thought of going that way because we always thought it was longer. After reading your thread i talked to my parents about it because i guess they have driven that way many times and like it so much better. We are definately looking into going that way..im a little obsessed with the travelling i-75 book, and all that it offers, so we will see

and i hear ya about not wanting to hit the border holiday monday, we have mistakenly done that one before...

 

[Csaks]

thanks for the info.. we just never thought of going that way because we always thought it was longer. After reading your thread i talked to my parents about it because i guess they have driven that way many times and like it so much better. We are definately looking into going that way..im a little obsessed with the travelling i-75 book, and all that it offers, so we will see

and i hear ya about not wanting to hit the border holiday monday, we have mistakenly done that one before...

For you being in London, would it add any time to your trip? For us and the OP coming from East of Toronto this is a no brainer. As for traffic Charolette seems to be the only "Big" city on that route and we hit it every time coming and going home. Not that big a deal if you are use to Fridays of a long weekend trying to get from Brock Rd to Harmony on the 401. Now that is hell on wheels. The only time this route could be problems is in the winter. Both Nov/Dec trips we took we had snow though the mountains on the way home and not a snowplow or salt truck to be seen anywhere.

 

[Questforthemouse]

did you keep track of how long it took you? i see what time you left and got there and such.. but with stops out how long did it take?We drive i-75 and was wondering what the time difference between the two would be. Was it a nicer drive?

Straight driving time I would be guessing you're about 50/50 from London and likely slight shorter to take I75. I'm in Burlington and it takes me 20 hours door to door when crossing at Fort Erie. I have to add 3 hours or so if I were to cross at Windsor/Detroit and the extra 3 hours is pretty much the drive from Burlington to Windsor.

 

[CindyV]

sounds about the same both ways for us. I used bing for both ways and the amount of kms is different only by 8 but time was different by 30 minutes.

I always hate driving through atlanta it scares the crap out of me, so it would be nice to avoid that. Definately something worth looking into it.. my parents say it is less trucks as well. We are going in mid october so i am hoping we dont have any issues with snow then
Thank you both for adding more info..

 

[Questforthemouse]

sounds about the same both ways for us. I used bing for both ways and the amount of kms is different only by 8 but time was different by 30 minutes.

I always hate driving through atlanta it scares the crap out of me, so it would be nice to avoid that. Definately something worth looking into it.. my parents say it is less trucks as well. We are going in mid october so i am hoping we dont have any issues with snow then
Thank you both for adding more info..

Shouldn't be a problem with snow in October plus you get the fall foliage going through the mountains. Definitely a more scenic route.

 

[Ken_Breadbox]

thanks for the info.. we just never thought of going that way because we always thought it was longer. After reading your thread i talked to my parents about it because i guess they have driven that way many times and like it so much better. We are definately looking into going that way..im a little obsessed with the travelling i-75 book, and all that it offers, so we will see

and i hear ya about not wanting to hit the border holiday monday, we have mistakenly done that one before...

We've done both I-75 and this route from Waterloo. It took us fourteen hours of straight driving to get to Charlotte, and a further ten from there to Orlando going. Coming back along I-75 was over an hour shorter...but mostly because Dave Hunter let us know where all the speed traps were

The eastern route is MUCH more scenic. I-75 is *considerably* more built up. Your mileage may vary; it seems like, for whatever reason, the I 79-77 route took much longer than both Google Maps and Bing Maps suggested it would. The wife has said we'll never go that way again. That 3am to 6pm first leg was *gruelling*.

Oh, and we hit the border on a holiday Monday, in our case Thanksgiving...but we did it at about 4:45 a.m. It took less than ninety seconds to cross.

 

[Csaks]

sounds about the same both ways for us. I used bing for both ways and the amount of kms is different only by 8 but time was different by 30 minutes.

I always hate driving through atlanta it scares the crap out of me, so it would be nice to avoid that. Definately something worth looking into it.. my parents say it is less trucks as well. We are going in mid october so i am hoping we dont have any issues with snow then
Thank you both for adding more info..

Our last trip and the one coming up are the last week or Oct, first week of Nov. Had zero issues with weather through the mountains, you should be good that way.
The other thing I was thinking of is that I don't think there is a straight piece of highway in the Virginia's. You always seem to be going up, down, left or right. The other cool things about this route are the tunnels through two mountains, New River Gorge Bridge and coming down from the mountains into North Carolinia.

The one thing about that bridge is they have it closed for one day.
"On the third Saturday in October, the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce hosts Bridge Day. On this day, the bridge is open to pedestrians, and a variety of activities draw up to a quarter of a million people. One of the day's main attractions includes watching hundreds of BASE (Building, Antenna, Span, and Earth) jumpers from around the world plunge into the gorge using parachutes."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/wonder/structure/new_river_gorge.html

 

[CindyV]

Thanks everyone for all your info...good to know
I think we may just stick with 75.. we have driven it 3 times now and havent had an issue with it..we make good time i think, so not sure if i want to try something unknown..
we made it in 19 hours and 45 minutes including stops, so i dont think thats too bad at all...

 

[DisneyFleet]

We are planning on driving for our upcoming trip in September,after going only once last May when we flew down. We are planning on going the I79 routte as we too are East of Toronto. We would like to drive right through without stopping overnight. My DH wants to leave around midnight however, I would prefer to leave early afternoon.Does anyone have suggestions as to when to leave when driving all in one shot????

 

[cslittle999]

We are planning on driving for our upcoming trip in September,after going only once last May when we flew down. We are planning on going the I79 routte as we too are East of Toronto. We would like to drive right through without stopping overnight. My DH wants to leave around midnight however, I would prefer to leave early afternoon.Does anyone have suggestions as to when to leave when driving all in one shot????

I'm definitely not a straight through driver. It's really challenging to stay awake overnight unless you are used to it. I would recommend you travel through the mountains during the daylight hours. Say Washington, PA to the NC border. There aren't many exits in the mountains so you'll need to plan your gas stops. As well few exits have 24hr gas stations. It will be better once you get into North Carolina.

When we plan driving trips we estimate 100km travelled per hour. i.e. travel for 10 hours will get you around 1000km. Since the speed limit in the US is higher than 100kph the excess accounts for gas/bathroom/lunch breaks over a day of travel. An average speed of 110kph over the 10 hours would allow for 60 minutes of breaks. This might help you plan how far you can get based on when you leave.

The big issue I see for you is getting through Toronto during the day unless you are driving on the weekend.

We like to drive to the Lake Norman area in NC and then drive the rest of the way the next day.

 

[scboyd]

We are planning on driving for our upcoming trip in September,after going only once last May when we flew down. We are planning on going the I79 routte as we too are East of Toronto. We would like to drive right through without stopping overnight. My DH wants to leave around midnight however, I would prefer to leave early afternoon.Does anyone have suggestions as to when to leave when driving all in one shot????

I think your husband's time (midnight) would work better as it would (like the previous poster) ensure that you drive through the mountains in daylight. Its not that the roads are dangerous mountain passes but I would definitely want to drive through them in the daylight.

The first time we took i75 we left at 10 pm and drove to Valdosta Ga in one shot, the drive wasn't difficult but getting to sleep that night was difficult. The excitement and over tiredness just wouldn't let our brains shut down... I don't think we would try that again.

 

[DisneyFleet]

My husband works midnights so he would probably be doing most of the night driving but I never really considered gas stations and driving through the mountains. Plus traffic going through Toronto on a Thursday is bearable at the best of times so leaving a day early may be the way to go The reason I am on the fence about leaving midnight or even earlier in the evening is due to the fact that we are going the first week of school (to arrive at WDW on Sept 7th) so I wanted to get at least one more day of school in for my son (will be in Grade 2). My daughter also starts JK and not really sure what day she will be starting yet. Realistically I know that they won't be doing a ton the first couple of weeks of school but still feeling guilty.

Thanks for the help

 

[PensFan]

Thanks for sharing scboyd!

We have thought about dirving to Disney and did some rough calculations and seems we were pretty close in terms of gas costs (obviously dependent on type of car) but travel time also.

 

[Nicki828]

We drove this route at Christmas and found it an easy drive. Shaved a couple hours (we think) off the I-75 route. We had beautiful weather and no traffic, so it was a breeze. Wouldn't drive this route in bad weather though!