For those Texans who drive to WDW

[d-r]

The panhandle of FL is pretty boring. But the anticipation of turning south on I-75 gets you that distance. This time we're going to turn off I-10 at Tallahassee and take the state highway (27, maybe?) to Ocala, just to get a little variety.

I grew up in citrus county florida, between crystal river and homosassa, so Ocala was the big town for us to go to the mall when I was a kid. Most everyone from my high school went to either gainseville or tallahassee, but I went to Auburn, in SE. Alabama. So I've seen a lot of that area.

Anyway, I wrote that paragraph to explain why when I read what I quoted above I actually whispered out loud "oh my God, don't do that."

But you know what, actually you probably should do that if you want to because you have seen different things and that would probably seem a whole lot different to you than it does to me. I drove across Texas once and I'm glad I did even though I never want to do it again.

 

[Snookies]

I grew up in citrus county florida, between crystal river and homosassa, so Ocala was the big town for us to go to the mall when I was a kid. Most everyone from my high school went to either gainseville or tallahassee, but I went to Auburn, in SE. Alabama. So I've seen a lot of that area.

Anyway, I wrote that paragraph to explain why when I read what I quoted above I actually whispered out loud "oh my God, don't do that."

But you know what, actually you probably should do that if you want to because you have seen different things and that would probably seem a whole lot different to you than it does to me. I drove across Texas once and I'm glad I did even though I never want to do it again.

Good Points. BTW, I've driven across Texas at least 6 times and there is nothing quite like making the East bound turn onto I-10 where I-20 begins with a whole lot of nothing for miles and miles and miles and miles... For those making the thousand-mile drive between Houston and Orlando in 14 or so hours: 1) Do you stop for any lengthy breaks? 2) Does one person do all of the driving? and 3) What's your average speed? Thanks.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Good Points. BTW, I've driven across Texas at least 6 times and there is nothing quite like making the East bound turn onto I-10 where I-20 begins with a whole lot of nothing for miles and miles and miles and miles... For those making the thousand-mile drive between Houston and Orlando in 14 or so hours: 1) Do you stop for any lengthy breaks? 2) Does one person do all of the driving? and 3) What's your average speed? Thanks.

We did that drive across Texas last summer on our way to San Diego and Anaheim. Whew, that was a long one. But my husband grew up in Midland, so he had a few sights for us to see.

When we drive between Shreveport and Orlando (14 hours), we do the first 6 hours after work/school and crash for the night in Mobile. Then do the rest the next morning and early afternoon. We usually arrive around 2:30P. Both my husband and I share the driving. Going home I usually get stuck driving first to about I-10 (past Lake City). We switch off in shorter intervals going home (every two hours or so).

 

[magicalmcwho]

Hey Deb & Bill,

Will you be staying at the Quality Inn this Saturday? We will be staying there this Friday.

Jim.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Hey Deb & Bill,

Will you be staying at the Quality Inn this Saturday? We will be staying there this Friday.

Jim.

Leave the light on for us, okay??

 

[Snookies]

Thanks. I'm curious because these long-distance drives take me much longer. I've always wondered if that's because I drive too slow, take too many breaks, or because I must do all of the freeway driving because DW has a vision restriction. In reality, the answer is probably all of the above.

 

[magicalmcwho]

Deb & Bill,

We will leave the light on, yall have a safe trip.

Jim.

 

[lsutiggeratwk]

Another tip for those who haven't driven to Orlando in awhile - Once you are on the Fla.Turnpike, keep an eye out for the Disney exit. It will be before you reach I-4. Sorry I don't know the exit number. But after you exit the turnpike it is about 13 - 14 miles of nice, new highway with nothing much and then you will be on the western side of WDW! You'll be close to Coronado Springs - I think.

Driving from BR we have stopped in Tallahassee, Gainesviille, and Lake City. We usually drive in the fall and have to watch for home football games at FSU and UF. Or we get "no room at the inn".

You may also want to look at a map and see for a smaller beach community that would give you a beach experience without being the mist of all the summer vactioners.

And I'm with you Snookies - it always takes us much longer to drive from BR to Orlando. I have to stop more often and we usually do a more leisurely lunch.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

We took the western way on our trip in April. It was awesome!!

Make sure you look to your left.

The Contemporary Resort is pretty easy to make out, and then you look a little more to your left and see the castle!!!

There are directions for the western way somewhere on the Disboards!!

By the way, please stay in Mobile, Orange Beach, or Gulf Shores. Make sure you fill up your gas tank, and have a nice supper and breakfast.

We will appreciate your tax dollars.

 

[kend58]

That time (I have done it more than once) assumes basically a straight through drive. Stopping for fuel and rest rooms only about 5 to 10 min per stop every three or 4 hours of driving (helps to have a large capacity gas tank on these trips). The route is 100% interstate or controlled access roadway until the WDW exit and I have the advantage of commuting daily in Houston traffic so unless there is an injury accident or a storm causes disruption I can usually stay very close to an average speed of 70 mph from door to door (not counting the tz change). (Obviously the Cruise Control; has to set around 75 to avg 70 after the stops)

According to MapQuest IAH to MK is 980.54 miles and 14 hrs and 45 minutes
so they are predicting an avg speed of 67.857 while rolling I am predicting an avg speed of 70 including minimal necessity stops. When we plan to stop for a sit down as opposed to grab and go breakfast / lunch / dinner I add 1 to 1.5hrs to the expected travel time so then trip would be at 15.5 with 1 sit-down or 17 hrs with two sit-down meals included. Still doable especially with an early morning roll-out and a rested spare driver.

I am an early riser and will get us to roll out and away from the house about 4 in the morning. My DW, DD and DS tend to wake up and want breakfast about the time I get to Jennings, Lafayette or Baton Rouge. We gas and go from there to Mobile or Pensacola (gas prices are usually excellent in Baldwin County AL for some reason) gas and grab lunch. Then push onward to Tallahassee I75 turn area gas and grab dinner and roll on into Orlando it will be around 6 pm Central (body clock) 7pm Eastern Orlando clock by then

The Map Quest query I used to obtain the above milage and time estimates was Begin at IAH Houston TX : End MK Theme Park 3111 World Dr, Orlando, FL 32830, US

 

[drakethib]

We took the western way on our trip in April. It was awesome!!

Make sure you look to your left.

The Contemporary Resort is pretty easy to make out, and then you look a little more to your left and see the castle!!!

There are directions for the western way somewhere on the Disboards!!

By the way, please stay in Mobile, Orange Beach, or Gulf Shores. Make sure you fill up your gas tank, and have a nice supper and breakfast.

We will appreciate your tax dollars.

DON'T SAY GULF SHORES. !!!!!

My wife is sitting next to me and she may start whining we haven' been there in a couple of years.



Shhhhhh !!!!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

DON'T SAY GULF SHORES. !!!!!

My wife is sitting next to me and she may start whining we haven' been there in a couple of years.



Shhhhhh !!!!

GULF SHORES ! ! !

 

[drakethib]

Bumping to see if we have any updates.

Looking for good hotels between Pensacola & Tallahassee.

 

[Christy LOVES Disney]

we have driven from the houston area twice and either stop in mobile,al or talahassee, fl

 

[florep1]

Came back from WDW 2 weeks ago. Left Beaumont around 9:30 am and spent a night in Daphne, right outside Mobile on our way to Orlando from Beaumont as we got caught for almost 2 hours in traffic on Atchafalaya River due to a wreck. Talk about nerve wrecking. The whole time I was so glad for the DVD player to keep the natives from getting restless. Kept praying nobody would need to use the bathroom too. Got stuck another hour just before the tunnel. We finally got to Daphne around 3:30 pm and decided to spend the night at the Holiday in Express on the next exit after the mall. It looked new so we decided to call it a day. Paid $134 AAA rate (rack rate of $150). Hotel was nice, clean, kids liked the pool. They also had a nice breakfast area which we didn't get a chance to try out as we left at 4:30 am the next day. Got to WDW Swan around 10:00 EST. Trip home 8 days later started at 8:30am and got home at 8:30 pm.

 

[bapvoeller]

We always drive to Florida from western Arkansas. We have stayed at three different spots. On our last trip we stayed at a brand new Quality Inn in Chipley, FL using points. This is a new hotel that is very nice. I would highly recommend it.

We have stayed at a Quality Inn in Marianna, FL a couple of times on points. This is a hotel with outside rooms. It isn't real nice but the rooms have always been clean. It is good for a quick stop on the road.

We have also stayed at the Comfort Inn at exit 199 in Tallahassee, FL several times. Inside rooms and the hotel is about average for a Comfort Inn. The rooms are generally clean but nothing special. It is next door to a Quality Inn and a Holiday Inn. The Quality Inn has good reviews on trip advisor, and the Holiday Inn looks newer and nice but haven't stayed at this hotel. We usually try to stay on Choice points.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Came back from WDW 2 weeks ago. Left Beaumont around 9:30 am and spent a night in Daphne, right outside Mobile on our way to Orlando from Beaumont as we got caught for almost 2 hours in traffic on Atchafalaya River due to a wreck. Talk about nerve wrecking. The whole time I was so glad for the DVD player to keep the natives from getting restless. Kept praying nobody would need to use the bathroom too. Got stuck another hour just before the tunnel. We finally got to Daphne around 3:30 pm and decided to spend the night at the Holiday in Express on the next exit after the mall. It looked new so we decided to call it a day. Paid $134 AAA rate (rack rate of $150). Hotel was nice, clean, kids liked the pool. They also had a nice breakfast area which we didn't get a chance to try out as we left at 4:30 am the next day. Got to WDW Swan around 10:00 EST. Trip home 8 days later started at 8:30am and got home at 8:30 pm.

Again, Thank you for staying in the great state of Alabama. Roll TIde

We appreciate it!

 

[pogopossum]

we're on the east side of dallas and we vary where we call it a night based on our departure day and time from home, usually we try to make it to at least mobile, about the halfway point for us. but lately we've started stretching it to at least tallahassee (usually 12 - 13 hours). last dec we drove all the way to gainesville in under 16 hours.

for a beach stop i would say anywhere from gulf shores to ft. walton would be great, mainly depending on how long you wanted to drive to wdw after the stop. i would be inclined to stop at gulf shores right now, because i am so jonesin' for some lambert's throwed rolls.

but upcoming trip departure is at the end of school day for the dks, so i think that we will only make it as far as baton rouge for the night, hopefully east side so we can avoid traffic in the morning.

and for those with thanksgiving plans avoid i-10 in baton rouge on friday after thanksgiving due to lsu/ark game. made that mistake once and traffic was horrendous. for some reason traffic from tallahassee to gainesville the next day was nothing, never could figure that one out. but the traffic jam due to accident on i-75 just north of turnpike almost made dw cry due to those with tickets to the game that were stuck with no way out.

 

[goofydad99]

Blegh! The drive can be so long! We drive from Oklahoma. We don't stop because dh does not want to stop. This year we ate at the Waffle House in Mississippi I think. We had been driving all night and I needed a change of pace. We left home around 5:30 in the evening and arrived around 5:30 the next evening. Can you believe this is the first year that everyone was ready to go straight to the park after we got settled in? Off to the MK we went. I will say though the drive there isn't as bad as the drive home. You have nothing but the Disney let down to look forward to there...........

 

[pogopossum]

our decision has been made, we'll be stopping at the hilton in lafayette on our way to florida, and at the marriott town place suites in mobile on our way home. i'll have to buy some points for each stay, but it will only cost me $62.50 each night to do so.