Where are all my drivers?

[nepean]

We drive from Ottawa, Ontario Canada. It is 26 hours with gas, bathroom and food breaks. We pack a plug in cooler and drive. I hate to stop on the way down because I want to get there. We leave at 6-7 am and are in Orlando for a late breakfast or early lunch. We have driven straight home the last few years. It all depends on the weather and if we have clear skies we drive. Driving in January can be tricky.

We love the change of seasons we see. We have left in minus 25 degree weather with lots of snow on the ground and arrived to 85 degrees and sunshine.

Nepean

 

[rcrk10]

Drove to Disney a few times also driving this coming June.
It's about 16 or 17 hours with stops. Usually leave around 11pm or midnight (I'm a night person).
Family sleeps for the first 8 hours or so. This puts me in SC at around 7 or 7:30 am, at which time we would stop to freshen up and breakfast.
DW will then drive for 3-4 hours so I can nap, then I will finish the trip.
Usually arrive in Orlando around 4-5 pm.
We then move everything into condo and shower up and head to Downtown Disney for dinner and then to get groceries.

This year staying at Windsor Palms.

On way back home - we stop north of Charlotte (usually Lake Norman area) for the night and then finish trip home the next day.

 

[aloha_lilo]

It takes us about 8 hours (if we were to drive straight through) to get from AL to Orlando. In fact, this is the rough itinerary for our next trip (which looks to be in 2010):

Travel Schedule
6:00 Load Vehicle(s)
7:00 Leave the house
8:00
9:00 Breakfast (Albany, GA)
9:30 Resume travel
10:00
11:30
12:00 Visit 1-75 Welcome Center, Lunch Break
(Jennings, FL)
1:00
1:30 Resume travel
2:00
3:00 Break (Gainesville, FL)
3:30 Resume travel
4:00 Earliest check-in time
5:00
5:30 Arrive in Orlando

 

[mgilmer]

Location: Middle Tennessee
Distance: 719 miles
Time: 12-13 hours
Stops: Only for gas, food, and potty

We drive it all in one day usually leaving at about 2-3 am and getting there about 4 pm. My wife and I usually split the driving but now my son is old enough to share the driving too!

 

[louey]

This June will be our 3rd time driving from Delaware, about 15 hours. I don't fly so if I want to go to Disney this is how I have to get there. We rent a Toyota Sienna van, pack a cooler, and leave in the early hours of the night. Our kids are older now almost 15 and 19. Going there we plan to drive straight through and stay somewhere close by to DW for the night. Coming home the past two times we have driven straight through but I want to stop in North Carolina for the night this time. Going is awesome, coming home is a little different. I can't wait, I like having the van once we get there too.
Any suggestions for a nice place to stay in North Carolina?

 

[Goofy'slady]

I'm glad to see so many drivers out there joining me and my family on the wide open road on our way back "home". For our family it's just more ecconomical these days for us to drive. With the price of gas going up everywhere it's still the best choice for us. This year the trek will include two kids and three adults (DH, BFF & myself) each adult takes turns filling up the tank along the way and we always keep a close watch on the gas prices along the way so that we can get the cheapest price.

Although the drive can be a long one we just keep reminding ourselves why we're doing it. My husband loves to stop and collect different state maps from all the different Cracker Barrel's we stop along the way. We also love reading all the different bill boards along the way; esp. the South of the Boarder ones which usually start somewhere in NC. We never stay over night there but we might gas up there and take potty breaks. Keeping Disney music playing also gets us real excited too. Of course no one looks forward to going home but this time I think we'll stop somewhere fun so atleast the kids have something to lookforward to on the way back.

T.

 

[tinkerbell60]

This will be our first trip and we are driving from Pittsburgh PA so I'm not sure how long it's going to take. I know it will be a 2 day trip, maybe 20-22hrs?

We just got back to Pittsburgh last night from a last minute trip to WDW - our first time driving. We left the North Hills last Saturday at 3:20pm - stopped around 10pm for the night in North Carolina. Left there Sunday morning at 8:40am and reached Orlando at 6:40pm. Total - 16.5 hours.

We drove back yesterday, left Orlando at 6:20 am and reached home about 12:20pm BUT we had a lot of rain and sleet that slowed us down in Virginia and West Virginia. Total 18 hours straight through.

Amazingly, I did not mind it at all. I think next time though, we would leave Orlando and do some sight seeing on the way home (maybe St Augustine) and try to knock out 4-6 hours the first day which would leave 10-12 the next day.

 

[Jules123]

Location: Middle Tennessee
Distance: 719 miles
Time: 12-13 hours
Stops: Only for gas, food, and potty

We drive it all in one day usually leaving at about 2-3 am and getting there about 4 pm. My wife and I usually split the driving but now my son is old enough to share the driving too!

Hey neighbor! A Hohenwald DIS'er here. We'll be making the drive in May. We plan on leaving around 9:00 a.m. and staying the night in Georgia somewhere. Then getting up early and making the final trek to Orlando. Last time we drove straight through coming back but I don't know if that's going to happen again. Too many little ones in the vehicle!

 

[Renysmom]

We drive from Richmond VA to the world. takes between 12-14 hours.. We do it in one stretch since its just DH and me. He drives VA and NC, I drive SC and part of GA then he drives the rest. It works perfect for us. We stop when we need to, bring along a laptop and satelite internet card and I DIS on the drive LOL.

Even with the price of gas these days it is still cheaper for us to do it this way. Besides we can pack as much as we want and I can shop as much as I want cause I have a whole truck to get things home in LOL