Driving from Cincinnati to WDW, need some advice

[Luvmydisney]

Anyone have advice on a good place to stop for the night that would be about halfway or a little more between Cincy and WDW? We are driving with 3 small kids and know that we will probably have to stop for a rest at some point. I would love to prebook a hotel room to get a good rate, but don't know of a good city to stop in. I would like to avoid Atlanta if possible. Any thoughts about a good exit or even hotel would be very much appreciated! 33 days to go! :wave:

 

[DizMagic]

I have driven from dayton a couple of times. By best advice is don't do it. It's a long boring drive. The drive back is especially brutal. Best advice for a place to stop is macon georgia. Lots of hotels, safe, over half way there.

 

[wdwfan100]

If I am going to take 2 days to drive I always try to get past Atlanta on the first day. I usually stop at either Cordele or Tifton. It is a little more than half way. Each exit has a good selection of hotels and places to eat. Should be easy to do from Cincy.

 

[Luvmydisney]

Yeah, I am definitely dreading it, but we realized we can save almost $500 by driving so we are giving it a shot. Thanks for the advice on the city. Now that you mention it, I think we have stopped there before.

 

[jlevis]

We drive a couple of times a year from the Detroit area. We routinely stop in or around Macon going down. It is a long drive, less so from Cinci, but if you time it so you avoid rush hour in Atlanta it is not bad. In fact I enjoy it.

 

[todpatcam]

We feel your pain. The last three years we've been able to fly to WDW because of great rates but this year I've not been able to find anything good.

We may end up driving this year from Indy and we are not looking forward to the drive. Going down won't be bad because of what we have to look forward to but coming back will not be fun.

We will just need to keep reminding ourselves of the money we've saved - hopefully

 

[ncstate7991]

If you drive through Atlanta go straight through. Do NOT get on the perimiter (285)! Good luck and enjoy your trip.

 

[Kristamouse]

Hello! We live in Union KY! We drive every year with our kids to WDW and usually to Naples or Destin FL as well and Chicago and Atlanta to see family. I have four, 7,6,3,1 we drive a Traverse and do not like to drive straight through, for us it is not worth the sleep hangover at the parks with little kids.
Anyway we have two different plans: A. we go to bed with the kids around 9 PM with the car packed and everything ready. DH and I wake up at about 4.00 get ready and get the kids in the car to roll out by 4.30 AM. We drive till Gainesville (not over Labor Day though because there is a Florida game so we are going 10mins past to Ocala). Then eat breakfast and roll into Orlando around 11.00 ish and fingers crossed get at room (we are 7 for 7 on early check in) and in MK by 2.00 PM. We like the early take off the kids sleep and avoid the traffic…We also like having the time to unpack, eat and head to the parks. When we do the shorter drive and stop in the ATL area the next day takes forever and the kids and Mom and Dad are antsy for the drive to end.
OR We get the kids off the bus and take off around 2 ish and stay on the South Side of ATL.
Because of 4 kids we stay at the Homewood suites, which has a breakfast free every day (great food, make your own waffles, eggs, sausage and lots of cold items and pastry) and Dinner Monday to Thursday. We love the suites because EVERY room is a suite so we are not sleeping with our kids. We stayed at Druy Inn last Oct (got a 10.00 cheaper rate, dumb!) in Tifton, they called a suite a room with microwave and mini fridge. We had to shove 2 cribs in because the kids had no place to sleep and the Manager gave us static about fire code, I know that is why we booked a suite! There were no connecting rooms so we made due…anyway we won’t stray from them again. We did Homewoods in Macon on the way home from that trip and it was so comfy and clean. We usually pay about 120.00 or less with tax. WORTH EVERY PENNY to sleep well! Oh and you get cookies at check in
Enjoy your vacation!

 

[mikeanabean]

We drove from Mason 4 weeks ago to WDW. The best thing to do is get past Atlanta on the first day cause after Atlanta it is 8 hours to WDW. We have driven to Valdosta before the first day once and it was rough with a 4 yr old.
Also there are no boring drives just boring people.

 

[Skibum1970]

Having driven that route a couple times, Atlanta is generally the halfway spot (as mentioned by others). I like to stop in Chattanooga (a nice Comfort Inn is just north of Chattanooga). Otherwise, I would try to make it to the south side of Atlanta or Macon. It depends on timing. If you leave Cincinnati in the late afternoon, try to get past Atlanta since you will be passing through in the evening/early night. If you're leaving in the morning, I would stop in Chattanooga to avoid the rush. Plus, if your family is up to it, the Chattanooga Aquarium is quite nice.

One other note: I would recommend not going to Rock City no matter how many signs you see. We there a while back and it gave my wife nightmares. It is a running joke even now.

 

[mickey2008.1]

we are from cleveland, and usually stay somewhere around columbia SC, leaves six hour trip to finish the day. Coming back, we stay in Wytheville Va for a five hour drive home. Total trip time there, 16 hours.

 

[hanwill]

I agree... I am from Chattanooga. Don't go to Rock City. If you are going through Atlanta, keep going until you get to Macon. It is only about an hour south of Atlanta, and you totally get out of Atlanta traffic. There are good hotels north of atlanta around Chastain Road/Barrett Parkway area.

Also, follow the advice to stay on i-75 south all the way through, and not to get on 285. It is basically a 30 mile detour with all the big trucks. There is less traffic and no big trucks... Plan on Atlanta being about 8 hours from WDW (I live on the north side of ATL, and it takes us about 7.5 hours... but we know when to go through town.)

 

[dhoywdw20x]

From Dayton, OH and we always drive down to the World.

We usually try and get on the road roughly at 10:00 and try and make through Atlanta post-rush hour then stop for the evening around Macon on I-475, the bypass. (I see others have suggested Macon).

It's really not the bad of a drive (I've done it every year since I can remember) since driving age I have driven one or two legs. However this past year, I drove the entire thing both ways -- it was not as bad as I though it was going to be.

When we get to Florida we come in through the Florida Turnpike.

I've never had kids so I can't comment on the perspective of a parent. But from my perspective, each year i feel there is a new memory made on the ride down or back. I believe in 2005 when there was the mudslide in TN which caused prolonged highway delays, I remember sitting with our sliding doors open chatting with college kids on their way to Miami -- every year when we pass through the mountains, we bring that up and talk about how funny it was. That's just one example but there are plenty more. My point is the trip my cause emotions, stress and sometimes all out war in the family but it is one of the most "bonding" experience a family can have. IMO

 

[wdwcandice]

It's been a few years since I've driven to WDW, but...since I drove from the Dayton area...I have made that same trip.

We had two drivers and would leave around 9PM. We'd get through Atlanta and hit a rest area to sleep for a couple of hours, around 4AM. Usually, I would do that entire drive since I can't really sleep in a car. Then driver # 2 would take over and we'd drive an hour or so more and then stop for breakfast, a face splash and a little frisbe throwing...which always made us wake up! We would end up in Kissimee around 2pm??? where we would then check in to a motel for a shower and a long nap...After dinner, we'd hit the sack early and then check into our Disney resort first thing in the morning and hit the parks.

The drive there isn't horrible because of the anticipation. I loved driving at night although the Smokey Mountain fogs can sometimes be bad. The drive home is rougher since the trip has worn you out but we make lots of stops to stretch our legs, revive ourselves and try to enjoy the trip/scenery in the day light. We leave early in the morning and we always stop around Knoxville at a motel and that makes for a shorter drive home the next day. I'm usually so sad that my WDW vacation is over that I try to milk that ride home adding in some fun stops to fool myself into thinking I'm still on vacation. That old saying, it's the journey, not the destination, type of thing. :lol

Oh, also...we've added a few days ocean side for some complete R&R after a drive to WDW and the Disney part is over. We've also tacked on a couple days at Norris Lake in the Knoxville area. Nice stops to make after WDW.

Enjoy....

 

[wdwcandice]

3 small kids....I glazed over that part. :lol: Guess stopping at a rest area to sleep for a couple hours isn't your thing, although we did it with two young boys and felt completely safe. Many others were there doing the same thing...napping in their locked cars under street lamps. At any rate...with three young kids, I would sure leave at night. They sleep the whole way down and you and your spouse can have a conversation!!! Just limit their liquids! :lol:

 

[Disney Dawg88]

I live in Atlanta as well and I would try to avoid getting in the greater Atlanta area from 4 - 7 pm if you can. I would agree with others though try to make it to Macon and if you feel like going farther Tifton will be the next best stop. There's not a whole lot between Macon and Tifton, and then from Tifton to Valdosta which is further south.

Oh, the only other pieces of advice that I'll give you is this: 1. while driving DO NOT speed in Lowndes County, which is where Valdosta is, it's basically the last 20 - 30 miles in Georgia before the FL state line. Notorious speed trap and they write tons of tickets. 2. Make sure you stop in Valdosta and fill up because gas is higher in Florida.

Hope this helps.

 

[princessmommy]

When we go from Louisville we also stop in Macon. Have a safe trip!

 

[fladreamin]

We just made the drive from Cincy last week and we stayed at an excellent Holiday Inn in Cordele.One traffic warning I would plan for is bridge construction in Tennessee about 15 miles south of where I-75 splits from I-40/I-75 southwest of Knoxville.We got tied up in it south and north bound.

 

[MuchLovedMama]

My advice is to not book the hotel in advance. I don't think you'll have a problem getting a room this time of year. If you book a room you may wish that you'd drove another couple hours before stopping or it could be opposite, you could wish you were able to stop sooner.

We've done this in the past and it wasn't a problem.

Have fun!

 

[erstwo]

I disagree. I think you are smart to book ahead! You never know when a soccer tournament, football game, etc. will book up all the rooms at every exit for a few miles.

This happened to us one time in Valdosta. We were very lucky to get a room at a Comfort Inn & Suites around 10 pm one night. There was some sort of sports tournament and kids and parents and gear were crammed into every hallway, public space etc. (Everyone was very polite, we had no problems. yay! ) My husband went downstairs to do some work while the kids and I went to bed. He was down there from 11 until 1AM and he said they must have turned away 50 people who wanted to stop for the night. Some said they had stopped at every exit since Macon with no luck. Obviously, the tournament didn't book all of those hotels, but I think with regular interstate traffic + some other local events = shortage of hotel rooms. So you just never know.

Most hotel chains allow you to cancel by 6 pm the day of arrival with no penalty. So if you book in Macon, but realize by mid afternoon you can make it to Valdosta, you can always make a new reservation and cancel the original one. Have a great trip! Safe travels! :wave: