Would you make a 16 hour drive immediately after a park or stay another night?

[hml12299]

We are debating on adding a night on to our reservation. Right now we are staying 4 nights in March and the plan is to hit the road on our last day (a Friday) by 4 after visiting AK. We have 3 small children. We then have a 16 hour drive, not planning on stopping at any hotels on the way home. I'm wondering if we should just spend the night on Friday and wake up refreshed on Saturday, take our time, have a good breakfast and then start our drive. Would the $246 for the extra night be worth that to you?

 

[churchpilot]

It would be worth it to me! You will be tired and visiting a park and if you can afford the time and money, stay and leave refreshed. The most we will do on the day we leave is DTD.

 

[MarthaJr.]

Please drive well rested. Your family's safety and others is the most important thing! Perhaps stay at a less expensive hotel that last night.

 

[Kristibo42]

I would leave drive a couple of hours and find a hotel. For me $246 is a lot for a place to lay my head.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I would leave drive a couple of hours and find a hotel. For me $246 is a lot for a place to lay my head.

Good recommendation.

 

[hml12299]

Thanks for the replies! We did decide to stay an extra night. We actually added the night on to the beginning of our trip, b/c the extra day added at the end put us into peak season instead of regular and the price skyrocketed!! We decided to just stay at Disney b/c we are a group of 6 so anywhere we go, we will need two rooms so it really won't be super cheap anywhere plus I just like not having to drive immediately after a park. The drive is long without stopping at a hotel actually on the route, but we have 3 adults that can take turns driving.

 

[myhouseofmouse]

Yeah we are have a trip planned in a few weeks and are planning on doing a full day at a park til 5pm then driving home (also a 16 hour drive) however we are planning on stopping at some point and crashing at a hotel, then finishing drive the following day.

 

[kirstenb1]

Respectfully, I'd save the money, and be safe, picking a hotel after 10 hrs on the road. We drive 95, and there are so many affordable options. The next day, you'd only have 6 hrs. When we get home after a week, there's plenty of unpacking, laundry, mail and phone messages. It's nice to knock out a bit that afternoon, before going back to work.

But, barring that, I'd choose the option that leaves you the most refreshed for the drive.

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

Traveling with the kids I would leave and drive the 6 hrs than spend a night on the road for he last 10 hrs. The 16 are going to be longer because of the bathroom breaks and just stretching for the kids. One never has to go when the others do.
Also, you have to count in traffic or accident delays.

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks for the replies! We did decide to stay an extra night.

Better option than doing the whole drive after a whole day!

We *flew* home after disembarking from a cruise then heading to Universal until the last minute, and then encountered a long delay in Newark, and my son was nearly delirious with exhaustion, and we weren't too far behind him, by the time we landed. It was awful. Driving would have been a zillion times worse.

Most I ever drove in one basic shot was 12 hours when I was 18-20 and really really stupid (used to sleep at rest areas, for instance, as a solo female...luckily the Darwin Award didn't get me!) 16? No, not even with 3 drivers.

At 26 when I drove x-country I started in the morning once it was fully light and stopped WELL before sundown (except for the one night I was trying to make it into New Orleans and ended up driving across Lake Ponchartrain right into the sunset...talk about blind). My dad was a bus driver for 20 years and taught me at least that much. Driving is too important to do while exhausted!

 

[DOOM1001]

get yourself a $35-$50 room on Hotwire or travelocity top secret hotels for that night,that's a seriously long drive to do after being at the park.I mean 16 hours leaving at 4pm,that's getting home at 8am the next day,leaving at 9am you get home at 1am,sounds much better.Just for safety sake I would stay the night and $246 is a lot,I would just get a cheap hotel on these discount travel sites.I'm a 4 hour drive away and when I was younger I would get up at 4am,drive the 4 hours to the park,staying until 8-11pm and drive right back,I don't do such things anymore,just crazy!! Also I've done plenty of longer trips around the US and I've realized I start kinda wigging out at about 12 hours,I wouldn't want to deal with lack of sleep as well.I now do 8-12 trips longer trips a year and probably 3/4 of them are staying at hotels booked on sites like Hotwire,I just got the Rosen Shingle Creek for $53/night,sounds a lot better than paying the extra $246 for one more night.

 

[Maliki2]

Stay another night. We stayed a extra night when we drove down last time. I ended up driving straight through from Disney World to Vermont about 10 minutes from the Quebec border. Worst decision I ever have done!!

 

[Q-man]

I'm in put in 6 hours on the road and stop for the night crowd.

I've done the trip from Houston to Orlando ~1K miles solo in ~13 hours with 2 stops of less than 20mins total. It took 16.5 hours on the return with the kids.

 

[kydisneyfans]

For our trip in April, we attended a convention at Coronado, left at 4:30 and stayed in Atlanta for the night, stopping around 11:30. We were rested and ready for the remaining 6 hour drive home.

Last October, we left at 3:00, made real good time up I75, made a decision to cancel our free night in Atlanta and push home in KY straight thru. Never again, I hit the literal "brick wall" in the middle of TN and the last 200 miles was the worst drive in my life.

If leaving at 4:00, save a couple hundred bucks, knock out a 1/3 of the drive, and stay somewhere partway home.

 

[FLSarah]

I think you made a great decision. We only live 3 hours away, and it's sometimes hard for me to drive home after a day in the parks especially when it gets dark so early like now. We're from Indiana, and it's around a 17 hour drive there from here. I can not imagine even attempting that after a day in the parks.