Driving to Disney advice

[SamandChel]

Getting ready to leave for Disney tonight and leaving10am est tomorrow. Driving straight through without stopping.

It's a 19 hour drive from our house in upstate NY. Currently it is snowing like crazy outside lol.

Just my fiance and I driving down together in our car. anyone have any ideas how to stay awake and pass the time ?

 

[SnarkyMonkey]

There are some fun apps for road trips.

 

[SamandChel]

@SnarkyMonkey Any specific ones I should look for? I drive the whole way but she will either be on her laptop, phone, or tablet I'm sure.

 

[Master Yoda]

One thing I have found is the simple act of getting out of the car and walking around for a few minutes can make a world of difference in your level of road fatigue.

What the wife and I do on long trips to make things a little interesting is set a 3 hour timer. When it expires we take the next inhabited exit, hit a convenience store and buy the stupidest, tackiest, touristy thing we can find.

 

[Acolli18]

Swing by Wisconsin and pick my wife and I up. That'll make your trip way more fun with two more people in the car!

 

[SamandChel]

@Master Yoda We usually try to stop every 2-3 hours. Some times its just I've drank too much coffee or we just want to stretch. Usually we stop at every state and just take a picture for fun. Definitely need to start stocking up on the tourist stuff. Haha.

@Acolli18 If only you were just a little closer! Lol.

Skipped it on our August trip but definitely going to South of the border this time.

 

[JIMINYCR]

We load up and play Disney music most of the way. Have assorted snack items within reach. Stop at rest stops periodically and walk around to stretch our legs for a brief 10 minutes. Last trip I broke up the drive in 150 mile increments and at each goal we celebrated being that much closer to WDW. We passed the time talking over our trip details and goals. Play license plate bingo. See who could spot the first state trooper car. Look for the silliest road signs or billboards. Come up with some silly games that make you alert spotting things along the way but doesnt divert the drivers attention too much. I also bought a driving device that the driver wears behind your ear that alerts you if you start to nod off which was inexpensive and helped us feel safer on the long drive. Along the way my DW kept track of the Garmin and updated me on distance, mileage, etc.
Hope you have a safe uneventful drive and the snow stops before you head out.

 

[Mr Wizard]

One of my favorite stay awake treats are chocolate covered coffee beans. And if you need a REAL coffee hit a Pilot fuel stop. Not only do they all have a great truck stop store with tons of helpful stuff for being on the road they have special high caffeine coffee. We live in Baltimore and make the drive regularly. Here's a little tip for getting thru DC and VA. When you get below Balto. on I95 jump over to 295 Balto-Washington Pky South and stay on it. There will be plenty of exits to take you into DC but stay on 295. You will end up on the MD side of the Woodrow Wilson bridge which takes you to VA and puts you back on 95 South. This will save you a few miles and the dreaded DC beltway. NOW if you think you are going to hit DC and then VA ANYTIME around rush hour ( 3pm-7pm ) take Rt 97 south to Rt 301 south after you get south of Balto. Stay on 301 into VA. When you see the signs for 95 south right after the Love's truck stop jump back over to 95 and you will have avoided a LOT of traffic and the 301 route is also shorter.

 

[SamandChel]

@JIMINYCR Thanks for the advice. Thankfully my car has lane assist and can monitor the driver to make sure I'm awake. (Very annoying beeping sound when I start to dose off :-( )Last trip I was having a hard time around the 3am mark lol.

We are loaded up on plenty of Disney stuff haha. Got the dvds and the music. Helps to build the suspense lol.

 

[RKSteel]

Agree w/ Master Yoda I do. If you feel like you are getting tired, stop a rest area or a Cracker Barrel.

My wife usually drives south of VA, to give me a break for a few hours.

Drive safe and enjoy your trip.

 

[Knothead]

I drive for a living, often times late at night. I always keep pistachios in my lunch box for when I get drowsy. The act of having to open the shell to get the snack is enough to keep me awake. But as others have said, getting out and walking around works wonders, and if worse comes to worse, a 15 minute power nap can make you feel like a new man (woman).

 

[SamandChel]

@Mr Wizard Thanks for the advice. Sadley I think we will be around DC at 3:30ish so I will definitely look into the route u suggested!

@RKSteel & @Knothead Definitely will have to watch fatigue. Luckily my fiance will drive for 30 minute incriments lol. I've used the power nap idea plenty of times. pulled into a rest area and slept for 30 minutes.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Sadley I think we will be around DC at 3:30ish so I will definitely look into the route u suggested!

Great advice. The DC area is horrendous. We drove through at 2am once and the traffic even at that hour was awful. Avoid at all costs. At the time our Garmin kept directing us to go on Pennsylvania Ave , which of course was blocked off. Stupid Garmin....

 

[Acolli18]

Check out the Wdwradio podcast by Lou Mongello. There about an hour long and I find them enjoyable and informative. We drove from Delaware to Wisconsin a few weeks ago and listened to a few of them, the 17 hour drive flew by!

 

[alhenton]

We just drove from Kansas City to Disney this past summer. split it into two days. Hopefully you have an aux cord and you can turn on Pandora Disney station and start singing. I unfortunately didn't have an aux cord but I brought my Bluetooth speaker and was able to have movies and music playing and that helped pass the time

 

[zurgandfriend]

Don't stop at "South of the Border" other than that relax and enjoy the ride.

 

[draybook]

Good grief. More power to you guys! It's only a little under 13 hours from here, and I don't look forward to going back to driving. We flew on our last trip and it definitely spoiled us.

 

[SamandChel]

@alhenton Luckily the car can play Pandora over Bluetooth. Our last trip down we didn't use this feature but this time we Definitely are. also I got WiFi hooked up to the car for this trip to stream Netflix to a laptop.

@JIMINYCR Last time we went we got taken off the wrong exit in DC and next thing I knew I was staring at the Whitehouse. Was a fun detour haha.

Definitely a lot better planned this time

 

[enough]

Here's a tip: Stop by the airport on the way out of town. Ask at the ticket count of every major airline if they have any seats open on same-day flights.

Skip the driving entirely.

 

[SamandChel]

@enough I wish. I live 5 minutes from the airport and it's a 3 hr flight to Florida! Sadley we have a lot of stuff to bring down for our wedding so we can't fly.