We're not going back 5 years but this is our 5th trip in4years!WERE BACK,NEW tr link

[Sooze]

Hey Diane! That 17 1/2 number looks brutal, doesn't it?!

Everyone is different... but I would totally vote for option #2. We always drive straight through, allowing the kids to sleep for over half the trip. We bought them neck pillows, and they do GREAT. Missing all of the traffic is also a blessing.

The biggest downer is how exhausted you will be when you get there. We always take a 2-3 hour power nap right around 3ish so we can get up and do dinner/ night fireworks. It seems to work well. Matt and I are usually the exhausted ones, since the kids sleep most of the trip.

My 2 cents for you!


As for the haircut, Matt and Tyson went early afternoon and the place was PACKED! They ended up waiting 45 minutes But the experience was worth it. I tried to convince Matt to let Ty get a Mickey head cut into his buzz cut, but Matt was being a party pooper!

I love the idea of heading to the shop immediately after rope drop!

How's the weather? Has all of your snow melted yet? We had thunderstorms today and I LOVED it! Just felt like spring!!

 

[HockeyMomR]

Diane - yes, please avoid esp. DC rush hour between 4:30 - 6:30 PM. You will be coming down 95 and then the beltway I presume. Stay away if you can. Coming South on 95 passing Baltimore at that time would not be too bad (it is the north bound 95 traffic that is horrible). Just my two cents from a life time Marylander.

Love to hear about your driving plans, again this year we are thinking of driving. We have thought of this in the past and then been able to get last minute plane tickets at incredible rates.

Good luck!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Diane:

I would vote for the option of driving straight through. We are doing that this summer and did it several years ago with a 16 1/2 hour drive to St. Petersburg. Granted, you will be exhausted but it is worth it. We are from southern Ohio so we are on I-75 but there is nothing better than hitting Atlanta in the middle of the night vs. rush hour. We went home once and hit Atlanta evening rush hour and it litterally took over an hour to go 5-10 miles. I would say DC would be the same.

We will be in DC in three weeks for Spring Break and from everything I have read it is bad. I can let you know more when I get back if you have not yet decided.

Erika

 

[Sooze]

We are from southern Ohio so we are on I-75 but there is nothing better than hitting Atlanta in the middle of the night vs. rush hour.

Erika... I HEAR you! We come from Indy, so we hit Atlanta as well... what a difference the middle of the night makes!

 

[Happydog]

Okay, having driven a few times, recently, I will say NO. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE ANYWHERE IN THE AREA BETWEEN BALTIMORE AND RICHMOND FROM 4PM - 7PM... there IS an HOV3 lane, that is nice, but it only takes you so far. And you would end up adding time to your trip. I would say if you could leave where you would get through our area about 7 pm, and out of Richmond near midnight, then grab a hotel, just over the NC border and crash for the night -- get up earlyish am, and then continue. But that means getting to WDW by 4pm or so. SO maybe later than you want? But depending on when you get up, that then puts you driving into Orlando in the afternoon, where I have seen some backups too, when we left Orlando this last trip down there around 6pm, there was a lot of traffic headed in to Orlando and all the Disney exits... We do drive all the way through, and manage fine. We live outside DC, and the best drive time would be to leave around 8pm to avoid all the traffic and get to Orlando around 10am. That gives you no traffic and sleeping kids, but again it is all night driving, so it depends how you manage.

 

[Trentmom]

You definitely want to avoid, Baltimore, Washington DC Area between 3-7pm. Crazy Traffic.

SInce your kids are older, I would vote for number 2.

Once you get to hotel...get something to eat...let kids watch tv and you and Bryan can take a couple hrs to nap to refresh yourself

 

[dddisrunner]

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all of your awesome suggestions and replies! I plan on responding to you all individually but I have a few more things I need help with!


If we were to leave earlier, say around 11:30 am do you think that would bode well for missing rush hour around Baltimore or Washington?


Also,for all of you veteran WDW drivers...do you have any tips or tricks for navigating the world with regards to driving to ADR's or parks? Which parks are better to drive to versus taking the buses? Thanks for your help!!!

 

[Happydog]

The time you leave depends on the time you arrive in the area, but if you hit Washington DC area by 3pm AT THE LATEST, you would probably feel some traffic in VA, once you get onto 95 from 495... but you do have the HOV 3 lane, so that should help (we used it when we left last month, and we had left an hour later than we wanted...) the traffic was already jammed up. without that lane we'd be stuck. Under good conditions, it takes us 5 hours to get to my inlaws beach house in Wilmington NC from our house in MD. We live right over the Potomac. but on the 270/495 side, not the side you seem to be coming from (straight down 95). Maybe that will help you gauge time? We do drive the overnight. When we took our little getaway in february, we left at an off time, and having driven straight through we showed up at 4 am... We called Disney, and they gave us our room, allowed us to check in early basically, but I had called and they knew. Maybe if you decide to drive straight through they will let you do that, too.

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Hey Diane! Listen to Happydog she is the queen of jump in the car and drive to Disney on a moments notice!
Anita

 

[Native NYer]

My brother lives in the MD/DC area. Rush hour there is horrible. I'd go with option 2.

 

[ampc3]

wow 17 1/2 hour drive yikes.... dislike... our longest journey is back home to chicago which takes us about 12-14 hours depending on traffic and stops etc.. will be first trip with babies in june, so should be interesting to see how they do on that journey!

we have driven to wdw world before, and we drove alot to Downtown disney, it was soo nice to be able to go to walmart too and get food, and I know it isn't the same experience but they have a HUGE selection of disney Souvenirs for ALOT less $$$. Also when we had ressies at the poly for dinner , we drove and then left our car there and hoped on the monorail to MK, had no problems and when we left it was sooo nice to just hop on the monorail and then get in our car.. we were back in our hotel in like 15 min... which we all know we would have been waiting for a bus for at least 30-45 min...

good luck with your planning!

 

[Sooze]

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all of your awesome suggestions and replies! I plan on responding to you all individually but I have a few more things I need help with!


If we were to leave earlier, say around 11:30 am do you think that would bode well for missing rush hour around Baltimore or Washington?


Also,for all of you veteran WDW drivers...do you have any tips or tricks for navigating the world with regards to driving to ADR's or parks? Which parks are better to drive to versus taking the buses? Thanks for your help!!!

Diane, remind me where you are staying again... AKV?

If so.. we would drive everywhere!

When we stay at BCV or BWV, we walk or boat to both Epcot and DHS. For MK, we drive to the Contemporary to park, and walk or monorail to MK. AK is just a parking lot as normal... or we bus it there.

If we don't stay at an Epcot resort, we drive to the Boardwalk to park, then walk into Epcot or boat over to DHS. It is SOOOOOOO wonderful after Illuminations to stroll around World Showcase while the crowds are filing out in the opposite direction. Then we walk leisurely back to the BW and to our car.

If we ever take buses, it's because the kids beg us to!

We LOVE having a car on property!!!

 

[carissanboys]

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all of your awesome suggestions and replies! I plan on responding to you all individually but I have a few more things I need help with!


If we were to leave earlier, say around 11:30 am do you think that would bode well for missing rush hour around Baltimore or Washington?


Also,for all of you veteran WDW drivers...do you have any tips or tricks for navigating the world with regards to driving to ADR's or parks? Which parks are better to drive to versus taking the buses? Thanks for your help!!!

Well, if your times from your previous post were accurate (about when you'd be hitting Baltimore and D.C.) then I'd think an hour earlier could make a big difference. You'd probably still have some traffic and northern virginia is almost always slow going, but I think it would help a bit. And we always take 295 around Richmond instead of going straight through the city. It's so much less crowded and I just find it more relaxing.

As for when we're down in WDW, we drive just about everywhere. We never used the buses. We just found it more convenient to drive ourselves.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Diane, on a Friday you'll not want to be anywhere near DC, Baltimore, etc. between 3pm and 7pm....do whatever you can to avoid that area. My husband drives down there for business all the time. If you have to drive at that time, you might want to consider the alternate routes around that area to then get back onto 95 once you've passed.

Good luck planning!


.....
Just to answer another question you had....
It is a piece of cake to drive around the world. If you are driving to hotel ADRs, as long as you know what "Resort Area" the hotel you are going to is in, it's very simple. For instance, if you were eating at the WL, you'd know that you needed to head toward MK. You'd find your way from there. The signs are easy to follow...we always have a rental car down there and it was easy to become acclimated with the area...even offsight area. Driving yourself and not depending on the buses all the time, you'll become very very spoiled by how quickly you can get yourself around. Prepare yourself!!! Ha ha!

 

[dddisrunner]

Hi there! As a fellow NJ Dis'er I would vote for option #2. The rush hour traffic in DC is terrible and can really back up your travel time. We have driven from NJ (Bergen County) about 10 times before we had children and always leave late at night and drive through the night to avoid traffic and such. It is really exciting and not that hard with two adult drivers. Now that we have a 2 1/2 year old - we fly, but I do miss the excitement of the drive and being able to take anything you want- regardless of weight, etc.!

About the Barber Shop- we were just there in February for my daughter, Ava's 1st haircut. She is 2 1/2 but never needed one till now. We arrived at the MK about 10 minutes before it opened, watched the opening show and headed straight to the barber shop as the gates opened. We were the 1st ones there and the shop wasn't event open yet. We waited about 3 minutes and they opened the doors and welcomed us in. There are three chairs and three stylists waiting to take folks as they arrive. They do not take reservations. Penny cut Ava's hair, gave her stickers and overall was just as sweet and lovely as could be. It was a wonderful experience. Half way through Ava's haircut, another family arrived with two children- boy and girl. They were just getting regular hair cuts and sat down immediatly. They do not have sinks, so they just spray your hair with water. Overall, it was a very magical experience, and a wonderful memory for our daughter and it only cost $18.00! I do know that when my nephew goes (he is 9) he always gets a fancy buzz cut or mohawk and lots of pixie dust (mickey mouse confettie) and he thinks he is so cool! I'm sure you will all enjoy the experience. I'm happy to show you pictures, but I didn't post any b/c I didn't want to hijack your thread.

Have a wonderful trip!!!

WOW, Renee thanks for all the great input here! I think we will head to the Barber Shop right after our Crystal Palace breakfast!

You do not want to be driving through D.C./northern Virginia (which is the worst part, IMO) during the first option or third option. I think driving straight through is very difficult to do. How well do your boys sleep in the car? Mine do not do well. They end up in terrible positions and it's just not comfy.

There's no way you can leave earlier that day?

Thanks Carissa, leaving any earlier than noon really is going to be tough, I work until 11:30!

Hey Diane! That 17 1/2 number looks brutal, doesn't it?!

Everyone is different... but I would totally vote for option #2. We always drive straight through, allowing the kids to sleep for over half the trip. We bought them neck pillows, and they do GREAT. Missing all of the traffic is also a blessing.

The biggest downer is how exhausted you will be when you get there. We always take a 2-3 hour power nap right around 3ish so we can get up and do dinner/ night fireworks. It seems to work well. Matt and I are usually the exhausted ones, since the kids sleep most of the trip.

My 2 cents for you!


As for the haircut, Matt and Tyson went early afternoon and the place was PACKED! They ended up waiting 45 minutes But the experience was worth it. I tried to convince Matt to let Ty get a Mickey head cut into his buzz cut, but Matt was being a party pooper!

I love the idea of heading to the shop immediately after rope drop!

How's the weather? Has all of your snow melted yet? We had thunderstorms today and I LOVED it! Just felt like spring!!

Thanks Sooze! Our snow melted awhile back...we had an awful/powerful storm come throught this weekend, we got about 5 inches of rain and had 60 mile per hour winds! There are trees and power lines down EVERYWHERE! I need the sunshine! Thanks for the driving and Barber Shop advice!

Diane - yes, please avoid esp. DC rush hour between 4:30 - 6:30 PM. You will be coming down 95 and then the beltway I presume. Stay away if you can. Coming South on 95 passing Baltimore at that time would not be too bad (it is the north bound 95 traffic that is horrible). Just my two cents from a life time Marylander.

Love to hear about your driving plans, again this year we are thinking of driving. We have thought of this in the past and then been able to get last minute plane tickets at incredible rates.

Good luck!

Thanks for all your great tips...we will definitely plan on avoiding DC during the rush!

Diane:

I would vote for the option of driving straight through. We are doing that this summer and did it several years ago with a 16 1/2 hour drive to St. Petersburg. Granted, you will be exhausted but it is worth it. We are from southern Ohio so we are on I-75 but there is nothing better than hitting Atlanta in the middle of the night vs. rush hour. We went home once and hit Atlanta evening rush hour and it litterally took over an hour to go 5-10 miles. I would say DC would be the same.

We will be in DC in three weeks for Spring Break and from everything I have read it is bad. I can let you know more when I get back if you have not yet decided.

Erika

Thanks Erika! Have fun in DC over spring break...it is a GREAT place to see tons of things!!! Thanks for your advice!

Okay, having driven a few times, recently, I will say NO. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE ANYWHERE IN THE AREA BETWEEN BALTIMORE AND RICHMOND FROM 4PM - 7PM... there IS an HOV3 lane, that is nice, but it only takes you so far. And you would end up adding time to your trip. I would say if you could leave where you would get through our area about 7 pm, and out of Richmond near midnight, then grab a hotel, just over the NC border and crash for the night -- get up earlyish am, and then continue. But that means getting to WDW by 4pm or so. SO maybe later than you want? But depending on when you get up, that then puts you driving into Orlando in the afternoon, where I have seen some backups too, when we left Orlando this last trip down there around 6pm, there was a lot of traffic headed in to Orlando and all the Disney exits... We do drive all the way through, and manage fine. We live outside DC, and the best drive time would be to leave around 8pm to avoid all the traffic and get to Orlando around 10am. That gives you no traffic and sleeping kids, but again it is all night driving, so it depends how you manage.

Thanks so much for all of your tips! We wouldn't drive on 95 the whole way, we would go around the city! I am nervous about driving through the night!

You definitely want to avoid, Baltimore, Washington DC Area between 3-7pm. Crazy Traffic.

SInce your kids are older, I would vote for number 2.

Once you get to hotel...get something to eat...let kids watch tv and you and Bryan can take a couple hrs to nap to refresh yourself

Thanks Kelly! I think we are leaning towards driving overnight!

The time you leave depends on the time you arrive in the area, but if you hit Washington DC area by 3pm AT THE LATEST, you would probably feel some traffic in VA, once you get onto 95 from 495... but you do have the HOV 3 lane, so that should help (we used it when we left last month, and we had left an hour later than we wanted...) the traffic was already jammed up. without that lane we'd be stuck. Under good conditions, it takes us 5 hours to get to my inlaws beach house in Wilmington NC from our house in MD. We live right over the Potomac. but on the 270/495 side, not the side you seem to be coming from (straight down 95). Maybe that will help you gauge time? We do drive the overnight. When we took our little getaway in february, we left at an off time, and having driven straight through we showed up at 4 am... We called Disney, and they gave us our room, allowed us to check in early basically, but I had called and they knew. Maybe if you decide to drive straight through they will let you do that, too.

Thanks so much! I really have to plan this out well because we have to consider the rush in Philly too as well as Jacksonville, FL...UGH maybe we should just fly!!!

Hey Diane! Listen to Happydog she is the queen of jump in the car and drive to Disney on a moments notice!
Anita

My brother lives in the MD/DC area. Rush hour there is horrible. I'd go with option 2.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[dddisrunner]

wow 17 1/2 hour drive yikes.... dislike... our longest journey is back home to chicago which takes us about 12-14 hours depending on traffic and stops etc.. will be first trip with babies in june, so should be interesting to see how they do on that journey!

we have driven to wdw world before, and we drove alot to Downtown disney, it was soo nice to be able to go to walmart too and get food, and I know it isn't the same experience but they have a HUGE selection of disney Souvenirs for ALOT less $$$. Also when we had ressies at the poly for dinner , we drove and then left our car there and hoped on the monorail to MK, had no problems and when we left it was sooo nice to just hop on the monorail and then get in our car.. we were back in our hotel in like 15 min... which we all know we would have been waiting for a bus for at least 30-45 min...

good luck with your planning!

Hi Annette! I dislike the 17 1/2 hours too! I am happy at the thought of having a car at WDW though! Thanks for the tip about Walmart souvies!!

Diane, remind me where you are staying again... AKV?

If so.. we would drive everywhere!

When we stay at BCV or BWV, we walk or boat to both Epcot and DHS. For MK, we drive to the Contemporary to park, and walk or monorail to MK. AK is just a parking lot as normal... or we bus it there.

If we don't stay at an Epcot resort, we drive to the Boardwalk to park, then walk into Epcot or boat over to DHS. It is SOOOOOOO wonderful after Illuminations to stroll around World Showcase while the crowds are filing out in the opposite direction. Then we walk leisurely back to the BW and to our car.

If we ever take buses, it's because the kids beg us to!

We LOVE having a car on property!!!

Thanks Sooze! Yes, we are staying at the AKV...I know we will definitely drive to the Poly for our ADR's there, I just wasn't sure about the parks!

Well, if your times from your previous post were accurate (about when you'd be hitting Baltimore and D.C.) then I'd think an hour earlier could make a big difference. You'd probably still have some traffic and northern virginia is almost always slow going, but I think it would help a bit. And we always take 295 around Richmond instead of going straight through the city. It's so much less crowded and I just find it more relaxing.

As for when we're down in WDW, we drive just about everywhere. We never used the buses. We just found it more convenient to drive ourselves.

Thanks Carissa! I need to consult with Mapquest again and then make a decision!!

Diane, on a Friday you'll not want to be anywhere near DC, Baltimore, etc. between 3pm and 7pm....do whatever you can to avoid that area. My husband drives down there for business all the time. If you have to drive at that time, you might want to consider the alternate routes around that area to then get back onto 95 once you've passed.

Good luck planning!


.....
Just to answer another question you had....
It is a piece of cake to drive around the world. If you are driving to hotel ADRs, as long as you know what "Resort Area" the hotel you are going to is in, it's very simple. For instance, if you were eating at the WL, you'd know that you needed to head toward MK. You'd find your way from there. The signs are easy to follow...we always have a rental car down there and it was easy to become acclimated with the area...even offsight area. Driving yourself and not depending on the buses all the time, you'll become very very spoiled by how quickly you can get yourself around. Prepare yourself!!! Ha ha!

Thanks so much for all of your advice and tips! I am looking forward to having a car on property! I hope we don't get too spoiled!!

 

[dddisrunner]

Thank you everyone for all of your wonderful advice. Your point about avoiding the DC area during the rush was very well taken! I have to consult mapquest again. They are estimating the trip to be about 1080 miles and 17 1/2 hours...BUT that is driving only 60 miles per hour! I know around the cities that would be accurate but overnight on the open road I am pretty sure we could do 70 mph without too much of a problem...maybe even 75 mph Does anyone know what the speed limit is on 95 through NC,SC and Georgia? Also, we are not really known to stop much other than for gas and an occasional bathroom stop otherwise we are full speed ahead!

I am nervous about driving overnight We have done it before many times but..we are not quite the young chickens we used to be! We will both be over 40 on this trip! Bryan seems to think if I drive first and he can sleep it will all work out...BUT here is my issue, if he is sleeping and I am driving, who is going to deal with the " I can't reach the DVD's or I want a drink or my ipod just fell, or ARE WE THERE YET?"

Myabe we will get lucky and some cheap last minute airfare will appear out of nowhere!

 

[swwake]

I hope you do get lucky with some cheap flights coming up. But I think the road trip sounds like fun. It's always good family bonding time, and on the drive there, I'm sure the excitement will build.

I wouldn't worry much about the overnight drive. We have had a couple of those going to Memphis from Austin (one was when there was a blizzard and we were at a standstill for HOURS on the highway). With each other to talk to, you'll do fine. The other can even get in a few cat naps. Just plan to take a nice rest at some point on the day you arrive at WDW, to recharge.

 

[Happydog]

the speed IS 75 in parts of NC SC, and GA, so you are covered there.... we were able to drive overnight -- get good books on tape! It is a bonding thing. I agree with the PP And if you go that route, kids are asleep. THAT helps with the sanity!!!! (are we there yet every 15 minutes!!!)

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Diane:

I have found that if I drive first I am okay for quite a few hours. DH likes to drive at night and can stay up better than I so we get along great in that area. I will probably wake around 5:00 in the morning and take over again. Now, with that said, DH will be a grump the rest of the day if he does not have a nap when we get there. I already have it planned to take DS to the Poly pool and let DH sleep. I don't have anything planned for our first day due.

As far as DS, he goes to sleep after about two hours and will stay asleep until morning. Hopefully, your boys will do the same.

Good luck. I have found that even though I prefer flying, I do actually enjoy the drive with the family.

Erika