Twelve hour drive...wwyd?

[Bethpremier]

Could you spare another day? Our family has to make the 12 hour drive but we are leaving Friday late afternoon and driving through the night and checking into a cheap hotel around 2am and then getting up the next morning and actually going to our disney resort by noon. Then, we have a whole day free to catch up on sleep before we start disney on Sunday.

 

[E-Stop]

Split your trip into 2 days. I am in the transport biz, and have heard many horror stories of drivers falling asleep behind the wheel. Interstate driving can be very dangerous, because out in the country, long stretches of road have no barriers between oncoming trffic, head on collisions caused by sleeping drivers occur more often then you think. It is against the law for truck drivers to be behind the wheel more then 11 hours, and they do that on a daily basis! If your driving stamina is up to that level, do what you feel is possible, otherwise, imo, break your trip up into 2 parts. WDW will still be there when you get there. As a bonus, after getting a good night sleep, your 3.5 hour leg of the trip will go by much easier. Be safe!!

 

[duketennisgal]

I say go for it, 12 hours isn't bad at all, especially if you leave around 1am. You get a lot of driving in before the sun comes up and you still get to the hotel fairly early. By the time you do get to the hotel you'll be ready to crash and should have plenty of time to rest up before you hit the parks the next day.

We have a 9/10 hour drive and because we are adults we usually don't have to stop very much, pretty much our only stopping comes from getting gas. We leave at 3 am and are usually checking in around 1pm. We then take naps and head out to the parks for dinner!

 

[NotUrsula]

If your mom can drive around town, why can't she manage to spell you for a time on a straight stretch of rural interstate during the daytime? Even an hour would be enough to let you rest your eyes for a while.

I drive a stick and DH cannot, but on highway trips he still manages to drive part of the trip. We pull off onto a wide shoulder in a rural stretch, switch, and then I left-hand shift the car as he pulls back on, telling him when to clutch it until he gets up into 5th gear and can set the cruise. He doesn't need to shift it again, because once he stops I will take over again. Any licensed driver should be able to manage taking a turn on a stretch of rural interstate highway in the daytime.

I don't know how old you are, but I would not advise anyone over the age of 35 to do a 12 hour marathon drive unless they were accustomed to long-distance night driving. The amount of light needed to see clearly at night begins to increase when you are in your mid-20's, and by the time you are over 35, your eyes' reaction time to major glare (such as directly oncoming headlights) has deteriorated significantly. The eyestrain combined with fatigue and inexperience with the conditions is not a good idea for safety. The crossover accidents that a PP spoke off tend to be affected by this -- one driver falls asleep and crosses the median, and other drivers fail to be able to dodge, even in the middle of nowhere, because their reaction time is diminished by fatigue and eyestrain.

I say take the overnight rest and arrive energized -- and safe.

 

[kkhworth]

First, my mother will have true panic attacks driving the interstate (not that it matters).

I am not 35 or older , and I am driving it in DAYLIGHT.

I will be leaving by 7 am, which will put us there by 8 pm at the latest, as they are one hour ahead of us, time wise. This will give us a good night of rest, and get up and hit the parks early, rather than checking in around noon, and going then.

Thank you ALL for your input. I greatly appreciate it!

 

[SurfinTX]

First, my mother will have true panic attacks driving the interstate (not that it matters).

I am not 35 or older , and I am driving it in DAYLIGHT.

I will be leaving by 7 am, which will put us there by 8 pm at the latest, as they are one hour ahead of us, time wise. This will give us a good night of rest, and get up and hit the parks early, rather than checking in around noon, and going then.

Thank you ALL for your input. I greatly appreciate it!

I agree with most everyone. 12 hours is the maximum I attempt on my own without a long stop. Just take breaks every 3 or 4 hours and you should be fine!

 

[clkelley]

We were gonna leave home on Sat, drive to Valdosta, spend the night there, then drive to WDW Sun morning, only getting to spend maybe 2/3 of the day in the park.

By driving straight to WDW Sat, we will get to get settled into our room at Pop that night, and be able to get up bright and early Sunday morning, rather than losing at least 1/3 or 1/2 of that day before getting to MK.

I am taking the plunge and just driving straight thru.

I.CAN.DO.IT!

OR do what I do, leave Friday night and get a few hours of highway behind you after work. If you can get South of Atlanta on Friday night that would be ideal!!!

Then Saturday morning finish up the drive. There are several nice hotels just South of Atlanta, North of Macon.

 

[scrapbookmommy]

We have just a little over a 12 hour drive and we are planning to leave by 6 o'clock or so in the morning and drive straight through. Just going to add one extra night at ASMO and get a good night sleep and be ready to go the next morning. We thought about driving close and then finishing the rest of the drive the next morning but we figured by the time we got up and going finished the drive and got checked in and to the park we would have waisted half the day. DH will more then likely drive our whole trip. He loves that kind of thing.

 

[Coach81]

If I was doing the 12 hours (which is pretty close to what we do here from Louisiana), we would leave at around midnight.. and check in around 10 am the next morning.. I drive straight through as everyone else sleeps (easier on the kids that way), and during the morning hours my wife will sometimes take a small stint driving while I rest for a bit..

We're heading to Orlando in just two days to visit Universal Florida, this trip we will drive about half-way (5 hours), stay overnight, and then arrive in the early afternoon the following day.

Good luck!

 

[kkhworth]

We have just a little over a 12 hour drive and we are planning to leave by 6 o'clock or so in the morning and drive straight through. Just going to add one extra night at ASMO and get a good night sleep and be ready to go the next morning. We thought about driving close and then finishing the rest of the drive the next morning but we figured by the time we got up and going finished the drive and got checked in and to the park we would have waisted half the day. DH will more then likely drive our whole trip. He loves that kind of thing.

That was my EXACT thought! I would rather spend that night at Pop, knowing I was already there!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Just a heads up. You may want to alter your plans and allow 14-16 hours to get there. The whole northern section of Florida is suppose to get snow in the up coming days so be prepared for inexperienced drivers on the road. And allow for added time do to slow traffic.

Here is the news story

http://www.accuweather.com/regional-news-story.asp?region=southusnews