Question for those of you who drive down from the Northeast..

[micknminnie]

Where do you usually stop at for the night? We are hoping to make it as are as Savannah, GA (or close by) and was wondering which hotels some of you have stayed at? My biggest fear is pulling up somewhere and it being a dump or not in a safe area. Thanks for any help.

 

[nngrendel]

I dont travel that way but used to live in Savannah. I would possibly stay around I-95 and HWY 204 area which looks to be at Exit 94 on I-95. Here they have plenty of hotels and some of them are new and plenty of restaurants.

If you like sea food you can stop at this exit and go to the Shell House which is to your right when you get off that exit. Excellent Sea Food here.
http://www.shellhousesav.com/

This is also once you have gone through Savannah. Either that or you can stop before Savannah around the Pooler area which is close to the Airport. There are a lot of new development going on around there now too. This will be a few exits before the one I told you about to start with.
If you choose the Pooler Exit and you like sea food again you can try Carey Hilliards and they are off exit 104. http://www.careyhilliards.com/

Pretty sure they have lots of hotels there too.

my two cents.

 

[mouse_luv]

Last time we stayed off I95 in Florence SC

 

[FireChiefGoofy]

We go all the way to Palm Coast, FL from northern Delaware.

 

[mjmyers10]

We leave at 3:30am from King of Prussia and get into Disney at around 7. If you are looking to stop earlier, you can probably make it down to Jacksonville. As long as you stay at a better big name hotel, you'll be fine. I personally enjoy Hampton Inn. There is a great one in Jacksonville across from a Dave & Busters.

 

[Mr Wizard]

Pooler is a good place to stop, plenty of hotels to choose from. In NC or SC pick up one of the booklets of hotel deals at the rest stop and look for the magic words "Newly Constructed" or "Newly Remodeled" in the add. And you can get some good rates too. I drive from Baltimore and we leave here around 11:00AM and pull into WDW at about 7:00AM with a couple hour snooze in a rest stop. I'm too cheap for a hotel.

 

[DisneyNutZ]

I drive from Bensalem PA at least once a year and we usually do about 12 hours the first day which will get you somewhere in Georgia, that way you only have a few hours left the next day to drive. I usually stick to the the Hampton Inns, but any of the newer hotels are fine, they are usually the 3 and 4 story buildings. Stay away from any of the smaller 2 story hotels, they are usually the older ones and are dumps inside even though some of them look OK from the outside.

Stop by the Prime Outlet mall, I think it is exit 318 off 95 and go to Disney's Character Premier outlet, you can get some good buys in there and the cast members are great. They have current and discontinued merchandise from the parks, most at good prices.

Have a great trip!

 

[DisneyVolFan519]

We have stayed at a couple of places at the Pooler exit. The Red Roof Inn next to a Sam's Club there is a good one. We have also stopped at the Days Inn at the last exit before you leave South Carolina (that was a decent place). The last few trips down, we have stopped at Darien, GA and stayed at a place called CleanStay USA. Obviously, it's not a major chain but it has some of the cleanest rooms that I have ever seen for a hotel. The price is fairly reasonable as well.

 

[dizzney]

We leave staten island at 3am and get off 95 at 4pm around exit 5 in south carolina (just short of the georgia border) there is a great Comfort Inn there with a shoneys next door. We've stayed there a number of times. Leave there at 7:30 am and arrive at the world around noon.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Haven't done it in a while, but we used to make it to Brunswick Georgia and would stay at an embassy suites. It was nice, connected to a mall so there were options for dinner, and they served a complimentary full breakfast in the morning. It is a bit south of Savannah though (farther drive there, but closer to the destination).

 

[MCC1]

We usually wing it, having a goal of how far but if we're feeling good, we keep going...last July we ended up driving straight through (from CT.), so we stayed outside the park the night before and got excited we where there - otherwise we just hit 'hotels' on the Garmin and search out a brand name hotel...we've also stopped at the 8th Airforce Museum right off the exit in Savanah for a break, and then we're good for a few more hrs.

On family trips in my youth, was a whole different experience seeing the tabacco farms and shanties and other things you're not aware of...now it's all strip malls and cruise control while everyone else is watching movies on the phone and laptops...am I getting old?