Driving from central Illinois

[baz212]

For those of you that have driven from Illinois does this sound reasonable for the trip down. We're leaving from LaSalle-Peru.

Day one leave early, make a stop at Mammoth Cave and go on one of the shorter tours and then continue on to Nashville to spend the night. Mapquest says that the drive will be about 7.5 hours to Nashville. I'm guessing that's without any pit stops.

Day two leave relatively early and drive to Lake City Florida. MapQuest says it will take about 8.5 hours.

Day three leave at about 8 AM and drive to WDW:sohappy: MapQuest says 2.5 hours.

I'll be driving down with my mom and DS5. Mom and I will be trading off the driving.

 

[swimmom]

That sounds about right, although it's been a really long time since my husband and I drove to Florida. We left the Chicago area about 7:00 p.m. and got to Nashville about 2:00 a.m. Left Nashville the next morning around 9:00 a.m. and got to Orlando somewhere between 10:00 & 11:00 p.m. That was a really long day, but we were young and had no kids along for the ride. We don't drive anymore. My rule is that if it takes more than a day to get there we fly.

 

[want2betink]

We drove from Effingham area. What I will say is that we did it in two overnight stays and we were miserable. I will never drive down again unless I have three weeks to do it, two to travel and one to stay at Disney.:ROFLOL:

 

[shawn]

We drive from st louis and leave about 4am and usually get to valdosta or pretty far south in georgia about 14 hours with 3 little kids and then are only about 4 hours from disney world on the 2nd day

 

[sbkline]

We drive from st louis and leave about 4am and usually get to valdosta or pretty far south in georgia about 14 hours with 3 little kids and then are only about 4 hours from disney world on the 2nd day

That's about how I like to do it, although I'm sure it won't be possible from now on, since we'll be traveling with the kids. Initially, my wife and I would drive straight through, switching out on the driving as needed. Then she decided she wasn't doing that anymore and insisted that we stop and sleep somewhere. So on our past two trips, we left Mattoon, IL around 6 AM and drove until 10 or 11 PM Florida time, stopping to sleep somewhere over the Florida state line. When we got up the next day, we only had 2 or 3 hours left to drive. I can't imagine, though, why someone would want to spread the drive out over 3 days.

But ya, that distance to Nashville, at least, sounds about right. From our town, it seems to take about 6 hours to get to Nashville.

 

[sbkline]

We drove from Effingham area. What I will say is that we did it in two overnight stays and we were miserable. I will never drive down again unless I have three weeks to do it, two to travel and one to stay at Disney.:ROFLOL:

We live in Mattoon. So we're practically neighbors!

 

[Lucky]

Say hi to my sister for me in Nashville.

 

[baz212]

I can't imagine, though, why someone would want to spread the drive out over 3 days.

.

My mom has arthritis and just can't spend that long in a car in one day. Plus I have a very antsy and active 5 year old who will rarely sleep in the car anymore. I don't want him exhausted and sleep deprived before we even get there.

 

[DISMOM]

I think that I would try to get south of Nashville the first nite. What I mean is...as far south of Nashville as possible. Two additional hours of driving the first nite can make a world of difference. The drive from Nashville to Chatanooga, Atlanta, ect.... would be that much shorter. Then, maybe, get farther down in Florida for the second nite.
A portable DVD player is a good thing for a 5 year old.

 

[baz212]

I think that I would try to get south of Nashville the first nite. What I mean is...as far south of Nashville as possible. Two additional hours of driving the first nite can make a world of difference. The drive from Nashville to Chatanooga, Atlanta, ect.... would be that much shorter. Then, maybe, get farther down in Florida for the second nite.
A portable DVD player is a good thing for a 5 year old.

Thanks for the tip. We'll see how we feel when we get to Nashville and what time it is. I already have the 2 screen Disney DVD player in my car, and I'm gonna check out a few movies that are new to him from the library I work at for the trip. DS5 also has a DS and I am planning on getting him a new game to give to him part of the way, and maybe another one for the trip back. Depends on what used games I can find. I know he wants the Phineas and Ferb game.

 

[Boray]

We've driven this the past 4 years and will do it again this coming October. We leave about 5:00am (we're in Madison, so we're a couple hours north of you) and drive straight through to Tifton, GA (about 1 hour north of the GA/FL state line), arriving there about 10:30pm local time. The next day we drive about 4 hours to Orlando. We have 2 kids, DS 9 and DD 6. We've been driving this since our daughter was 3 and they love the trip. Definately doable, just try to plan your trip the best you can so you're not driving through major cities at rush hour. In 2006, we hit Nashville at 5:00pm - it took us 1 hour to just make it through the city (this was on a Thursday afternoon.) Good luck!

 

[WDWNooby]

For those of you that have driven from Illinois does this sound reasonable for the trip down. We're leaving from LaSalle-Peru.

Day one leave early, make a stop at Mammoth Cave and go on one of the shorter tours and then continue on to Nashville to spend the night. Mapquest says that the drive will be about 7.5 hours to Nashville. I'm guessing that's without any pit stops.

Day two leave relatively early and drive to Lake City Florida. MapQuest says it will take about 8.5 hours.

Day three leave at about 8 AM and drive to WDW:sohappy: MapQuest says 2.5 hours.

I'll be driving down with my mom and DS5. Mom and I will be trading off the driving.

You're a MUCH better person than I am...we're flying out of Bloomington...I couldn't stand to drive that far. Good luck and have a great time!

 

[want2betink]

We live in Mattoon. So we're practically neighbors!

We actually live in Shelbyville and I work in Charleston so we are practically neighbors!!:wave:

 

[DBlackwell]

We just did the trip last week from Chicago. 21 hours down, 23 back. Atlanta was about half way, I think. Mountains in Tennesee. Otherwise, it's a pretty long, boring trip. Be aware there is currently road construction in the Atlanta area; it stopped us for almost 60 minutes.

 

[bobjl527]

We have done the trip 4 times from the Chicagoland area. We found that going as far as you can the first day is always best. Stopping just north of Atlanta the first night. Around 10.5 hours. Then the next day it is only an 8 hour drive or so to Orlando. Plus we miss the morning rush in Atlanta.
Driving through the mountains of Tennesee is really nice. We always like to count the "See Ruby Falls" billboards. After all the billboards we've seen....we've never stopped to see it. :shrug:
Have fun!:sohappy:

 

[sbkline]

We have done the trip 4 times from the Chicagoland area. We found that going as far as you can the first day is always best. Stopping just north of Atlanta the first night. Around 10.5 hours. Then the next day it is only an 8 hour drive or so to Orlando. Plus we miss the morning rush in Atlanta.
Driving through the mountains of Tennesee is really nice. We always like to count the "See Ruby Falls" billboards. After all the billboards we've seen....we've never stopped to see it. :shrug:
Have fun!:sohappy:

I always notice the "Cafe Risque; We Bare All" Billboards going through Georgia. :ROFLOL::ROFLOL:

And, like you, after all the billboards we've seen, we've never been. :lookaroun To Cafe Risque, that is. We HAVE been to Ruby Falls. :lol:

 

[sueuk]

I can't imagine driving these distances! We have a 2.5.hour drive to the airport (then the usual checkin time); the flight to Orlando is about 9 hours - pick a car up and a 20 min drive to WDW. About 14.5 hours and we're coming from the UK!!! Good luck :wave:

 

[MMFanCipher]

We drove from Jewell, Iowa (which is 20 miles North of Ames, which is 25 miles North of Des Moines, which is ... oh, never mind).:lol: We stopped just outside of Nashville to pick up the in-laws, they drove a separate vehicle. Drove to Lake City, FL. The next day went to some beach :shrug: on the Atlanic side of Fl for a few hours and then headed to WDW. We where there by the early after-noon. It wasn't too bad.

 

[Disneybird]

I always notice the "Cafe Risque; We Bare All" Billboards going through Georgia. :ROFLOL::ROFLOL:

And, like you, after all the billboards we've seen, we've never been. :lookaroun To Cafe Risque, that is. We HAVE been to Ruby Falls. :lol:

:lol:


See Rock City sometime too!

 

[Clark Griswold]

For about 10 years my family made the long driving voyage from central Illinois to The Happiest Place on Earth; I loved the trip down south especially heading through the mountains in southern Tennessee. I also am famous for annoying everyone in the van with announcing every Rock City or Ruby Falls billboard (which ended up being every couple of minutes). Usually, we left home about 4:00 a.m and drove all the way to Tifton, Georgia, a destination that we normally arrived at about 2:30 pm. Typically we only made one gas stop and that had to be near a Krystal for lunch! The following morning we would pack up the van and travel to Cocoa Beach for a couple of days. Unfortunately, we have put the stop on driving to Florida as we flew Northwest Airlines last summer, but someday I hope to renew the driving tradition.