The night before the Fort and the next morning

[NorthCarolinaDisDad]

We are heading down for a cabin stay June 13-19.
My original plan was to leave NC Friday mid-morning, drive to Jacksonville, stay the night, and finish up the drive the next morning, having one last (cheap) non-Disney lunch before MAYBE being able to get our cabin early, and definately having some real time at MK with my 6yo and 3yo.

However, during Memorial Day weekend, the kids had a surprise for dear old dad as we drove to the beach. Apparently, they no longer have to stop every hour to "go potty daddy", and they don't fight (as much) while driving.

Mapquest puts our drive at a tick over 10 hours. My thought is that we can do it in 12 hours with gas and meal stops. So I think we will try to drive it all the way on Friday (if you are religous, pray for us, or cross fingers, or whatever). So I have a couple of questions.

Does anyone know of a good, yet not-too-expensive, hotel convienent to both I-4 and whatever road I will need Saturday to get to the Fort?

I know our cabin probably won't be ready Saturday morning, but can we still check in and get our park passes? Or is there a way to go over Friday evening to "check-in" and pick up our passes for the next day (7 day hopper passes)?

Any other advice anyone can give?

 

[lawnspecialties]

I like your first plan better. We typically stop in southern Ga. and stay the night but that's with our travel trailer. Leaving southern Ga. at 8:00 am puts you at the Fort around lunchtime.

When we've headed down staying at a hotel, we left Raleigh around 6:00am and arrived at Disney around 3:30pm. We only did that because we were only staying for a long weekend.

 

[Shan-man]

I like your original plan better too... but I'd change the "last 'cheap' non-Disney lunch" into a cheap, Disney lunch -- YES There Is Such A Thing! Stop at Downtown Disney and have lunch at Earl of Sandwich. Delicious, cheap, and just up the street from the Fort. I love starting (and ending) our trips with the Earl!

 

[liv luvs disney]

You may definitely pick up your tickets (key to the world) Saturday morning whether your cabin is ready or not. Hmm...I'm not sure if they will let you do that Friday evening or not? Someone who knows will chime in and give you an answer. If not, call WDW and ask.

Have fun!

 

[liv luvs disney]

I like your original plan better too... but I'd change the "last 'cheap' non-Disney lunch" into a cheap, Disney lunch -- YES There Is Such A Thing! Stop at Downtown Disney and have lunch at Earl of Sandwich. Delicious, cheap, and just up the street from the Fort. I love starting (and ending) our trips with the Earl!

Didn't realize that Earl was cheap...might have to try him out in September.

 

[lawnspecialties]

It's actually become a "sort of" tradition for us to do just that. We arrive at the Fort around lunch and get set up. We then head over to DD and eat at Earl of Sandwich. Spend a few hours at DD and then head back to the Fort. The next morning, we hit the parks at gate's opening.

 

[kc5grw]

For me, the 12 hour trip is an automatic drive straight through type deal. But then again that's just me. We are about 21 hours from the Fort barring blowouts and other untoward events. I have driven that straight through only because of kids school and needing to be at the Fort 36 hours after we left in order to make the last MVMCP that year.

We've never eaten at Earl, going to have to give it a try. Heard lots of great things about it.

 

[Swimnoid]

I go for the original idea too. We have done it both ways and we like stopping the night before best. We stop outside of either Savannah (if we leave late) or Brunswick. I cant remember the exit we got off a couple of weeks ago but we stayed at LaQuinta. There was also a Hampton Inn and a couple other hotels close by. The LaQuinta had a great free breakfast so we could fill up and not have to worry about eating again until we hit the world. And you have more energy since you got a good night's rest.

 

[NorthCarolinaDisDad]

I go for the original idea too. We have done it both ways and we like stopping the night before best. We stop outside of either Savannah (if we leave late) or Brunswick. I cant remember the exit we got off a couple of weeks ago but we stayed at LaQuinta. There was also a Hampton Inn and a couple other hotels close by. The LaQuinta had a great free breakfast so we could fill up and not have to worry about eating again until we hit the world. And you have more energy since you got a good night's rest.

Swimnoid, if you vote for stopping, I may have to REALLY look at that. You are a lot closer than I am. I am all the way up in Winston. You must be a full 15-20 minutes closer to Disney than I am.

How in the world did our parents even make this drive before the days of in-car DVD players?

 

[kc5grw]

How in the world did our parents even make this drive before the days of in-car DVD players?

Only problem we have is the arguments about what movie goes in next. For a trip to Disney it's not much of an issue since it's such a long drive. For shorter trips, that's another story.

 

[NorthCarolinaDisDad]

Good point. It does give us a way to punish the kids now in a different way since we can no longer pull to the side of the road and beat the youngins. Instead of "Don't make me pull this car over", its "If you can't get along, no one gets to watch anything!"

 

[liv luvs disney]

Good point. It does give us a way to punish the kids now in a different way since we can no longer pull to the side of the road and beat the youngins. Instead of "Don't make me pull this car over", its "If you can't get along, no one gets to watch anything!"

Actually, I do both.

 

[RDBS]

It is a good idea to have more than one tool in the box.

Joe