Driving from Northern New Jersey

[mrtoad]

Hello,

I am doing something I did not want to do and that is drive to WDW. I have some questions. I went through a thread that I was involved in last month when someone was talking about driving from this area, but it did not provide the answers I need.

1) From what it looks like, it is about 18 hours drive time from NYC to WDW, is that right?

2) I am going to be traveling with a 3 year old. I wanted to drive straight through the night to WDW but my wife does not want to do it all in one drive. So it looks like we will leave in the morning on a Friday and arive on Saturday sometime. What time would you recommend leaving on Friday morning?

3) If you want to make it to WDW at a decent time on Saturday so you could still do something, where would you stop on Friday night?

I might have more questions, but for now that is all I can think of.

Thanks.

 

[Maerj]

I know someone locally here in PA who said it took them 18 hours to drive there, so I would say it will take you at least 20. That's just a guess though.

 

[Buzzforprez]

Just got back. It took us 20 hours to get back to northern NJ, but that includes 2 stops for Cracker Barrell. Going down we left at about 9 pm and got to north Fla. (where we stayed the night b4 going to Disney) about 4 pm. You got to leave early enough to avoid the traffic in the Washington area. Not too much extensive road construction on 95 so there was no traffic elsewhere. Be sure to gas up in the Maryland Houses when you get there. After that you have to go off the highway some distance for gas. Have a 4 year old, he was fine. Just bring things to entertain the kids.

Have a great trip!

:wave: :wave: :wave: :wave: :wave:

 

[maelstrom]

We usually stop for the night in Santee, South Carolina or Savannah, Georgia when we drive down. We usually get to WDW around lunch time (11-12). Driving home, we stay in Virginia, the exit AFTER the downtown Fredricksburg exit (I cannot stress that enough).

I'm sure your 3 year old will do just fine in the car. I've been making the trip since I was 2. I just sat in my car seat and minded my own business the entire drive.

:wave:

 

[spr0m]

I'm leaving on Friday from Central NJ as well. My plan load the truck Thursday morning early Turkey Day dinner at my grandmothers 2pm home at 4pm sleep by 5pm wake up at 1AM drive to Hilton Head I should be there by 12noon get my 3 year old and 1 year old on the beach for a few hours they love the beach have a nice dinner and get to sleep early 9pm wake up 6am grab a bite and then down to Kennedy Space Center for the afternoon tour. We'll be going all the way to Miami and the keys for week one then back up to Disney for week 2. I was able to get the Hyatt ocean front resort in Hilton Head for only $62 on priceline so we'll check out the Island for future vacation potential I wanted to check out the DVC resort there but the cheapest I could get the room for was $139 so we'll just drop in and take a look at the model. Hilton Head is a short detour off 95 and I've heard wonderful things from friends about it also I can squeeze some fishing in as well:animwink: . I have made it all the way to Miami in 19 hours before but this was with fishing buddies and before I had the kids I no longer drive at warp speed so the trip will take 22 or so total driving time Orlando is 18:30

 

[AkiraRaptor]

We just made the trip last month from PA (York area).

We left at 5:30 AM on a Sunday, and arrived at a Marriott hotel outside of Jacksonville FL by the beaches at around 8:30 PM.

This was with a lunch stop, 3 gas stops, and a 1 hour delay when my car died and we had to replace the battery. :hammer:

We kept at or 5 mph above the speed limit the whole time (so between 70-75).

It was then about 2 1/2 hours to Disney from there the next morning.

To answer you questions about drive through or stop, I'll give you my thoughts from doing both.

Stoping outside of Disney is much better. You can time things better. We've drove strait through, and ended up arriving early, and our room was not ready, and we were dead tired. To tired to even do the parks. We ended up sleeping in the Poly's lobby area while we waited for our room.

We tried to sleep in the car, but it got to hot outside.

We now stop in Jacksonville. It's still very close to the World, and we always like seeing the ocean on our trip, so we get to drive done A1A in the mornings and stop and look at the ocean for a bit.

You can get going at 8:00 AM-ish and still be at the resorts around 11:00 AM, and if it's not crowded, they could have your room ready by then.

Last year it was perfect, but this year we did get in around 11:30 AM, but the room wasn't ready till 3:00 PM, so we just left our luggage and went to the parks. The point is we were not tired at all and could do this. If we had driven strait through, it would have been terriable again like our first drive was.

And with a small child, it would be worse most likely.

Just my opinion, but stopping helps us rejuvinate and it makes for a good first day when you arrive.

 

[garyhoov]

I live in South Jersey, and the longest it's ever taken me is about 17 hours (and that was with some traffic), so I'd say if you add an extra hour, 18 hours sounds very reasonable.

I usually leave in the afternoon so my son can complete one last day of school before we head down. We usually stop in North Carolina and then finish the trip the next day. My son is 11, so we can entertain each other. It may be a bit rougher on a 3 year old, and you may want to plan in some mental health stops.

If you've got some energy, you should be able to start at say 8:00 am and be in Georgia by 10:00 pm, then you've got a relatively short drive the next day.

One thing I learned the first time I drove was not to make reservations. There are hotels/motels roughly every 10 miles, so you'll have no problem at all finding a room. That leaves you free to stop when you feel like it (or just keep going once your wife and son/daughter fall asleep).

Have a great time!

:wave:

 

[mrtoad]

Originally posted by garyhoov
I live in South Jersey, and the longest it's ever taken me is about 17 hours (and that was with some traffic), so I'd say if you add an extra hour, 18 hours sounds very reasonable.

I usually leave in the afternoon so my son can complete one last day of school before we head down. We usually stop in North Carolina and then finish the trip the next day. My son is 11, so we can entertain each other. It may be a bit rougher on a 3 year old, and you may want to plan in some mental health stops.

If you've got some energy, you should be able to start at say 8:00 am and be in Georgia by 10:00 pm, then you've got a relatively short drive the next day.

One thing I learned the first time I drove was not to make reservations. There are hotels/motels roughly every 10 miles, so you'll have no problem at all finding a room. That leaves you free to stop when you feel like it (or just keep going once your wife and son/daughter fall asleep).

Have a great time!

:wave:

Thanks everyone for your repsonses.

Gary, have you ever run into a situation where you could not find a hotel to stay in? The reason I ask is when I was a kid my parents once did that and everything they saw was full. That was in the summer so it might be different. I were prefer not to book one so you can keep going if you are making good time. But don't want to get caught in a bad situation either. As for my daughter and mental health stops, I am hoping the VCR in our new Ford Windstar will help that. If not we will have to stop. My fingers are crossed.

 

[garyhoov]

Originally posted by mrtoad


Gary, have you ever run into a situation where you could not find a hotel to stay in? The reason I ask is when I was a kid my parents once did that and everything they saw was full. That was in the summer so it might be different.

That's exactly why I made reservations the first time. Since then I haven't had a problem. We go in December or January. I think you're probably right that it will be more difficult in Summer.

From the parking lots of the ones we've stayed at, I'd guess they were less than half full.

You said you wanted to just drive straight through. In a worse case scenerio, just keep driving.:lol:

 

[mrtoad]

Originally posted by garyhoov
That's exactly why I made reservations the first time. Since then I haven't had a problem. We go in December or January. I think you're probably right that it will be more difficult in Summer.

From the parking lots of the ones we've stayed at, I'd guess they were less than half full.

You said you wanted to just drive straight through. In a worse case scenerio, just keep driving.:lol:

Thanks for the advise. I would prefer the drive straight through but my wife does not want to. We are going the first week in February so I don't think we should have hotel trouble I guess.

 

[maelstrom]

We never have a problem finding a hotel room on the road, even when travelling in the summer. There's a gazillion hotels along 95 so you just keep driving until you find one you like.

 

[Redvette]

Your plan is not so good. Leaving Northern NJ on a Friday Morning means that you will hit DC on a Friday Afternoon, the worst possible time. Change your plans, or expect it to take 4 to 5 hours to get from Baltimore to Richmond, maybe longer if the weather is bad.

 

[mrtoad]

Originally posted by Redvette
Your plan is not so good. Leaving Northern NJ on a Friday Morning means that you will hit DC on a Friday Afternoon, the worst possible time. Change your plans, or expect it to take 4 to 5 hours to get from Baltimore to Richmond, maybe longer if the weather is bad.

The plan is now to leave Friday morning at about 5:30 am. we would be by DC late morning. I think it will be ok.

 

[kerry76]

I live in central Jersey by the shore and it normally takes us 17 hours straight through. We leave by 3:00A.M. so we don't hit any Washington traffic and don't get down to late. We aren't night drivers( I get too tired ) so that's why we leave early. We just drove down in the beginning of Nov. and had no traffic on 95 or construction. Just a lot of cops(My boyfriend got a ticket ) Well I hope you have fun.