Who has "winged it"...

[cricket429]

We are driving to WDW from WNY in March. We plan on leaving in middle of the night, driving till we cant drive anymore then finding a room for the night and finishing the next day. For those who have driven, do you make your hotel reservation for the trip down ahead of time or wing it and find someplace off an exit. DH does not want to make one ahead of time because he says he doesnt know how far we will get. It sounds logical but I just thought if I made one ahead of time, I could shop around for a good rate.

 

[shatzjsl]

I always had the thought that if we drove we would do the same thing your DH wants to do. My DH doesn't mind driving so I would want to get as far as he can make it.

 

[jenny2]

We usually wing it. However, lately we seem to always travel at the same time (leaving at 4am ... getting to SC by dinner) so I've been making reservations. I'd just wing it - there are lots of places to stop for the night.

 

[dudspizza]

You could also plan ahead a little. Possibly look at a map and try to figure out where you might be by a certain time... then have some phone numbers of hotels you have researched.... you could call on your cell phone to see if there is availability.... I might save some time finding a room....

Have a great time!

Duds

 

[disnutt]

Wing it! The last time we tried to save some money by doing a Priceline hotel for the trip down we were miserable! What was supposed to be a 5 hr trip to our overnight hotel ended up taking 8 hrs due to road construction and sick kids. We felt we had to go on because we had already paid the money and didn't want to waste it.

We have vowed to wing it from now on. We may pay a little more but we'll be able to stop when we want/need to.

Most highway rest stops will have local/state hotel coupon books in the lobby. If you are willing to stop as you enter the state you think you'll be sleeping in you can keep the book handy for phone numbers and some discounts. Also, AAA cards work at the last minute, too.

Kiena

 

[cricket429]

Thanks, I guess I just need reassuring. I have never done a trip this long and with a 5 yr old I guess I just wanted to be prepared. I do have AAA and an entertainment book that has hotels in each state so I will just try to be as prepared as I can be.

 

[deltachi8]

Cricket - stop on the thruway rest areas and highway rest stops on the way down and get one of the travel coupn books (usually aimed at truck drivers) - they are set up with coupon offers for those winging it. Usually set up to follow a route (east on 90, south on 77, etc).

I winged a trip once and used a coupon for a super 8 near Baltimore an dthey honored it no problem.

 

[mickeymousefan]

Another vote for wing it. If you are on 95, there are TONS of hotels and motels at every exit. My only suggestion is to do a little research and find out which areas are nice and which are scary . You dont want to keep getting off exits and finding out the only hotels available are dumps.

 

[cricket429]

Thanks. Does anyone have any suggestions for SC or GA depending on how far we get? I figured if I just stay with a name chain like Holiday Inn Express or something like that we should be ok. That was my worry too, about getting off an exit in the "wrong part of town".

 

[Mark P.]

Thanks. Does anyone have any suggestions for SC or GA depending on how far we get? I figured if I just stay with a name chain like Holiday Inn Express or something like that we should be ok. That was my worry too, about getting off an exit in the "wrong part of town".

Here ya go

http://www.usastar.com/i95/homepage.htm

This site has just about everything listed on the I-95 exits (including lodging!)

Have a safe and fun trip!

 

[cricket429]

Thanks for the link. All information is appreciated

 

[Alexander]

Just watch when you are traveling. We always wing it. However two years ago we had the week before Easter off. We were heading home on Good Friday. Well, the other half of the world was off the next week, and everyone it seems in the Eastern half of the US was traveling either to or from vacation, and it took us 6 hours to find a hotel. It was not a pretty night!

 

[NotUrsula]

Just to be safe, check the local newspaper webpages of the largor towns that are likely stopping stopping places. Be especially sure to check those that have universities nearby. If you end up there when there is a large tournament or religous meeting of some kind, you could be completely out of luck. You need to make sure that you are not targeting anyplace that has a big event on during your time frame.

 

[cricket429]

ok Alexander, now you have me thinking lol. We will be driving home on Good Friday! It could possibly be Saturday though, if we cant tear ourselves away from the beach. Thats one good thing about driving. Flexibility.

 

[kilee]

I was going to give the same advice as Alexander. We were going the week after Easter week thinking we were missing the crowds. Well we were right about the crowds at Disney. What I didn't count on was the crowds of people trying to get home. It actually took us 5 hotels to find something, then I ended up paying almost $200 for 6 hrs of sleep at a Marriott.

We were coming from the same are as you (we're just on the outskirts of Erie County). So, it's a tough call. We haven't made the drive in a few years (pretty much since Southwest has been having pretty decent off season sales). However, if we don't leave until afternoon we usually make it to Beckley WV, otherwise we stop somewhere in SC, but it always seems like slim pickings there.

 

[dbond]

We wing it, mostly. We occasionally call ahead from the cell phone, when we make our decision where we're going to stop. We've made the drive multiple times and we have a few favorite stopping locations along the way.

 

[cricket429]

Hi Kilee, nice to see someone from the area on the boards.