driving from CT---

[kim79]

so, we will be driving from ct to WDW in April...I would love to fly, just because its quicker and will give us more "vacation" time, but we save much more money by driving. Does any one have any experience driving from NE...I mainly need to know the time we should leave (we have a 6 yr old and an 8 yer old) so leaving in the middle of the night probably wont work too good for us as I have heard of people doing this. Also, how far a good 12 hr driving should get us...I was hoping somewhere in SC or GA so I know where i should make hotel reservations for the night. What would be the best route to take (sorry, my question mark button is broken ) This is our first trip so I just want to make everything run smooth. Thanks!

 

[siberian57]

so, we will be driving from ct to WDW in April...I would love to fly, just because its quicker and will give us more "vacation" time, but we save much more money by driving. Does any one have any experience driving from NE...I mainly need to know the time we should leave (we have a 6 yr old and an 8 yer old) so leaving in the middle of the night probably wont work too good for us as I have heard of people doing this. Also, how far a good 12 hr driving should get us...I was hoping somewhere in SC or GA so I know where i should make hotel reservations for the night. What would be the best route to take (sorry, my question mark button is broken ) This is our first trip so I just want to make everything run smooth. Thanks!

I live in CT as well and have only made the trip 2 or 3 times. I like to leave earlier in the day, so I can have some time for breaks if I need to and so I can get into a hotel at a decent time to grab some food locally and wind down while there's some light out. That way it doesn't feel too rushed for me. I don't have kids so I can't weigh in on that aspect. 12 hours is around what I did and it got me into the northern part of SC where I grabbed a hotel overnight. We called from the road for hotels about 45 min ahead of time so we were somewhat last second on that and we were fine. It really depends on the person if you ask me. I can get on the road by 6 or 7am and have no problem because I liked driving into the daylight rather into the night plus I have some time to sleep. I've also left at midnight and gone but that's your call because as I mentioned, the kids could make planning different.

I've gone straight down 95 and it's been smooth, only places I hit traffic was in NYC area, Baltimore and scattered throughout NJ. Also again in Jacksonville and Orlando (but I was there around rush hour). I've also gone straight into PA and down 81 which is about 1.5hrs further by mapquest but I didn't hit as much traffic and it was a much more "scenic" route if you ask me so both actually ended up taking me around the same amount of time. If it were ME I would go early in the morning and take my break at dinner, get a hotel and continue the rest the next day, and I would go 81, not because its quicker but because I liked the drive better. However, for you I might say take 95 because it's more direct and depending on traffic could be slightly faster.

 

[kim79]

thanks! After some researching i found that we will take 81 and meet with 95 wherever it should meet to finish on to orlando. We "plan" on leaving around 4:30/5 a.m just to be safe. It gives us plenty of time for pit stops along the way and we decided our stopping point will be Florence S.C which is in northern SC. Mapquest has it about 13 hrs or so we're hoping to reach there dinnertime-ish to eat, unwind and sleep before finishing in the a.m

 

[Todd L]

so, we will be driving from ct to WDW in April...I would love to fly, just because its quicker and will give us more "vacation" time, but we save much more money by driving. Does any one have any experience driving from NE...I mainly need to know the time we should leave (we have a 6 yr old and an 8 yer old) so leaving in the middle of the night probably wont work too good for us as I have heard of people doing this. Also, how far a good 12 hr driving should get us...I was hoping somewhere in SC or GA so I know where i should make hotel reservations for the night. What would be the best route to take (sorry, my question mark button is broken ) This is our first trip so I just want to make everything run smooth. Thanks!

I live on L.I. and only drove once 15 year ago....it was LONG and I still think about it from time to time.

I think the real trick to driving on the I-95 is to be past the D.C. area before Rush hours starts ..for me that meant leaving in the middle of the night.

I was nervous driving and this was before we had a Cell phone, Gps or any other modern conveniece.

We went as far as we could in one day (I was in my 20's at the time and would never try that now)

I think we made it to Yulle florida in 17 hours??!!

I think at the 12 hour mark we were at the North-South carolina border.

Good Luck and have fun!!

 

[Clamman73]

I just drove down to Florida from LI this past Sunday, so I can give you some real world numbers for driving on a Sunday with no traffic jams and just stopping for gas.
Lincoln tunnel 8:00am
Baltimore 11:15am
Richmond 1:45pm
NC/VA border 3:15
stopped in Lumberton NC 5:45pm

next day - a Monday
leave Lumberton NC 6:50am
SC/GA border 10:05am
FL border 11:55am
Palm Coast 1:20pm

 

[Alison1975]

so, we will be driving from ct to WDW in April...I would love to fly, just because its quicker and will give us more "vacation" time, but we save much more money by driving. Does any one have any experience driving from NE...I mainly need to know the time we should leave (we have a 6 yr old and an 8 yer old) so leaving in the middle of the night probably wont work too good for us as I have heard of people doing this. Also, how far a good 12 hr driving should get us...I was hoping somewhere in SC or GA so I know where i should make hotel reservations for the night. What would be the best route to take (sorry, my question mark button is broken ) This is our first trip so I just want to make everything run smooth. Thanks!

We drive from W.mass every year. We have 4 kids and drive straight thru..takes about 21 hours driving time. We have left at 2am,8am,noon.. all depends on plans. The one time we stopped ( in southern NC) we didn't make ressies..we just dont like the pressure of ressies..there is a ton of off highway motels along the road.

 

[Captain Disney]

My family just did the drive to Disney this past April. We went the week after Easter. Not sure if this will help, because I live in central Pennsylvania. We left our house at 5a.m. on the button. We stopped for an hour on the other side of DC for breakfast, a few fuel stops and stopped for an hour at South of the Border. We made to southern Georgia by 8 p.m. It was my self, the girlfriend and out 2 boys, ages 6 and 7. The kids did great, they were so excited to be going that we never heard a peep from them, other than the help with changing the movie in the DVD player and the occasional bathroom quick pee. We have reservation this coming April, and are again planning on driving, for again, the week after Easter. We were in Harrisburg PA, and I set the GPS, it told be sriving straight we would have ended up in Disney by 8 p.m. , far to long of a drive with the kids. Hope this helps, I would be more that happy to answer any questions if you need.