Driving Down

[Norm The Skull]

Well we are finaly starting in planing our trip to the World.

We want to arrive at Pop Century on Monday December 8th 2008.

We will be driving down from Ottawa Canada.
With some research I found out it should take 23 hrs of driving.
Since I don't drive my wife will be doing all the driving.

I tought about leaving on Friday December 5th in the afternoon.

Has anywone out there done a long road trip to the happiest place on Earth..

Any ideas on how to pass the time on the way there?
Good area's to stop to sleep?

I would love to hear yout ideas

Thanks again

 

[tigsmom]

Okay, so yeah, Pedro and his never ending signs may entice you to go. I've stopped a few times on my way to the beach in SC. I guess I just wouldn't want to stay in Pedro's hotel!

And don't eat there either. :hurl:

Its a fun place to stop and stretch your legs and take a few crazy photos. :lol:

 

[slappy magoo]

I can't recommend getting sirius radio more highly. Between Howard Stern, their other comedy channels, their old time radio channel, audio versions of the E! True Hollywood Stories, Sirius Stars, Sirius Left and the occasional song I did 75 to 80 percent of a 20 hour drive myself, AND with a smile on my face. Usually.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

I can't recommend getting sirius radio more highly. Between Howard Stern, their other comedy channels, their old time radio channel, audio versions of the E! True Hollywood Stories, Sirius Stars, Sirius Left and the occasional song I did 75 to 80 percent of a 20 hour drive myself, AND with a smile on my face. Usually.

If you had it on channel 18 "Buzzsaw", you would have done it in 17 hours :lookaroun

 

[mrerk]

Has anyone from New England done I84-I81-I77-I95 versus the more typical I95. Seems like a much more relaxed route and only slightly longer.

 

[TheKeeler7]

Kind of like the NJ Turnpike

......but Pedro said to stop....

Actually as much as the rest of the country might think of Jersey as seedy. The DW and I think they have the best service areas on I-95

We make it point to stop at Montvale just after crossing the border. NJ service areas seem to consistantly be clean and have gas / restrooms / vending ect. all in one stop.

We try to gas up every time we need to stop so we never stop just because of gas. Further down south you need to pull completely off the highway to gas up.

 

[tigsmom]

Actually as much as the rest of the country might think of Jersey as seedy. The DW and I think they have the best service areas on I-95

We make it point to stop at Montvale just after crossing the border. NJ service areas seem to consistantly be clean and have gas / restrooms / vending ect. all in one stop.

We try to gas up every time we need to stop so we never stop just because of gas. Further down south you need to pull completely off the highway to gas up.

Maryland's are good too

 

[TheKeeler7]

Maryland's are good too

I agree, Those are probably the best 2 states for services along the way

 

[TheKeeler7]

Has anyone from New England done I84-I81-I77-I95 versus the more typical I95. Seems like a much more relaxed route and only slightly longer.

I just mapped it out on AAA. It looks like only about 1 hr longer , but with the cities and bridges ect you would avoid, it could be about same time.

I'm very interested in hearing the feed back on it. I might want to try this route next time.

 

[elizs77]

I-77 from Statesville to Charlotte can be very congested depending on the time of day you go through there. There are lots of places in NC and SC to stop between Statesville and Rock Hill. BUT, beware that there's not a lot between Rock Hill and Columbia. About 15 years ago when returning from FL with my parents, we almost ran out of gas. My dad had to actually stop at an exit and happened to find someone who was mowing their yard and had to borrow their gas! Another time, we had to make my sister take a roadside pit stop b/c there just wasn't anywhere else to go (she was about 3 at the time).

Don't forget you have to take I-26 from I-77 in Columbia to I-95 near Charleston. I didn't see that on the previously listed sequence.

 

[tigsmom]

Has anyone from New England done I84-I81-I77-I95 versus the more typical I95. Seems like a much more relaxed route and only slightly longer.

I know a lot of people who use that route and prefer it over the I95 way. We always say we are going to try it, but we are closer to 287 in Mahwah, NJ than 84 in Middletown, NY.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Has anyone from New England done I84-I81-I77-I95 versus the more typical I95. Seems like a much more relaxed route and only slightly longer.

We usually do 81/77/85, but not all the way to Florida. You can continue 85 to 75, just need to time not being near Atlanta during rush.

81 along the Blue Ridge is a very pretty ride, plentiful places to stop and usually traffic isn't bad.

 

[slappy magoo]

If you had it on channel 18 "Buzzsaw", you would have done it in 17 hours :lookaroun

Sure, but then I would've stepped out of my car and immediately sucker punched the first nerd I saw...and let's face it, at WDW, that means I would've sucker punched the first person I saw. :ROFLOL: And of course, I'm THE arbiter of who's a nerd and who's not a nerd...because I post on a WDW fan site.

 

[mrerk]

I just mapped it out on AAA. It looks like only about 1 hr longer , but with the cities and bridges ect you would avoid, it could be about same time.

I'm very interested in hearing the feed back on it. I might want to try this route next time.

Exactly my point. You could easily lose that hour due to an accident, toll booths, whatever.

One of my employees just made the trip in an RV. He went I84-I81-I64 to Richmond and then I95. It took him 27 hours, but that included a Cracker Barrell stop and a Waffle House stop that he figures took about 3 hours total. On the way back they went I95 all the way, stopping only for gas and it took them 24 hours. Sounds like a toss up to me.

JMO, but I think if he had stayed on 81 to 77 he could have trimmed about an hour. I've been on 81 down to Bristol, TN, and I've done the I95 thing, but I'm not familar with 77 at all.

 

[ele]

I was debating driving this year (my wife is a histerical mess on a plane)but 24-28 hours on the road one way I dont think is a good start to the vacation (espcly for the driver) and with the price of gas now over 3 bucksI just cant see how its worth it

 

[Norm The Skull]

Thank You

Well thank you all for all you're help.

You gave me lot's of great ideas.

Thanks again

 

[Monty]

Well thank you all for all you're help.

You gave me lot's of great ideas.

Thanks again

Sorry I missed this in Feb... I was in WDW at the time

Driving down in December is iffy... If we have another winter like this one, you could have trouble just getting out of Ottawa! :lookaroun

DS12 and I drove down last June, we left Friday after school and almost made it to Scranton, PA that night. The next morning we went to Lorton, VA and took the Auto-train from there to Sanford, FL. With only one of you driving, you might want to consider the Auto-train. It's comparatively inexpensive and cuts 14-16 hours of driving from your trip. We arrived in Sanford before 10AM Sunday morning and had a leisurely 45-min drive to WDW. I didn't sleep well [if at all] on the train, but even with that I was a lot better off than had I driven through.

Coming back, we left a bit before noon and made it to NC the first day. We had planned on stopping in Hershey, PA on the second day, but DS and I were just too tired of motels and decided to drive straight home instead. We were home in Kanata by 10PM.

Mapquest estimates 22 and a half hours driving Ottawa-WDW. In clear driving conditions, that's not far off, if there's snow...

 

[pescador1f]

yeah

Can you let me know what website this is...you can pm me if you need to. I am driving down on the 15th from MA and stopping at a friends house to stay on Friday night, as this is the 1st time I am not driving straight through and my daughter will be able to get her license while we are gone so she can't help with the drive. My friend's house is right outside Washington DC and I need to find a safe place for her and I to be able to stay overnight on Saturday the 16th, after we leave my friend's house. I would like to get at least 9-10 hours of driving in so I am trying to figure out around where I will be after leaving DC and driving for about 10 hrs. I need to find a place to stay so if any of you could help that would be great too! That website would be great too! Thanks! :wave:

i used travmatix

 

[Philo]

Wow, I won't be complaining about a 9 hour flight again!

I'm afraid my only advice is pretty basic - make sure you have lots of rest, lots of time to get out the car for food, water and stretching and make sure your car is in good order before leaving!

 

[Phonedave]

Then hit 287 to the NJTurnpike to I95.

We always get a triptik even though we can drive down in ours sleep because they tell you where to expect construction delays.

Depending on the time of day (non rush hour) I would take the PIP (Palisades Interstate Parkway) down to 95

Or maybe even 9W

Maybe even Rt 17.

Rt 287 though NJ to the Turnpike is going to swing you out through Morristown, down past Basking Ridge, and out to the Turnpike around Edison. Thats way way out of the way.


-dave

 

[tigsmom]

Depending on the time of day (non rush hour) I would take the PIP (Palisades Interstate Parkway) down to 95

Or maybe even 9W

Maybe even Rt 17.

Rt 287 though NJ to the Turnpike is going to swing you out through Morristown, down past Basking Ridge, and out to the Turnpike around Edison. Thats way way out of the way.


-dave

Nope - the Palisades is always crowded and the roadbed is in disrepair. They have been fixing parts of it off and on and you can lose a lot of time if you get caught. Only travel this road here if you have to - which for me is once, twice a month.

I would have to go too far out of my way to get to 9W - I live at Exit 16 on the Thruway. Rt 17 here in NY turns to 87 in my town. If I chose to go old Rt 17 then I have to go thru 4 small towns, 2 lane roadway and plenty of traffic lights...yes...there are traffic lights on a main highway. :hammer:

Believe me, we have been driving down twice a year for many years and can do this trip with our eyes close - so to speak. :lol: