Driving from NY to WDW

[BRER DAD]

Did a search and found nothing........We usally fly but are going to drive down this year. The kids are very excited to drive. We are leaving from Syracuse NY and would like to leave AUG. 21 and arrive on AUG. 23. Any help on best route to take, stops along the way, ect. would be greatly appreciated. Thanx for all your help.:wave:

 

[Disneykidder]

It was in 93' that we drove to Orlando and back from NY. I just remember being a bored teen. Bring lots of quiet electronic toys for the kids, extra batteries, DVD with headset for them, etc.,

Yes, although South of the Border is a nice visit, you will spend some time there. But, if you want to do it, do it on the way there because on the way back you will be tired and not want to stop.

Everyone had some great suggestions about routes. Just be prepared before you go and keep an extra gas can in the car before you leave the house. Some of those stretches are long and if it is late at night you may not want to stop.

Good luck!!:wave:

 

[Laura]

Did a search and found nothing........We usally fly but are going to drive down this year. The kids are very excited to drive. We are leaving from Syracuse NY and would like to leave AUG. 21 and arrive on AUG. 23. Any help on best route to take, stops along the way, ect. would be greatly appreciated. Thanx for all your help.:wave:

I grew up a little north of Syracuse and my dad drove us to WDW every year. The fastest route is....

I-81 south to Hwy 17 south in Winchester, VA.
Hwy 17 south to I-95 south in Fredericksburg, VA.
I-95 south to I-4 west in Daytona Beach, FL.

Only 4 roads to take - 3 of them interstates. Very easy!

PS - don't follow the advice of the people who live in eastern NY or NJ! It's definitely fastest to take I-81 all the way to Virginia from Syracuse. Trust me - I drive from NC to Syracuse and back every year (and will be doing it again on Tuesday!). We've tried every possible route!

 

[TLS]

I grew up a little north of Syracuse and my dad drove us to WDW every year. The fastest route is....

I-81 south to Hwy 17 south in Winchester, VA.
Hwy 17 south to I-95 south in Fredericksburg, VA.
I-95 south to I-4 west in Daytona Beach, FL.

Only 4 roads to take - 3 of them interstates. Very easy!

PS - don't follow the advice of the people who live in eastern NY or NJ! It's definitely fastest to take I-81 all the way to Virginia from Syracuse. Trust me - I drive from NC to Syracuse and back every year (and will be doing it again on Tuesday!). We've tried every possible route!

This is absolutely the best way!!

Your simply too far away from the Phila-Balti-Wash headache to time that correctly for off peak travel.

Laura's way avoids all of that, and brings you right into Fredericksburg and it's clear sailing from there! Plus you'll save a bunch on tolls!

Good Luck!

 

[BiggerTigger]

I grew up a little north of Syracuse and my dad drove us to WDW every year. The fastest route is....

I-81 south to Hwy 17 south in Winchester, VA.
Hwy 17 south to I-95 south in Fredericksburg, VA.
I-95 south to I-4 west in Daytona Beach, FL.

Only 4 roads to take - 3 of them interstates. Very easy!

PS - don't follow the advice of the people who live in eastern NY or NJ! It's definitely fastest to take I-81 all the way to Virginia from Syracuse. Trust me - I drive from NC to Syracuse and back every year (and will be doing it again on Tuesday!). We've tried every possible route!

Hi. :wave: We live around the Watertown area and take 81 South, this is the closest route that we drive to get to Orlando. I can't remember the numbers, but I remember the way as I drive. It is a long trip so it is advisable to grab a hotel unless you can share the driving. We don't usually book a hotel because we never know where we will be when we want to stop or if we will stop.
Have a safe trip, enjoy the scenery, and keep busy activities for bored kids and adults. :wave:

 

[Laura]

Another word of advice about hotels...

If you're traveling Monday through Thursday, you can get really good coupons at any rest area in the state you're sleeping in. For example, I usually spend the night in Georgia so when I get to the Georgia welcome center I'll grab a coupon book and flip through it to find the best deal. The coupons are organized by location and tell you all the amenities at each hotel.

This is way easier for me and saves a lot more money than if I try and book in advance.

 

[BRER DAD]

I cant thank you all enough!!!!! Im sure it will be quite the experience, but worth it. :wave:

 

[IndyDisney]

I grew up a little north of Syracuse and my dad drove us to WDW every year. The fastest route is....

I-81 south to Hwy 17 south in Winchester, VA.
Hwy 17 south to I-95 south in Fredericksburg, VA.
I-95 south to I-4 west in Daytona Beach, FL.

Only 4 roads to take - 3 of them interstates. Very easy!

PS - don't follow the advice of the people who live in eastern NY or NJ! It's definitely fastest to take I-81 all the way to Virginia from Syracuse. Trust me - I drive from NC to Syracuse and back every year (and will be doing it again on Tuesday!). We've tried every possible route!

I can give a +1 to this. Rte. 17 in VA is "almost" interstate, only there are towns to go through, but it's a decent drive. And then you're on 95 for most of the haul. I can also say that going to Atlanta is a decent drive, but I would think you're putting yourself a bit too far west for no real reason. The biggest issue, as many have said, is making sure you stay the heck away from Phila-Balt-Wash, even Richmond. All are traffic nightmares and can be stressful, which isn't worth it when you're on vacation.

-Dave

 

[Wilt Dasney]

I can give a +1 to this. Rte. 17 in VA is "almost" interstate, only there are towns to go through, but it's a decent drive. And then you're on 95 for most of the haul. I can also say that going to Atlanta is a decent drive, but I would think you're putting yourself a bit too far west for no real reason. The biggest issue, as many have said, is making sure you stay the heck away from Phila-Balt-Wash, even Richmond. All are traffic nightmares and can be stressful, which isn't worth it when you're on vacation.

-Dave

If you want to avoid traffic nightmares, Atlanta is NOT your best bet. Sounds like you might have gotten lucky on your pass-throughs. :lol:

 

[Katybug]

I am driving this year due to rising costs of plane tickets :brick:. I usually drive though and I prefer it much more. Sorry I wont be much help with directions, I just use my navi system and it gets me there. I'm usually not the one driving either :lol: Try mapquest.com it will tell you the shortest distance.

 

[stormer]

Remember to stop at the Florida Welcome Center. They give you a free cup of orange or grapefruit juice. It is one of my kids favorite stops. It is a good place to get out and stretch.

We stop at South of the Border for the kids. They love it. We set a time limit and then get going in about 20 minutes. It is fun.

We leave from Long Island about 8 PM and drive straight through. We usually arrive in Disney about 4 the next afternoon. On the way home we usually just stop when we are tired so I can't recommend anyplace.

 

[trooper1917]

Garmin-Garmin-Garmin. It will help you when you need to stop and find gas/food/lodging-then it will recalculate your route

 

[sweetemotionbab]

We've been going from Long Island to Disney for about 5 or 6 years now. We usually leave at like 6 or 7 and stop in SC. This year we're stopping in Florence. Although we've never stopped at South of the the Border, I find the billboards approaching it a lot of fun.
Leaving early, like 5 or 6 next day and we're at Disney 2ish. We drove overnight once, from 5pm and arrived at Disney a lil after noon. Definitely think stopping is better though, I didn't get any sleep in the car that night.

 

[saratogatrip09]

we've done this trip 10 times from long island


you must be slow drivers if you're giving yourself two days, we do it in one, and if you stop it should still take you less then aug 21 to aug 23


we leave at 2pm and drive straight through, we get there at 12pm thenext day, driving straight through is the only way we could do it, it takes too much time(if we drive straight through we get two more nights in disney) and it's tiring having to get laugage out at a hotel you wont stay at for long


only advice, just get onto 95 as soon as you can untill i4, the only city we avoid is DC, jacksonville never has traffic, and richmond does only once in a blue moon, baltimore is never bad for us either(and we've hit baltimore at 8am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), no other places cause traffic problems during rush hour(trust us we've been at different spots for rush hour everytime)


and be thankful you get to avoid NYC

 

[Craig & Lisa]

Believe or not when we drove this past march, we left on an early friday eve, we had no problems going thru baltimore/dc area. For some reason everybody decided not to drive, except us. And to top it off, it was Easter weekend too. We stopped in southern virginia, gased up then drove straight to WDW. Much easier than the last time we drove too.

 

[PolynesianMedic]

All that I can say is stay AWAY from the biggest tourist trap ever, South of the Border!

 

[tigsmom]

All that I can say is stay AWAY from the biggest tourist trap ever, South of the Border!

What!?

Everybody has to stop and visit Pedro at least once.

:lol:

 

[DABIGCHEEZ]

Believe or not when we drove this past march, we left on an early friday eve, we had no problems going thru baltimore/dc area. For some reason everybody decided not to drive, except us. And to top it off, it was Easter weekend too. We stopped in southern virginia, gased up then drove straight to WDW. Much easier than the last time we drove too.

Don't know why but in all aour driving trip down to WDW, we never hit traffic in Baltimore or DC or anywhere really. However, the return trip is different.... almost always get stopped in the VA/DC area. And are they ever going to be done with road construction/repair there in the Alexandria / Springfield VA area???:lol:

 

[kerrie]

i drive from CT

when i drive from ct we usually stop in dillion south carolina there is a spot there called south of the border. if nothign else its a great place to stretch the legs, I too am driving this year the only difference i have a toddler and preschooler and are going to drive as much as possible while they sleep.

 

[cabihler]

listen to indy-disney

have not read all of the replies but i have to agree with the suggestion made way back in the third post of this thread by indy disney.... the really nice thing about that route is that in sorta northern virginia you will see signs for the skyview drive. it takes a bit longer but it takes you through the mountains from northern virginia doen to the smokies and it is an AWESOME site.

just a side thought... you can get on 77 as indy disney suggested from 81 ORRRRR you can stay on 81 into tennessee down through knoxville and from there drive down to chattanogga to see the Lookout Mountain path and then take 75 south into georgia, past atlanta, all the way into florida where you catch the florida turnpike near Ocala and it leads you to Disney.

either path suggested will provide amazing views and interesting sites along the way.

 

[pixiesteno]

We live in western NY, I'm formerly from central NY, and just drove to WDW in March. I would head Route 81 South to just south of Winchester VA. Take Route 66 E to Warrenton Area where you will pick up Routes 17/29 running South & East and follow the signs to Fredericksburg. This route is a divided highway, but there are local roads that come out on it so it is 55 mph; just don't tell the locals that they, think its still 65. It is a pretty drive that takes you through some horse country.
Just as you are coming into Fredericksburg you will intersect Route 95 South. Follow 95 S to Florida. It would probably be best if you tried to avoid making this intersect around 3:30 to 6 pm. Make sure that you take the 295 loops around Richmond and Jacksonville. Don't bother with the South of the Border. There was a bit of construction between Savannah and Jacksonville but nothing to get overly concerned with, but we hit that after 8 pm on a Friday night. Once you are coming into Dayton the I 4 intersection is marked well before you get there. I would also advise considering the Rt 417 loop around Orlando and surrounding communities, you would pick that up in Sandford. Yes, it is a toll road and it will cost you about 5 bucks to take but the road is in better condition and not as busy. If you are shooting for the Oceola Parkway it is, I believe, Exit 3. You will get lots of warning there too.