Driving to Disney advice

SamandChel

SamandChel

Active Member
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 ?
 
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Tom

Tom

Beta Return
SamandChel said:
@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.
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That's a good feature to have. Because my advice was going to be that the instant you find yourself getting "road hypnosis", hit an exit. That trance will lull you into a sleep very quickly.

Acolli18 said:
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!
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He said he DOESN'T want to fall asleep :hilarious:

enough said:
Oh I missed the wedding part.

Congrats! If you and your husband to be can survive the drive down and back then I'd say you're in for a long and successful marriage. :)
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I think 'ol @SamandChel is being a little deceitful with their avatar ;) In post 3, he said "she will be on her laptop...". I think Mr. Sam is posing as a gal on here. For shame :p
 
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Mr Wizard

Mr Wizard

Active Member
At that time of day forget the 295 option or staying on I95. You will creep for hours from DC till half way thru VA. When you come thru MD on 95 you can go thru the tunnel or around the 695 beltway. If you are coming thru before 3pm the tunnel is usually fine and a faster route. After the tunnel take 695 west to 97 south ( stay in center or left lane, 97 exits left ) after about 3-4 miles take exit for 301 south. Now at that time of day there will be some traffic on 301 and you go thru a couple little towns with a few traffic lights but trust me it is much less delay than staying on 95 and about 25 miles shorter. Hope you're not afraid of heights, that bridge over the Potomac is high. Have a safe trip and congrats on the wedding !
 
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MichWolv

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
The right music. I have playlist called "Wake Up" on my iPhone that I fire up whenever I'm feeling a little "hypnotized". Black Eyed Peas "Pump It", Aerosmith "Walk this Way", etc. No Enya -- that stuff'll put you to sleep right away.

Also, a 32 oz. coke. The combination of the caffeine and full bladder (resist the bathroom break as long as possible) will help keep you awake.

But really, stop at about midnight for 6 or 7 hours -- you'll feel a lot better.
 
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Lord_Vader

Lord_Vader

Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
We drive straight through, around 14.5 hours from my home. I tend to push it though, minimizing stops as much as possible including about a 500 mile stretch from the west side of Atlanta to WDW after my final fill-up.

Apps:

Waze, crowd-sourced traffic app will keep things interesting much of the time especially on busy corridors like I-75 from Atlanta to the FL turnpike if you are using it and will alert you to traffic stoppage, hidden cops, accidents and even vehicles parked on the shoulder.

There are also a few good Disney trivia apps that my wife loves to call out, keeps you awake and better focused.
 
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Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Driving through a snowstorm always managed to keep me awake. Barring that just switch drivers at least every three hours giving the other a chance to rest their eyes if nothing else. You'll find that the trip goes by faster and everyone is less tired when they arrive.

It's just a little over 600 miles from my house, so when I go down there with my daughter and son in law, we each drive 200 miles or as close as we can get to that. Of course you have twice as far to go, but, I think that the 200 mile thing works really well.

I usually go alone though and it's a 10 hour drive. I stop for gas, food and an occasional combination pit stop and leg stretch a few times as well.
 
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F

fugawe09

Active Member
Keep a giant cup of iced tea in the car. And play the old game of how many miles till the next rest stop? Double points if you make a pact to only stop at a particular brand of rest stop.

But in all seriousness, if you get too tired stop and take a nap. Don't arrive dead (figuratively or literally).
 
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Howdy

Howdy

Lurker extraordinaire
Premium Member
I like to listen to podcasts and books on tape while I drive. Seems boring, but music is soothing whereas the talking keeps my attention and if you pick something interesting you'll be blown away by how fast the time passes. You could also sign up on memrise.com and use the app to learn a new language on the drive. I always leave around 10-11 pm after a long nap. That way I'm good and awake for the first 7-8 hours of the drive, and then by the time I start to feel a bit tired the sun is coming up and waking me again.
 
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Howdy

Howdy

Lurker extraordinaire
Premium Member
Also, drink tons of water and make sure that the majority of your road-food is healthy, high in protein, and any carbs being good carbs. Almonds make a great road trip snack, as well as peanut butter, honey, whole wheat crackers, energy bars like Powerbar and Clif, cheese, lunch meats, etc. Staying well hydrated may make you stop more often to pee, but it will help you tremendously to stay awake and eating healthy is huge for energy.
 
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NelsonRD

NelsonRD

Well-Known Member
We have made the 19 hour drive from NY to Orlando many many times. I found the best advice is deciding when to leave. We found that leaving at 4-5PM gets you though the DC beltway around midnight (less traffic), and puts you at a Disney right around 2-3PM the next day if you do it straight with no stops. That is just in time for checkin. Also, we travel with two small children that sleep most of the trip when leaving when we do.
 
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