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Ny to Florida on Thursday leaving at 6 pm
- Thread starter Bigmoose
- Start date
JIMINYCR
Well-Known Member
NY to FL can be an 18 or 19 hour drive. Are you planning on driving straight through? Are you having multiple drivers to help with the drive? Are you leaving after a long days work? Do you enjoy driving at night? I'd rather leave very early in the morning refreshed and being able to plan the drive to avoid the heavily rush hour traffic in the major congested cities. But night driving can be pleasurable if you plan well, can stay alert and if you enjoy driving late.
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jimbojones
Well-Known Member
Depends on the day o f the week and how you are scheduling things at WDW. I can do NYC to WDW in about 16 hours of drive time with just restroom and gas breaks. Leaving at 6pm I'd expect to get there the next day around noon including breaks . I would not plan on doing much that first day after driving all night. It might make more sense to go to sleep at 4pm and wake up at midnight then arrive in WDW late afternoon early evening, get some dinner and go to sleep to be ready for the parks the next day.
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Thank u I’m leaving at 6pm because I have to yong kids and we are going to stop around 1or2am I just want to get past Baltimore and Washington DC traffic also heard Fredericksburg VA can get bad also. We are going for two weeks looking to just enjoy the ride want to get to Florida by Saturday afternoon not in a big rush just don’t want to get caught in traffic
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Thank u I’m leaving at 6pm because I have to yong kids and we are going to stop around 1or2am I just want to get past Baltimore and Washington DC traffic also heard Fredericksburg VA can get bad also. We are going for two weeks looking to just enjoy the ride want to get to Florida by Saturday afternoon not in a big rush just don’t want to get caught in traffic
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Andrew M
Well-Known Member
If you're stopping at hotels, you should leave NY (assuming NYC area/down 95) around 9:30-10am. You'll miss any remaining rush hour traffic and be well into Virginia by the evening rush. You can easily make a hotel around the VA/NC border. From past experience if you want to take two nights to get down there, aim for hotels in Emporia, VA and Savannah, GA. That breaks the trip up nicely.
Otherwise if you're driving straight through, which I wouldn't even think of with kids under 7-8 and without multiple iPads, leave at 10pm. You'll be down in Disney by check-in time the next day.
Otherwise if you're driving straight through, which I wouldn't even think of with kids under 7-8 and without multiple iPads, leave at 10pm. You'll be down in Disney by check-in time the next day.
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jimbojones
Well-Known Member
I take extensive road trips with my family each summer and have done long drives of 20 hours or more when the kids were as young as 2. If you have another adult to swap with and leave at 6pm the kids will likely sleep for a good chunk of the drive and you can go direct while avoiding the bad traffic. When you road trip with little ones the more driving you can do at night the better off you will be. We always do the bulk of the drive overnight as it is mostly just you and the truckers between about midnight and 6 am which is really nice. If they fall asleep in the car by 9 or so and stay down till 6 am you are mostly there and then you can make a few stops to break up the last few hours. Although we find that if we let the kids fall asleep in their beds and then carry them to the car in their pajamas they fall right back asleep and we can get 8 hours of driving out of the way without any unhappy little ones.
There are lots of good places to stop in the Southeast that are really pretty/fun and feel exotic for us folks from the Northeast, State parks and the like for example. We also have no problem sleeping a few hours at a rest area, which is very common on 95 with so many families traveling North and South for vacations but you can always find a hotel for a night along 95 for small money if you need to stop. I would suggest you try the straight shot with stops during the day Saturday and only get a hotel if you feel you need to after driving for a bit. My bet is that you will end up finding a hotel in Northern Florida. Be sure to stop at South of the Border for a gas and pee break and once you hit Florida, visit St Augustine if you have not been there already. The old town and fort is like a real life pirates of the Caribbean set, actually it might be better to do that on the way back so the kids aren't disappointed in the ride after seeing the real thing. On your drive back also consider taking a few days and stop at some National Parks, they are a nice contrast to WDW and good way to destress after a WDW visit.
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