How many miles/hours do you drive before stopping for the night?

DaddyDisneyMan

Well-Known Member
Good Morning All,
Hope everyone's day is going well. We are getting closer to our family vaca (39 DAYS!! WOO HOO). We are driving from Detroit and heading down to WDW (1200miles). How far have you all driven before stopping for the night? I will be the only driver. We are leaving at 6am, with hopes of hitting Macon, GA; maybe even further if I feel up to it.
 

wdwstateofmind

Well-Known Member
I've honestly done Northern NJ to WDW straight through over 5 times and I believe it is around 1200 miles as well...it's taken as short as 15 hrs. and as long as 18 hrs.

Once I had planned to stop in Georgia but just knew there was only 4 hrs. left so we had to do it..since then we've never even considered stopping over in the south...I say if you have more than one person that can drive just bang out a straight drive and spend all your time in gorgeous Florida!
 
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Todd L

Well-Known Member
I did the Drive Once with My wife helping out. We are In New York and Its 1200 miles for us too.

I think we made it to Jacksonville in 17 hours...stopped for Breakfast and Lunch and a few gas up/ bathroom breaks.

Drove the rest of the way The next morning which seemed like a Very short trip after the day befores Journey!!

Be safe and have Fun!!
 
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stichrules

Active Member
Hi I am from the Detroit area and we have made the drive many times. DW does like flying but that is another story. We usually leave around 3 or 4 in the morning, the best route I found is go thru Ohio on Turnpike and takee 77 down and head over to 95 from Columibia, SC. We have made it all the way into Ga just past sav, ga. Then the drive in the morning is only about 6 hours at most maybe a little less. I really drive hard that 1st day and try and go as far as possible. Good luck on your drive it can be a killer.
 
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DaddyDisneyMan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hi I am from the Detroit area and we have made the drive many times. DW does like flying but that is another story. We usually leave around 3 or 4 in the morning, the best route I found is go thru Ohio on Turnpike and takee 77 down and head over to 95 from Columibia, SC. We have made it all the way into Ga just past sav, ga. Then the drive in the morning is only about 6 hours at most maybe a little less. I really drive hard that 1st day and try and go as far as possible. Good luck on your drive it can be a killer.
That's an interesting route. We take I-75 all the way down, have you done 75 before?
 
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DisneyVet3369

New Member
Normally I will drive about 15-16 hours before stopping. We leave from a suburb of Chicago. Hop on 65 to 24 (around Nashville) then to 75 (around Chattanooga), all the way to the turnpike. We'll usually just stop for gas and rest areas and go till we get to the Florida border on 75 where there is a rest area/welcome center with nighttime security where we will stop and grab a few zzzz's. When we wake up, it's about another 3 hours to WDW. I have made the drive straight throught before a few times (when we left earlier in the morning) and it took about 18.5 hours, but those last few hours in the dark are pretty rough. Keep the caffeine flowing and the radio on to stay alert. Good luck!
 
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pixiesteno

Well-Known Member
For us it depends on if we are just taking one of the vehicles or have the travel trailer in tow. When we take the travel trailer we have the tendency to leave a little later in the morning or sometimes not until noonish. It also takes longer when we stop with the travel trailer because you have more tires to check, ect. We will generally split the trip mileage in half or just over half. There are many factors that come into play like how much traffic do we encounter, construction, weather, etc. We will generally make it to WDW in two days easy. I can leave our place in western NY around noon and be in NC by midnight barring traffic jams between Fredericksburg and Richmond.
 
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taz0162

Well-Known Member
Drove to and From South-West Burbs of Chicago in Dec/Jan. Started at 4:00AM and stopped for meals and gas. Drove until 10:00PM stopping in GA (South of Atlanta but cannot remember the towns name) and woke up at 6:00AM to finish up the trip the following morning.

Trip home didn't start until 1:30PM (because really who wants to leave the MK) same thing drove stopping for meals and gas only until 9:30 in just South of Chattanooga TN. Woke up at 8:00 and finished up the trip.

One thing that you might want to consider when you are planning your drive hours is what time of day will you drive through the larger cities. I had to look out for rush hour traffic through Indiapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Chattanooga & Atlanta. Also driving South through the mountains in TN is something I would not want to do at night.
 
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stichrules

Active Member
That's an interesting route. We take I-75 all the way down, have you done 75 before?
Yes we have I just hate the lomg drive GA. Also, if you go the other way you are into the mountains of southeren Ohio and you saty away from all of the flat lands along the way. It seesm to make the time go faster for me. Charlotte I think is about 10 hrs from home might be a little closer.
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DaddyDisneyMan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ALL of your suggestions are AWESOME. Thank you all for taking the time to respond. As much as I'm sure my excitement and adrenaline will keep me going to whole way down to Disney, I know my DW and DS's will want to stop somewhere in GA; which is fine, I'm OK with a nice little drive the next morning.
 
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