ATTN. NY Metro Area Drivers to WDW

[artvandelay]

I'm thinking of driving to WDW in April with my almost 3 year old son and had a couple of questions:

1 Have you ever taken a kid that young for the drive to WDW? My son is a good passenger and does not get car sick.

2 How did you break up the trip?

3 Did you leave at night or in the morning?

4 Was it worth the it, as compared to the 2 1/2 hour flight?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Eskimo]

We drive to Disney every time we go. From Northen NJ where we live it takes us about 18 hours till we are resting in our room. We only stop 2-3 times. Leave about 1am and we are there in time for dinner. We pack most of our food and stuff to keep stops to a minimum (gas and reststops are usually at the same time) My dad drives the entire way usually. We also take along the laptop and watch DVD's most of the way down. Once you do it a few times you get used to it and by the 15th time the trip takes almost no time at all.

 

[lamarvenoy]

South of the Border is a pretty good halfway place, you can also stock up on illegal fireworks for 4th of July.

 

[mrtoad]

Originally posted by Kingdom Konsultant
Mr. Toad and johnvree where are you in northern NJ? I was just wondering because that's where I am.

I never drive, I always fly. I want to have every minute of my vacation available to me. I would much rather spend 2 1/2 hours on a plane than 24 in a car. I take an early flight down and a late flight back usually. I just can't get enough Disney....

Pam

Pam,

I am in Oak Ridge, it is part of Jefferson. Towns near by are West Milford and Sparta. Where in North NJ are you?

Also, I did get your email and will be back to you tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Mike

 

[artvandelay]

I wish Amtrak would bring the embarkation point further north, like Newark, NJ.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Originally posted by mrtoad
Pam,

I am in Oak Ridge, it is part of Jefferson. Towns near by are West Milford and Sparta. Where in North NJ are you?

Also, I did get your email and will be back to you tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Mike

That's funny Mike.... I'm in the Lake Hopatcong part of Jefferson.

Pam

 

[tigsmom]

Originally posted by artvandelay
I wish Amtrak would bring the embarkation point further north, like Newark, NJ.

We feel the same way...its about a 5-6 hr ride to Woodbridge, VA (Exit 162 on 95) where it starts.

 

[KathyG/poohbear]

I have an interesting story. About 3 weeks ago I was driving home from my brothers who lives on Prince Edward Island in Canada. I live about 10 miles north of Greensboro NC and we drove straight through both ways. It took us about 27 hours and we stopped every 3 hours because we had our dog along.

***Here is the funny part. We stopped at a Tim Horton's just the other side of Moncton, New Brunswick. The casher asked us where we were from and I said North Carolina. She said it is really pretty there because every year we drive straight through to Disney World and I notice how pretty NC is. Now after 27 hours on the road I am questioning my sanity but I can't imagine driving from Moncton, New Brunswick straight through to Disney World. I am thinking that would take around 36 or 37 hours. You never know when you are going to run into a dedicated Disney fan.****

 

[mrtoad]

Originally posted by Kingdom Konsultant
That's funny Mike.... I'm in the Lake Hopatcong part of Jefferson.

Pam

Wow, we bought our house about 1 year ago. We looked at 2 houses in the Lake Hopatcong area.

It really is a small world.

 

[mkt]

Originally posted by KathyG/poohbear
I have an interesting story. About 3 weeks ago I was driving home from my brothers who lives on Prince Edward Island in Canada. I live about 10 miles north of Greensboro NC and we drove straight through both ways. It took us about 27 hours and we stopped every 3 hours because we had our dog along.

***Here is the funny part. We stopped at a Tim Horton's just the other side of Moncton, New Brunswick. The casher asked us where we were from and I said North Carolina. She said it is really pretty there because every year we drive straight through to Disney World and I notice how pretty NC is. Now after 27 hours on the road I am questioning my sanity but I can't imagine driving from Moncton, New Brunswick straight through to Disney World. I am thinking that would take around 36 or 37 hours. You never know when you are going to run into a dedicated Disney fan.****

I call my apartment complex Little Toronto, due to the fact that most of my neighbors are Canadians who moved here for Disney. Most came from Ontario and Quebec which isn't a big deal. However, my 2 new neighbors moved from (get ready) VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA to live close to Disney. They sold all their unimportant belongings and packed up what was important and drove straight from Vancouver to Orlando. My neighbors downstairs did the same but came from Calgary, Alberta. How someone could drive such a distance is beyond me (then again... I drove from Orlando to Toronto in 22 hours). I think I only have 2 american neighbors in my building.

 

[maelstrom]

I live about an hour north of the city. We've been driving to WDW since 1985 (ok, technically I wasn't exactly there, as in born, until 1986 :lol: ) In times past, we had usually gotten up at around 3a or 4a, and left the house at around 4.30a or 5a, and driven to North or South Carolina and spent the night there. Now my dad makes better time and we make it to Savannah. Driving down is the fun part. Driving home is the pits. First off, you're not going to WDW, so you're sad. Then, you'll most likely end up spending the night in Virginia.. I don't know if this is true for all of Virginia, or just the Virginia along 95, but there are only a small handful of decent places to stay. Word of advice: There is a HoJo on the downtown Fredericksburg exit -- don't stay there!! Wait until the next exit and there is a nice hotel with a good Pizza Hut close by Another thing when you're driving down -- do not miss the Florida welcoming center!! It's one of our rituals, and you get a free cup of orange or grapefruit juice.

Anything you wanna know about driving to WDW from NY, you can PM me. My mom keeps a travel journal where she writes down exits we've got off on, what exits have good food, which ones have good hotels, and most importantly, the exits that you do not ever want to get off at.

 

[kennyj29]

Drive

We always drove straight through but with two drivers it didn't really matter because by the time the second driver would take the wheel they were just as tired as the first driver was so we would always end up stopping at a truck stop and resting for about an hour. My son was 5 the first time we drove and what we did was buy a bag of toys. One for the trip down and one for the trip back up. It would include coloring book, crayons, reading books, little gadgets like toy soldiers, or disney figures. This kept him busy the whole ride down and we never heard a peep. They don't have to be expensive toys but they are so excited that in between the times he would fall asleep it kept him really busy. My daughter was 10 and we would do the same thing for her. They both loved it. We stopped driving awhile ago though because they last time I fell asleep at the wheel for about 5 seconds enough to scare the crap out of us and my husband refuses to stop so we now fly. But it used to be a fun trip down a horror on the way home only because we didn't want to come home.....lol.

 

[artvandelay]

Thanks for all the advice. I think we are going to fly down in April. Jet Blue has a fare for $180 round trip from JFK. That's tough to beat. When we go back in October '05, we are definitely driving down.

 

[maelstrom]

Originally posted by artvandelay
Thanks for all the advice. I think we are going to fly down in April. Jet Blue has a fare for $180 round trip from JFK. That's tough to beat. When we go back in October '05, we are definitely driving down.

If you fly from Newburgh (Stewart AFB) on Southeast Airlines it's something like $60 each way; that's how we're flying down in December.

 

[tigsmom]

Originally posted by maelstrom
If you fly from Newburgh (Stewart AFB) on Southeast Airlines it's something like $60 each way; that's how we're flying down in December.

Thats what we are looking into for Easter break.

 

[spr0m]

check out http://www.usastar.com/i95/homepage.htm
great info lists all the exits/service areas on 95 with gas/eats/sleep

 

[tigsmom]

Nice site! Thanks for the info. :wave:

 

[Eskimo]

Jefferson! Sparta! Lake Hopatcong! Anyone here from Vernon?

*raises hand enthusiatically*

BTW, south of the border is gross. Ive stopped once in all the times i went down and back up again. ill never do it again.

EDIT: spelling... that hopatcong sure is a tough one:hammer:

 

[Deaclaw]

As someone who lives in NC, I wouldn't stop between Fayetteville NC and Florence SC-----That are in between those two cities is somewhat desolate and bleak and a tad bit on the dangerous side........

As for South of the Border, well, it started out as a beer joint--enuff said:lol:

 

[noname70]

RV DRIVERS?

Cracker Barrel rules!

I'll be driving down for the first time in a Winnebago from NYC. Any tips on this? Are there any convenient places to stop for the night (I figure around Carolina or Georgia)? What about highway service/rest areas-too shady?

 

[maelstrom]

Re: RV DRIVERS?

Originally posted by noname70
Cracker Barrel rules!

I'll be driving down for the first time in a Winnebago from NYC. Any tips on this? Are there any convenient places to stop for the night (I figure around Carolina or Georgia)? What about highway service/rest areas-too shady?

Santee, South Carolina or Savannah, Georgia are good places to stop. Driving from NY to Savannah, Georgia in one day is *very* stressful and it's a long trip. If this is your first trip, I highly recommend stopping in North or South Carolina.

There is a qucik stop Pizza Hut (the kind that's in a gas station) in the Jaratt (sp?) exit in Virginia, which is where you will be around lunch time. It's really good and it's quick. You save a lot of time by not stopping to have a full meal.

My mom keeps a travel diary with all the exits we get off on and hotels we stay at. I'll try to find some exit numbers for you.