NY to WDW - Drive Straight Thru Poll??

[RocklandRVers]

How many of you NY folks take that die hard route to Florida and drive straight through. Who goes I-95 all the way? Who goes I-78 to I-81 to I-77 to I - 26 to I-95 (down in Georgia)? Who takes another faster route?

 

[Pluto4President]

Although I have never driven to FL, I have driven to NC and don't know if I could handle that drive straight thru. You did not mention how many in the vehicle and ages of kids if any. This would definately be a determining factor for me.

 

[msdis]

Hey, is this a contest, I wanna win. We drove 1550 miles straight (sans pee and gas stops) in 25+1/2 hours. Next year we thought we were smarter and drove to HH and then straight home 1250 miles; 22 hours straight. Yes, we were nuts and vow to spend the night next trip but there's just something so driving when you want to get somewhere. Oh yeah, 1st drive was 95 ALL the way, and 2nd drive was 95,26,77,81,84. We will most likely never go 95 again.

 

[Uncleromulus]

We used to go non-stop(from Baltimore), but I was always beat at the end of the drive and too tired to do much of anything.
Now, we stop in Brunswick ga. Next day we can get to WDW early, or take a short side trip to St. Augustine.
We always take I-95--BUT--BUT --we leave at 4:00 AM, so as to be around DC before rush hour gets going. Once around Balto/ DC, the entire drive to Brunswick is a relative breeze.
Oh--we also use the I-295 by-pass around Richmond and Jacksonville. Adds just a few miles and a few minutes to the trip, buts avoids the mayhem of I95 thru those 2 cities.

 

[RocklandRVers]

We have a van camper motorhome. My DW, DS age 12, doggie and I will be heading for Fort Wilderness.

Uncleromulus we will just miss you. We are headed down May 8th. So you leave at 4:00 am and get down to Brunswick, GA about when? That may be a good alternative to our original plan.

We were going to leave after work on Friday, May 8 (4:00 pm) and drive about 5-6 hours using the I-81 to I-77 to I-26 to I-95 in Ga route. Our thought was that even though this is longer, we save time by avoiding that busy I-95 corridor by Balt/DC.

We figured that the next day we would drive about another 10 hours that would get us to Brunswick Ga. and then, like you travel that last 4 - 5 hours on to WDW. However you have me thinking that getting a good night sleep (my DW is up by 4 - 4:30 a.m. getting ready for work most days anyway) we can save a stop over and maybe be less tired. Hmmm...something to think over.

 

[kristielee]

Just got back a couple of weeks ago. Drove from Upstate. Went down 84 West to 81 south, to 77, 26, 95...yada,yada,yada....

Coming home we did I 95. Did not drive straight through...It is NOT worth it, and it is dangerous. By the time you hit the Fla line, you'll be a zombie. Stopped in Harrisburg, Pa going down and Fredricksburg, Va coming home.

Now comparing one way to the other...81 to 77 was only 50 miles longer. With out question it is a much, much nicer ride. No traffic to speak of, much nicer scenery, still plenty of places to stop, and no constrution. After having done both, I'd avoid 95 like the plague. At 5 am, leaving Fredricksburg, the volume was already building on 95 into 495.

good luck and safe traveling

 

[MBD1215]

drove down twice when kids were little,stopped at "South Of The Boder". just love that place, it's soooo cheesy. one of the highlights of "the trip"

 

[Uncleromulus]

RocklandRVers:
Leaving Balto. at 4:00AM (actually we're about 30 minutes N. of Balto) we are checking into our room at the Hampton Inn in Brunswick usually around 4:30 PM. That includes stopping for a full breakfast at Aunt Sarah's in Fredericksburg Va. and rest stops about every 2 hours or so-Mrs. Uncleromulus has a blood clot "history" so she has to get out of the car and walk around a bit. Good for my back too!
As I said--just time things to get around Balto/DC some time other than near AM or PM rush hours. Even leaving at 4:00 AM, by the time we get around DC and into N. Va. the traffic is approaching the "horrible" level--and that's at 6:00 AM !! How those people stand driving in that every day is beyond me---.

 

[lazarru]

Going down this December for 1st time and we were planning on driving all the way through from jersey but we've now decided to do AutoTrain instead. Costs alot more but I think in the long run it's going to pay off better than driving from what I'm hearing from everyone that tried driving down.

 

[RussH]

Sorry cant help with the NY route but I drive straight through from Cincinnati to WDW 2-3 times a year. One of those people that can sleep anytime anywhere so I crash as soon as I get home Friday afternoon. Up around 01:30 on the road by 02:00 3 stops 910 miles and 13 hours later I am on property.
One of the things I have learned over these trips is very early Saturday is the best travel day of the week. Seems most of the trucks like being home on Friday. The amount of police/HP/Sheriff out is also way down. Remember the more people you have the longer it takes.
1 to 2 = fastest
3 = +1 hour
4 = + 1 1/2 hours
5 = + 2 hours
6+ = not enough time for driving and vacation both

RussH

 

[discrazyGarcias]

I was so glad to see this question. We are going as a family for the first time (with a 7 yr old & 1 yr old). I think we should stop at least for a few hours but my husband wants to drive straight thru. This thread helped a lot!!

 

[nezy]

The first few times we drove we stopped one night. DH does mosy of the driving as I am "entertaining" and otherwise keeping 3 kids happy.
My husband is sick and now we do it in 2 nights. His illness requires rest and he rather drive than "entertain" kids, so 2 night it is-one stop in Fredericksburg, nest one in Jacksonville. Sometimes coming home we drive straight the second night and get home at 2:00a.m.

We ALWAYS drive I-95 from Rockland, I am seeing this other route discussed. We are leaving on WED> 11/27-night before Thanksgiving-what do you think is better?

 

[AspiringCindy]

It all depends on what time you leave. If you are traveling 18 hours or less, it is do-able but at a reasonable hour. If you leave very early in the morning(5-6am), you can travel 18 hours straight through. The most difficult hours to drive are 2-5am(in my opinion), so avoid it. We drove from Orlando to NJ this summer and left Orlando at 5:00pm. Big mistake! we were exhausted by2:00 am. Could not even stop on account of every hotel being sold out along S.C.,N.C. and Virginia.

 

[discrazyGarcias]

Since it's been so long since my hubby & I have driven down there. What do you think the best time to leave would be? Check in at the hotel is 4, mapquest claims it's a 18 hour drive. I was thinking we should leave around 11AM the day before, then we could stop at a hotel along the way for a rest. My hubby thinks we should leave at 4pm the day before to give us 24 hours to drive (he insists he can drive straight thru with a 1 yr old) & have a few small breaks.
What would your opinions be?

 

[hallie]

We're driving straight through from NJ. We like driving at night, leaving around 6-7pm. It's nice because the kids sleep and last time we didn't hit any traffic the whole way down. Yeh, it got a bit rough at times, I can't really sleep in the car but it was worth it.

On the way home we left innthe early afternoon and completely regret it, it took us FOREVER to get home! It was terrible we hit so much traffic and then we tried to stop and couln't even find a hotel room.

If you decide to stop I strongly suggest getting ressies ahead of time. Most places will even let you cancel up till 6pm same day arrival.

Even though we plan to drive sraight through I'm going to makr ressies just in case.

Have a great trip!!!!

 

[discrazyGarcias]

Even though we plan to drive sraight through I'm going to makr ressies just in case.

QUOTE]


How do you decide where to make the ressies for....not so much what place but even what state? It's really been so long since I drove down there I have no idea how long it would take to get thru which state

 

[crazyme5kids]

We drove straight through, plan on driving again on our up coming trip.

 

[AspiringCindy]

When we drove down, we left Jersey at 10:00am and checked into a hotel in Santee, SC at 11:00pm. We were traveling with 3 DDs(ages 9,8 and 1). This was with 2 major stops. One for lunch in Alexandria and the other for dinner in Fayetteville. The following day we left again at 10:00am and arrived at Disney precisely at check-in.

 

[RIDISNEYLOVERS]

We have done both - from Rhode Island!!

Depending on the ages and number of people you have is the deciding factor!! If you are all adults my vote is to drive straight through!!

The first time we went down we stopped in Rocky Mount, NC. We had 7 people in a 7 passenger van with only 2 drivers - not a pleasant experience!! It seemed to take forever because we drove for 2 days.

Every other time we went down we drove straight through - it took approximately 20 - 22 hours. We had either 6 or 7 people with us and ALL were drivers!! My DH (boyfriend at the time) worked 3rd shift so he took the night shift so it worked out really well. We would always have a "pilot" and a "co-pilot" for all shifts. We took a cooler full of food and ate on the road and only stopped for a refuel and bathroom breaks. We loved it and would definitely do it again!!

We are contemplating on driving down again in 2003 - HOWEVER - we will have two little ones in tow (3 1/2 and an infant) and only DH and I are going to go. I am not sure what we are going to do but I like this thread idea to get others opinions on what to do.

Whatever you decide - enjoy your trip!!

Lisa

 

[RocklandRVers]

I guess the advantage we have is that in our RV we have our beds along with us so stopping for a nap is not such a hassle. Just need to find a safe rest area could be a problem DW is a little shaky since they found that the snipers used rest areas to catch some Zs in between killings.