Towing camper from New England...

[LegoMom3]

I know plenty of people probably do this, but we've never towed the camper (pop-up) further than a two-hour drive so it's daunting to us to think of bringing it down to the Fort on our next trip.

DH and I stayed at FW 11 years ago, before kids. We drove there and back from NC, where we'd been staying with family. Threw the tent and gear in the pick-up truck (ah, the simplicity of it!...now it's a full-on expedition!!) and spent a wonderful week in the 800 loop!

We're dying to go back again. On our last trip we stayed at POR and while we absolutely loved it, we got to see the campground again when we had dinner at Trail's End. That renewed the spark.

And with three growing, active boys, you gotta love space for them to burn off energy (although as an adult, I still marvel that they even have any after a long full day at the parks...).

So I guess all this rambling is just me trying to figure out if we can really do this. For DH it's more of a time factor (getting off work) since you're trading 3 hours in a plane vs. almost 3 days on the road just to get there.

Encourage me!!!

Also, when does it "cool off" enough in the fall that we'd be comfortable without a/c?

Thanks so much!

 

[BearwithMouseEars]

Some important info that may make your trip a bit more bareable...
-remember , your on VACATION!
-take plenty of breaks , nothing like killing yourself to get there and crashing for 2 days from the stressful drive ( i learned that one from the wife )
-and last but not least remember your on VACATION!
Scott

 

[Boomer1]

We travel from New Brunswick , Canada every Christmas for three weeks at the Fort. We tow a 33' TT and we take about 2.5 days to get there. We would rather drive hard to get there than spend our vacation time in the truck with three excited children. To pass the time the children have a DVD player , Discman , MP3 players, books, magazines and coloring and activity books. I pack lots of snacks and drinks. We do stop for usually two meals and stay at motels close to the I-95. The children follow along with the route in the atlas and look for a familiar landmarks that they can see from the highway ( Washington Monument, Empire State Building). Our children probably know the order of the Eastern Seaboard States better than most students their age. THe trip can be fun if you use the time to plan your schedule with your children, for example which ride will we go to first. Yes it is quicker to fly, but for us five airline tickets would cost as much as our trip down and back and our reservations at the Fort. Also staying in our trailer allows us to save on food costs. This is the only way we can afford to take our family of five to WDW for three weeks.

 

[Mac and Us]

We drive a motorhome from central NH to Ft. Wilderness. We usually leave on Friday around noon and arrive on Saturday between 9-11pm. We too like to drive hard. We share the driving (3-4 hr shifts) and stop sometime around 11pm Friday to sleep for 3-5 hours. We plan our stops ...... get gas and have lunch during the same stop. It's usually a 45 minute stop and we're back on the road.

Our 5 year does well. She watches DVD's at night and first thing in the morning and does crafts, colors, etc.

We have flown to Florida and much prefer the drive. Once we get there we have our own bed and things. Plus we save $ on food.

 

[auntie]

I've yet to be able to stay in FW with our travel trailer..for similiar reasons. We have to have at least 2 days down and 2 days back. Also..I'd like to have a least a week in Disney. My husband hasn't been able to get two weeks together away from work. So our last several trips we've flown and stayed in the resorts. I'd love to be able to take the time we need and go to FW. One of these days! We have stayed in the cabins..but that was a LONG time ago..and we much prefer the the regular camping loops, as they are so much closer to the campground amenities. When we did drive(we didn't have our trailer then)..our kids were also very young. We found it was best to start out VERY early in the morning. As sometimes they would even fall back to sleep. We would start out about 4 am. Then we would stop by 3pm. This way the kids still had daylight to enjoy a stop at a hotel along the way..the pool, and a decent dinner. Then we'd get an early morning start again..(not quite as early) and arrive at Disney by dinner time. There are a couple of decent nice campgrounds off 95, in the Carolinas..that are easy in and out(we have friends that have done this)...for the overnight. Didn't even bother to unhitch. Just pulled in that evening had dinner..slept in their own beds and off the next morning. Personally I enjoy road trips..even when the kids were young. Would love to have the time for another.

 

[kc5grw]

Pulling the pop-up that far should be a piece of cake assuming you have an adequate tow vehicle and everything is setup correctly. I currently pull a 32' fifth wheel with a 1 ton truck. I also spent several years driving a tractor trailer so pulling trailers does not bother me.

I'm one that tends to like to drive hard to spend as little time on the road as necessary. Some of this is dictated by what we have planned once we get there. In Dec 2003 the kids weren't going to out of school until Fri before Christmas. I wanted to go to MVMCP but the last day was that Friday. I couldn't afford to pull the kids out of school too many days so I opted to take them out Thursday and Friday. We left Dallas at 7am Thur morning, I had planned on stopping around Lake City once we made the turn south on 75 to rest a little. By the time we got there I was still feeling pretty fresh so I opted to keep going. We ended up pulling in to the Fort at 4:30am Friday. Our site wasn't ready of course, so we parked in overflow and went back to the trailer to nap until we could check in. I will probably be doing the same thing for our Dec 2008 trip, but I will probably pay for the extra night for a Thursday arrival so we can get to our site once we get there. I will be taking our July trip this year a bit slower. The kids will already be out of school and I have no reason to hurry the trip. The current plan is to stop in Mobile the first night and visit the USS Alabama Museum before we leave the next morning. Then stop again in Lake City before completing the rest of the trip to the Fort.

 

[VAN]

We tow our pop-up from SW Michigan every year for a 2 week vacation. We leave on a Saturday at 3:30 am and drive until about 7:00 pm ... stay at a hotel in Tifton, GA. On Sunday we'll only have 4.5 hrs to FW.

The return trip, we are on the road by 6:00 am and then stop in Elizabethtown, KY at a hotel and then it is 6 hrs home the next day.

We find we are pretty refreshed when we get there. It usually takes us 19-20 hrs of drive time.

Make sure your RV has been checked over, wheel bearings repacked, tires in good condition, etc. We will usually walk around the RV at rest areas just to take a visual at the tires, connections, etc.

Make sure you have the proper tire wrench with you.

Can you tell we had tires fall apart one year. We now replace the tires every 3 years, make sure the tire pressure is correct, and also get the bearings repacked after every long WDW trip.

Have a good time!

 

[dblr]

I haved towed there a few times now, the 1st time I drove right thru without spending the night anywhere, I'll never do that again. Now I like to stop twice that way we do not feel rushed, but in a pinch one night is fine also, I like to find a campground with long pull thrus so I don't have to unhook. We never did it in our popup when we had it but friends do and only stop once but they are in Md.

 

[bradisgoofy]

We drive 1200 miles to FW and gave up doing it in two days a few years back. I find taking three days ( really two 1/2 ) we arrive much more relaxed and can go to the park that day if we want. You should be fine pulling your popup. Once you've done FW you may never go back to the resorts.

 

[stacktester]

Brad is right. I just couldn't think about staying anywhere else as long as I have a camper. I go to horse shows with my daughter as well and there are hook ups there so we use our camper then too. I guess us campers are the hotel industry's worst enemy. It's just too nice to have your own stuff with you. We may stay at Nick Hotel for one night in March before our FW check in because DD has been wanting to do that pool and what not.

 

[dgaston]

We prefer to drive straight through from NE CT. We also prefer 81 over 95 unless there is snow. We have done the early morning (3 am) departure, but feel better when we leave in the evening (6pm) and do the overnight driving.

I drove the van and pop-up on the NJ turnpike in snow and lived to tell the tale!! Speed limit was down to 45. You will be fine.

 

[LegoMom3]

....I drove the van and pop-up on the NJ turnpike in snow and lived to tell the tale!! Speed limit was down to 45. You will be fine.

 

[jima53]

We do the reverse tow, from Florida to Cape Cod and it takes about 22 hours straight through for us with lots of quick breaks. Usually we leave the afternoon after work and stop in the Baltimore area for a few hours rest then finish the drive early the next morning. 1201 miles door to door. We tow a 2002 westlake popup with a 99 astro van. Once you do it you learn the trouble spots and can plan your time to deal with them.

Jim

 

[jdsmom97]

You may already have one, but my DH installed a sway bar on our pop up and said it makes a big dif. esp. at high peeds or wind. We will tow ours down in 2009 for the first time. Have fun!