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

DaddyDisneyMan

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.
 
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WDW_Emily

WDW_Emily

Well-Known Member
We always drive from western mass. The total hours are about 19 and 1,250 miles. We normally wake up around 3am to beat the traffic from New York/DC. and we stop around South of the Boarder for the night around 6-7pm normally (with periodic bathroom and food breaks along the way). So I estimate we do about 750 miles/11-12 hours the first day. The Second day is always less time on the road. We don't normally hit the road until around 9am after we have breakfast in us and we arrive in WDW around 4pm-5pm depending on traffic.

I will be flying for my next trip down in May. I still can't get over the fact that I will be in Boston at 5:30am on May 22nd and by 10:30am on the same day I will be in Florida.o_O I'm just so used to driving lol.
 
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HouCuseChickie

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
I've driven from NJ and from the Houston area. I can tell you this, it's much easier to drive straight through if you have multiple drivers. If it's just you- I'd make sure you have a info on places to stop along the way if the road fatigue hits you or if you really just need sleep. If you're leaving at 6am, you should last longer since you'll have a lot of daylight to help with alertness. We used to leave between 4-6am when departing from NJ and it was usually between 7 and 10pm that we'd stop for the night. We've left at varied times from Texas, but have found similar issues when we leave early morning or during the day... i.e. by 10pm, we're really beat. We did one overnight drive where we went all the way through- which was brutal. Just try and be mindful of the signs that you're in need of a rest and have places earmarked at points along the way as potential places to stay if you need to stop for the night. I've used the Expedia site in conjunction with Trip Advisor to help in this area.
 
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erasure fan1

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
DisneyVet3369 said:
Interesting. We basically live right off 80 about 15 miles from the 57 interchange. We've never taken 57 before, maybe we'll give it a shot this year. How is the traffic/# of gas stations/# of rest areas in comparison? Gotta have those stops to stretch the legs, empty one tank and fill the other! :)
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The traffic seems better because you don't have the congestion around Il/IN and you are missing Indianapolis and Louisville. There are plenty of rest stops (with 2 kids we need them) and plenty of spots for gas and food. And I have to stop in Metropolis the home of superman!
 
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pixiesteno

pixiesteno

Well-Known Member
wdwstateofmind said:
If you plan on doing it during the work week, Jacksonville traffic can def. add time to the commute if it's rush hour and ur coming from Georgia
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We try very hard to plan our time coming through Jacksonville with the RV. We will push it into the late evening to get beyond Jacksonville and stop at the second rest area after the city. The second rest area allows overnight parking and has a separate lot area for RVs; although sometimes the semis will pull in next to you. We had one trip coming south moving our son to college and we hit Jacksonville at about 3 pm with our truck and 14 foot cargo trailer and he was in his car -- not an enjoyable cruise through the city, nope not at all.
 
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sbkline

sbkline

Well-Known Member
I always do all the driving, and we will drive until 10-11 PM Eastern Time. If we leave our house in the morning, I like to leave around 6 AM. If we leave in the afternoon and stop at a hotel that night, then I like to leave the hotel around 7 AM the next morning. But either way, I will drive until somewhere in the neighborhood of 10:30-11 PM EST.

One year, we dropped our son off at the inlaws (he was a baby and too young to take at the time) and we left their house around 6:20 AM. We crossed the Florida State Line before pulling over around Lakeview, FL around 10:30 or so.

Did the same thing the next year (2008, when our son was 2) and this time we made it to Gainseville, FL before we pulled off.

Last year, our son was almost 6 and we took our daughter for the first time. We left the house around 6 AM (Central Time) and we got to Stockbridge, GA around 10:30 PM (EST). Goes to show how much less ground you cover when you have two kids. LOL
 
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popcenturylover

popcenturylover

Well-Known Member
On our trip in 09' we drove from NE Ohio all the way to South Carolina. Then we stopped for the night. It took us another 4 or 5 hours the next day to get to WDW. We probably would have driven all the way through had it not been for the fact that we had an 8 month old at the time. On our last trip we flew out of PITT. Soooo much faster! Although, not a fan of flying!
 
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wdwstateofmind

wdwstateofmind

Well-Known Member
pixiesteno said:
We try very hard to plan our time coming through Jacksonville with the RV. We will push it into the late evening to get beyond Jacksonville and stop at the second rest area after the city. The second rest area allows overnight parking and has a separate lot area for RVs; although sometimes the semis will pull in next to you. We had one trip coming south moving our son to college and we hit Jacksonville at about 3 pm with our truck and 14 foot cargo trailer and he was in his car -- not an enjoyable cruise through the city, nope not at all.
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Jacksonville doesn't even compare to Baltimore to Richmond if you get stuck at the wrong time (in Maryland they literally cause traffic jams as everyone slows down to read electric signs telling you non-sense) and living in Jersey I've seen all 14 lanes of the turnpike all jammed up...but it is rough, I got stuck once on the way back up during the morning rush, not a fun crawl at all...
 
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I_heart_Tigger

I_heart_Tigger

Well-Known Member
I've done the drive 3 times and do 2 overnights. Mine is about 3200kms (1990 miles) We drive for about 15 hours to New York and spend the first night. Then we drive to Myrtle Beach for the 2nd night then we have about 8 hours from there to Disney.

We can usually leave home around 6am on day 1 and get to Disney around 2pm on day 3.

(we often stop in Savannah on the way for a visit as well so it's tough to judge real driving times)
 
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erstwo

erstwo

Well-Known Member
DaddyDisneyMan said:
You nailed it all in this post, THANK YOU! 75 is the way we are taking and Macon will most likely be out stopping point for the night; BUT if I still feel up to it I will try and hit Valdosta. Either way, I'm not going to be stupid about the driving thing and push my limits. Even if we leave Macon at 9am I would imagine being at our resort around 5ish PM.
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You are very welcome! :)
One more thing I would recommend if you are driving on a weekend night - when you are closer to knowing when/ where you want to stop (Macon, Tifton, etc.) you might try googling a few hotels off of 75 on your phone and calling ahead to be sure they have availability. Out of a ton of trips down 75 we've only encountered every hotel being booked up twice, but both were weekend nights - I think tournaments were the reason. Now we call ahead and if they say they have a ton of rooms we just go with the flow - if they say they are nearly sold out, I'll go ahead and make the call and pick a stopping point.

I think you are dead on with your estimate of arriving at the resort no later than 5pm departing from Macon. Probably even a little earlier. Have a great trip!
 
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DaddyDisneyMan

DaddyDisneyMan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
erstwo said:
You are very welcome! :)
One more thing I would recommend if you are driving on a weekend night - when you are closer to knowing when/ where you want to stop (Macon, Tifton, etc.) you might try googling a few hotels off of 75 on your phone and calling ahead to be sure they have availability. Out of a ton of trips down 75 we've only encountered every hotel being booked up twice, but both were weekend nights - I think tournaments were the reason. Now we call ahead and if they say they have a ton of rooms we just go with the flow - if they say they are nearly sold out, I'll go ahead and make the call and pick a stopping point.

I think you are dead on with your estimate of arriving at the resort no later than 5pm departing from Macon. Probably even a little earlier. Have a great trip!
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We have a few different options with Hotels. There are 2 Hampton Inns (only place we stay, clean and awesome breakfast in the morning) in Macon & 1 Hampton Inn in Valdosta. I have called all 3 and as of now they all have alot of availability. I will end up calling again when we are about a week away from our trip.

Once again, thank you for all the insightful responses @erstwo. As the OP I am so happy to see that this thread take off and that others were able to benefit from it just like me. :)
 
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Hot Lava

Hot Lava

Well-Known Member
Jacksonville doesn't even compare to Baltimore to Richmond if you get stuck at the wrong time (in Maryland they literally cause traffic jams as everyone slows down to read electric signs telling you non-sense) and living in Jersey I've seen all 14 lanes of the turnpike all jammed up...but it is rough, I got stuck once on the way back up during the morning rush, not a fun crawl at all...
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B'more is still better than the DC Beltway.

But worst if you are traveling on 95 is that stretch between DC and Richmond. Awful! And it is not just rush hour. I have been stuck in nasty jams there on the weekends. And since it has nothing to do with rush hours (or even construction), you cannot predict when, where, or how bad.
 
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