The Long Drive Home

[DanG07]

I read on many threads how the drive home is the longest. For us, that has been the OPPOSITE 100% of the time. We always drive straight through (around 18 hrs). The drive home we are all pleasantly relaxed, and telling stories, etc. The drive THERE always takes too long -- we just want to get there!

Same here. The trip down to WDW always seems to take longer, while the trip back home seems to go quicker. We always tell stories about our vacation driving back home. BTW, we live in Chicago area and it is a 19-20 hr drive to WDW.

 

[fsmith2845]

Driving to WDW is full of anticipation and excitement to get there so I would imagine that the long drive down isn't as painless as the drive home.

So my question is (for those that drive 16 hours +) how do you make it home? Or is the quest to just get home keep you going? Honestly, I think that the thought of the drive home is what is keeping my dh from making the drive.

We live on the eastern shore of Maryland so we would be heading south on Rt 113/13 and over/through the Chespeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

You'll be going right past us.. we make the same trip but get to stop in SE Virginia in Chesapeake. We have done the commando driving the whole way home, however, the last trip to Disney in 2008, we had a late ADR for breakfast and drove to SC and stopped for the night. I had some Hotel points i had to use or lose, so i used them on helping make a 12+ hour trip a little easier. We got up at a reasonable time the next morning, had a nice breakfast, then back on the road, getting us back home early afternoon.. (just enough time to cut the grass unfortunately) LOL

 

[buzz5985]

We drive from New England. This trip we will spend 2 nights at Disney's Hilton Head resort on the way home. It will make the fun last a little longer

You will find that 2 nights will never be enough.

When we drive we are usually gone 2 - 3 weeks, so by the end we are ready to be home and reconnect with friends and family and pets.

Janis

 

[jasko5990]

We drive 1050 miles one way every trip, and it's almost always straight through (about 15-16 hours). After tiring ourselves out at WDW, we now "recharge" for two or three nights outside WDW before driving home. We stayed at Vero Beach for three nights and it definitely made the drive home easier, even though it was a little longer in time and distance. We are going to Hilton Head Island after our next WDW trip, and expect the drive home to be even easier since it cuts out about five hours. That means I shouldn't have to listen to "Driving is so stupid, why can't we fly?" from my teenage daughter. If we're ever not able to extend our vacation by a few days I am going to take Amtrak's Auto Train home. My wife & I took it once and were able to stay at the resort a lot longer, and after dinner on the train we went to right to sleep. We woke up refreshed and only had a three and a half hour drive home. I realize that these options won't work for all, but if you can try one of them you might be happier about your return trip.

 

[john1928]

Long camping roadtrips were my family's standard vacations growing up. We took two large loop trips of the western national parks that were a month long or so and ended up being over 5000 miles door to door along with several "shorter" trips in the 2-3K mile range.

On those trips and the ones I've taken as an adult I always feel that the return drive seems faster than on the way out. I attribute that to anticipation on the way out, as well as a sense of the unknown (assuming you're going somewhere new). Now if I could just get my wife's bladder to be as large as the kid's we'd be making really good time.

Growing up the "are we there yet" deal was not allowed, but we were each given our own map and allowed to look through the AAA tourbooks for interesting places to stop along the route (in the days before widespread GPS, internet access, and portable DVD players).

 

[fsmith2845]

Growing up the "are we there yet" deal was not allowed, but we were each given our own map and allowed to look through the AAA tourbooks for interesting places to stop along the route (in the days before widespread GPS, internet access, and portable DVD players).

Don't forget making funny faces at the people in the other cars around you hoping Dad didn't catch you doing it!! LOL

 

[MOmousefan]

Actually, I am just as anxious to get home as I am to get to WDW. I greatly love any trip I go on (Most of all WDW), but I am am always looking forward to home at the end of the trip.

 

[tbaptista]

We drive 1050 miles one way every trip, and it's almost always straight through (about 15-16 hours). After tiring ourselves out at WDW, we now "recharge" for two or three nights outside WDW before driving home. We stayed at Vero Beach for three nights and it definitely made the drive home easier, even though it was a little longer in time and distance. We are going to Hilton Head Island after our next WDW trip, and expect the drive home to be even easier since it cuts out about five hours. That means I shouldn't have to listen to "Driving is so stupid, why can't we fly?" from my teenage daughter. If we're ever not able to extend our vacation by a few days I am going to take Amtrak's Auto Train home. My wife & I took it once and were able to stay at the resort a lot longer, and after dinner on the train we went to right to sleep. We woke up refreshed and only had a three and a half hour drive home. I realize that these options won't work for all, but if you can try one of them you might be happier about your return trip.

I am with you, we usually do 5 nights Disney and 2 nights at the beach and absolutely relax and sleep in. It makes the drive home amazingly easy. I actually look forward to the 2 nights at the beach resort.. We do the parks commando style and save the relaxing for the beach. The kids actually ask by the 4th night is it time for the beach yet...