Driving to Disney

[disneysroyal411]

Heading from Akron, OH we drive every time. Straight down 77 to 26 to 95 to 4. Generally drive straight through as well. Tomorrow we're leaving at 10pm and hope to get to The World around 2 or 3pm. Got a reservation for Fulton's at 4.

One time I did all the driving by myself and just about collapsed as soon as we got to our offsite townhome. I laid on the couch for 5 minutes and I woke up 4 hours later. :lol:

OMG I'm in Youngstown, Ohio! Your right near me! Haha thats sooo exciting to me for some reason, I don't know why. I think it's because it shows you guys are real(hopefully) and I'm not talking to computers or making this up (I hope not) O and we drive down every year! It's sooo much fun. We don't have rituals but we just have a good time in the car and try and get down there as fast as we can. Getting to Florida is my least favorite part because you have at least another three hours before you actually get to the Orlando/Disney area. I only have twenty-nine more days! WOOHOO!

 

[luvlifeinfl]

My inlaws have done that as well! It would still take us about 6 hours to get to Lorton and we talk about the auto train all the time, just haven't ever committed to it. :shrug:

If you do I will suggest not doing coach, the 1st time we ever did, it was uncomfortable, so we get the small sleeper rooms. we end up getting 2 of them cause my youngest & myself stay in 1 room and then my hubby gets the other & his is own space and our carry on stuff can stay with him.

 

[Mouse Man]

Just curious - do you take this route specifically to enjoy the bridge/tunnel? Any idea how it compares with just taking I-95 the whole way, in terms of drive time or mileage? We're always looking for a change of pace to make the drive more interesting - but we're usually always on a schedule as well.

The DWF and I first love going over the bridge tunnel because of the scenary, Second we drive on 13 which goes by Chincategue so the DWF can get her pony tails, Third a ritual is to stop on the bridge and get burger and fries and stretch the legs, Lastly we can not stand driving through The DC area at all. We plan lots of time for our drive so we enjoy the leisurely pace. Vacation is supposed to be fun so I can not see any other way of getting there driving with out these stops and scenary. It does put a few hours more on the drive, but we never have headaches and congestion to purely being stopped in the DC area for hours. It does add milage and if I95 through the Northern Wahington through the Northern VA was great yes I-95 would be shorter in milage and time. But I find it to be boring, nothing intersting to see and stop for.

 

[Mouse Man]

I don’t drive down from Boston but having been to South of the Border on another occasion I have to ask, do you stop there just to make WDW even more special?
Talk about different ends of the spectrum, if WDW is the top than South of the Border is the bottom (of a septic tank!)

Glad you asked. South of the Border is a good place to re-fuel at. We have experienced South of the Border and have the following to say about it.

1) Do not Eat or Buy a Drink from there
2) Do not stop if it is night time to stretch your legs and walk around
3) We looked at a room 10 years ago and then seen that bars like a prison were on all the windows and when we went into the room we seen a dead roach on the floor. Glad we asked to see the room first to decide if we wanted to stay there.

Now South of the Border is good for the following:

1) Re-fueling, usually need full by this area most of the itme for some reason
2) I do buy a few mild fireworks on the trip back home from Disney.
3) They do have a few shops to that we have found a few unique items at great prices for our home like aset of cattle horns, some really nice Black Bears to add to our cabin themed ranch.
4) Durring the day this is a nice spot to stop and take those cheesey family photo's.

It's this place that makes us laugh and feel the Griswalds are for real and Wally World does exist.

 

[Mouse Man]

Wow I did not expect to get a lot of replies back to this post. I thought I was the last of a dying breed that actually likes to drive. I love stopping all over and seeing and experiencing Americana at it's best. If you ever really want to experience and truly discover America, drive from NJ to California and back like we did once. It was the most incredible experience that we ever had in the car.

 

[Dwarful]

We almost always drive from Illinois. I call it "central Illinois", others call it Southern Illinois. But we are across the Mississippi River from St. Louis Mo. We tend to have two styles of driving. The most recent trips have been 'drive straight thru'. Which was interesting.
We left Illinois around 11PM - fueled up, loaded up, ready to roll. First stop- Metropolis Illinois to get annual photo w/Superman (sort of like a growth chart with the kids), drinks and top off gas. Then we are back on the road. We have a Cracker Barrel or two along the way that are top choices. We do always stop at the Florida Visitor's Center for our o.j. & grapefruit juice fix. The front seat passenger also takes photos as we arrive on Disney property and as we pull up to our resort. 43 days until we leave, 44 until we check-in!!!!!! I am so road trip ready!

 

[Future Guy]

We're in Gainesville, so it's only a two-hour drive. We leave early in the morning, stop at McDonalds to get my DW some breakfast before we hit the Interstate, and then we don't stop 'till we get there.

 

[Cubs Brian]

Our "rituals" start the night before we leave. I get home from work, have a beer while getting the family cruiser ready. Usually I have everything packed up by 6m. Have the wife pick up some beef sandwiches and hot dogs From Portillo's( best beef and dogs around ) for a quick dinner. We send the kids over to their friends house so we can have some "alone time". Kids come home at 8:00pm let them stay up as late as they want and we go to sleep. We leave at 3:30 am and drive for about an hour into Kankakee stop at gas city(cheaper there) grab Dunkin Donuts and coffee and head out. Stop in Tenn for a Cracker Barrel lunch and drive to Valdosta Ga. stopping at the Comfort suites about 10:00pm. get up early next day, stop at welcome center answer all kinds of questions about billboards that say Eat at Cafe Risque get "welcome homed" at about 9 and hit the parks.

 

[tigsmom]

Glad you asked. South of the Border is a good place to re-fuel at. We have experienced South of the Border and have the following to say about it.

1) Do not Eat or Buy a Drink from there
2) Do not stop if it is night time to stretch your legs and walk around
3) We looked at a room 10 years ago and then seen that bars like a prison were on all the windows and when we went into the room we seen a dead roach on the floor. Glad we asked to see the room first to decide if we wanted to stay there.

Now South of the Border is good for the following:

1) Re-fueling, usually need full by this area most of the itme for some reason
2) I do buy a few mild fireworks on the trip back home from Disney.
3) They do have a few shops to that we have found a few unique items at great prices for our home like aset of cattle horns, some really nice Black Bears to add to our cabin themed ranch.
4) Durring the day this is a nice spot to stop and take those cheesey family photo's.

It's this place that makes us laugh and feel the Griswalds are for real and Wally World does exist.

Can you believe that they do wedding packages and that they are very popular!?

 

[Texas84]

5.5 hour drive for us from Middle Georgia. One of our traditions was ruined when the central Florida Whataburgers all closed. You Texans know what I'm talking about. So now we stop at the Valdosta IHOP.

Since it opened we always take Western Way. When you reach a certain overpass on the tollway you can see Epcot, The Contemporary and other landmarks. Drive through the back gate (cheering), find the resort and check in, then head to Shades of Green for those tax-free passes. Sure wish they would bring back that $99 for 4 days deal.

 

[pixiesteno]

We started driving in 2009 and we really prefer it to flying. Due to the distance from home to the airport, the 2 hours before your flight rule, the flight, then to resort we pack in 8 hours of travel time and that is without delays.
We were leaving during the afternoon from Western NY and dropping down Rt 15 to Rt81 S and stopping at the Comfort Inn Winchester VA. Cross the state on Rt 66 to Rt 17/39 into Fredericksburg to pick up I 95. This next trip we are going to be adjusting our time tables because we're now part of the RV set. We just purchased a 29 foot Flagstaff V-lite travel tailer and will be staying at Fort Wilderness. We plan on doing more traveling during the over-night to wee hours of the morning to avoid traffic and then pulling over to rest in the travel trailer.
There are just a few rules-of-thumb that we have discovered on our journeys to WDW:
- Never try to get on to I-95 in Fredericksburg VA from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm.
- If you hit RT 295 around Richmond at 11 pm at night you will be the only one on the road with 4 lanes to yourself - yee ha!!!
- Try not to hit Jacksonville FL at 2:30 pm with a pick-up towing a cargo trailer behind you; but if you must, pick your lane and own it.
- We love the Pedro signs but DH won't stop, it was always a rite of passage as a child.
- Oh, if you are pulling a cargo trailer or RV and you see the construction sign in GA that says, "Narrow road ahead, trucks and trailer use left lane" they are not kidding. If you wait you will not get to move into the left lane as all the semis in the world will appear out of no where. And it is really scary to have two wheels of your tailer basically under the trailer of a semi to avoid the cement of the overpass on your right :hammer: - I made it but I can't say that my eyes were open.

 

[Mr.Skunkape]

I could not imagine driving to Disney and back with 2 kids, 17 hour drive each way or a 2 1/2 hour flight each way I will always do the flight and enjoy more time in the parks and less time on the road. Do you Disney drivers stay mostly on or off Disney property? If you stay on property do you drive to the parks or use the resort busses?

 

[mouselvrmom]

We are driving down for the first time this August.

I've driven down as a child with my parents, but never since we've been going as adults.

My hubby is not thrilled about it, but with 4 kids and flight prices so high, flying is just not an option to us. It's either a trip with driving, or no trip.

I'm excited about it and really dont' mind driving. I plan to drive straight through. DH is fighting with me about him doing the driving, he says he can't possibly relax with me driving. We'll see who wins that argument. :lol:

 

[IWant2GoNow]

OMG I'm in Youngstown, Ohio! Your right near me! Haha thats sooo exciting to me for some reason, I don't know why. I think it's because it shows you guys are real(hopefully) and I'm not talking to computers or making this up (I hope not) O and we drive down every year! It's sooo much fun. We don't have rituals but we just have a good time in the car and try and get down there as fast as we can. Getting to Florida is my least favorite part because you have at least another three hours before you actually get to the Orlando/Disney area. I only have twenty-nine more days! WOOHOO!

:lol: No robot posts here. Yea, I don't think the drive down is very bad at all. I love road trips and that's about as big of one as you can get unless I end up driving to CA for my first DLR trip! Which I highly doubt, but I've always wanted to head over on RT66. Greetings fellow Ohioan!

 

[disneysroyal411]

:lol: No robot posts here. Yea, I don't think the drive down is very bad at all. I love road trips and that's about as big of one as you can get unless I end up driving to CA for my first DLR trip! Which I highly doubt, but I've always wanted to head over on RT66. Greetings fellow Ohioan!

I think a trip to CA from Northwest Ohio here would be fun. I've wanted to go on Route 66 since Cars came out. And then take a train back. Question, yesterday did you guys have a tornado warning, we did? Just a random question about the area, as it's interesting to just come across someone so close.

 

[wdwwdeagle]

answer all kinds of questions about billboards that say Eat at Cafe Risque .

The only billboards worse than Cafe Risque are the ones for "Big Jim's B00bie Bungalow" on I-65 in extreme north Alabama on the way to/from Tennessee. Thankfully, they aren't on the way to WDW for most drivers. hahaha.

 

[Toveck]

OMG I'm in Youngstown, Ohio! Your right near me!

I'm in the neighborhood too - New Castle, Pa!

We have driven down 4 times now, and we usually drive straight thru. The best part of it is that my wife doesn't have her drivers license (She grew up in Pittsburgh and used public transportation) so I get to do ALL the driving.

It's never bothered me the least. In fact, I usually time it to get us there around 11am or noon on our check in day and after driving the entire drive, I take about an hour cat nap and I'm ready to go. This last March, I worked 7am-2pm, came home and packed the car. I planned on napping but couldn't sleep, so we headed out at 6pm and got there around 11am. I got a shower to refresh and we were off to the parks!

 

[Dwarful]

I could not imagine driving to Disney and back with 2 kids, 17 hour drive each way or a 2 1/2 hour flight each way I will always do the flight and enjoy more time in the parks and less time on the road. Do you Disney drivers stay mostly on or off Disney property? If you stay on property do you drive to the parks or use the resort busses?

Well we have the same drive/fly time. With the higher costs of flying we can drive to WDW & home twice vs. round trip airfare. We have only stayed off-site once. A family friend owned one of those rental homes. We did this when our oldest daughter was 18months old. Won't do it again. We now always stay onsite...but our resorts vary. In March we stayed at Pop in July we are at Yacht Club. Last summer it was Boardwalk. We never drive to the parks. We let Disney do the driving (or boating or we walk) once we arrive. Just park the van and go with Disney's transportation.

 

[Phonedave]

Wow I did not expect to get a lot of replies back to this post. I thought I was the last of a dying breed that actually likes to drive. I love stopping all over and seeing and experiencing Americana at it's best. If you ever really want to experience and truly discover America, drive from NJ to California and back like we did once. It was the most incredible experience that we ever had in the car.

As a kid, we drove from NJ to Canada (on the VT border) twice every summer. About 400+ miles one way.

I now make a yearly (or more) trip to Vermont (about 320 miles)

Florida is a different story. It's not the drive, it is the value of vacation time. If I am going to drive, I don't want it to be a race. But I also don't want to waste vacation days - so its a plane for me.

-dave

 

[Raven66]

We've only driven a couple of times. As we get older my husband would rather fly. But the times we have driven our "ritual" was to stop at a Florida Welcome Center. I don't remember the name of it, but it's closed now. It was really sad that it closed. But then we would clap and cheer when we would start seeing signs for Disney. I miss driving. But with prices of flights being so high and if they don't come down we may be driving again.