Where do you stop?

[digskat]

Just wondering where all my fellow canucks stop when they drive to Disney. Using I75 route ( I have the book Along I75) just thought I'd inquire. We are leaving at 4am on Oct 13 and planning on stopping somewhere around supper time. It's about a 22hr drive to Orlando from my home town. Just looking for places you could reccommend..an indoor pool would be nice. We stayed in Macon GA in Nov but that was after driving all night to early pm. thanks for any suggestions Kat

 

[CharlesTD]

We stop near the bottom of Georgia usually or we drive straight through. We find stopping further down makes the second day shorter for driving and also helps the kids out with the excitement building LOL.

 

[Debbie]

If we have a good run at it-leave at 4, drive 'til it hurts-we've stopped at Calhoun or Dalton, GA. If I'm not mistaken, that would put you at about 8 hours from Orlando (5 in GA, 3 in FL). When we don't quite make it to GA, we've stopped in Sweetwater, Tenn. That's about the halfway point for us.

 

[SnowWhite]

I stop when I see the castle and the mouse.................

This is what I look like after driving the 24 hrs--------->

 

[RSD - disnyfan]

We usually stop somewhere in South Carolina - having left the GTA around 6am.
Some times we have stopped in Charlotte (but find it a little too soon), and have also gone as far as Columbia (get there 9:45pmish).
We end up at WDW by 3:30pm or 4pm on the second day.

We have also tried the "drive right thru" thing and Snow White's picture is accurate - I think I lost my mind around 2:30am. For the sake of getting there a couple of hours earlier, it wasn't worth the fatigue. Also, you probably can't check in to your hotel room until mid-afternoon.

The next time we're going, we plan to stop in a town called Rock Hill SC, it's right between Charlotte and Columbia.

 

[digskat]

Thanks for all the reponses I think We'll just drive til we drop! Kat

 

[maryliz]

The last time we left at 4AM from London Ontario, we were at the Georgia Welcome Centre around 7PM. Calhoun and Dalton have great hotels, and the gas prices are usually better in northern GA than in TN.

We'll be about 28 hours behind you ... leaving on Friday Oct 14th around 8AM!

MaryLiz

 

[digskat]

Thanks MaryLiz,
I'll keep those stops in mind. We thought we might drive til that time anyways. Maybe I'll see you there. We're doing MNSSHP on the 20th and staying at ASMo. Gotta GO Just got home from a busy shift at the hospital. Kat

 

[hockey mom]

We also don't stop until our Disney hotel. I don't like to waste those precious hours when the kids are asleep......ahhhhh quiet.

 

[Hockeychic]

Driving the I75 route we drove straight through.....it is the 2 - 6 am hours that get me. That is usually when DH takes over.

Using the 77/79/95 route we stopped near Beckley not bad but too long of a drive the next day.

This time we are leaving early afternoon and driving staight through taking the 77.79.95 route again.

 

[MommaBear]

Whatever you do try to stop before Atlanta or after Atlanta. Traffic thru this city is insane!

If you stop before make sure you are up early the next day to beat the morning traffic thru the city.

If you stop after then you most likely will be going thru Atl. after rush hour so traffic isn't that insane.

Last time I planned it so that we were driving thru Atlanta on a Saturday afternoon. Hadn't done this route in years and forgot that the highway went right thru the centre of the city. Wouldn't you know it we are driving thru Atlanta just prior to a Baseball Game. Highway was nuts. My husband watched the road while I watched the signs. It tooks us 35 minutes of stop and go traffic, people who would not let us change lanes and backseat driving children (we are going to slow Mom!, Can't we take another highway) before we finally cleared the city and started moving again!

This was are only glitch the entire trip. We actually drove start thru to Valdosta (30 minutes from Florida border). Stayed at a lovely Comfort Inn with outdoor pool and continental breakfast.

We then only have a 4 1/2 hour drive to Orlando so we slept in the next morning, had a leisurely breakfast and did the touristy thing, stopping at Florida Welcome stop to have our picture taken in front of sign.

 

[Disney Fanatic]

We just returned Saturday from driving to Disney and back and went the I-77 route.

We drove straight through on the way down with 2 drivers (4 hrs on and 4 off) and it worked out great.

On the way home we left each day around lunch time and stopped at `10pm to overnight and the return drive seemed so much longer.

I have a 4year old and he slept most of the trip down so it made for not such a long trip for him.


If you have 2 drivers, straight through is something you may want to consider at least for one way.

Good Luck and happy driving!

 

[digskat]

We tried the driving straight through and DH was exhausted, I'm not great at driving on larger highways and my Dad spelled DH off when he was tired. We decided it wasn't for us so we are opting for leaving at 4am, maybe earlier depending on how excited we are. We are hoping to stop in GA either before or after Atlanta as suggested in previous post. Thanks for all your advice. Kat

 

[CharlesTD]

It will also depend on where you are leaving from and if you are driving with kids. We tend to leave after dinner that way the kids sleep in the car on the way and you reach the bottom of Georgia around 3 or 4 in the afternoon so you can stop early and get a good rest and also let the kids run around.

 

[MamaLema]

We drive straight with 3 little boys!!!

 

[SnowWhite]

This is what my DH said he looks like after 24 hrs straight!!! Well he is right but just wait till this time...1ST time driving with kids!!!!!

Actually we like to leave around 4:00pm so that we pass thru Cincinatti in the middle of the night and don't hit Atlanta at rush hour either. I think this will make it easier as well with the kids as they will only be awake for a few hours and then they (hopefully) will sleep most of the night and when they wake up the next morning we will only be a few hours away!!! We usually take turns driving but I will have just finished an 8 hour day when we leave and not sure how long I will be able to stay awake for!!! Can't waste any precious vacation hours stopping for sleep, gotta get to Disney!!!!

 

[digskat]

Hey guys,
It's getting closer to our time so I'm doing some research and found this reccomended website in the Along I75 book www.roomsavers.com , it has coupons you can print out for hotels. Unfortunately I can't find any in Geo or TN that are valid for Oct but I'm gonna keep looking. I seem some for FLA though. Just thought I'd share!! Only 82 more days to go!! KAT

 

[hellorobbo]

Does anyone try to book a hotel before they leave or is it to hard to predict where you'll want to stop for the night when you haven't even left yet??

 

[CharlesTD]

We never book prior to leaving because sometimes we will not stop and other times you may get further or not as far as you would have hoped. Plus with teh roomsavers coupons you can't pre book the room.

 

[Lezah]

We don't leave until noon on the Friday we leave (I have to work in the am) so we normally stop around London Kentucky at 1 am or so. If we could leave earlier in the am, we would probably stop around Sweetwater, Tennessee which is the halfway point for us. We don't pre-book the hotels either, just get the hotel books at the welcome centres and then figure out where we'll stop and book from the cell phone when we've figured it out, with the Along I-75 book and the hotel discount coupon book! We just stop the one night, never drive straight through as my DH is our only driver (he cannot be a passenger, only a driver!).