Fellow New Englanders that drive down to WDW...

[TJDinMA]

Hello WDW Fans, My wife and three kids (2 @ 8 years old and 1 @ 10) will be driving down to WDW this July from Central Massachusetts. We are supposed to check in on Monday, July 28, 2014. I am thinking of leaving the Saturday before and taking two full days to drive down. If we leave Saturday early (3am-5am) and drive until Virginia or North Carolina, and then wake up Sunday and drive to Daytona area? Not sure. Was really curious to see what other New Englanders do....thanks. Any tips/tricks would be awesome!

 

[harryk]

Can be done - but you are going to find that it is a very long drive -- especially for the youngsters with you.
I could not believe how long a drive it was just from the Georgia border to Orlando. You are going to be very tired when you get to WDW.

 

[Tinkerbell397]

I agree.....we did the drive a few years ago and it was just me and my husband. I thought I would go crazy! This is why God gave man the brains to invent the airplane. We drove from RI with one stop in NC. Just be sure that your kids have lots to entertain themselves. If I were you, I would take 3 days, if you have the time. Make lots of stops to stretch legs and throw a ball around. When you do get to Disney, be sure to rest or you will never catch up. We flew to Disney with the kids multiple times and always took the 7AM flight. We would arrive in Disney get caught up in the excitement....then you hit a wall. I refuse to take that early flight anymore....we get to Disney at about 3 and ease into the fun after a good night sleep. Good luck with the drive.....and have a great time in Disney!

 

[stalkingmickey]

We drive down from the mass/nh border to WDW. We left last time around 4-5am and drove about 12 hours we got a hotel room for the night. Then drove the next day directly to disney checked in. Had some dinner and went to bed so the next morning we would be rested for our time in the park. Most people who drive down from New England can do it with just 1 over night. Also we did not go down 95 we went a little further west went down 81 (not exactly sure of the highway #)

On our way home I drove straight through!!!! now that was a long drive.

We are driving down again for our Sept trip. I love the drive and only stops we made were for gas and we timed it so we ate same time we stopped for gas. When I was a kid I have fond memories driving down to WDW with my parents. It is one of the reasons I love to travel so much especially by car you get to see so much!!

 

[TJDinMA]

Thanks for all of your great advice! My wife has never driven down to Florida before and the kids have driven to Myrtle Beach ok. The last time we flew to WDW was April of 2013 and it left a bad taste in our mouth as it cost us almost $4000 to fly 5 of us round trip! I was thinking it might be a more relaxing trip if we took two full days to drive down as we would not feel like we were rushing.

 

[stalkingmickey]

Thanks for all of your great advice! My wife has never driven down to Florida before and the kids have driven to Myrtle Beach ok. The last time we flew to WDW was April of 2013 and it left a bad taste in our mouth as it cost us almost $4000 to fly 5 of us round trip! I was thinking it might be a more relaxing trip if we took two full days to drive down as we would not feel like we were rushing.

airfare is one of the biggest reason we have gone back to driving down. when we drove down in Jan the gas prices from PA on down were around $3.00 a gallon!!! So we save lots by driving and not having to rent a car like we do when we fly down (we like to have our own transportation)

 

[Tom 55]

I did it once when kids were a little older than yours from derry nh. We drove for close to 16 hours before stopping in South Carolina for the night. We had breakfast outside the Darlington Nascar race track and then on to Orlando. WE got there late afternoon. We had packed lunches and snacks for along the way. Most of the states have a lot of rest areas that sell food and gas along the highway. So you do not have to get off RT 95. Going down did not seem to bad but coming back seemed to take forever. We got back to Virgina before we go a hotel room. Went into DC for a few hours before heading home. Got home real late. The last few hour were the worst. I drove all the way. With the cost of gas, hotel, meals, wear and tear and the days it took we figured it was worth the cost to fly from them on. Mapquest says it around 1400 miles and at least 21 hours travel time. That time figure is if you never stop or run in to slower than speed limit traffic. For the most part it is a boring ride. There is very little to see just endless highway. To pass the time keep track of how many " South of the Border" signs there are along the way.

 

[harryk]

How many days are you staying at WDW? Hate to see you use 5-6 days travel and only have a few days actually on 'vacation'.

 

[pixiesteno]

We drive down from western NY with our RV in tow and can do it in about a 1.75 days. I would think that two days should be fine and give you time to be relaxed when you get there. Looking at your children's ages they should be fine for the trip. When we were kids we had small magnetic games that had us on the lookout for different license plates and road signs, etc.. Probably they have such things for smart phones. We love to listen to books on cd to pass the time. It can be a good bonding experience to travel by car, and really so much more pleasant than being stuck in a germ-filled air plane.
We figured it out once that by the time we got up in time at our home to drive two hours to the airport, to be at the airport two hours early, to hopefully board and leave on time for a 2.5 hour flight to MCO, then depart plane, get shuttle in from plane, to go to DME and hopefully board a bus within a half hour to 45 minutes from landing to arrive at our resort a half hour to an hour later -- this would involve 8 hours minimum travel time. We can leave our house in western NY and be down into VA around the Richmond area in about the same amount of time by car. If we have the truck and RV we are just entering VA. Even with just my DH and I it is about the same amount of money to take the truck and RV as it is to fly us.

 

[stalkingmickey]

One of the reason I do not go 95 is traffic and just endless road. When we went in January I hit absolutely no traffic but I also did not go thru NYC, Baltimore, BD ect and was able to have car on cruise control most of the drive 75MPH since the highways speed limit is 70MPH....if you go west a little and drive down you will go through PA and the mountains of all the states its a better ride scenic wise. Total travel is just 4 days for both down and back and we usually go for at least 6 -10 days in Florida. Love that I can pack whatever I want and do not have to worry about how many suitcases and how much they weigh. Also same on the way home I can buy whatever I want and not have to worry about shipping it or carrying it on plane.

 

[TJDinMA]

How many days are you staying at WDW? Hate to see you use 5-6 days travel and only have a few days actually on 'vacation'.

Hello, We are staying at the ark from 7/28 until 8/4. I think staying a full week should be enough rest. I do agree for some reason the ride back seems to take forever.

 

[Allym146]

When I was a kid my family drive from western ny. It was toturous. My H and I fly now. Not just because of not wanting to be in a car that long, but because he is self employed and time off is hard to come by so we want to make every minute count! Thankfully we go in sept/oct and flights are about $250 per person.

Are there any airports in Canada you can drive to and fly out of? This time of year flights are very expensive to Orlando from Buffalo (where I am) but if you drive up to Toronto and fly out of there it shaves a few hundred off per person.

 

[slappy magoo]

We're plotting our trip down 95, not as far as you. though, only from NJ. Current plan is to leave Friday night for a Sunday check-in, but stopping Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville, stay there overnight and go to sleep super early, so the next morning we're rested and only a few hours away from WDW. And if we happen to make good time Saturday, bypass Jacksonville totally and see about getting a room anywhere on WDW properrty Sat night and then check into our actual resort Sunday.

You might find, if you can do it that the Jacksonville plan might work better. Start driving late Saturday afternoon or early Saturday evening, you could possibly be halfway down by breakfast time. Then drive as much as you can until early afternoon, get a room Sunday night with the intention of getting to bed no later than 8 or 9 to sleep off the long drive prior, then the next morning, you're pretty close.

Another thought, if you left home in the wee hours Saturday night/Sunday morning, you could drive to Lorton VA and take the Amtrak AutoTrain to Sanford Fl. Your car comes with you (though you're not in it once you're on the train, it's in storage), round trip in coach seats and AAA discount (you've got AAA, right) would be $1100, $586 if you just want to use it to go South and then drive home, and each trip includes dinner and a continental breakfast. Maybe not as cheap as driving all the way down, but deduct $120-150 for the fuel you don't consume, $200-300 for the hotel rooms you don't rent (assuming you'd , and even if you picked up fast food for dinner and bagels and juice for breakfast, that's about 4 bucks right there. And someone's doing about half of the driving for you, giving you the night to sleep off the early morning rising you did to start the drive.

 

[Chernaboggles]

In case you haven't seen this site (i95 exit guide), I found it very helpful when planning our drive: http://www.i95exitguide.com/stopovers/index.php

 

[coltow]

I'm in Lynn. Though I have never done the drive (dh refuses) my family members do it all the time.

My parents leave at 4am & stop for night in GA. My brother has 3 kids &they do the drive in 24hrs. My brother takes a nap so that they can leave around 6pm & he drives most of the night shift. They bring lots of movies,video games & travel games

 

[ArielLover]

Hello WDW Fans, My wife and three kids (2 @ 8 years old and 1 @ 10) will be driving down to WDW this July from Central Massachusetts. We are supposed to check in on Monday, July 28, 2014. I am thinking of leaving the Saturday before and taking two full days to drive down. If we leave Saturday early (3am-5am) and drive until Virginia or North Carolina, and then wake up Sunday and drive to Daytona area? Not sure. Was really curious to see what other New Englanders do....thanks. Any tips/tricks would be awesome!

I have driven down over 20 times from Southern NH, feel free to private message me if you want specifics. It has been many years since I drove down with kids.

 

[Greg Eng]

@TJDinMA What is the nearest airport to you? I have flown out of Bradley Airport in Hartford,CT with my family as well as my wife's. For 5 of us, it cost around $1,300. Especially since we could get a direct flight to Orlando. I have never driven it nor will I ever attempt to but Southwest usually has good deals for flying especially into Orlando.

 

[Buzz2001]

Just booked my JetBlue flight out of Bradley for $108 each way for November.

 

[ArielLover]

Why is it that every time someone says they are going to drive, people post the prices to fly. Some people just do not choose to fly, the OP did not ask if he should drive or not.