Driving from Buffalo, Sunpass?

[tiggerlvr]

We are heading down in August from Buffalo, NY. Once we get to FL we plan to take I-95 S to I-4 W, and then taking exit 67 towards Disney. Will we be going through tolls? We'd heard it's beneficial to have a sunpass when driving to WDW, however when I go to the sunpass website to calculate tolls on our route it says there aren't any. I don't know if this is a glitch on their website or if we are truly taking a route that doesn't have tolls. Thanks in advance to anyone who has done this drive and knows!

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

You'll hit I-4 at Daytona. Exit 260 B west (towards Orlando). 95 and I4 - No tolls.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Like scorp16 says, if you come off of 95 onto 4 West, there won't be any tolls, so you won't need Sunpass...I don't know if you use EZ-Pass in upstate NY, but it might be worthwhile to get an EZ Pass tag if you don't have one...EZ Pass will work all along the Rt. 95 corridor in NY, NJ, PA, DE, and the tunnel in Baltimore. There won't be any more tolls on 95 south of Baltimore UNLESS you use the HOV lanes south of DC. (they also accept EZ Pass). Hope this helps! Just as an aside, expect HEAVY traffic from just south of Baltimore until about 40 miles south of DC...BE PREPARED....all in all, it's actually a nice ride.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

We made the drive up from Orlando to Northern Jersey/Rockland New York area last November on an emergency basis in November last year. Camera battery exploded during TSA inspection, which caused them to evacuate the entire airport, including taking us off our plane, going back to terminal, waiting 4 hours while they physically inspected the entire airport, then everyone having to go back through security...and I mean everyone in the entire airport....only to wait until 12:30 for them to tell us our pilots timed out....and due to it being "jersey week" they couldn't get us flights back until Monday...(it was Friday night/Saturday morning at this point). So we rented a mini van and started driving back home at 1:30 am. Me, my wife, 2 kids (7-5) and my inlaws.

Venting aside, it really isn't a bad trip at all, and I imagine it would be even better planned out. Our rental car cam with the Sunpass, but like Smiley said I dont' remember needing it for the 4W/95 portion of the trip. We of course used it all through the 95 corridor (and I highly highly recommend using the HOV lane option if you can, it saved us some time and headaches.

Again, if you don't have EZ pass, I would definitely get it, as I assume you will taking a trip using some form of 87/GSP/NJTA route, and having the ezpass rather waiting in lines for cash only and having correct change is going to be a lifesaver.

Interesting travel fact, south of NY/NJ, and the border of Delaware, there are no rest stops/restaurants ON 95. There are plenty of opportunities to pull off the road and gas up/eat/stretch legs, but none of the typical North East gas station restaurant complexes built right onto the roadway. That made for an interesting pit stop for an emergency bathroom run at 10:30PM when a sign said food off the exit....and they must have meant way way way off the exit as it took as 5 miles down the road to find a less then desirable gas station/BR.

 

[mapleleaf1389]

To answer your question, The EZpass will cover the Northeast parts of the trip, and the route you are taking requires no tolls in FLA.

FWIW, my wife and I used to do this trip pretty routinely from Albany, NY, you may want to consider taking I81 south and taking it to I77 south. The worst parts of 95 dont really end until you get south of Virginia. If you go this way you dont pick 95 up until about the middle of South Carolina and avoid most of the city traffic on the way down.

 

[tiggerlvr]

Thanks everyone! I should have been more specific. We are taking I-79 to I-77 to I-26 then hopping on I-95 S a bit after Columbia, SC.
We do have an ez-pass that is in my car in case we run into any tolls that accept it, if I remember correctly there is one in Pittsburg.
Sounds like we don’t need to get a sunpass after all!

 

[Smiley/OCD]

We made the drive up from Orlando to Northern Jersey/Rockland New York area last November on an emergency basis in November last year. Camera battery exploded during TSA inspection, which caused them to evacuate the entire airport, including taking us off our plane, going back to terminal, waiting 4 hours while they physically inspected the entire airport, then everyone having to go back through security...and I mean everyone in the entire airport....only to wait until 12:30 for them to tell us our pilots timed out....and due to it being "jersey week" they couldn't get us flights back until Monday...(it was Friday night/Saturday morning at this point). So we rented a mini van and started driving back home at 1:30 am. Me, my wife, 2 kids (7-5) and my inlaws.

Venting aside, it really isn't a bad trip at all, and I imagine it would be even better planned out. Our rental car cam with the Sunpass, but like Smiley said I dont' remember needing it for the 4W/95 portion of the trip. We of course used it all through the 95 corridor (and I highly highly recommend using the HOV lane option if you can, it saved us some time and headaches.

Again, if you don't have EZ pass, I would definitely get it, as I assume you will taking a trip using some form of 87/GSP/NJTA route, and having the ezpass rather waiting in lines for cash only and having correct change is going to be a lifesaver.

Interesting travel fact, south of NY/NJ, and the border of Delaware, there are no rest stops/restaurants ON 95. There are plenty of opportunities to pull off the road and gas up/eat/stretch legs, but none of the typical North East gas station restaurant complexes built right onto the roadway. That made for an interesting pit stop for an emergency bathroom run at 10:30PM when a sign said food off the exit....and they must have meant way way way off the exit as it took as 5 miles down the road to find a less then desirable gas station/BR.

We were there too!!! Had to rent a car like you did and drive back to NJ...We had no choice and had to drive the rental to Newark airport (we live in south NJ)...there were about 100 cars being turned in...out of those, about 90 had Florida plates...coincidence???

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

We were there too!!! Had to rent a car like you did and drive back to NJ...We had no choice and had to drive the rental to Newark airport (we live in south NJ)...there were about 100 cars being turned in...out of those, about 90 had Florida plates...coincidence???

OMG what a small world. One of the great things that can come out of this board, finding people with shared experiences like that. Not the highlight of customer service or efficiency for MCO that day to be sure. Hopefully you were on one of the fights that got canceled earlier in the night, so you could start the drive back sooner. Jet Blue didn't cancel our flight until 12:30AM Saturday morning, which was just painful.

I do have to say, while obviously in the moment I wish everything had just gone as planned and we flew back with no issue. That adventure of driving back is such a memory that we will share with our young boys, and even my in-laws, that in a sick way I am kind of glad it happened.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

No, we had a 9:15 pm flight on Spirit...got there at about 7, about an hour or so after the TSA incident. When we arrived, there were 10,000 people in lines to nowhere...our plane took off about 30 minutes late with just the flight crew. We got one of the last one way rentals at Thrifty, started driving north at about 10:30, drove to about St. Augustine, FL, slept for about 4 hours and started home at about 5.
I always wanted to make the drive and my DW said NO!!! This time she didn't have a choice and she will even admit the drive wasn't bad at all! It turns out that her vertigo is triggered by the altitude of the plane, so we will now drive. Actually, the rental cost $600.00 because it was one way. but the rental was still cheaper than the plane tickets (which Spirit did refund). It was actually a great family bonding time...18 hours and we didn't kill each other!! lol

 

[lazyboy97o]

Depending on what time you plan to arrive, you may want to consider taking FL-417 from I-4 to Walt Disney World instead of I-4 the entire way. FL-417 is a toll road that goes around Orlando, bypassing normal traffic, I-4 Ultimate construction traffic and other attractions traffic. It would be prudent to at least have the cash for FL-417 and keep an eye on Orlando area traffic when you get on I-4. It’s about a 45 minute drive from I-95 to the start of FL-417 on I-4.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

To answer your question, The EZpass will cover the Northeast parts of the trip, and the route you are taking requires no tolls in FLA.

FWIW, my wife and I used to do this trip pretty routinely from Albany, NY, you may want to consider taking I81 south and taking it to I77 south. The worst parts of 95 dont really end until you get south of Virginia. If you go this way you dont pick 95 up until about the middle of South Carolina and avoid most of the city traffic on the way down.

Agree...avoid 95 and especially DC. We lost 4 hours both ways in April...no construction OR Accidents

I95 is simply under built/maintained for this day and age

 

[cdeev8690]

I've driven to and from Jersey multiple times. Never hit tolls in Florida. If you're coming from the airport, that's a different story. But the route you'll take from the North will bypass tolls.

The unofficial speed limit on the Jersey Turnpike is 80 so be prepared for some speedsters through the Garden State. DC can be rough but not terrible (has anyone driven around NYC and the boroughs during rush hour before? that's terrible). Be aware of the posted speed limits in Virginia, they change quickly, and cops will pull you over ruthlessly if you exceed the speed limit. We got hit one year and it required a court appearance. We had to hire a lawyer to represent us to get the charges decreased. It's a very very expensive ticket after all is said and done.

After that, you're golden. Load up with some good podcasts and rest as often as you need! It's a looooooong ride down but even longer coming back.

 

[larryz]

Thanks everyone! I should have been more specific. We are taking I-79 to I-77 to I-26 then hopping on I-95 S a bit after Columbia, SC.
We do have an ez-pass that is in my car in case we run into any tolls that accept it, if I remember correctly there is one in Pittsburg.
Sounds like we don’t need to get a sunpass after all!

There's a section of I-77 in W.Va that's a toll road... from Princeton to Charleston. They accept EZ-Pass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_Turnpike