Traveling to the Fort ?s

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

We travel from Texas, and I think it depends on your driving habits. How many hours can you drive safely. I have been driving non stop to Fla.( about 12 hours,) first leg, but not this year. This year we will take 3 days.
I might note we travel with dogs so we make a lot of pit stops. Keep in mind, hauling a trailer is a little more stressful. We usually unhook as some times we go out to eat depending on our location.

I really need to figure out HOW you get there in 12hrs from Texas. Seriously- I wanna know that trick! LOL

To the OP: it really depends on how long the trip is and how you want to travel. You'll always get a variety of responses to this and in fact we travel differently each time!
Our first trip we drove (without towing anything) and we drove straight thru- I did most of the driving and drove all night since I'm the nightowl. It took us about 23hrs with many quick stops for gas/bathroom and a couple longer stops to eat.
This most recent driving trip we were towing our trailer which meant we drove slower and we had more stops for gas (ugh- gas mileage was HORRIBLE towing the trailer!) but less stops for food/bathroom since the kids were older and also I had brought along coolers with food/drinks- so our stops for food were quicker... we could stop anywhere and didn't have to try to find a place to find food/etc. We stopped overnight at a KOA on the way though- and our trip there took a total of almost 36hrs with 10hrs total at the KOA overnight.
On the way BACK we'd allotted the same amount of time with room to spare extra if needed- but for some reason DH wasn't tired and decided to drive later and then once he'd drove so late that it was only a few hours until we'd make home he decided to keep on driving and forget about stopping somewhere to sleep for a bit- and we made it home in 23hrs even with towing the trailer/many gas stops but we didn't stop as much for food -we were all sleeping, probably depressed our vacation was over and sleep is a good way to be in denial about that. LOL

So basically everyone travels differently and sometimes the same family will even travel differently on each trip or even each leg of the trip. Only you know if you'd rather just get the driving over with even with the risk of being tired once you get there- or if you'd rather take it easy and take longer to get there.

(ps. when we stayed at the KOA we didn't unhook from the tow vehicle but we did hook up the electric/water/septic ofcourse. It was a level pad and it wasn't necessary to unhook from the vehicle)

 

[disney4dan]

Thanks for the replies. We are leaning towards making three stops along the way. We'll have our 8 yr old daughter and our 7 yr old son and I'm afraid if we drive to long each day, they'll make it unbearable for me. Any recommendations for places to stop along the way? Leaving from Flint, MI area.

Our youngest two were approx that age when we made the trip and I longed for the days when you could put the kids in the travel trailer. Or the bed of the truck. Or ANYWHERE but near us. They used to be so good at long road trips, but fought almost every 15 minutes on that trip. No kidding. The only thing that worked for us was to keep one between us in the front seat (we have a double cab pick-up). However, if it's any consolation, just keep reminding yourself how much they will remember of the good times on the trip, make a few stops to enjoy the places in between and you will be creating many happy memories that they will enjoy when they are older.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

We drive down from just South of Flint, the first day is a long one of about 15-16 hrs, that puts us in Perry GA for the night (nice campground right off I-75 called fair harbor IIRC) we get up in the morning and are in WDW in about 7 hrs.