Safe towns to stop at on I-75

bigrigross

bigrigross

Well-Known Member
Hello, this is my first post on WDWMagic. This site has been an amazing source of info for planning our trip. Hopefully I posted my thread on the correct section of the forums.

My wife and I planned our first WDW trip next May. We are driving from Indiana because I do not like flying. I enjoy driving and I drive to Richmond, VA every year for work all the way through which usually takes me about 13 hours with rest stops. So that is my limit for driving in one day. On google maps, that puts me after the Macon area in Georgia. I have researched a lot of the towns and exits in that area and they all seem to have a high crime rate. Do you guys have any suggestions where I can stay at night in a safe area and if you do, do you have a suggestion on which hotel to stay at that is clean? We prefer to cap the hotel at $200. Any help would be much appreciative.
 
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bigrigross

bigrigross

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuvalu said:
Perry is very safe with several hotel chains directly off 75. If you can make it a bit further south, Tifton is also a good place to stay with accommodations right off the interstate.

Also, take the 475 bypass around Macon. Much faster.
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I appreciate both of your insights on this. This helps a ton. Their is nothing worse than being tired and pulling into a dangerous town in the middle of the night. I am going to try and make it as far as possible and hoping to get into Florida, but after 10 round trips to Richmond VA in 4 years from Indiana, 13 hours is about my limit for driving. I did get stuck once in West Virginia and it caused my 13 hour trip to turn into a 20 hour straight drive. I was a zombie and it took 3 days to recover so I do not want that to happen on my Disney trip. I am just trying to get to that sweet spot so when we wake up, we can be at Disney by noon.

Also, very much appreciate the tip about the 475 bypass. Weirdly enough, google maps doesnt have me taking that. After your reply, I put into Waze and it does have me taking that bypass. 240 days is so far away :(
 
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Raineman

Raineman

Well-Known Member
During our trip down in February, we stayed at a hotel just off of I-75 in Cordele, Georgia, which is about 30 miles south of Macon. It is a nice, fairly small town, and we stayed at the Baymont Inn, which was a nice hotel for us weary travellers (21 hours in the car, driving from London, Ontario, including a 4 hour detour around the I-75 rock slide at Jellico).
 
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hanwill

Well-Known Member
When you are coming south... plan around rush hour traffic in Atlanta... I would suggest NOT taking the bypass in Atlanta... (I live here) and it is much faster and much less traffic going straight through town. (All the large trucks have to use the bypass, and it's a very dangerous stretch of interstate). South of Atlanta, there are just a few cities to stop in... Macon, Cordele, Tifton, Perry, Valdosta, then Lake City, Gainesville (Then the turnpike).... are the major places to stop. Other than those stops, there is not much between exits... I think the crime there would come from interstate traffic- not the cities themselves. I have stayed in Cordele, and it was totally fine... I'm a safety freak, and I would stay in any of those cities on my way down. Just use basic safety precautions...

Now, In Atlanta- heavy traffic starts about Kennesaw, and goes through McDonough.... about an hours worth of driving with no traffic. rush hour here usually starts about 6:30 am going south in the morning, and in the afternoon there will be traffic starting about 2-2;30 (unless its Friday-them all bets are off after noon). This would be more of an issue than where you are staying south of Atlanta... Please feel free to ask any more questions- I have done that drive many times-It's pretty easy from here-straight shot to the turnpike...
 
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bigrigross

bigrigross

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I appreciate all of this info. Atlanta is the only city I really am dreading driving through. Unfortunately, I am leaving at 6AM Friday morning which puts me in Atlanta at 2 to 3 PM on a Friday. Maybe I should leave around 4AM. Its good to know all of the places you have stayed. As someone who has ran low on gas accidentally driving through Gary, Indiana, I tend to be more careful when I travel.
 
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JennSmith

JennSmith

Well-Known Member
We stayed at the Homewood Suites in Macon on Bass RD last year overnight on our trip to WDW. We loved it. They have a full, hot breakfast that is included and it was awesome. We are staying there again this year. I did not feel even the tiniest bit unsafe. It is not that far off of the expressway either.
 
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lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
bigrigross said:
I appreciate all of this info. Atlanta is the only city I really am dreading driving through. Unfortunately, I am leaving at 6AM Friday morning which puts me in Atlanta at 2 to 3 PM on a Friday. Maybe I should leave around 4AM. Its good to know all of the places you have stayed. As someone who has ran low on gas accidentally driving through Gary, Indiana, I tend to be more careful when I travel.
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Rush hour in Atlanta can often start around 3:00 on a Friday.
 
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H

hanwill

Well-Known Member
bigrigross said:
I appreciate all of this info. Atlanta is the only city I really am dreading driving through. Unfortunately, I am leaving at 6AM Friday morning which puts me in Atlanta at 2 to 3 PM on a Friday. Maybe I should leave around 4AM. Its good to know all of the places you have stayed. As someone who has ran low on gas accidentally driving through Gary, Indiana, I tend to be more careful when I travel.
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Just know that you will slow down going through town(worse on 285), and it will stay slow until you get through town and down to where 675 joins in with 75... It's like that on any normal day...
 
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C

Corylancaster

Active Member
bigrigross said:
Hello, this is my first post on WDWMagic. This site has been an amazing source of info for planning our trip. Hopefully I posted my thread on the correct section of the forums.

My wife and I planned our first WDW trip next May. We are driving from Indiana because I do not like flying. I enjoy driving and I drive to Richmond, VA every year for work all the way through which usually takes me about 13 hours with rest stops. So that is my limit for driving in one day. On google maps, that puts me after the Macon area in Georgia. I have researched a lot of the towns and exits in that area and they all seem to have a high crime rate. Do you guys have any suggestions where I can stay at night in a safe area and if you do, do you have a suggestion on which hotel to stay at that is clean? We prefer to cap the hotel at $200. Any help would be much appreciative.
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We drive from KY (just across the Ohio river from Evansville, IN) and usually stop in Gainesville. It is a college town, but other than that everything seems pretty nice.

hanwill said:
When you are coming south... plan around rush hour traffic in Atlanta... I would suggest NOT taking the bypass in Atlanta... (I live here) and it is much faster and much less traffic going straight through town. (All the large trucks have to use the bypass, and it's a very dangerous stretch of interstate). South of Atlanta, there are just a few cities to stop in... Macon, Cordele, Tifton, Perry, Valdosta, then Lake City, Gainesville (Then the turnpike).... are the major places to stop. Other than those stops, there is not much between exits... I think the crime there would come from interstate traffic- not the cities themselves. I have stayed in Cordele, and it was totally fine... I'm a safety freak, and I would stay in any of those cities on my way down. Just use basic safety precautions...

Now, In Atlanta- heavy traffic starts about Kennesaw, and goes through McDonough.... about an hours worth of driving with no traffic. rush hour here usually starts about 6:30 am going south in the morning, and in the afternoon there will be traffic starting about 2-2;30 (unless its Friday-them all bets are off after noon). This would be more of an issue than where you are staying south of Atlanta... Please feel free to ask any more questions- I have done that drive many times-It's pretty easy from here-straight shot to the turnpike...
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We always seem to get caught in Atlanta rush hour on our way home since we normally stay from Sunday to Friday. This year we are traveling Sunday to Saturday. Is there a time you would suggest to avoid on Sunday for going south then on Saturday for going north?
 
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LAKid53

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
hanwill said:
Or noon....
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Rush hour in Atlanta, especially the I-75 corridor, is 24/7. ;)

Both Valdota and Tifton will be fine places for an overnight stop. Just stick to well known motels near I-75.

It's about 2 hours from Vadosta to I-10 in Florida. And from that point on I-75, it's about 2.5 - 3 hours to Disney, depending on the traffic and construction along I-75. So, if you can make it to Valdosta, stay overnight, and you should be at Disney within 5 hours the next day. Will warn you, traffic is crazy around Gainesville, mainly due to the number of UF students who use I-75 to get around town. And they LOVE to text and drive. Another heavy traffic area on I-75 is Ocala. But once you get through Ocala, it's 20 minutes to the Turnpike and then about another hour to WDW. A tip - once the Turnpike becomes 4 lanes, get in the far right lane, as the exit for WDW is soon after that. You will go through one toll on the Turnpike and one toll on 429.

We've made that trip so many times, my car could drive itself. Plus, I know (actually my bladder knows), which rest stops to stop at. "Okay, there's that weed infested overpass on I-75...the rest stop is 5 miles after that.". That's how well I know the route, lol.

Have a safe trip!
 
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H

hanwill

Well-Known Member
Corylancaster said:
We drive from KY (just across the Ohio river from Evansville, IN) and usually stop in Gainesville. It is a college town, but other than that everything seems pretty nice.



We always seem to get caught in Atlanta rush hour on our way home since we normally stay from Sunday to Friday. This year we are traveling Sunday to Saturday. Is there a time you would suggest to avoid on Sunday for going south then on Saturday for going north?
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Not really- both of those days are usually pretty good... Of course, if there is traffic construction, you might run into some. For now, at I-75 and I-285 North they are doing construction for the new Braves stadium. Usually its fine, but there might be occasional back ups for that. But weekends are usually good. Safe travels!
 
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Hakunamatata

Hakunamatata

Le Meh
Premium Member
We are planning on staying in Macon next summer on our way down. Will be staying the night before in MT Vernon IL as the kids get out of school at noon that day.
 
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