What time to leave for HHI drive from PA

[lmb]

Hi everyone,
We're making our first trip down to HHI from the Philly area with our DD4 and DS2. We were originally thinking of leaving very early, e.g. 3:30 am sat morning and driving straight through. But now we are wondering whether it would be better to leave Friday early evening and sleep over somewhere to break up the trip. Does anyone have an experience with the best time to leave from my area? (we couldn't leave before 5pm Friday) Any insight would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[DisneyDuo]

We live in south-central PA, just north of Hagerstown, MD (about three hours from Philly). We drove straight through last year to HHI, left at 4 a.m. and arrived at 4 p.m. But we stop for several meals and breaks.

You know your family best, and how long you can tolerate in the car. By leaving early in the a.m., I would think the kids would sleep for hours anyway.

Enjoy your trip! We love HHI, going back in October this year.

Blessings - Lin

 

[lmb]

thanks, my biggest concern in leaving Friday evening is the traffic through DC. We still have 3 weeks to figure it out.

 

[DisneyDuo]

Yes, it is miserable driving through DC on 95!!!!! That's why we leave so early in the a.m., we are through before the traffic gets bad.

Lin

 

[justloveit]

Thats what we do when we drive south. We live right across the river in S.Jersey. Leaving early to miss rush hour in DC is definitely worth it, but if you leave on Sat, it shouldn't be an issue. However, the traffic down 95 through the whole state of Virginia can be really congested with beachgoers on weekends. Once we never got above 50 mph through the whole state of VA on a Sat in the summer. No accidents, just volume. So if your children will go to sleep in the car, it might be better to leave as early as possible. Have a great trip.

 

[5forDiz]

We leave southernmost NY between 4 - 5 AM and at Disney's HHI resort approx.

12 - 14 hours later depending upon number of stops for gas, restrooms, etc.

We typically leave on Saturday and have not experienced any issues getting

past Baltimore / DC leaving NY 4 -5 AM. I'd say leave early Saturday

morning and drive it straight through to HHI same day. If you do want

to leave Friday and stop overnight we prefer Rocky Mount, NC Exit 138

or Florence, SC Exit 160. Also, if you feel driving straight to HHI in one

day has you arriving too late in day to justify the points what we

sometimes will do is bid on Priceline for Resort level on HHI and check

into Disney resort following morning. You can PM me if you'd like for

hotel & driving info. & Priceline bidding strategies for HHI

 

[bookwormde]

Depending where around Philly you are it may vary by 1 hour but 10 hours is a good estimate. I would leave about 1 hours earlier (2:30 AM) so you are well clear of Richmond before morning traffic starts. This puts you in at about noon, which is nice.

Also with small children this give you 4-5 hours of quiet sleep time for the kids.

bookwormde

 

[lmb]

We're in Malvern area about 1/2 hour west of phl. I didn't think about VA traffic too on Sat so these are all great tips. We did bid on a hotel in HHI for our first night and got the Westin for about $100 with taxes. I think I bid around 75.

 

[kimpossible]

Why not leave a few days early and take a nice trip down...I am sure DH won't mind

Good morning...talk to ya soon.

 

[lmb]

If only his DW hadn't maxed out all of his vacation days we could do that! Happy packing for tomorrow.

 

[cyndixo]

Wow its nice to see so many folks from our area are members. I drive to DC all the time for work and we leave super early to avoid the traffic.

 

[SLM]

I agree with all the strategies posted-and staying somewhere other than HHI the first night to conserve points makes sense when you arrive so late. We did think next time when we leave we''ll stay at the resort longer on departure day and drive no more than 5 hours home that night and stay at a hotel-then get up early and head home the next day-the drive home seemed so long and going through the DC and Baltimore area late at night was stressful.
Have a great trip-you'll love HHI!

 

[lmb]

That's a good strategy for the return trip. I always love to spend as much time on vacation as possible. Are there any changing/shower facilities at the beach club if we had already checked out of our room?

 

[SLM]

The facilities are beautiful-wait til you see the Beach House! You could easily shower and change and head out after a late lunch.

 

[quentina]

We did the 3am thing for many years (we are in Allentown area).

This year was the best ever...we left 6pm and drove as far as we could. This was 7 hours and we were into North Carolina when we stopped. Got up the next morning and finished it off.

Traffic was nothing in the DC area, smooth sailing all the way down.

It ws so much better on us and the kids.

 

[msabol01]

Hi everyone,
We're making our first trip down to HHI from the Philly area with our DD4 and DS2. We were originally thinking of leaving very early, e.g. 3:30 am sat morning and driving straight through. But now we are wondering whether it would be better to leave Friday early evening and sleep over somewhere to break up the trip. Does anyone have an experience with the best time to leave from my area? (we couldn't leave before 5pm Friday) Any insight would be appreciated! Thanks!

If you're leaving on a Saturday you won't need to worry about traffic. Just plan on 12 hrs. We're in the Newtown Yardley area and left at 5am this past April and got there at 530 pm. This included 3 15 minutes stop for gas, food and potty breaks.

We returned on a Friday and that took much longer since people were headed out for the weekend.

So my advise is as long as you and the kids don't mind being in the car, leaving on Saturday morning will save you from the DC area traffic. Oh yeah if you don't have one a portable DVD player is a must!

 

[franco]

We live right outside Philly. We have driven to HHI for 5 years now, we have done both leave at 3AM and also right after work. We definitely like leaving right after work the best. We do not stop at a hotel, typically I will sleep for an hour at the rest stops in North and South Carolina. We stop for breakfast and arrive at the resort around 8AM.