Thinking about driving to Disney - Please Help!

[DeterminedOne]

We have never driven to Disney, but with airfares so outrageous these days driving is looking better and better. It's a fourteen-hour drive, which is a little intimidating. Our longest road trip was four hours tops! We don't have kids to worry about so that's good, but I wonder if we can survive one another for that long. We have a great marriage/relationship but something happens when we're driving unfamiliar territory and we tend to bicker. It's probably from the stress, but anyway ...

I need your advice. Do you think driving to Disney is a good idea for us? Do you think it will help us get along better if we drive seven hours, spend the night someplace, then drive the remaining seven hours? Even if gas prices go up I still think it would be several hundred dollars cheaper to drive. What do you think? Will it take away from the Disney magic, or is it more advantageous to have our own transportation? Will we have to pay for parking at the parks or DD? All suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

 

[mrsltg]

I drove to WDW from Northern Virginia. Mileage wise it was a 12 hour trip. With stops we made it in 13. It was Dh, dd (3), and myself. We had a great time. I will say this - I am a distance driver. I don't mind driving long distances - in fact, I like it. Are either you or your wife that way? I agree that road trips tend to bring out the obnoxious in one another but on this trip we spent 13 hours talking - no radio, no movies, just talking to each other. We didn't plan to do it that way it just happened. It was a great trip!

Erin

 

[kerry34]

We drive all the time because we have 5 kids and it would rather spend my money at Disney. Check out the transportation board, there is a thread there "For those Folks Driving", there are links on there for estimated gas prices and also advice from people who have made the road trip. You may find that helpful. We generally drive 14 hours in one day with all our kids, so since you dont have any kids to worry about you may very well be able to make the trip all at once. If you are staying onsite at WDW you will not need to pay for parking, if you are offsite you have to pay. Feel free to PM me with any other questions you have.

 

[lindakmonty]

We live in Mansfield...between Cleveland, and Columbus... it takes us 15-16 hrs. I have driven to Charlotte and stayed before...and have drove straight through before... my ds5 is incredible in the car thankfully. I would personally drive. I like taking the dvd player and watching movies to pass the time... last year we drove out to Yellowstone!!! Just bring something to keep you occupied...snacks, magazines or movies to keep you from getting so bored..maybe sleep. We leave late evenining when the traffic is much lighter, my son and I sleep and when we wake up we can see palm trees good luck, driving isn't that bad go for it

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

We have an SUV so we load that up and the storage thing that goes on top of the ski rack and we head out!!! We live in New Hampshire so it is like a 24 hour drive so we drive for awhile and then stop in South Caroline or Georgia and sleep for a night and then head out that next day. The trip really isn't that bad and we have 2 kids (soon to be 3!!) We have a DVD player in our SUV and that helps a lot to pass the time. Driving home is hard because, well, leaving Disney is hard.

 

[orljustin]

I've driven 18 hours straight through with wife and 2 kids several times. We've also stopped for the night. I would imagine any adult would be able to drive that distance over a day or two.

 

[Tegra89]

WE're going to be driving too. There are 6 of us. 2 adults and 4 children. We decided to drive down the day before we check in and spend the night offsite. Then check into Disney early the next day and spend all day in the parks!

 

[annej]

I am in Northern Va and we always drive.(We also have family in FL taht we visit besides WDW) It is 14 hours and we usually do 10 - spend the night and do the rest the next day. Going down is no problem with all the excitement. but coming home is sometimes hard. We like to reverse the days coming home. We stay until late afternoon at Disney, drive 4-6 hours and then do the rest the next day. Our kids do great and it is kind of fun. Just be sure to stop and take a break when your nerves start to feel frayed - that is our warning sign.

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

DH and I have driven to FL twice and plan to again. We live in WV about an hour and half from DC.

The first time it was he and I, plus two dogs (a boxer and a pug) and my then 6 year old brother. We left around 3:30am and drove straight through. We actually drove to Brooksville, FL (near Tampa) and it took around 14 hours. We stopped a couple of times to let the dogs and my brother run around. DH drove the whole way down and we took turns driving back.

Last year DH and I drove to WDW by ourselves. We had planned to leave around midnight, but ended up leaving around 7:30pm instead (too excited to sleep). He did pull off twice to take a quick nap, but still drove the whole way (he also drove the whole way home).

Both times we rented a car from Thrifty and got a pretty good deal. Last year we only spent about $60.00 to and from in gas (we had a economy car: Echo).

I plan on driving each time we go to WDW (or anywhere for that matter; I hate to fly). I would take music, books, etc. to keep you busy. We ike seeing other places and driving allows us to do that. I am hoping to drive to CA next year (we'll see how that goes).

Good Luck!

 

[FWFamily4Life]

hey, we drive from the ft wayne area at spring break and it takes us 15.5 hours when traffic and road construction are good and up to 18/19 hours if they are bad. We leave at about 5 pm which causes us to miss the rush hour traffic at indy, louisville is fine and we hit nashville at about 11pm. They have been working on 65 and sometimes it slows down. I 24 to chatt is great and we get into about ATL 2 am and there is no traffic breeze right through. I 75 road construction in GA can be aggrevating and of course trraffic accidents can slow you down. From there its easy down to the FLa turnpike. My wife and I take turns driving which I do most of the driving. Nashville is the most difficult to navigate but you should have no trouble If you want to stop for the night I would try to get south of ATL (Id get to macon) and Id try to get north of ATL on the way back. In your case if you are not used to traveling more than 4 hours at a time just plan breaks at a restaurant to get out of the car for a little bit. No Kids, NO PROBLEM........YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

Traveling by night during holiday breaks/SPring Breaks is definately the better way. Traffic traffic traffic.

If you stay at a disney resort you dont pay for parking. you can still use Disney transportation. we do most of the time.

www.i75exitguide.com

 

[pines506]

We are driving this August (we live on the IL/IN line) -- this is the first time driving for us in 11 years. We are anticipating about 20 hours. I am actually kind of looking forward to it -- but then I love car rides. I had wanted to split the drive into two days. but the family we are going with wants to drive straight through.

If you have the extra days to play with I would definitely stop and stay overnight -- you will arrive refreshed and ready and the shorter time in the car at a stretch might mean less stress for you.

Have a great time!

 

[dawnball]

If driving for 4 hours makes you bicker, and you find driving stressful, I'm not sure that I would recommend driving. I would recommend that you stop after 7-10 hours and stay in a hotel for the night, because driving at night is harder/more stressful - especially if you've just driven alll day. So you have 2 exrtra nights of hotel, two extra travel days (and that's 2 more vacation days off work) to squabble in the car? I'd pass, thanks.

Now, DH and I are driving down, but it's 10 road-hours for us, which means around 13 actual hours - but we have a system. DH drives, I find the next likely stop, navigate on surface streets and hande snacks and entertainment. We both try to come with with conversational material that's interesting and non-threatening, and when we don't manage - we have books on tape/CD, a list of NPR stations and some music. We also routinely do 5-8 car-hour daytrips, so we're comfortable with the possibility of getting lost. As long as we have a full tank of gas, we don't sweat it. Traveling by plane with DH is much, much worse.

 

[DVCLiz]

I'll be driving down on Friday!!!! DD12 and I will leave after school on Friday (around 3:30pm or so) and drive until we want to stop for dinner. Then we'll have a break, get gas, eat dinner, etc. and drive again until I feel tired. If I get 3-4 hours of driving done on Friday, I feel like we can get to WDW by mid-afternoon, have a chance to check in and rest a bit, then have the evening for a park. I can't wait!!!!

 

[firecracker]

We're from Warsaw, IN and we've driven numerous times with our kids. We also took several road trips before we had kids. We also tend to get on each other's nerves, but I think this has provided an opportunity for us to work thru some of those issues in our marriage.

We also listen to fun music and/or listen to books on tape while we're driving.

I think your time estimate is a little optimistic---our best time has been 17-18 hours.

Good luck!!! We're leaving at 5pm on 3/31 for spring break at WDW!!! So if you see a cool Nissan Quest streaking toward FL...that's us!!!

 

[TinkGirl]

Our family is spread out, so we are used to annual long car trips with three kids. Florida is really far (15 hours or so), so we usually fly. For our June trip we are planning to drive so we can visit with my in-laws in SC on the way back. I'm starting to dread it, too. If Southwest flies from where you live, I would suggest downloading DING. We got $35/each way tickets from BWI to Orlando in January. (plus all the fees, of course) It saved us almost $400.

 

[Splash Mountain Fan]

After flying to Orlando each of our previous trips, we just drove our first. We live just north of Cincinnati and it took us about 14.5 hours. We left at 4:00am and drove straight through on the way down but stopped overnight on the way back. I found that the drive wasn't bad at all. However we had absolutly no problems at all(weather, traffic, car). Potential traffic jams keep me from being eager to drive it again. I know that 14.5 hour could easily grow. My wife and I also tend to bicker when we get "lost". I blame her since she's holding the directions and she blames me since I'm driving. This trip was fine since it's hard to fowl up a trip all the way down I-75.

 

[pepe of ohio]

When our kids were young, we used to drive to WDW, 19 hours. Made many a trip that way, straight through and I drove the whole way. Throw in about 3 flights and a few Amtraks when the kids were still with us and sprinkle in some more driving trips and my days of driving are done. Last bunch of years and many of trips, we let Amtrak take us there. We're in Northeast Ohio and the train is alot more relaxing, easy on my nerves and wifes than driving or flying. Couple of years ago we waited to long to book the train and they were sold out and we opt to drive again, just the 2 of us. No more straight through trip, we stopped after 10 hours, tired, miserable, crummpy motel, can't really plan and pick on the highway in the dark. That was it, no more driving. We book the train first thing then our rooms at Disney.

One half of train trip we spend in reserved coach, very comfortable and the second leg we have a roomette sleeper. Wife loves it, small room, toilet, sink, 2 seats that convert into a upper and lower bunk for the night. She has the top, with a full view window and watches the stars. All meals are uncluded, paper in am, coffee, juice, water in the hall and we pull into Kissimmee right after breakfast around 10:30am, relaxed, refreshed, straining to start our Disney experience. Gotto love that train.

 

[DeterminedOne]

We're from Warsaw, IN and we've driven numerous times with our kids. We also took several road trips before we had kids. We also tend to get on each other's nerves, but I think this has provided an opportunity for us to work thru some of those issues in our marriage.

We also listen to fun music and/or listen to books on tape while we're driving.

I think your time estimate is a little optimistic---our best time has been 17-18 hours.

Good luck!!! We're leaving at 5pm on 3/31 for spring break at WDW!!! So if you see a cool Nissan Quest streaking toward FL...that's us!!!

Okay thanks! A coworker told me it takes 14 hours. I should have known not to listen to her. 17-18 hours, huh? Yikes!

 

[Amirah95]

We drive from Jersey to Orlando every year and we have a DD10. FH and I drove once alone and it was awesome. We only had to worry about ourselve and we can tolerate stress better than our DD. It doesn't take away from the magic for us because we build up a huge amount of excitement while we were on the way. It was great! If you do decide to drive then take it easy. Maybe spend a night in a hotel? We don't because we want to get there ASAP.

 

[kldmom2000]

You can do it! 14 hours is nothing!LOL! Whenever we went to Disney growing up, my mom had the most insane fear of flying ever-we drove every year to Disney-sometimes twice a year.... we lived in Rhode Island. Sometimes we'd drive straight-through (mom and dad switched off) and it would take just over 26 hours to get to Disney (only bathroom breaks and quick fast food meals for stopping). Most of the time, Dad would leave @ about 7/8pm after sleeping all afternoon so that we'd beat the traffic going through NYC and we'd end up in Washington DC in the morning. Dad would rest and Mom would take us into the Smithsonean museums (My brother and I slept all night in the car). After 3-4 hours, Dad was refreshed and we'd drive til dinnertime and get to South of the Border in S. Carolina. We'd spend the night there and then head out first thing the next morning to get to FL. We made great memories on the trek-mom always kept us entertained w/ the license plate game and car bingo, etc....

Once I flew to Disney on my honeymoon and got there in 3 hours... I swore I'd never drive there again! My DH HATES driving more than 2 hours at a time and my girls (3 and 5) are not keen on being in the car for any length of time. I think if it's just you and DH, you can find things to make it enjoyable and memorable..... Good luck!